Photo by Markus Rödder

1. Working as a British Journalist in Ghana

“..Incidentally, people carry everything on their heads. It isn’t only the street sellers and the more rural country dwellers, it is literally everyone and everything. In Accra you will see business men and women carrying handbags and briefcases on their heads and women running down the road with huge bags of water just balancing (water is sold in bag form) without dropping a single one.

To get water to our house we have to carry this enormous sack of 500 ml sachets which collectively contains about 10 litres. It is quite far to walk with this amount of weight in your arms so one day I tried to go for the head tactic and ended up pretty much paralysed (much to the amusement of the Ghanaian onlookers).

A friend of mine who did a placement at the local hospital told me how he had seen a patient rigged up to an I.V drip and instead of carrying the bag on one of those trolleys that you wheel around, she carried it on her head! Ingenious.”

Read more from member Lorna North.

2. Riding the Bus in Bratislava

“Cheap flights–they’ll be the death of me. I suppose I have to thank Ryanair. They really know how to reel in the students. Our spring break was coming to an end, and we needed a way back to Sevilla from Vienna. Most flights were so expensive it wasn’t even worth thinking about it. Taking trains would be twice and expensive and take three times as long. Then we discovered that Ryanair had a flight from Bratislava to Bergamo, Italy. Bratislava was only an hour or so by bus from Vienna, so it was perfect. We would take a cheap bus into the Slovak Republic, get to see another city and country, then fly away on our way home. So we thought.”

Read more from member jgbrandt.

3. Some Notable Beliefs in South Korea

“This one sounds made up, but it’s the mother of them all. If you leave your fan on, it will suck all the oxygen out of the room and you will die. This is not urban legend, it is in the news, validated by scientists, and even highly educated people are convinced it’s true. Fans here are made with timers so they can shut off automatically and thus save your life.”

Read more from member Ahi.

4. Another Chinese Wedding

“…The ritual continues, with the door peeking open, more hands waving, grabbing, closing, squealing… until finally the groom raps with extra intensity and someone inside yells, “Why do you want to come in?” And the groom, apparently with great embarrasment but pride, was forced to say, “Because I love her.”

The door flung open, and everyone went charging in to a very small hotel room. The bride is wearing a sleeveless white wedding gown (quite beautiful, in fact) and red roses in her hair. She’s sitting on a white double bed with her legs tucked under her. I couldn’t help but think of the scene in The Great Gatsby when Daisy, dressed in white, seems to be floating on the white sofa.”

Read more from member KateMonster.

5. Mohammed and the Imaginary Fisherman

“Calling to Mohammed, I ask him if he’s seen the ship because seeing a ship is big news here in the camp where not much happens. He tells me he hasn’t so we walk a short distance to the beach and, stretching my arm in its direction, I show him this vessel whose purpose I have considered so much in the previous days. From its silhouette, I conclude it is a dhow and I Imagine its crew is working hard catching thousands of fish with long poles for our lunch tomorrow.”

Read more from member Jusstruss.

Community Connection:

Have travel stories of your own? Share them with us! Join our Matador community by registering here.

If you’re interested in becoming a travel writer, learn more about MatadorU’s travel writing program.

Photo: somegeekintn

Life happens.

Glimpse editor-in-chief Sarah Menkedick got married (Felicidades!), went to the Dominican Republic for a few days, and moved back to the US from Oaxaca, Mexico… all since July 3.

As she gets settled in, we figured we’d give applicants 10 extra days to get their Glimpse Correspondents applications finished.

The new deadline is July 25.

To learn what the Glimpse Correspondents program is, to find out if you’re eligible, and to apply, visit the Glimpse website.

Photo: Prefeitura de Olinda

When Matador acquired Glimpse a few months ago, we committed to continuing the Glimpse Correspondents Program.

The Correspondents program provides a $600 stipend and editorial support to writers and photographers working on journalistic projects abroad.

The application period for the next cycle of Correspondents closes on July 15, so you have just nine days left to finish your application.

For complete details, visit the Glimpse application page.

Community Connection:

Do you have stories or photographs you’d like to share with a massive audience? Check out Matador’s Bounty Board and learn about articles we’re currently commissioning.

Photo: Egan Snow

WWOOFing stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, and it’s a strong network of farmers around the world who host travelers in their homes in exchange for farm work.

Here are 5 Matador members with WWOOFing experience.

1. Rebecca Kinsella

Rebecca, a MatadorU alumna, has written articles about WWOOFing in Ireland and Australia for Matador Change. All of her information is based on first-hand experience as a WWOOFer in these countries.

2. Dona Francis

Dona, also a MatadorU grad, has written about WWOOFing in Thailand for Matador Change. For her, WWOOFing is just part of her larger commitment to sustainable living. Check out her article, Unplugging the Fridge, for more insight into her low-impact life.

3. SweetPotato

This 25 year old Matador member is from the city, but “forsook it for the country,” where she practices all sorts of home and farm arts. She and her partner are planning a WWOOFing trip through Spain, France, Italy, the Alps, The Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, The Netherlands and, hopefully, Ireland.

4. Merrilee Frable

Merrilee is fired up on “environmental preservation, local and sustainable food, human rights, vegan cooking.” No surprise, then, that she’s studying environmental science and politics at NYU. This summer she plans to WWOOF in Costa Rica.

5. Blackpacker

Blackpacker estimates he has 15,000-20,000 miles on his feet; he walks everywhere. In addition to seeing the world by walking, he’s fired up on “permaculture and how various communities and countries feed themselves and attempt to live in harmony with nature.” He and his fiance are considering WWOOFing in Australia and/or New Zealand.

Community Connection:

Want to learn more about WWOOFing? Read A First-Timer’s Guide to WWOOFing for the basics. Then, if you’re interested in WWOOFing yourself, read 4 Questions to Ask Before WWOOFing.

Photos by Lola Akinmade.

When Joshywashington’s face first popped up on the huge screen behind Pam Mandel and Mike Barish, I turned to fellow Matador team member Nancy Harder in excitement.

“Look! it’s Josh!.”

Mike would go on to read Josh’s piece, All Aboard which had been published as part of Travelers Notebook’s Notes From The Road series.

I would later squeal some more as Matador team members, Eileen Smith and Leigh Shulman’s faces also appeared on the screen.

Both Eileen’s piece, an abridged version of her Ecuadorian travel horror story, and Leigh’s article, Homecoming Is As A Bittersweet Chocolate Truffle, were edge-of-seat engrossing.

In addition to theirs, articles from Matador contributors Lauren Quinn and Conner Gorry were also read to an eager crowd of peers soaking up every word.

This past weekend, travel bloggers, writers, photographers, and PR companies gathered in New York from across the globe for the first “officially organized” TBEX conference.

While nothing truly “ground breaking” was discussed at the various panels which ranged from upping your travel writing game to monetizing blogs and travel ethics, the energy in the conference hall was undeniable…everyone was ecstatic to see everyone else; the faces behind avatar-driven Twitter accounts and favorite travel blogs.

Other Matador team members in attendance included Carlo Alcos, JoAnna Haugen, Nancy Harder, Candice Walsh, Abbie Mood, and Andy Hayes (the man behind @MatadorNetwork).

During the panel on travel ethics in which I filled in for Managing Editor Julie Schwietert, an excerpt from Tom Gates’ exemplary piece, Notes from the Grand Del Mar Hotel, San Diego, was read as a refreshingly creative way of writing reviews based on press trips.

Matadorians were representing and in the most important way: showcasing transparent writing and original voices which is the very essence of our MatadorU travel writing course…and community.

Photo: tezzr

Our new bulk photo uploader lets you upload dozens of photos with the click of a button.

Using Matador’s new bulk photo uploader is easy. Here are the steps:

1. Login to MatadorTravel.
2. Choose “Create a gallery.”
3. Add as many images as you’d like with one click using the bulk uploader.
4. Once you’ve created a gallery, choose which image you want as your profile photo by hitting the “make profile photo” link.

