So, the travel blog

Today, somewhere in the world, someone googled the phrase "otter, river tiber, rome" and ended up finding this post, which I wrote a year and a half ago. Nine other people also searched for other assorted phrases and words, mostly city names, and found my Tripping Over the World Blog. It continues to amaze me that it randomly shows up in search results while I do nothing on it.

Things I Don't Hate (But Rather Like A Lot)

Hopefully my last post wasn't too negative. I was (and still am) sick with a wicked cough/cold/fever, so there's that, though I really do hate that stuff. But to prove I'm not just a hater, here's some stuff I like

Pao de Queijo (Brazilian cheese bread)

Leonard Cohen

Provo

Large, magnificent buildings. For example the Woolworth Building.

Brendan Gleeson

My house

Captain Crunch

Reading about animals on Wikipedia

Wikipedia

Traveling

Cinque Terra

Pizza

Sleeping in

Not being sick

Provo Post 7: Biking to the Airport

Last week Laura and I flew to New York. We had flight vouchers on American Airlines, but decided to use Provo's newly commercial airport to fly to Denver (on Frontier Airlines), and then fly from there to New York. Because we live in downtown Provo, we decided to bike to the airport. According to Google Maps, the airport is 4.4 miles from our house, and the ride should take 25 minutes.

Our ride to the airport was generally pleasant, with relatively cool morning air and not much traffic. The only hairy part was going over the Center Street bridge. There's no bike lane on the bridge and the ground is littered with small rocks and rubble, so it felt a little dangerous to be riding a bike. Laura has a mountain bike and was able to ride on the (mostly destroyed) sidewalk, but that seemed way too rough for my road tires.

However, there wasn't much traffic and once we passed the freeway there is a bike lane.

When we got to the airport we locked our bikes to the metal fence. Laura and I were fairly nervous that our bikes would be impounded or otherwise removed, but we had been told the night before by the city spokeswoman that using the fence should be alright. When we got into the airport we were greeted by two men (sort of like Walmart greeters, but at the airport), one of whom told us that using the fence should be fine.

A week later, we returned and to our great relief discovered that our bikes were still chained to the fence. Because we were siting in the front of the plane and the airport is so small, we were literally riding home before all of our fellow passengers had deplaned.

Riding home, however, was a significantly more harrowing experience than getting to the airport. The first problem was that the road immediately outside the airport has no street lights. It's also a fairly rural road, so it's not even lit by surrounding buildings. The result was that we basically were riding blind. Cars passed us fairly constantly, offering brief light and then lingering blindness. Because we had been traveling, we also weren't wearing especially reflective gear or clothing.

Luckily we made it to Center Street without getting hit, run over, or falling in a pot hole. We used the bike lane again and experienced another pleasant ride until we got to the bridge. At that point, we again had to go over, but this time in the dark and with more traffic. We didn't get hit, but I wouldn't recommend riding over that bridge in the dark. Oddly, there is no real road that goes under the bridge that I know of, but I think it would be possible to get off and carry a bike beneath the bridge. It's slower (and maybe the area under the bridge is a bit shady?) but I'd recommend that option over riding.

Once we got over the bridge (and through the related construction) we got back in the Center Street bike lane. It was a pleasant ride the rest of the way to our home.

Conclusions:

Riding a bike to the Provo airport was great. It had all the advantages that the Provo airport promises — close proximity to my and other homes, ultra easy security, no crowds, etc. — with the added benefits of bike riding — exercise, lower carbon footprint, being closer to the outdoors, etc. The ride was relatively short, flat, easy, and laid back. Even a child could easily do most of the ride.

However, as far as I know, there is no real way to get around the more dangerous areas. The Provo River Trail is pleasant and would circumvent the bridge, but is out of the way for anyone south of 800 North, and would surely take much longer for anyone. Also, at night I probably wouldn't feel safe riding for miles on the trail.

I assume the bridge issue will be solved when all the construction is finished (assuming a bike lane goes in on that part of the road), but the lighting at night also was a serious problem. I imagine the city or airport has plans to improve that road, but additional lighting seems like it would benefit everyone, so I hope it's a top priority.

A bike rack at the airport also would be nice. I don't know of many airports that are as close to city centers and residential areas as Provo's. A bike rack could serve both travelers, as well as airport workers and aviation students. Plus, once the rack is installed I think it would serve as its own advertisement, suggesting the possibility of cycling to travelers and workers who may not have previously considered it.

Provo Post 2: Downtown population and an underlying assumption

Not long ago I was involved in a discussion about rail service linking Provo to Salt Lake City. I'm excited for it, but during the discussion a couple of people mentioned how they had discussed the issue with economics professors who believe that it is an economically unjustified project. Their reasoning was essentially that population density is too low in Provo (and Utah County) for the rail service to be worth the cost. Basically, they think not enough people will ride it, because there simply aren't enough people. (They contrasted Utah with the East Coast and Europe.)

