I recently posted an entry about TripFilms, which I dubbed the traveler’s version of YouTube.

Afterwards, I received an e-mail from Matador member Chris Scott, co-founder of Triporia, another travel film website. I’d describe Triporia as YouTube crossed with TripAdvisor.

Most of Triporia’s content consists of short clips that are reviews of hotels, restaurants, and other travel-related sites. What makes Triporia’s niche distinct is that the videos are posted by travelers and businesses. In effect, Triporia serves as a visual, virtual guidebook… but may raise questions about the “true” nature of the places being reviewed. The site is still young, though, so time will tell how the public responds to the concept.

Have you checked out Triporia? Do you use TripAdvisor? How much do reviews of any type influence your travel decisions? Leave some feedback in the comments below.

Photo: bayswater97

Photo by futureatlas.com

Over at GOOD Magazine, Ryan Bowman confesses his discomfort at being asked to create a new weather map for one of Uganda’s largest newspapers:

My bright and relentlessly cheery “sunny” icon belies the depth of desperation of a third-world country bearing the brunt of what the Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, calls an “act of aggression” perpetrated by the rich world against the poor world—in other words, drought caused by global warming brought on by the first-world’s excessive use of resources. My lovingly detailed “partly cloudy” icons could just as easily portend the flooding of thousands of mud homes and attendant displacement, famine, and death just as easily as an afternoon shower.

As Bowman explains, weather maps had been previously unknown in East Africa, where stable seasonal patterns were instead passed along through “inherent, social knowledge”. Now, Uganda sees its first newspaper weather map – one more minute, compelling detail in a tapestry of global climate changes.

A few months back, I applied for a press pass to visit the U.S. military’s Guantanamo Bay outpost in Cuba. Though the application has yet to be approved, I just might be able to go to Gitmo this weekend…

Gitmo, Pennsylvania.

Amnesty International has announced the “Guantanamo Bay Cell Tour” in Philadelphia, which takes place this weekend, May 30-June 1.

The purpose of the tour is to give visitors a sense of what a “life-sized” cell at Gitmo is like, to raise awareness about detainees’ conditions, and to create protest videos to send to President Bush.

Amnesty requests that people interested in visiting RSVP. You can also register to volunteer– either as an organizer or activist… or as a temporary detainee (orange jumpsuit and all).

Events are also being held in Portland, ME.

If you can’t attend the cell tour but want to express an opinion against a continued U.S. presence in Gitmo, Amnesty has an online petition you can sign to denounce torture.

Photo: Amnesty International UK (creative commons)

Off-season visitors to Toronto are in luck: the excellent Art Gallery of Ontario, which has been closed for an extensive Frank Gehry-designed renovation and expansion, has just announced its re-opening date.

The completed re-vamp will be opened to the public on November 14, with weekend-long free admission.

Highlights of the new AGO will include works by legendary Canadian painter Tom Thomson, a recently re-discovered Peter Paul Rubens, and extensive African and Australian Aboriginal collections.

Photo by beachdigital (Creative Commons)

Trains may not be Americans’ preferred mode of transportation, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have their devoted fans.

Arlo Guthrie, Johnny Cash, and Willie Nelson have all sung about them.

Jack Kerouac, John Steinbeck, and William Vollmann have written about them.

And a man named Shawn Lukitsch , rail rider, documentarian, and organizer of the Hobo Film Festival, has made films about them. And he wants you to see them.

The Hobo Film Festival recently made a stop in New York City and will be in Brattleboro, Vermont tonight. Be sure to catch Lukitsch’s own 22 minute documentary, which splices together video clips and narratives of Lukitsch’s travel around the U.S. by box car.

This form of train travel, Lukitsch says, “is pure, unadulerated, unhomogenized America.”

Photo: Marky Bon (creative commons)

Matador members!

The Responsible Tourism Awards 2008 needs your expertise!

Nominations are now open for this year’s awards, and organizers are seeking nominees – hotels, tour operators, organizations and individuals are all eligible in the appropriate category.

The emphasis here is not just on addressing environmental concerns, but successfully coordinating with the needs of locals, as well.

Learn more about the awards and how the winners are selected here.

Then fire away!

If your nominee ends up being a winner, you could land a 15-day trip for two to India.