If you have questions, please email me at julie[at]matadornetwork[dot]com.

Community Connection:

Want to improve your photography skills– or even become a professional travel photographer? Check out MatadorU’s travel photography course!

Photo: e-magic

A couple weeks ago, we announced the re-launch of MatadorTravel.com, the community side of MatadorNetwork, where individual and organizational members can set up profiles, write blogs, upload and share photos, and post or respond to travel-related questions in the Forums.

Since then, we’ve identified a number of bugs in the system and have been passing along the problems you’ve encountered to our tech team.

It may take a few more weeks for all the problems to be resolved, so thanks for your patience. If you have questions about the bugs or want to know the status of a problem you’ve reported, please visit this Forum thread.

Photo: NickPro

I don’t do surfing.

I don’t mean for that to come off like it sounds because I’d actually love to learn to surf. And the reason–five reasons, actually–are below. If you’ve ever read the writing of the folks included in this week’s members to meet, or seen photos of them killing it in the world’s oceans, then you’ll know why– surfing is stoke. Meditation. Adrenaline. Focus. Risk. Fear… but fear conquered, over and over again.

1. David Miller

David Miller, Matador’s senior editor, has temporarily traded his surfboard for a kayak since moving to Patagonia last fall, but I suspect if he had a chance to spend a week at Los Cerritos, he’d pull the plug on his laptop and head up there in a second.

2. Benita Hussain

Benita Hussain’s an interesting woman for a lot of reasons. She was a child actor. She ditched her job as a lawyer and decided to travel the world. And as she travels, she picks up new sports, including surfing. Read about her experiences in “Fear of the Big Drop.”

3. Rhys Stacker

Rhys Stacker’s been a Matador member since the early days, and as he’s made his laps around the world, he’s filed a handful of surf reports for Matador, including Surf Vietnam: China Beach and Beyond; Surfing Morocco; and Portugal’s Algarve Coast.

4. Alex Hapgood

Peep Alex Hapgood’s Matador profile and you’ll see him ruling a wave in Cornwall. Though he’s written about surfing in Portugal and Spain for Matador, he knows his local territory best. Check out his article about ING’s kitesurfing ban in Cornwall.

5. NickPro

NickPro is fired up on “surfing, partying, and meeting people” and felt most immersed in another culture when he worked on a surf lesson boat in Mexico. Check out his profile to see pics of him owning his board.

Community Connection:

Looking for the best surf spots around the world? Want to get started surfing? Everything we’ve ever published about surfing is on our Surfing Focus Page!

Hal Amen’s Korean for Beginners

I was editing some articles for Matador last week when the doorbell rang.

“Are you expecting anyone?” my husband asked me.

I wasn’t.

I opened the door and saw the UPS man, who was delivering an envelope, return address: Random House. I tore open the package, thinking it was a review copy of a book. Turns out, it was a copy of the 6th edition of Fodor’s Puerto Rico. I was one of six contributing writers on this guide, and having submitted my five features almost a year ago, I’d forgotten that the guide was just about to hit shelves.

It was nice to see my name in print alongside fellow guidebook writers, including Matador contributor Nicholas Gill and Charyn Pfeuffer, who we profiled on Matador Change a couple months ago.

As thrilled as I was to see the Fodor’s guide published, though, I was even more stoked to learn that contributing editor David Page and Trips co-editor Hal Amen were also celebrating some big accomplishments.

David’s piece, “Adventures in Weaning,” published on The Travelers Notebook, won first place in the John Reginato Conservation Awards at the annual conference of the Outdoor Writers of California. His “Writing Fire: A Brief Anthology on the Burning of Los Angeles,” also published on The Travelers Notebook, won second place in the web-only category. David won a whole bunch of other awards for his print work, too; he was just too modest to tell me so (I discovered the other awards when I checked the OWAC website, where I also learned that MatadorU alum Carina Port also picked up a few awards for her photography and writing).

Hal didn’t even broadcast his accomplishment; fellow Trips co-editor, Carlo Alcos, alerted the rest of the Matador crew to the fact that Hal had just published Korean for Beginners, a book he co-authored with Park Kyubyong. Learn more about his writing and publishing processes in this post from his blog.

Do you have an accomplishment to share? Email me at julie[at]matadornetwork.com.

Community Connection:

Interested in becoming a travel writer? Learn more about MatadorU’s travel writing program.

The community site of the MatadorNetwork, Matador Travel, has just emerged from a complete overhaul that was more than a year in the making.

More user-friendly and tricked out with all kinds of bells and whistles, Matador Travel now allows community members to share photos more prominently, connect their Matador Travel updates to their Twitter account, and find and interact with other travelers and organizational members more easily.

The overhaul wasn’t without its frustrations–transferring massive amounts of data to a new server is a huge challenge. Difficulties you might have encountered with your account over the weekend include having received multiple friend requests in the email account associated with your Matador Travel profile. We’re also aware that some users didn’t notice our warning that any new posts entered over the weekend were likely to be lost.

We think we’ve ironed out the rest of the wrinkles, but if you encounter any problems or have any questions, please post them in this forum thread so we can address them right away.

Community Connection:

What do you think of the new site? Share your feedback in the comments.

Matador member Aaron Appleton recording a traditional Mayan instrument called a “tun” in Guatemala; Photo: Aaron Appleton

Meet five ethnomusicologists and musicians who are members of the Matador community:

1. Ellie McCutcheon

Ellie McCutcheon is a 20-year old student interested in ethnomusicology–and she’s already well on her way to learning about other cultures through their music.

Ellie has lived in Chile and will be on her way to Kunming, China this fall, where she will be starting an independent study on Chinese music.

2. Aaron Appleton

Wisconsin-born Aaron Appleton describes himself as an “avant-garde ethnomusicologist currently working to start-up a non profit organization named Ensigo,” and he wants to make a difference in the world by “using music as a tool to bring transformational development.”

Check out photos in his gallery to see Aaron recording music during his travels.

3. Danielle Adomaitis

Danielle Adomaitis is a grad student studying ethnomusicology. Much of her work focuses on New Orleans; follow her blog, SocioSound to learn more.

4. Michelle Schusterman

Michelle Schusterman, associate editor of Matador Goods, isn’t formally an ethnomusicologist, but she’s pretty much earned an honorary degree. From Brazil to Korea, Michelle’s perfected the art of traveling with instruments and making music with locals.

Follow her blog for entries about her life as a musician, traveler, and writer.

5. Mark Powers

Mark Powers is a percussionist “dedicated to traveling the globe, studying its musics and cultures, and teaching others what I learn.” Mark’s summer travel plans include a stop in the Afro-Puerto Rican town of Loiza, Puerto Rico, where he’ll be studying traditional bomba y plena.

Community Connection:

Check out the Internet’s most inspirational music videos and follow Matador Nights’ weekly #MusicMonday series.

Photo: sskennel

I don’t know how often you browse through the profiles of fellow travelers in Matador’s travel community, but do it more often: there are thousands of incredible people just like you waiting to share their stories and experiences.

Some of them, though, happen to do so for a living.

In light of the fact that we’ve just opened the application period for Glimpse correspondents, it seemed like a good time to introduce you to some of the professional journalists in the Matador Travel community.

1. Francisco Alarcon

Francisco’s hometown is Ciudad Juarez, Mexico… one of the least safe places for journalists on the planet.

He currently lives in El Paso, where he is a journalism student and a reporter for a local Spanish-language newspaper.

2. Alexis Grant

Alexis Grant, a regular Matador contributor, graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, worked as a reporter at the Houston Chronicle for three years before taking a temporary leave from the profession to backpack around Africa.

Her trip gave her plenty of writing material–so much so that she spent the period following her return from the trip writing a memoir about it. Her memoir finished, she’s now looking to pick up where she left off as a journalist. You can read more about her in this interview or on her blog.