Economics isn't the only lens through which to view the world, of course, and there are other reasons to build rail lines. Also, I'm no economist and I was hearing all this in a debate (while arguing against it, actually).

But I find it persuasive and, more importantly, a useful way to think about many of the problems plaguing downtown Provo. Think about it: if population density in Provo was comparable to, say, Boston, there would be more potential consumers in a very small area. If it was comparable to Paris, all the better.

Obviously higher population density comes with its own challenges, but it seems like one of the primary reasons downtown Provo struggles is that there simply aren't enough people to sustain a lot of consumer-oriented businesses. To make matters (economically) worse, the conservative, LDS culture of Provo hardly encourages residents to living in downtown to lead extravagant, spendy lifestyles.

As a result, the population is flung out in a way that divides consumers. Some people go to the Riverwoods. Some to the malls. Some to American Fork. And none of these areas truly become community gather places, and none really thrive.

This problem is compounded in downtown Provo because it is not, in fact, centrally located. Even commuting consumers are only marginally likely to visit it. Though it is the biggest urban center in Utah Valley, it is actually several miles south of the more affluent communities — Highland, Alpine, Cedar Hills, etc. — that could actually patronize downtown business. I have no love of these communities, but they generally have more disposable income than communities in south Utah County. And unfortunately it's often easier for north county residents to go to American Fork, Thanksgiving Point, etc.

All this is to say one thing: among all the solutions to solve downtown Provo's problems, gradually increasing population density around the area is the most obvious to me. The logistics of doing that are beyond the scope of this post, but as I discuss Provo, the need for higher density population will be a major underlying assumption. Some posts will try to justify that assumption. Others will simply take it for granted that Provo cannot have a vibrant, urban center smack in the middle of a sleepy, suburban-style community.

Provo Spring

I just went for a run and was reminded at how amazing Provo is in the Spring. The air is cool, the mountains green (and still snow capped) and all the trees are in bloom. Plus, the population has dropped dramatically with so many BYU students going home. On my run I even saw several cool people that I know. The overall result is that I remembered how of all the places in the world I've been, Provo is sometimes the most pleasant.

Well, it looks like I'll be in Provo a little longer...

Laura and I spent the summer traveling, and when we got back I decided to continue pursuing a career in writing. (My trip renewed, to some extent, my desire to go into academia, though I’ll go into that later).

I enjoy writing and have been told I am good at it (though not necessarily when I’m blogging), so I briefly explored writing opportunities in Utah. Laura, after all, has a job she really likes in American Fork, Utah, so we had an incentive to stay.

After looking around for a while, however, I decided that there just weren’t many opportunities in Utah, either for jobs or simply to make contacts in the field. I met some cool people during my search, and began writing freelance for the Daily Herald, but nothing that had any long-term prospects.

So, by mid fall, Laura and I had decided we needed to go somewhere else. We settled on New York because A) it has seemed great on our previous visits, B) there are many publications there, so even if competition for jobs is much more fierce, at least opportunities sort of exist, which they don’t really in Utah, and C) Jay-Z/Alicia Keys said that big lights would inspire us.

Anyway, after deciding that we’d go to New York I began contacting everyone I knew who lived there. Many people gave me tips and advice, and several good friends spent a lot of time writing emails about how to make a good transition. I also contacted dozens of publications about doing internships, and eventually lined some up.

By mid November, Laura and I had a lot of info on New York. Our plan was that I would move out there in January, and Laura would follow when the school year ended. This plan was actually pretty developed. I had an internship lined up at a daily newspaper called amNewYork, as well as a couple of possible additional internships at Brooklyn papers if I wanted them. I even had a place to stay through January until I found somewhere to live.

Obviously this plan had some disadvantages, the biggest being that Laura and I would only see each other through video chat for about four months. However, it was also going to cost a lot, because I would be basically working for free while living in one of the most expensive cities in the country.

Still, we were going to make it work and I took a temporary job sometime in the fall to save up additional money. (We also went into the austere money-saving mode we were in before our summer trip.)

Then, about a week before Thanksgiving, the Daily Herald contacted me saying that a job was opening up and that I should apply. Before that day had ended, I had been offered the job. It was as a full time reporter in Provo, and was really what I think of as a “grown up” job (i.e. salary, benefits, two weeks vacation, etc.) I’d never actually had a job that wasn’t hourly, so this was serious.

Laura and I discussed the job. We were really excited to move to New York, but a job offer seemed to render more internships unnecessary. Also, my internships weren’t necessarily going to get me jobs, and if they did, those jobs might be anywhere in the country. Plus, my sense is that there are probably at least 100,000 (maybe more) unemployed writers/journalists/whatever in Brooklyn where I was going to be living. I think that eventually I could have beaten those odds, but it would have taken a long time and have been very expensive.