I’m a relative newcomer to podcasts, but after receiving a link from Matador member Steven Jay Weinberg (who has some pretty great podcasts himself, produced in collaboration with Kenny Smith), I decided to peruse the podcasts on podomatic.com. With no further delay, I present to you the five best travel-related podcasts on podomatic:

5. Sex travel now and in 2030: A heady (no pun intended), intellectual analysis of the increasingly popular practice of sex tourism.

4. Travolution’s Podcasts: At present, Travolution has four podcasts available; be sure to check out #1 (why bloggers are important for the travel industry) and #4 (which continues the debate about green travel).

3. Caribbean Island (Reggaeton): The Matador Team’s been publishing plenty of Caribbean content lately–including guides to Bequia and Jost Van Dyke –so check out this Caribbean soundtrack if you’re headed to the islands. Features the best and recent reggaeton music.

2. Poems on the London Underground: Headed to London this summer? Never been to London before? Never been on a Metro/subway/Underground? Check out this podcast.

1. World Passport: When you’re tired of talking, click on over to World Passport, which has an amazing collection of world music, focusing heavily on Afropop, Afrijazz, and Calypso. In addition to the great music, Kalil Wilson’s podcast has a beautifully designed site, along with playlists, artists’ pictures, and an option to subscribe to updates.

For some homegrown Matador podcast talent, be sure to check out podcast guru, Craig Martin.

Photo: christyfu (creative commons)

Photo by kk+ (Creative Commons)

When I first did a google search to kick off my hunt for this week’s picks, I came across a lot of perky, apparently-this-is-news-to-us stuff like this:

Did you know that these days, any hotel worthy of the name will have a free fitness center for guests? Use it!

Or:

Ask your big-name, over-priced gym whether they have deals with franchises in other cities! They’ll hook you up!

Okay, so I’m paraphrasing. And maybe adding in a dose of sarcasm. But the point is, it was harder than I thought to find quality fitness tips for travelers who aren’t staying in four-star hotels and who don’t have global gym memberships.

There is some great stuff out there, though! If you’re an independent traveler looking to stay fit on the road without spending much money, look no further.

Start with Turner Wright’s 5 Lesser Known Ways To Stay Fit When Traveling – these not only get you exercising, but help you connect with your destination, too.

Over at World Hum, Rolf Potts gives a detailed answer to the question, How do you stay fit when you’re traveling? His personal road fitness routine requires nothing more than a resistance band and a pair of running shoes.

Finally, RealBuzz.com also offers some good tips, including simple items to pack, and ways to work fitness into your sightseeing.

Regardless of your feelings about The War, you can’t help but be affected by a series of fine arts photographs taken by enlisted combat photographers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In a recent interview with Newsweek, curator Dane Jensen explained that he wanted to use photographs to tell stories about the war that aren’t being told by mainstream media.

The photos in “Eye of the Storm,” an exhibit of the photos that opened this past Friday at the Reform Gallery in Los Angeles, require the viewer to “read the back story” of the images, each of which portrays “small moments” not typically seen.

See 12 of the images from the exhibit, and leave a comment: What do you think about the act of turning war into fine art?

Photo: Jayel Aheram
*For more photos from the war, check out Jayel Aheram’s photostream on Flickr.

Photo courtesy of Peter Loewen

Anyone else have that cousin or distant family member who’s always doing incredible, intimidating, admirable stuff?

Like, say, riding a motorcycle from Cairo to Cape Town for charity?

Meet my cousin Sam, and his friend Peter. This summer they’ll be doing just that, and blogging about it all the way.

The blog is already up and running, filled with details about bike maintenance and preparation, photos from their past long-distance rides through Quebec and Labrador, route planning, and more.

I may be a little biased, but I find it fascinating.

The goal is to raise $50,000 for Spread the Net, a charity that aims to tackle malaria by a simple, affordable method: providing at-risk children in sub-Saharan Africa’s malarial zones with an insecticide-treated mosquito net. $10 buys one net, and Sam and Peter have raised close to $20,000 already – that’s a lot of nets!

So swing by the blog, check it out, and keep it in mind over the coming months – it should be a great adventure to follow along with.

ps: This trip’s been in the works since before Ewan McGregor did it. I’m just sayin’.