3. Conner Gorry

Conner, an American expat who has called Cuba home for just shy of a decade, has written a whole shelf of guide books and other travel-related articles for publications like Cuba Absolutely and others, but her day job is working as the senior editor of the MEDICC Review, “the only peer-reviewed journal in English dedicated to Cuban health and medicine.”

She recently returned from a trip to Haiti, where she reported on Cuban doctors’ work in post-earthquake Port-Au-Prince. Keep up with her on Twitter or her blog.

4. Andrew S. Lewis

Andrew, a recent arrival to the Matador community, describes himself as a travel journalist who “focuses on the coasts of the globe,” filing stories for surfing publications.

His mission? To “help Americans understand that the world is not flat, and that three miles off our coasts the ocean does not, in fact, drain off in some Niagra fashion into the deep of space.”

Friend him up here on Matador and follow his blog.

5. Mei-Ling McNamara

Mei-Ling is a long-time Matador member who lives in London, where she works as a journalist and producer. Much of her work has focused on human rights issues, and she has collaborated with the International Red Cross and the Human Rights Watch Film Festival.

Community Connection:

Are you considering a career in travel journalism? Read Sarah Stutteville’s article “To Be (or Not to Be) a Travel Journalist” for some first-person insight on the profession.

Gail Mooney-Kelly is a professional photographer who has shot for National Geographic and Smithsonian. Erin Kelly is a recent college graduate. They’re a mother and daughter pair about to take off on a round-the-world trip to document people making a positive difference at the grassroots level.

I learned more about their trip via email.

Julie:
How did the idea for your mother-daughter trip evolve?

Gail:
I actually came up with the idea after seeing Robert Frank’s “Americans” exhibit at the MET in New York City. The photographs inspired me to get back to my roots and head out on the road. I had over 350,000 airline points as well as thousands of hotel and American Express points and it was time to use them.

But I also knew I needed a purpose and decided to do a “passion project” – a documentary about people who were making a positive difference in the world on a grassroots level. A young woman from our town helped inspire this project and will be one of our subjects. She graduated high school with Erin and decided to travel rather than go straight to college.

She ended up in Nepal where she saw the need for a home for orphans so she built one. Four years later, she is still in Nepal and is now building a school.

Erin:
It was my mother’s idea, initially, for the project – to make a documentary that focuses on individuals making a difference around the world. But it was my idea to go with her, adding the mother-daughter element to the trip. I think it also partly stemmed from a dream that we’ve always had to get round-the-world tickets and travel for a summer. And now we’re doing just that, but with an even more meaningful purpose.

Julie:
What are the goals of the trip with respect to your relationship with each other?

Gail:
My daughter has grown up traveling the world with her parents – both my husband and myself are photographers/filmmakers. This is the first time we will be working together and Erin will bring another dimension to the project because of her age and how she sees the world.

It will be the trip of a lifetime that we will share together, an experience we’ll never forget. Most importantly, it will let me get to really know the young woman my daughter is.

Erin:
I hope to learn more about my mother’s traveling adventures when she was my age, and reconnect with her on a more adult level. As it’s been a year since I’ve moved away from home, our relationship has shifted – I’m hoping that it will continue to grow and strengthen as we share this experience together.

With respect to the project, my goal is to connect with our subjects, learn from them, and inspire the world with their stories. Overall, I also hope to learn more about myself and discover what careers I might be interested in pursuing, once I return.

Julie:
And with respect to the documentary project?

Gail:
We will distribute the documentary online with the hope that it will spread virally and inspire others who see the film that they too can do something to make a difference in their own communities or elsewhere in the world.

Julie:
How did you select the organizations that will be featured in the documentary?

Gail:

Screenshot from Maggie Doyne’s blog

We actually didn’t select “organizations,” but rather individuals. We wanted to shine a little light on people who are out there but who go unnoticed. We knew we wanted to include Maggie Doyne, who had inspired us to do this, so we initially sent a query to her.

She sent us some people she had met and they sent the query to people and it took on a life of its own with social media. Word of mouth generated leads.

Erin:
We reached out to all of our contacts, asking if they knew anyone who would fit the project, if they encountered anyone on their travels, or in their daily lives (for those are living abroad). The majority of people we found were referred to us by peers. We also looked at various websites that honor local community members for their efforts – for example, we found one of our subjects through the Australian of the Year Awards site.

Julie:
Why is it important to tell their stories?

Gail:
To show people the power of the individual. To inspire others to follow their passions and dreams.

Erin:
The biggest goal of the project is to show how one person can make a difference in their community when they are passionate about something. It’s important to share these stories to bring awareness to these individuals who are doing incredible things, to inspire others to want to aid these individuals or embark on projects of their own, and to perhaps connect these individuals with each other – facilitating communication and collaboration amongst those who strive to make the world a better place.

Julie:
Who do you expect your audience to be and what kind of effect do you want the documentary to have?

Gail:
I expect it to be a mixed demographic as far as age since we are a mother and daughter team. It’s also certainly appealing to travelers because it will take us across the globe and they can follow our journey. It will also appeal to photographers and filmmakers because it will be a behind the scenes look at the creation of a documentary. So I think it has a very wide appeal. And certainly philanthropically minded people will be interested.

Erin:
I expect that our audience will at least initially be our friends and family, our colleagues, and perhaps like-minded individuals who are in the travel, video and nonprofit worlds. I am hoping that we will be able to spread the word even more and inspire others to make a difference in their own way. The important thing is to make people aware that there are in fact individuals all over the world who are actively following their dreams and working to create change.

You can follow Gail’s and Erin’s journey on their blog.

Community Connection:

If you’re planning a RTW trip, be sure to check out our Travel Around the World Focus Page!

Feature photo: dominikgolenia ; Photo above: papalars

JoAnna Haugen was recently named the managing editor of the Journey Beyond Travel website, an online travel guide focused on Morocco. We talked over email about this new project and some of her other work.

Julie:
What is Journey Beyond Travel and what is your role?

JoAnna:
Journey Beyond Travel is a cultural and eco-tour operator in Morocco. I am the managing editor of the travel guide section of the Journey Beyond Travel website. I’ve been working with my direct supervisor to create a plan for a consistent and interesting flow of articles related to Morocco.

Over the long term, I will completely run this section of the site by editing and posting 3-4 articles per week, putting together an email newsletter, and running the social media components that are related to the travel guide.

Julie:
What interested you in taking on this position?

JoAnna:
I personally have never been to Morocco, but I’ve always been fascinated with the country, so I was excited to take on a position that allowed me to really dig in to the culture, places, and people of Morocco. In the short time that I’ve been working on the site, Morocco has definitely made a big jump to the top of my bucket list.

Also, the Journey Beyond Travel site had reached a point where it needed fresh eyes, and it’s been a lot of fun to create long-term plans that will help develop the site into something more comprehensive and user friendly than it is now.

Julie:
What are your plans for developing the site?

JoAnna:
Right now, everything is a work in progress, but I have developed an editorial calendar and we’re talking about redesigning the layout of the travel guide so that we can begin posting photo essays.

Photo: David Dennisphotography.com

We have a few other ideas on how to make the travel guide more useful for people interested in traveling to Morocco, which we hope to implement before too long, but no other major changes to the site have been decided on at this point.

One of the most pressing things right now is finding one more long-term writer for our editorial team. If any Matador readers are interested in learning more about the open position, they should contact me at joanna[at]journeybeyondtravel[dot]com.

Julie:
What niche or gap does JBT fill in online travel writing?

JoAnna:
Journey Beyond Travel is strictly focused on travel to and in Morocco. Though the site is for a tour company, the ultimate goal is to make this a go-to site for people who would like to travel to the country.

Because of this, I’m hoping to cover all aspects of travel to Morocco from what to pack and what kind of weather to expect at certain times of the year to finding the perfect place to stay for a honeymoon or where the best rock climbing is. We aren’t trying to cover everything related to travel, but we are trying to provide information for anyone who wants to go to Morocco, regardless of budget, age, or interests.

Julie:
What else are you working on apart from travel editing and travel writing these days?