Ultimately, I decided to take the Herald job because, after all, that is what I was working toward all along. I figured that getting a paying job at a paper I like in a place I enjoy is pretty awesome. And while covering news (my beat is courts and cops) isn’t necessarily my long-term goal (I’m shooting for something more in features), it’s pretty cool. I’m also perpetually amazed that I’ve somehow landed a fulltime reporter position without a degree in journalism while the industry is dramatically contracting. I hesitate to say something cliché like “this is a dream come true,” but it’s close. I’m very fortunate (and covering the crime beat is making me more and more aware of just how fortunate I am).

So that’s an update and, for my NYC friends, an explanation. And while we may not come out next month, Laura and I will continue to be looking for ways to get to NYC in the future.

Update

I haven't posted on this blog for a while because I've been traveling. I'm back now, but I wasn't able to post all the blogs about the trip while I was gone, so I'm doing that now (a new one every couple of days or so). As a result, it'll probably be a while before I return to regularly posting here.

Also, I'm posting our pictures on my facebook profile. I know many people who don't log in to facebook frequently, so if you're one of them and you want to see our pictures, go there. As of right now, I've posted almost all of our Brazilian pictures (a few hundred), and soon I'll begin posting the European ones. I'm trying to spread them out though, so I only post the pictures of one or two cities each day.

Like I indicated above, until this travel stuff is done, I probably won't be posting regularly here. However, if you're in the mood for thinking about something, I'll share some thoughts I had tonight: the movie Avatar is really bad. When I first saw it I thought it was a beautiful looking movie with a weak story. Tonight, however, I watched it again and realized the story was insultingly simplistic and seems like it was written by a middle school student. Plus, without 3D, the visuals actually look pretty cartoony. So there is some food for thought while I get back to the travel stuff.

My New Travel Blog: Tripping Over The World

Originally, I had planned to blog here about mine and Laura's trip. However, over time I decided that I wanted a blog dedicated specifically to traveling, that wouldn't be muddied with my rants, raves, recommendations, etc. about non-travel things. Also, blogger isn't super easy to use on an iPod Touch, which is what primarily I'll be using to connect to the internet for the next two months.

Thus, I have started a new wordpress blog that will focus exclusively on mine and Laura's trip. I've posted a couple of things there, but hopefully it'll have more interesting and exciting details about what we're up to as soon as our trip begins. Here it is:

Tripping Over The World

Final Preparations

Laura I leave for our big trip in about a day and a half. So for the last couple of days we've been doing last minute preparations. Here's some of the things we've done:

1. Cleaned of our camera's memory card. And bought a new, 8 gig card. Hopefully that and our old 4 gig card will be enough for all the pictures we're going to take.

2. Bought some new clothes that we needed. (I got some socks. Laura's out shopping now so we'll see what she gets.)

3. Cleaned up the guest bedroom of my parents house, where we've been living for the last month.

4. Altered clothing. I added a button to a shirt (which included me learning how to sew a button hole), and turned a long-sleeve shirt into a short-sleeve shirt. I also cut off a pair of pants so I'd have some shorts.

5. Found backpacks to use. (Specifically, I found a small-ish backpacking backpack in my parents garage that I'm using).

6. Printed out tons of documents that we're taking.

7. Bought some travel apps for our new ipod touch with an old iTunes gift card.

8. Bought Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door 2010.

9. Bought other guidebooks from as ebooks from the Kindle store. That was a new experience, but infinitely better than lugging 50 pounds of books around with us.

10. Lots of other things that I'll have to go over later, because right now I need to go continue packing.

Brazilian Itinerary

Somehow, in all the trip preparation, I forgot to post a detailed itinerary for Brazil. We'll be traveling all over the place down there, so I wanted to give a more detailed account, similar to the one I already posted for the European leg of the trip.

May 31: Depart for Sao Paulo from Salt Lake City

June 1: Arrive in Sao Paulo (2 nights) at 7:30 am

June 3: Bus from Sao Paulo to Rio De Janeiro (6 nights) sometime in the late morning/early afternoon

June: 9: Plane in the morning from Rio to Salvador (5 nights)

June 14: Plane from Salvador to Manaus (3 nights)

June 17: Plane from Manaus to Brasilia (5 nights)

June 22: Plane from Brasilia to Curitiba (1 night)

June 23: Afternoon bus from Curitiba to Foz do Iguacu (i.e. the city by those huge waterfalls) (2 nights)

June 25/26/27: Overnight bus from Iguacu to Sao Paulo (1 or two nights, depending on how much we liked Sao Paulo at the beginning of the trip)

June 28: Plane from Sao Paulo to London (non-stop!)

(Para meus amigos brasileiros, vou estar no Brasil durante Junho. Se quiserem se encontrar, deixa um "comment" aqui, fala comigo no facebook (espero que ja somos amigos la, mas se nao adiciona-me como um), or manda uma email a james.dalrymple52@gmail.com)

I'll have more to say about why and how we're doing this itinerary later, but for now, that's it.