JoAnna:
I’m always juggling a lot of different projects, but I do have a couple new interesting writing assignments that stand out right now. First, I’m getting ready to work with a client on some web copy writing and ghost blogging about a new, very exciting niche business she is starting. She has a brilliant idea, and, quite frankly, I’m surprised no one else has thought to create this business first.

Also, I just signed with a literary agent to have my first children’s picture book represented, so I’m working with her to develop a marketing / promotional plan. I knew getting an agent would be tricky, but I didn’t know how much work would be involved once I found one who wanted to represent my book!

Julie:
What are some of your long-term writing plans?

JoAnna:
That’s a hard question to answer because I love everything I work on and write now, but I also could use a little more time to sleep and a bit more focus on what I write. I have about a dozen half-started novel ideas–some are 50,000 words and eight chapters in, some no more than an outline and a few words or thoughts–and I would like to get back to those some day.

Community Connection:

Matador’s ultimate resource for Morocco is our Morocco Focus Page. We have articles on Surfing Morocco, finding the best food and spiritual experiences in Morocco, and gorgeous photo essays by Matador contributing editor, Morocco guidebook author, and MatadorU faculty member, Paul Sullivan.

Mary Richardson

One of the Transitions Abroad writing contests invites entrants to submit essays about their expat experiences.

In addition to first, second, and third place prizes, Transitions Abroad recognizes runner-ups for excellent writing, and MatadorU grad Mary Richardson was one of nine runner-ups in this year’s contest.

Mary’s essay, “Island Fever in Okinawa,” recounts how she became a “reluctant expat” living in Japan after marrying a U.S. serviceman.

Read the full essay on the Transitions Abroad site, and be sure to follow her blog.

Congratulations, Mary!

Community Connection:

MatadorU students enjoy exclusive access to market leads, posted daily to our Market Blog. Leads include blogging and guidebook gigs, commissioned assignments, residencies and fellowships, and contests. Access to the board continues even after you complete the 12-week travel writing course. Interested? Check out MatadorU today!

All photos by Paul Sullivan.

Most of the Matador editors have a whole lotta gigs going on. We love too many places and have too many interests to confine ourselves to just one project… I suppose that’s one of the reasons why we get along so well.

Contributing editor Paul Sullivan, also a faculty member in MatadorU’s travel photography program, may have more going on than most. One of his latest projects is Slow Travel Berlin.

We went back and forth over email to talk about STB:

Julie:
You’re originally from the UK. What brought you to Berlin and how long have you lived there?

Paul:
I officially left London / the UK in 2002 and have been moving around and living in different cities and countries ever since. I first came to Berlin in 2007 to write/photograph the Hedonist’s Guide To Berlin, and fell in love with the city right away.

I was actually living in Cologne with my partner at the time, a pleasant enough town, but I knew Berlin was more my kind of place. We moved here at the end of 2008. In the year and a half we’ve been here we’ve enjoyed it even more than we thought. It’s definitely one of the most interesting and inspiring cities in Europe right now.

Julie:
Explain the slow travel concept. I’m guessing it’s a bit like slow food?

Paul:
It pretty much employs the same underlying philosophy in that it’s about slowing an experience down to enjoy it more. Slow Food was Italy’s direct reaction to fast food and spawned a global movement. While Slow Travel doesn’t have the same globally defined criteria (yet), by our personal definition it means encouraging travelers to engage and explore a place instead of rushing through it.

It’s about interacting with the local community, getting off the beaten track, not being guided too much by mainstream itineraries. We love the Reichstag and the Brandenburger Tor, but there are many smaller, lesser-known sights and places just as worthy of attention.

Julie:
So what makes Berlin particularly amenable to this notion of slow travel?

Paul:
Berlin is a distinctive city in both German and European terms: its historical development is very unique. In the last century it has endured two world wars and a cold war, which as you can imagine create a very special atmosphere.

The city is vast, with large streets and lots of empty spaces which, combined with a relatively low population (around four million), make for a less stressful vibe than more ‘compressed’ cities like London, Paris, or New York. You can usually get a seat on a bus or tram, for example, and even central parts of the city can sometimes feel quite empty.

It’s a pretty broke city – “poor but sexy” as the famous motto goes – and therefore doesn’t have such an invasive commercial presence – less advertising and less emphasis on materialism as seen by the pride Berliners have in their old, crappy bikes and trashy-chic aesthetic. In fact there’s a discernable anti-capitalist thread that still runs through Berlin 20 years after the fall of the Wall.

Couple that with the famously liberal nightlife here and you have a city that’s extremely popular with an international creative community who tend to value quality of life and experience over accumulation of wealth and corporate success.

It’s one of the greenest cities in Europe too, with plenty of large parks to collapse in once you’ve exhausted the club scene, and it’s very bike-friendly – generally quite flat with plenty of cycle lanes.

Given my work as a music journalist (I’ve been covering club culture worldwide for a decade), setting something up on the nightlife scene would have been an easy and obvious choice. But I wanted a different challenge.

The project was also provoked by the various guidebooks I’ve written/photographed for Time Out, HG2, and Cool Camping. While these are usually great fun, I’m generally “dropped into” a place and have a limited amount of time and words to represent it.

Living in Berlin I realized I had the opportunity to write from a local perspective and enjoy zero restrictions on word length and coverage while still exploring my main passions: art, music, travel, culture, photography, food and more. My partner, Kirstin Gernath, has a background in PR and marketing, so we’re working together on creating an alternative way of experiencing the city.

The idea is to promote not only “hidden” or “alternative” aspects of Berlin but also locally produced services and goods like food, clothes, art….

Julie:
I’m intrigued by your description of slow travel on the site, mainly because my own travel style is slow (so slow I end up living in places for a while). Does slow travel address or include preparing before a visit by learning more about the place you’re visiting?

Paul:
Preparation can be useful in certain cases but we don’t think it’s essential to experience a city in “slow” style. It could even be argued that preparation gets in the way. In the sense of researching courses, areas to explore, lesser known hikes and cycle routes, or accommodation, a bit of prep can be good, and our site is definitely set up to help visitors garner such information and insights before they come or even when they’re here.

But Slow to me is also about leaving enough time to be spontaneous and explore a place creatively without being bound to a rigorous schedule. Such itineraries are generally based on filtered, pre-conceived notions of a place that result in “conveyor-belt” tourism that promotes and recycles the same old sights and places.

In reality, cities are like people – they unfurl and expand in unexpected ways, challenging our preconceptions as we interact with them.

Julie:
Slow travel probably resists lists, but indulge me. What are a few experiences that you’d recommend to slow travelers in Berlin who want to, as you say on the site, “get beneath the skin of the city a little”?

Paul:

The first thing I’d suggest is forgetting the guidebook or website (yes, even ours) and indulging in some random train, bus, and tram hopping. Take a map and the phone number of your hotel or the friend you’re staying with, and just – explore. You really can’t get too lost.

It’s only a few euros to ride the system for a whole day and Berlin is a pretty safe and friendly city. You’ll find history and surprises everywhere. Please don’t forget to take your camera!

You could also think about taking a course. As mentioned, Berlin has a fantastic creative scene and there is a multitude of artists, photographers, chefs, musicians, and writers living here, many of whom run courses and workshops in their respective fields.

Since rents and day-to-day living are relatively cheap here, Berlin is a great choice to come and write that short story or novel, learn a language or record your demo. This side of our site is in development, but we’ll soon be providing information on the best courses and private teachers, as well as links to mid and long-term accommodation spots (hostels, private rooms, apartments) to enable (and encourage) visitors to spend more time in the city.

For more specific Slow tips you can of course visit our site, Slow Travel Berlin. We feature bio restaurants and pleasant cafés / places to hangout, museums and galleries, spas and outdoor activities, as well as interviews with local creatives and personal ‘takes’ on the city.

We post slowly – literally a couple of things a week – but we’re quite selective and try to cover things more in-depth than most.

Julie:
What are your goals for slow travel Berlin, the site?

Paul:
We’d love it to become a legitimate travel business that offers a range of thoughtful services and intelligent information to visitors and residents alike (we have a German language section in development).

But we also like the idea of growing organically and – yep, you guessed it – slowly, feeling out each step as we go and making sure we do it sensitively and properly. Slow Travel as a philosophy has a lot of potential for positive change both locally and globally.

The possibilities are endless and we have a lot of ideas, but we’re in no rush.

Julie:
Do you have any collaborators, and if so, who are they?

Paul:

We only really started the site in January, so we’re just starting to look for prospective partners now. We just partnered with the Local Travel Movement – http://www.localtravelmovement.com – who place value on an approach to travel that is mindful of local people, the local environment, local culture and the local economy. We know there are many other like-minded folk around too; it’s just a matter of time before our paths start to cross naturally and the fertile collaborations begin.

Julie:

I imagine this site is–at least for now–a labor of love. But you’re a partner, a dad, a working writer and a working photographer, so where do you find time to keep Slow Travel Berlin updated?

Paul:
One of the biggest challenges for us, as for many busy, ambitious and life-loving parents, is time management. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to earn your crust, raise your kid and maintain a range of hobbies on the side.

It becomes a serious juggling act, and the big challenge is not just to do everything, but do it well. A big appeal with the slow philosophy in the first instance was the opportunity to explore ways of decelerating important aspects of life such as food, health, parenting.

I can’t say we’ve mastered it. We’re not Slow Ninjas just yet but the project is helping us achieve some life balance and we sincerely hope it inspires others in the right way, too.

Slow Travel Berlin is currently seeking contributors. If you’d like to help promote local Berlin art, culture, food and more, contact paul@slowtravelberlin.com

Community Connection:

Does Paul have you stoked on Berlin? Check out Paul’s photo essay, Berlin 20/20: A Photo Tour of a Reunited City.

A book market in Cairo, Photo: dlisbona

News of Matador members’ wins in the Grantourismo writing competition was followed by the announcement of the winners of the latest Trazzler writing contest.

And MatadorU grad and intern Nick Rowlands was among them.

The theme of the writing contest was “City Flavor,” and Nick’s entry, “Rummaging Around Nooks and Crannies in Azbakiya Book Market, Cairo,” was the winning trip itinerary entered in the “Neighborhood Spots” category.

The prize is an expenses-paid trip to San Francisco, which is especially exciting for Nick because he’s never visited the U.S. before.

He’ll be in good company– Matador co-founders Ross Borden and Ben Polansky are based in the Bay Area, as is Matador’s San Francisco Destination Expert, Lauren Quinn.

Congratulations, Nick!

Community Connection:

Are you headed to San Francisco? Check out Lauren’s What NOT to Do in San Francisco guide, as well as Matador’s guide to Urban Volunteering in San Francisco.

Photo: Matador member, Carlos Russo

Mike Sowden

Matador ID: mikeachim
Twitter ID: @mikeachim

In his Twitter bio, Mike describes himself as a “freelance writer, aspiring professional storyteller, adventure geek and power-klutz.”

Evidence regarding that last point? He accidentally deleted his blog last year.

Follow him for funny tweets, especially about food (bacon, Yorkshire Pudding), travel (Athens), and technology (the iPad, of late).

Maryanne Oxendale

Matador ID: koangirl
Twitter ID: @koangirl

Maryanne is a teacher, writer, and photographer who has been on the road for the past 15 years. Currently in Shanghai, she also likes “barefoot reggae dancing, experimental cooking, [and] reading,” and she speaks French, Turkish, some Afrikaans, and some Spanish in addition to English.

Follow her for evocative 140-character descriptions that only a long-term traveler could come up with:

“Ringtone on phone in noodle shop was like Shirley Bassey singing show tunes in Uyghur.”

“Our neighbourhood in Xuhui smells like a textile fire in a polyester factory. Had to walk down Shanxi Nan lu with my scarf over my face.”

Carlos Russo

Matador ID: CeRusso
Twitter ID: @cerusso

Carlos, who calls New York City home, is currently road-tripping with family around Florida. He’s a student with some pretty fascinating long-term plans involving the study of Santeria in Cuba, which he told me about over breakfast a couple months back.

Follow him because he’s genuinely friendly and supportive, and because he tweets about life that’s not directly related to travel.

Pres Vasilev

Matador ID: globbler
Twitter ID: @globbler

Pres, originally from Sofia, Bulgaria, is currently based in Chicago, one stop on his long-term plan to “go around the world, explore its wonderful places, and make friendships with people from every corner of our amazing planet.”

If you’re curious, as I was, about what a “globbler,” is, then visit his blog and decide whether you are a globbler, too.

Follow him for thought-provoking quotes and his enthusiasm.

Suzanne Wales

Matador ID: velveteditor
Twitter ID: @velveteditor

If you’re headed to Barcelona, you’ll want to be following Suzanne, who tweets about traditional bars and travel news related specifically to her city.

You should also follow her because the site she manages is running a travel writing competition through September 9, 2010. The prize? A weekend in Barcelona.

Community Connection:

Are you on Twitter? Leave your handle in the comments so we can start following you, too.

Michelle Schusterman

As Matador Goods’ associate editor, Michelle Schusterman gets to show off her technical writing skills, offering regular reviews of travel-related tech goods like Sutro Media’s Essential Boston iPhone app, Apple’s iPad, and National Geographic’s full magazine collection, digitized.

Michelle writes about music and travel on her own blog, and as the Matador team learned last week, she writes young adult novels, too. Her most recent book has been picked up by an agent and will be shopped around this spring.

Curious about her experiences as a writer beyond the travel and gear world, I sent Michelle some questions for her to answer via email.

Julie:
How did you become interested in writing books for young adults?

Michelle:
I wrote “books” (and I use the term lightly!) when I was younger, and my characters were always between 12 and 16. I grew up, and the characters never did! There’s just something about that time of life – everything is new and exciting; everything is an adventure.

Julie:
What’s the process of looking for an agent like?

Michelle:
Honestly, it makes you feel a bit like a stalker! There’s tons of information online about how to query a literary agent. Most agents have pages indicating what types of manuscripts they’re interested in on Publisher’s Marketplace, and lots have blogs and websites as well.

It’s a slow process, because the last thing you want to do is mass query. I made a carefully researched list of agents who were interested in my genre, and looked up agents who represented published books similar to mine. Every agent has different query submission guidelines – some want a full synopsis, some want sample pages and chapters, some want a bio – and it’s important to stick to their rules. It’s like writing a cover letter – personalized and professional.

There’s lots of waiting involved. Some agents respond in days, weeks, months, and with others, no response means you’ve been rejected. If they do respond and ask to see a partial or the full manuscript, guess what – more waiting! Response times really vary, so it’s important to stay organized and keep track of who has what during the query process.

Julie:
Why does a writer need an agent?

Michelle:
My personal reasons are that I’m awful at negotiating contracts, and I want a professional to help edit and polish my book before sending it out to publishers. A good literary agent is a writer’s advocate – they work to make your book great and get the best deal possible.

Many agents are very experienced with editorial work, and it’s always fantastic to have another set of eyes on a novel. They’re also well-connected – they know which editors at which houses are looking for which types of novels, so they’ll know just who to submit your novel to.

They know the market inside and out, and while some writers do as well, many don’t.

Julie:
What’s the writer-agent relationship like?

Michelle:
Some agents are more editorial than others, some are more reachable than others. It’s another reason why it’s so important for a writer to find an agent with similar goals for their book and career.

I’m just in the beginning stages of this, but I’d say it’s a mix of both professional and personal – I mean, writing is an intimate thing, and you’re working with someone who loves your writing and wants to promote it. It has to be a little bit personal! An agent isn’t just a contract negotiator, but someone a writer can turn to for guidance or advice during the overwhelming process of writing and publishing a novel.

Julie:
What should you/did you look for when choosing an agent?