Our Hotels So Far

Laura and I leave one week from today, but we still haven't booked every night of our trip. In the early stages of our planning we struggled to decide if we should book hotels in advance—which would mean we'd have to really nail down our dates/itinerary—or simply should up in different cities and try to find lodging on the spot. Ultimately, we've decided that in heavily touristed areas, we needed to book in advance, but when we're off the beaten path we'll try to give ourselves more flexibility and find places when we show up.

This means that we've book hotels so far in Rio de Janeiro, London, Paris, and Rome (and may a few more places that are slipping my mind now). And some of these places sound pretty exciting.

In Rio, for example, we're staying at the Maze Inn. This may be the lodging that I'm most excited about for the entire trip. It's an independently run budget hotel, located in a favela near the beach. At first I was ambivalent about staying in a favela. Rio's slums are ultra dangerous, and I didn't want to go there to gawk at the poor. However, the reviews I've read suggested it was relatively safe, and as a missionary in Brazil I experienced a fair amount of poverty which will hopefully prevent me from assuming an overly touristic or voyeuristic attitude. In any case, however, the hotel has great prices, a big breakfast, and a jazz night that we'll be in town for. So far, the staff has also been super helpful—this morning, for example, they emailed a response to my request for instructions on how to get to the hotel using the city buses. I initially thought I found this hotel in an Lonely Planet guide book, though I subsequently can't find it in any of the ones I have right now, so either I already returned that book to the library or I found the hotel somewhere else.

In London, we're staying in easyHotel's Victoria location (I may have mentioned this in earlier posts, but I can't remember.) As a chain hotel, this experience will contrast sharply with our Rio experience. However, the hotel is an ultra economic company that bases its rooms off of ship cabins. They're really small spaces, which translates into really low prices. This hotel was recommended by Rick Steves.

In Paris, we're staying in a hotel called Hotel Camelia Nation. At first I was very skeptical about this hotel, because it wasn't listed in any of the guide books Laura and I checked out. However, we found it on a hotel listing website and because we hadn't read about it elsewhere, we checked practically every website we could find that reviewed it. Ultimately we decided that was in a cool—if potentially loud—location (near the Bastille, and we'll be there on Bastille Day), and it was the lowest price we could find at a non-chain hotel. I'm still slightly afraid that it's going to be crawling with rats or something, but it looks cool and had a lot of decent reviews.

We just booked our Rome hotel a few nights ago, so I haven't decided what to think about it yet. It's called Hotel Italia Roma. It came recommended by the guide books I mentioned above, as well as Fodor's. It's well located as well, and so that sounds good.

Hotels vs. Hostels

The romantic image of young travelers—especially young travelers in Europe—is of people riding the rails and sleeping in crowded, lively hostels. Because Laura and I are about to travel to Europe (and Brazil), and because we're trying to do the trip as cheaply as possible, I figured that meant we'd be staying in a lot of hostels. What I've been surprised to discover, however, is that hostels are not always the cheapest way to go.

Before I mention what I've learned about booking hostels and hotels, though, it's worth mentioning that hostels offer a one-of-a-kind travel experience. You're in the midst of other travelers—who likely also share a similar travel philosophy—and my experience is that interacting with hostel staff is more personal/local than interacting with hotel staff. So, even if they aren't always the most economic option, they're worth experiencing. On the other hand, hostels can be loud and chaotic (which means poor sleep), dirty, and cramped. (The first night I stayed in a hostel I was shocked to hear a veritable symphony of snoring. I did not sleep that night.) So while they provide an interesting experience, that experience can become a drag after awhile.

So, are hostels really the best budget option? Can a hotel really beat their prices?

The answer varies from location to location, of course, but for single travelers, hostels are almost always going to be the cheapest choice. When booking our London portion of the trip, for example, Laura and I were initially going to stay in the St. Paul's Hostel. It's centrally located, and in a cool old building. For a bed on the dates we needed, the price was 22 pounds. That can't be beat, and if Laura and I weren't married (and, in our case, drawing money from the same bank account), we definitely would have stayed in the hostel.

In reality, however, and because we're married, the night would have cost us 44 pounds. That's still a great bargain, but after researching a bit I discovered that we could stay in the easyHotel Victoria for 45 pounds. That means that for one extra pound we'd have a private room (and bathroom). We'd probably sleep better, and our stuff would be safer. And because we'll be flying directly from Brazil to England, I wanted to make sure that we could sleep in a place that was relatively quiet. Also, many hostels are segregated by gender, so in general hotels will allow us to avoid the annoyance of having to sleep in separate rooms.

To be sure, easyHotel Victoria probably has less character than the hostel. It's a chain (albeit a European one), it's also not in as prime a location. Still, I feel comfortable getting around London and I suspect we'll sleep better in the hotel.

What has surprised me is how often this booking/research experience has been repeated. As we've planned out our trip, city by city, we've discovered that for two people paying together, hostels are almost never the most economic option. In many cases (and in the most expensive cities), there are actually hotels that cost less than two beds in a hostel. The disparity is also exacerbated when looking at private rooms in hostels, which many offer.

Of course, when booking a hotel that's cheaper than a hostel it's essential to be careful. Before we book anything, Laura and I read travelers' reviews on multiple sites. We also usually get recommendations out of guide books like Lonely Planet and Rick Steves' Europe. Still, for travelers going in pairs or groups, and who can pay together, hotels can sometimes be the most economic option.

The latest travel update and iPod touch

So, Laura and I are preparing to leave on our trip this month. We've seriously started planning our day by day brazilian itinerary, recently received our visas and are just about ready to go. However, one the that we have thought a lot about is how to stay connected while on the road (or in the air, or kn the rails, etc.). For some people, I suppose that a trip like ours would be a welcomed chance to disconnect with the plugged in world, but for me at least (if not exactly for Laura) I really want to stay in touch while we're gone. More specifically, I hope to blog about our trip while it's still taking place. Plus, it'd be nice to be able to check or bank account, email family, etc. whenever we need to.

Our cell phones aren't internationally enabled (and it would have cost a lot to get new ones that are), and we didn't want to take a computer that would easily get lost, broken, or even stolen, so we decided to get a portable device that would be relatively cheap, but still allow us to stay connected when needed.

So, we settled on and iPod Touch. I really like the iPhone, but we're on Verizon and I didn't want to switch (plus I wasn't ready to commit to some expensive two year contract). I also considered the uPas, but decided that it had most of the same vulnerabilities as a laptop.

Thus, and iPod Touch seemed like it was the best option. It has wireless, which most of our hotels provide (as does, I discovered, the entire beach front in Rio de Janeiro), is small and easy to conceal, and is less expensive (on the long run, at least) than most other, similarly capable devices. Obviously, it's not going to be good for writing a novel on, but I think it will allow us to keep in touch with what's going on back home.

In the spirit of preparation, I've actually written this entire blog post on the iPod touch. And actually, I've been surprised by the experience. There are some really annoying aspects to it (like having to switch keyboard screens everytime I need a non-letter character like a dash or parenthesis) but the software that automatically fills in words and fixes typos far exceeds my expectations. Obviously, I can't say how well this is going to work on our trip, where we'll have more intermittent Internet access and probably be more tired a lot of the time (and so less excited about writing blogs on a tiny keyboard), but at least for now it looks like well able to stay in touch and document our trip.

European Itinerary

So Laura and I finally sat down and hammered out a schedule of where we're going to be, and when, during the European leg of our trip. Here's what we have so far:

June 29-July 1 (2 nights, 3-ish days): London

July 1-July 2 (at night): cross the English Channel on a boat

July 2 or 3: Amsterdam (for most of a day) en route to Berlin

July 3-5 (2 nights, 3 days) : Berlin

July 5-6 (at night): train from Berlin to Prague

July 6-8 (3-ish nights): Prague

July 9: Vienna, en rout to Franfurt and/or Munich

July 11: arrive in Bacharach (Germany/Rhine River region)

July 12 or 13: leave Germany

July 13-17 (4 nights, 5-ish days): Paris

July 18: French country side

July 20: Chamonix (French Alps), en route to Aosta, Italy

July 21-23/24 (3 nights, 4-ish days): Venice and Venetian countryside (Padua, Ravenna, etc.)

July 24-27 (3 nights, 4ish days): Florence

July 27-28: Cinque Terre

July 29-Aug 4 (6-ish days): Rome

Aug 4: Salt Lake City

A few things about this schedule. First, it's just tentative. We've already booked our hotel in London, but other than that we haven't paid for anything but our plane tickets. In the big cities we'll probably book in advance, but we also want to keep things as flexible as possible. If we like Berlin, for example, we'll try to stay longer and cut something else short.

We've also decided to do some of Europe's "hits." Though Paris, Rome, Venice, etc. might be pretty typical tourist spots, we've never been to them and felt like our first trip to the continent (or at least, my first trip) should hit the major sites.

On a similar note, we've realized that even a month isn't enough time to visit even close to all the places we want to go. I'll mention what went on the chopping block my next post, but the biggest lesson I've learned from this lesson is something I saw in a Rick Steves' video: assume you'll come back. If anything, planning this trip have given me a greater desire to return on future trips.

Also, we are getting the Eurail pass. More about this later, but for now suffice it to say that we tried to hit cities that are all close together. Our trip, if plotted on a map, zigzags across the continent in such a way that we'll rarely spend more than a few hours traveling. It means we'll be able to hit more cities than we could by using budget airlines (and we'll have less stress).

Travel Tips: Buying Plane Tickets

In my last post I discussed (at length) the process by which Laura and I got our tickets for our up coming trip. However, I wanted to consolidate the lessons we learned into one succinct post, in case that might benefit someone. So here are a few of the things that I'd recommend if you're planning a long, overseas trip.