Michelle:
First, I looked for someone who represented the genre of my novel, which is middle-grade supernatural. I looked at the lists of authors and books they already represent to see what their tastes were like.

I also looked at those who had somewhat of a web presence – websites, blogs, and maybe even a Twitter account. And honestly, I moved the friendliest, most approachable agents to the top of my list. I’ve heard stories about both good and questionable agent-author relationships, and I knew I wanted someone genuinely interested in helping a newbie like me with this venture!

Julie:
What are the next steps leading to potential publication?

Michelle:
My agent currently has my manuscript and is working on editorial notes. Once I get those back from her, I’ll go through and revise, and revise, and revise some more. When we both feel comfortable with the final product, she’ll begin submitting it to editors. If someone is interested, hopefully a contract with their publishing house is the next step!

Julie:
What’s the subject of this particular book? Would it be your first published book?

Michelle:
This would be my debut novel. It’s a (hopefully) humorous supernatural story about a tech-savvy 8th grade girl named Ruth whose stepmother is into séances and insists that their town has ghosts. So Ruth holds her own kind of séance – she starts a blog inviting all of the town’s ghosts to tell her their problems.

Encounters with creepy comments, possessed computers, shawls with wicked cases of static cling, and other general mayhem ensues.

Community Connection:

Photo: llamnudds

Many Matador members submitted an entry in the first Grantourismo contest, including Lola Akinmade, Heather Carreiro, Tom Gates, Simone Gorrindo, and Sarah Menkedick.

The prompt was to write about a neighborhood and the people who live in it, “the idea being to inspire people to get out of the tourist zone and off the beaten track, to get an insight into everyday life, and to interact with locals.”

Two Matador members took first and second place in the competition. MatadorU student Lisa Bergren won first place for her entry, “View on a Venetian Neighborhood.” Matador Trips co-editor Carlo Alcos was awarded second place for “It beats watching TV,” an account of one of many experiences with locals during his recent cycling trip in Cuba.

Grantourismo plans to host several more writing competitions, so be sure to follow their blog and add them to your Twitter feed so you can be updated about future contests.

Congratulations to our winners!

Community Connection:

Become a travel writer!

MatadorU is the most supportive, engaging, and innovative course for helping students accelerate their careers as travel writers and new media professionals. Join Us!

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-editor-u-student-win-grantourismo-competition/feed/ 4 http://matadorpulse.com/meet-matador-intern-heather-carreiro/ http://matadorpulse.com/meet-matador-intern-heather-carreiro/#comments Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:31:48 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1581

Matador intern, Heather Carreiro

The latest MatadorU grad to join the team is Heather Carreiro.

If you’ve read Heather Carreiro’s articles on Matador, you probably have a good idea why we invited her to join our team as an editorial intern. Heather’s writing is vivid and authentic, conveys a strong sense of place, and relies wholly on original images.

Given her experience as an expat in Pakistan, we thought Heather would be an ideal person to assist editor Sarah Menkedick with MatadorAbroad, our blog about studying and living abroad.

Heather and I exchanged a round of emails so the Matador community could learn more about her.

Julie:
Where were you born and where are you living now?

Heather:
I grew up in western Massachusetts and recently moved to Fall River in southeast Massachusetts. Although it’s the same state, it feels like I’m living in a completely different culture as a large part of the population is Portuguese.

My husband Duarte and I live in an apartment in his parent’s house, and I’m the only one whose native language is English. Meals at our house include dishes like octopus, salt cod, tripe, kale soup, linguica and blood sausage.

Julie:
Tell us a bit about your academic and professional background.

Heather:
As an undergrad I studied Linguistics & Middle Eastern Studies at UMass-Amherst. My junior year was spent in Morocco, where I took classes in Islamic theology, Arabic, Berber history and culture and Islamic art & architecture. I started to see how travel complemented academic pursuits.

Follow Heather on Twitter and be sure to check out her blog.

In one class we were learning about Moroccan policy in the Western Sahara, so during Eid break some other students and I headed south to Laayoune to see what the situation was on the ground. On another occasion, a friend and I hiked through the High Atlas mountains to see the historic Tin Mal mosque, a place even our Islamic art professor hadn’t been.

I quickly became hooked to travel that was not just for the sake of travel, but also for experiencing different cultures and gaining local perspective.

After graduating from UMass, I moved to Lahore, Pakistan to work in education development. I didn’t go with any organization or have any particular job lined up, but I went and stayed with my Urdu tutor’s family and started making connections that way.

During my three years in Lahore I ran creative writing workshops, developed an ESL curriculum for teachers, offered professional development seminars for teachers, and lectured for an MA TESOL program at a local university.

Although I didn’t have an MA myself, my background in linguistics and my experience teaching ESL in the UMass Continuing Education department put me in high demand in Lahore. Because linguistics is a fairly new field of study in Pakistan, I was seen as an expert and was able to have creative freedom in designing college classes and curriculum.

Julie:
And a bit about your professional goals.

Heather:
While I loved being abroad and working with local NGOs and schools, Duarte and I realized that we wanted a bit more structure in our lives. Taking care of our own visas and constantly having our finances in flux was a huge source of stress, and we were ready to take a break from the power cuts and 120-degree heat of the Pakistani Punjab.

As we both had experience teaching and enjoyed being in the classroom, we decided to pursue careers as international teachers: me in secondary English and him in physics and math. We’re currently in the U.S. for the purpose of getting certified in those subjects and continuing our education so we can be more competitive teaching candidates.

In the long term, we both have a lot of dreams and we aren’t yet quite sure how they will all mesh together. I plan to write about any place we go, and I also want to get involved with the community, whether it’s through training teachers, starting book clubs, encouraging local musicians and artists, or working with literacy development programs.

Julie:
How did you find Matador?

Heather:
While I was living in Pakistan I started thinking about ways to be location independent so that I could live anywhere in the world and still have opportunities to write. I ended up following the Residuals and Royalties blog, and one of the writing opportunities mentioned was Matador’s Bounty Board.

Some of Heather’s articles published on Matador include:
“Cooking in Lahore: An American Woman in a Pakistani Kitchen” and “Tales from the Expat Life: A Memsahib in Pakistan.”

Julie:
What motivated you to enroll in MatadorU?

Heather:
Although I’m a grad student in English, I felt starved for direction and feedback when it came to my creative writing. I’d been publishing informative travel articles, doing some copywriting, and working on teacher training curriculum for a few years, but I didn’t really know how to go about advancing my career as a travel writer. When I heard about the Matador U course, it immediately went on my wish list.

I love things that are pragmatic and offer specific steps you can take to move forward. Looking at the Matador U course syllabus, I was impressed that the course not only offered advice on how to improve your writing, but that it also went through practical matters like how to pitch to different publications, how to think like an editor, and how to make travel writing a career.

Julie:
What are some of your upcoming travel plans?

Heather:

This summer Duarte and I are planning on WWOOFing in Maine or Vermont for two weeks, taking a one-month spiritual retreat at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, and doing some camping along the east coast. I also work as a certified horseback riding instructor, so I’ll be spending a few days in New Hampshire helping out with a camp riding program on Lake Winnipesaukee.

We’re plotting to go back to the Azores, where Duarte was born, and explore some of the islands we didn’t hit during our first trip to the archipelago.

Julie:
What do you hope to learn/do/contribute as an editorial intern at Abroad?

Heather:
I’m excited to work with Sarah as I’ve been inspired by her writing and how she so seamlessly interweaves travel narrative with thought provoking questions and cultural observation. As a teacher, I believe the best way to learn is by doing, so I look forward to learning about what goes on behind the scenes at a travel magazine.

Many times people feel that the only way to be a travel writer is by becoming a global vagabond, leaving behind their career and taking off into a perpetual state of the unknown. I admire this type of travel writer, but I hope that I can serve as another example that you can study, teach, pursue a career, live or work abroad and be a travel writer at the same time.

Community Connection:

Become a travel writer!

MatadorU is the most supportive, engaging, and innovative course for helping students accelerate their careers as travel writers and new media professionals. Join Us!