1. Be flexible. With work schedules this can be tough, but it can also save hundreds of dollars (or more). Keep in mind the more flexible you are, the cheaper the trip will be. And that doesn't just mean being flexible with your dates. Consider flying into different airports, visiting different places, etc. Basically, if there are a bunch of places you want to go, look at them all before you get your heart set on anything in particular, and then chose the one that's most aligned with your budget.

2. Use a travel agent for long or complex flight plans. I probably wouldn't call an agent if I was flying to San Diego to see my in-laws for Christmas because I can find ridiculously low fares for a trip like that on my own, in just a few minutes. I also know exactly when and where I'm going. However, for longer trips, where I might have some wiggle room, travel agents are very helpful.

3. Keep in mind, a travel agent will not cost you more. This is a common misconception, but if the fare or itinerary an agent gives you isn't to your liking, you don't have to buy it. They are trying to win your business, so it's their responsibility to be competitive. And a lot of the time, they will be.

4. Plan in advance. The first time I looked up fares for our trip was over a year ago. That means we were thinking about our trip at least a year and a half before it was supposed to happen. Ideally, you'd track the price of your trip for years before doing it, so you'd have a really good idea when the best time to get tickets will be (though an agent should be able to give advice about that).

5. Round up. Decide you're initially willing to spend, then add a few hundred dollars to that number and assume that's what the tickets are going to cost you. Doing this will provide a psychological cushion if things turn out to be more expensive, and if prices turn out to be cheaper (as they did for us), you'll have even more money to spend on other things during the trip. This may mean that you end up waiting a little longer to go on the trip as you save up more, but in the end you'll be less stressed out about money.

Buying Plane Tickets

Laura and I bought our plane tickets last week, after many hours of exhaustive research. This is our itinerary:

May 31: depart Salt Lake at 2:45 p.m., arrive in Dallas at 6:25 p.m., depart Dallas at 7:55 p.m.
June 1: arrive in Sao Paulo at 7:40 a.m.
June 28: depart Sao Paulo at 4:15 p.m.
June 29: arrive in London at 7:20 a.m.
Aug 4: depart Rome at 11:30 a.m., arrive in Chicago at 3:05 p.m., depart Chicago at 6:45 p.m., arrive in Salt Lake at 9:10 p.m.

Including all taxes, fees, etc., this itinerary is costing us $1864.30 per person.

Even at just a casual glance, this airfare seems pretty good for the number of flights we'll be taking, and the miles we'll be covering. So how did we get it? And could we have done even better?

First, the short answer to the first question is that we used a travel agent. However, it might be useful to explain that a little bit.

When we decided to go on a multi-continent trip, I initially wanted to use a travel agent because our goal was fairly complex. Also, all the travel writers I'd read said it would be easier and more cost efficient. That said, however, I was skeptical because travel agents have always struck me as an outdated relic from the pre-Internet days, when people couldn't figure out their own airfare. What, I wondered, was the point of using travel agents if all the savings they could get me were cancelled out by fees (I figured) I'd have to pay them?

As it turns out, however, travel agents make their money on commission and the price they give you should already include any money they're making. Also, travel agents typically have relationships and contracts with airlines and other travel agencies, which means they often have access to fares that are even lower than can be found online.

Once I learned that, I decided to contact a travel agency to see if they could compete with the fares I could find on my own. As a BYU alum, I discovered that I can continue to use the university's travel service, so I decided contact them. After calling around a bit I was finally connected to a travel agent at BYU who said he'd find some options for me.

The man I talked to got back to me within a few days, but what he gave me was almost an incomprehensible itinerary that was more expensive than the fares I found on my own (his itinerary was just under $2800 per ticket). Somehow, he must have also misunderstood what I wanted to do, because the trip he offered was less than half as long as I wanted (he had us in Brazil and Europe for about two weeks each). To cap it all off he was kind of abrupt on the phone. I'm not going to publicly name him, but if you're planning to use BYU's travel agency I will tell you privately so you can avoid a similar experience.

That was pretty discouraging, so Laura and I decided to take a stab at booking our own plane tickets. Laura spearheaded this effort and probably spent at least 30 hours over a couple of weeks looking at fares. I spent less time looking for fares, but still put in some hours.

The key, we discovered was being extremely flexible. We didn't care where we left from, flew into, or even what days we traveled on. We were willing to leave from Salt Lake, LAX, or anywhere in between. We also knew that we wanted to travel through Europe over the course of a month, but didn't care if we went north or south.

Eventually, Laura found a few options leaving from LAX that were under $2000. It would have also meant that we'd be going from Brazil to Rome, then leaving from London to return to the U.S. However, with taxes and fees, these fares were actually at least $2400, and most of the time they were closer to $2700. Also, most of them included a layover in New York that would have required us to travel from JFK airport to Newark, and that is supposedly a night mere. Still, the fares weren't prohibitively expensive and we were getting ready to buy them.

During this whole process, however, my dad recommended a different BYU travel agent. I was again skeptical, given my previous experience, but decided that since it didn't cost anything to have her look, I'd give her a call.

My experience with this second travel agent was the polar opposite of those I had with the first one. While I was on the phone, she experimented with different dates, airports, and other options. She told me exactly what she was doing and searched all the companies BYU had contracts with to find the lowest fares. She was kind and reassuring (when I bluntly asked her if she could beat the fares I had found online, she told me she could fly us around the world for those prices and began looking for something cheaper with gusto). Eventually she came up with the price I mentioned above (which was actually higher than she had expected it to be, but apparently flying from Brazil to Europe is pretty pricey). Though the prices is only a little cheaper than what online travel sites initially quoted, factoring in taxes we figure we saved at least $600 per ticket, and realistically we probably saved closer to $800 or $900. We will be using American Airlines for the first few legs of the trip, and British Airways for the second.

So that's how we got that fare. But could we have done better?

I doubt it, and if we could have the trip would have been much more stressful. For example, our flight from Brazil to Europe is non-stop. That means that we save at least a day in travel time (more time to sight-see), plus we don't have any stressful New York-to-Newark connections. We also don't have any real red-eye flights, and we won't have to drive down to LA, which should save us at least $200 in gas.

The other amazing thing about using the travel agent was that as long as there were seats available on the flights, we could get that same price. In other words, prices for each leg of the trip didn't change if we adjusted if by a few days. When we tried to book by ourselves, we found that certain days (Aug 11, for example) were cheaper than any other days around them. With the travel agent, on the other hand, we managed to extend our trip in Brazil by a couple of days, and come back at a more convenient time. In short, the travel agent offered flexibility coupled with low prices.

Travel Blogging

If you're friends with me on facebook, you may know that I recently bought plane tickets for a rather extensive trip. This summer, Laura and I will be traveling from the U.S. to Brazil, and then from Brazil directly to Europe. We leave on May 31st, stay in Brazil until June 28th, and then leave Europe on Aug 4th (so about a month on each continent). During that time I probably won't blog about anything but the trip, but I'm also planning on blogging about our preparations leading up to it.

Eventually, I am going to have a different site to chronicle the trip, and share any tips that Laura and I learn a long the way. However, in the meantime, this blog will be were I talk about the trip. I'm planning to share this information for a few reasons. First, because I think it might be interesting, at least to a few people out there. I know I love reading about my friends adventures on their blogs. Also, I've found that blogs have generally been an invaluable resource as I've been planning my own trip. My friend, for example, wrote this blog about his extensive trip in South America. Though it wasn't strictly a "travel blog" in the sense that it only talks about travel and tries to advise people, it is actually a great resource for finding out to do a trip down there.

I've also found that while I've been to a fair number of places, I know people who have traveled to just about every country in the world. Not only is it interesting to hear what different people have to say about different places, it's also been useful to me as I've been figuring out what to do. So, hopefully, my upcoming travel posts will be similarly useful and helpful. Next up: how Laura and I got cheap airfare for a long and complicated flight itinerary.

Rick Steves and Empathy

If you've never seen Rick Steves' Europe, you should check it out. Literally. The Provo Library has a bunch of DVDs you can get for free and if you live somewhere else, your local library also may have them.

For the uninitiated, Rick Steves is a travel writer and hosts the show mentioned above. He started out by writing a book called Europe Through the Back Door and has expanded his travel empire since.

As a travel writer, Steves' is both useful and cheesy. As he goes around Europe you get the distinct impression that he is a very much a tourist. He dresses like an American, he can't really speak any European languages, and he balances hard to find spots with very tourist-y places.

But the thing that really stands out to me about Steves is that he seems like a genuinely nice guy (don't know him personally, so I can only say here that that's how he comes across in his work). He also seems to have a genuine love for the places he visits and the people he meets. In other words, Rick Steves' travel approach is all about visiting places with empathy.

At certain times I've mentioned my love of Rick Steves' travel materials to friends and have been surprised to find out that some people look down on the genres of travel writing and TV shows. Certainly, the argument could be made that this sort of thing mainly appeals to bourgeois, middle-class Americans who want to "understand" a place by visiting it for an afternoon (or, worse yet, but simply seeing it on TV).

Yet, as I think about it, I'm not sure there is any genre of writing that is more empathetic to different people than travel writing. The whole point of the genre is to soften the visitor's impact on the culture he or she is entering. Travel writing is supposed to bridge cultural divides and is directly concerned with communication and understanding. Certainly some people use travel information to appropriate and totalize, but ideally it would be used to build understanding.

Rick Steves' is a master at this because he understands both the places he visits, as well as his audience (who, in my case, is sitting at home). He's an entertaining link that makes empathetic travel seem possible.

Airport Security

In the wake of the recent attempted terrorist attack, security is no doubt going to get “stronger” at airports. Hopefully that’ll mean increased safety, but if the past is any indicator, it’ll also mean longer lines and greater inconvenience. And though I want to preserve life as much as possible, I believe that making air travel more miserable simply isn’t worth the added safety. In fact, I’d gladly accept a slightly higher risk of death if it meant an easier time getting to my plane.