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/meet-matador-intern-heather-carreiro/feed/ 16 http://matadorpulse.com/5-matadorians-to-meet-right-now-the-couples-edition/ http://matadorpulse.com/5-matadorians-to-meet-right-now-the-couples-edition/#comments Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:34:41 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1527

Photo: Matador members, New Nomads

Dig deep into the Matador community, and you’ll find all kinds of interesting folks: filmmakers and photographers, deep-sea divers and extreme sports enthusiasts, expats and entrepreneurs.

Lots of our members go out into the world solo, leaving everything and everyone behind.

Others go out in pairs, having found a partner as passionate about travel as they are.

Here are five couples making a life together on the road:

NewNomads

The female half of NewNomads says:

“I love traveling with my best friend – my husband. We are on the road about 80% of the time and hope to increase that this year to 90%…. We can go from the Hilton Arc du Triomphe to sleeping in the back of our old van at a fishing pier and be just as thrilled. We can go from convenience store burritos at dawn in Arches National Park to a four star restaurant in Washington DC and have a great time either way.”

Robert Kittilson and Jessie Kwak

Robert, a writer and photographer, and Jessie, a writer, have slow traveled their way through Peru and contributed an article to Matador on which they collaborated, “On the Trail of Ruins in Northern Peru.”

Photo: Matador members, Robert Kittilson and Jessie Kwak

Robert writes, “I am a photographer traveling with my wife Jessie who is a writer. I love having a blast, and sometimes that means real fireworks.”

Deb & Dave, aka ThePlanetD

Together for 18 years, Deb and Dave–”Canada’s Adventure Couple”– seem to have perfected the art of traveling as a pair. They’ve cycled around Africa and their next stop is Asia. Like Robert and Jessie, Deb and Dave collaborate professionally–Deb is a writer and Dave is a photographer. Check out their blog, ThePlanetd and follow them on Twitter.

Technomadia

Featured recently on MatadorLife, this couple describes themselves as “two gen-X technomads – synthesizing technology in with our full-time traveling.” They’re currently roaming the U.S., with long term sights set on doing “extended sailing and global backpacking.”

GeordieP

GeordieP writes:

“My boyfriend and I have been travelling around Oz for a couple of years and are now planning to head back to our beautiful hometown in NSW to start a family and make a home. I love travelling with a passion, though I am now ready to hang up my hiking boots and travel vicariously through websites like this for a while. Looking forward to creating everyday adventures at home.”

Community Connection:

Not sure if you’re ready to take your love on the road? Read “Traveling Solo: How to Tell Your Partner You Want to Travel… Alone” for some tips on leaving your other half behind when it’s time for you to pack your bags.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/5-matadorians-to-meet-right-now-the-couples-edition/feed/ 6 http://matadorpulse.com/help-a-matadorian/ http://matadorpulse.com/help-a-matadorian/#comments Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:56:32 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1565

Photo: AntwerpnR

If you’ve spent more than a few minutes browsing through Matador’s sites, you know why I say that Matador’s so much more than a magazine.

Matador really is a community, and one of the places where you can see what I mean is in our travel forums.

Maybe you’re not familiar with the forums–they’re a little bit buried within the Matadortravel.com site–but hundreds of travelers use the forums to ask for advice, seek inspiration, to look for travel partners or a place to stay, or to confirm information about local transportation, food, or lodging.

Here’s a sampling of recent requests… can you help a Matador member out by responding?

TRAVEL PARTNER REQUESTS

Buying a Big-Ass American RV to Travel the World… Who’s In?

Tayerhughes writes:

“I’m thinking of buying a big ass American RV to travel around the world in! I have no idea how or when etc but I thought I would see what kind of response I get when I post the idea. I’m looking for probably 7 people to join the team. I have no plans at the moment, I’m just looking to find people that are interested.”

Tayer- Once you’ve got some takers, be sure to check out Matador contributor Misty Tosh’s guide to renovating an old travel trailer.

“I want to hitchhike around the U.S. Anyone want to go with me?”

Jackiehaze says:

“I’d really like to hitch hike around the US this summer. Perhaps fall. I’d prefer a woman. I think it’d be cool to document it. And since the only requirement I personally have is to stay clean, it will probably take some planning finding state parks and places to shower.”

Jackie, if you do find some travel partners, be sure to read Tim Patterson’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to Hitchhiking before you hit the road.

TRAVEL ADVICE NEEDED

A New Yorker inspired by Matadorians’ travels asks for advice from SE Asia experts

TheDaysRjustPacked asks for help planning a SE Asia trip:

“I have been talking about this trip for over 2 years now and here I am planning for it officially with my ticket purchased.

This trip is going to be different for me on so many levels since I have never traveled alone before…. [I leave] on April 13th and plan on returning May 1st.

To start my trip I have a lay over in Seoul, Korea for a nice 14 hrs…. My plan is to leave the airport and see what Korea has to offer for a few hours maybe get some Kalbi. I love Korean BBQ. Does anyone have any pointers on what I can do in Seoul for about 8 hours?

Now on to Thailand… I will be in Bangkok for what I believe to be the second night of Songkran and I plan to stay around for 2 days before heading north so I can cross into Laos. I have been reading Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai then somehow to Laos is the way to go about it. I feel like I’m strapped for time and I want to enjoy as much as I can with the time I have but also enjoying things as well.

After going to Laos I wanted to go to Cambodia but I don’t know if I should go from Laos straight to Cambodia or go back through Thailand. That part I am hoping you travelers of S.E.A can help me with as well. From Cambodia I want to fly or boat it back to Southern section of Thailand. On the 28th I would like to just experience the full moon party. I would also love to go Scuba diving (I have never been) so I have been looking to that as well.

I will appreciate any info that you guys have to offer. Fill in any blanks that I may not have touched upon. You have no idea how many times I thought of taking someone along because I didn’t feel I would be able to do this trip solo but through this site and many others I have realized that I am ready to do the trip the way I have always wanted to do it: with a backpack, few clothes, a camera and a wide open mind.”

While you’re waiting for advice, be sure to check out Matador’s focus page on Southeast Asia.

Colombian weather in October?

Jesse Meshkov asks:

“I’ve read that October is the rainy season, but does that mean that it’s raining constantly, or that there are showers for an hour or two each day? Any insight would be really helpful. Thanks!”

All of Matador’s articles about Colombia are archived on the Colombia Focus Page.

Community Connection:

Do you have a question about an upcoming trip, or do you have advice you can share? Visit Matador’s travel forums to ask for or give advice.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/help-a-matadorian/feed/ 2 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-to-watch-gabriela-garcia/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-to-watch-gabriela-garcia/#comments Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:06:35 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1559

Photo: Gabriela Garcia

One of the things I love about my job is learning more about Matador members.

I met Gabriela Garcia a few weeks ago in a Manhattan coffee shop after she returned from a trip to Cuba. After handing over some gifts she’d brought back for my husband from his son, who lives in Havana, we talked about Cuba, Cuban families, the writing life, and social justice.

The short conversation left me wanting to know more about Gabriela, so we did this interview over email.

Julie:
You’re a full-time freelance writer. How did you get started in the field, and what did you do before this?

Gabriela:
Even though writing has always been a part of my life, it took me a while to arrive at doing it as a profession. I always knew I wanted to work in media. Before becoming a freelance writer, I held some crazy jobs and internships all over the media landscape, from working with multi-platinum artists in the music industry to researching photos for RL Stine books (remember Goosebumps?)

New York is a really expensive place to live so I took on a lot of freelance gigs as side jobs along the way, mostly through contacts I’d made in the various companies I worked for. In my last job at a book publishing company, I realized I was doing so much freelance work on the side that it suddenly struck me that it was possible to leave the office altogether.

And well, I did.

I started off mostly writing service pieces for consumer magazines and taking on a lot of proofreading and copy editing jobs. Being a travel writer always seemed like one of those fantasy jobs like saying I wanted to be a “rock star” or something. Matador offered that first window of opportunity that opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me.