Back before 9/11 flying was kind of fun. Family and friends could go all the way to the gate and travelers didn’t have to take off a bunch of clothes to get through the lines. Things moved more quickly and, at least in my case, it was an all around better experience.

Of course we’ll never go back to those free wheelin’ days, but adding more and more security doesn’t always make sense. Flying today has become a kind of ritualized humiliation, and adding to that isn’t going to make anyone excited about traveling. This is particularly true of the naked body scanners that will probably be deployed soon; not only will you have to take off your belt, shoes, etc., you’ll also have to submit to being seen in the nude by some TSA person.

The result of this increasingly humiliating experience is that revenue will go down, prices will go up, and unpleasantness will proliferate. The added time that yet another machine introduces to the process will further drive flying toward pointlessness. For example, it already takes five hours or more (including driving time getting to airports) for me to fly from my home in Provo, Utah, to Southern California where I grew up. If I have a lay-over, it’s much longer. Conversely, I can drive to the same place in about 9.5 hours, so flying doesn’t even cut that in half. The longer it takes to fly, the more likely I am to drive.

Besides the inconvenience of added security, it’s also questionable just how effective it is. Does confiscating my shampoo really make the world safer? I would argue it doesn’t and that most of the current measures are simply in place to give frightened travelers a (sometimes false) sense of security about their trips. After all, an apparently inept terrorist thwarted the security we currently have; I’m sure that a professional from Al Queda could figure out a way to slip past the naked-scanner.

All this is to say that rolling out more delays just isn’t worth it. The chance of dying in a terrorist attack is still small, even without added security. In fact, it’s much smaller getting in a car wreak or dying in countless other ways. What’s more, people seem to believe that flying should be risk-free, even though that’s an impossible goal. Everything involves risk flying remains one of the lowest risk ways to travel. If naked scanners or other measures actually sped up the process or made it more streamlined, I’d be interested in seeing them used. However, so far no new security measure has ever made things faster. Ultimately, then, it’d be better to simply accept the risk of dying in an attack. If not, we’ll have eventually made airplanes so safe that we never actually let anyone get on them.

Travel/Vacation

Why travel?

 

As I see it, people usually do one of two things: “take vacations” or “travel.”  While these two expressions are often used interchangeably, they actually imply very different kinds of activity.  First, the word “vacation” comes from the late Middle English/Old French word “vacare” which means to be unoccupied (so “vacation” shares roots with words like “vacate” and “vacancy”).  Of course, while we’re not speaking Middle English any more, “vacation” still preserves some of its original meaning; it implies an emptying out, not a filling up.

 

This meaning of the word is problematic for me in a couple of ways.  First, it focuses on the place of origin as opposed to the destination.  In that light, cultural immersion becomes difficult because activities are engaged in simply because they aren't at home.  Second, however, “vacationing” is essentially a negative phrase.  It emphasizes absence, and constantly reminds the vacationer that she or he exists in relationship to a lack of something.  Thus, even if the word connotes positively for most people, it still signifies emptiness.  Yet another problem with the phrase “taking a vacation” is that it reveals an underlying selfishness; you don’t “give” a vacation, or “learn” a vacation.  Instead, “taking” suggests personal gain without any particular responsibility.  

 

If “vacation” isn’t quite a satisfactory way to describe the trips we take, “travel” might be a better fit.  Surprisingly perhaps, “travel” actually comes to us through Middle English from the word “travail.”  Of course this root then implies hardship, toil, and work.  While most people would want to avoid these adjectives when describing their trips, they also facilitate a greater payoff.  If, for example, I “take” something, I get that thing.  On the other hand if I “toil” or “travail” for something, I've gain both the thing as well as the valuable experience I had while getting it.  In other words, travailing is harder than “taking” or “vacating,” but also provides more fulfilling experiences. 

 

To be clear, I’m not suggesting that all trips be grueling exercises in voluntourism.  That kind of trip has its place and probably accomplishes a lot of good, but even leisure trips have opportunities for rewarding travail.  Sometimes it'll be intellectual travail (visiting an art museum), linguistic travail (struggling through a foreign language), emotional travail (visiting a concentration camp or war memorial), etc.  The point is however, that on every trip a traveler can either challenge her/himself, or give up and take an easier path (like going on a cruise or sticking entirely with guided tours, etc.).  What’s more, in most cases trying to travail through new experience is going to provide insights into the culture that can’t be acquired any other way.  

 

Ultimately, “traveling” seems to convey a sense of toiling toward cultural immersion and personal enlightenment.  “Vacationing,” on the other hand, just means getting out of the house and snapping a few pictures to post on Facebook.  Though it’s unlikely that anyone will ever fall completely in one camp or the other, if the goal of a trip is anything more than momentary stimulation, I suggest we start talking about traveling more often than vacating.