It has been far from easy, and I still have to take on a lot of other projects to make ends meet, but I’m watching with incredible gratitude as the fantasy slowly merges into reality.

“Being a travel writer always seemed like one of those fantasy jobs like saying I wanted to be a ‘rock star; or something. Matador offered that first window of opportunity that opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me.”

Julie:
You commute back and forth between Miami and New York. If someone asks you, “Where’s home?,” what’s your answer?

Gabriela:
I think that being a multi-cultural daughter of immigrants has made me very comfortable with fluid identity. I’m used to belonging and not belonging at the same time, and having pieces of who I am tied into different physical locations. New York provides me with incredible creative energy, inspiration, and motivation, but Miami is like a long exhale that keeps me grounded. I would have to say that both are home to a different part of me.

Julie:
Back to writing– what I love about your work is that you tend to tell stories about overlooked people and you insert yourself into the story in this lovely way that’s not egotistical but is, as Matador editor David Miller says, transparent. In my women’s studies classes we called that “positioning yourself as the writer,” which meant we were acknowledging that objectivity doesn’t really exist. Do you feel like this is an accurate description of your writing style? And what influences you to write in this way?

Gabriela:
I think that acknowledging objectivity doesn’t really exist is important, especially in travel writing. The same place can look a million different ways through different eyes. The way I experience a place, the things that stand out to me, the way I interpret those experiences—they are all based on who I am, and I like to let my readers know that.

I think the majority of people experience most of the world through media, and so much of what we think we know is based on the observations of a select group of people.

I’m constantly amazed at how few places, cultures, or people match up to the collective images I’ve received all my life of what they are supposed to be like once I actually go there or get to know them. I know I can’t give anyone a voice, but I’m immediately attracted to people and ideas that provoke me, that spur up questions in me, or that challenge me to look at things differently.

Julie:
Are there any seminal travel experiences that have caused you to rethink who you are or that have shaped your direction in life?

Gabriela:
I think every travel experience has shaped parts of who I am and what I care about. But if I had to choose specific moments where I looked around and felt the ground shift beneath me, it would probably be based on my volunteer experiences.

Reading the essays of school children from a rural village in Ghana who say they have no dreams. Sitting beside the bed of a dying woman picked off the street in Calcutta, India and suddenly feeling her hand grip mine. Standing amidst wild horses and canyons in the Navajo Nation and realizing that running water and electricity aren’t a given in the United States.

The constant juxtaposition of beauty and pain that I have experienced in my travels has left me dizzy and searching for answers. They are the images that constantly make me question my own life and how I can be a more positive force.

Community Connection:

Have you joined the Matador community? If not, sign up for a free account on MatadorTravel.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-to-watch-gabriela-garcia/feed/ 11 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-to-watch-marie-szamborski/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-to-watch-marie-szamborski/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:30:37 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1552

Marie Szamborski

Once a week, we introduce you to a Matador member worth keeping your eye on… they’re doing great things.

Meet Marie Szamborski.

Marie, or @Shantiwallah on Twitter, is a recently enrolled student in MatadorU’s travel writing program and a teacher who has just taken the leap out of working in the classroom full-time to pursue her goal of becoming a full-time writer.

I’m totally inspired by Marie and enjoy her kind, gentle presence on Twitter, as well as the “I love” series on her blog, which pairs her evocative photos with simple observations about objects and experiences she loves.

I asked her a few questions via email:

Where are you from?

I was born in the US, but do not have a hometown as I moved… every two years or so growing up. The hospital near Miami I was born in was blown away by a hurricane so I really do feel rootless in that way. My parents are from Michigan and I went to high school in Atlanta, GA. My family now live in California, which is fun to visit, but I’ve never lived there so I’m a complete tourist.

I lived in the UK for 10 years where I did my undergraduate degree and met my husband. We later immigrated to New Zealand and have both become dual nationals. We’ve also done stints in Vietnam and Japan and have been very lucky to have traveled a lot in between.

“I want to keep writing about identity, place, and experience because I really believe that honest exchange of information is the only real way things are going to progress….”

Tell us about leaving teaching to write.

I’ve just left my 10 year teaching career (although I don’t believe you ever really leave teaching) to write full time. I know I sound like a complete suck-up to say so, but Matador was pivotal in this decision. Well, actually, the people I’ve met through Matador are the ones who have convinced me.

I’ve always been a writer, but I just didn’t know it. I’ve always kept journals and blogs and have even tortured my students by making them write journals and blogs. Which, might I add, they come to love in the end! It’s only recently that I’ve started thinking that I might be able to do this for a living.

I think the timing was right, because I started ‘meeting’ other people, who were writing on the internet, and exchanging dialogue about writing. Whereas in the past, my writing was really for me or my close friends and family, I realized that maybe I did have something to say to the wider world.

The thing about social networking is that it is not, as I once thought, just a venue for self-promotion but a link to the thousands of other people who think like you do. This ‘community’ is empowering.

“The thing about social networking is that it is not, as I once thought, just a venue for self-promotion but a link to the thousands of other people who think like you do. This ‘community’ is empowering.”

What are you working on right now?

I’m currently serving as the regional contributor for New Zealand at Pocketcultures.com. It’s a fantastic site aimed at getting the facts out about countries as seen from the perspective of locals who are living there.

I’m also using my applied linguistics background to do write some EFL [English as a Foreign Language] exams and textbooks for the Taiwanese market.

I currently keep a personal blog about writing, travel, and everything else, and also a food blog about the multicultural aspect of food in New Zealand. Oh, and of course, I pitch to Matador now and then!

But, for the future, I want to keep writing about identity, place, and experience because I really believe that honest exchange of information is the only real way things are going to progress in this world. The more I travel and learn about other people, the more I internalize that we all need the same things. I hope that by passing on stories and observations about how people live their lives in the places that I visit I can make a positive contribution.

Community Connection:

Would you like to introduce yourself to the Matador community? Don’t be shy- send me an email at julie[at]matadornetwork[dot]com and tell me a little about yourself. Be sure to include the link to your MatadorTravel profile.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-to-watch-marie-szamborski/feed/ 10 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-intern-eileen-smith-cycles-new-zealand/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-intern-eileen-smith-cycles-new-zealand/#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:49:16 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1535

Photo: magicalworld

Eileen Smith left Santiago, Chile before the quake to set off on her New Zealand cycling trip.

Lots of Matadorians love cycling.

If you keep up with news of what Matador staffers are doing, then you’ll know that Matador Trips co-editor Carlo Alcos just returned from a multi-week cycling tour of Cuba. Photographic evidence substantiating he survived Cuba’s potholed infrastructure can be found in the Cycling Cuba photo essay over on Trips.

The other Matador staffer currently taking the road on two wheels is intern Eileen Smith, who helps manage the Matador Travel community.

Eileen set off from Santiago, Chile, where she lives, for a multi-week cycling tour of New Zealand on February 9. Along her route, she’s meeting up with MatadorU student Marie Szamborski. Follow Eileen’s trip on her blog.

Community Connection:

Planning on taking a cycling trip? Check out our Road Bike/Cycling Focus Page for dozens of resources.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-intern-eileen-smith-cycles-new-zealand/feed/ 6 http://matadorpulse.com/matadorians-finish-strong-in-travel-writing-contests/ http://matadorpulse.com/matadorians-finish-strong-in-travel-writing-contests/#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:46:40 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1522 Five Matador contributors are honored for their travel writing.

The winners of two writing contests were announced this week, and there was a strong showing of Matadorians among the awardees.

Photo: Photos8.com

MatadorU student and contributor Alyssa Martino tied for third place in Transitions Abroad’s 2010 Narrative Travel Writing Contest. Her winning essay, “Finding Refuge in Giving,” is a reflection on her experiences in three very different places–Rome, Tunisia, and Mohawk Valley, New York–and the similarity of the lessons that she learned there.

MatadorGoods editor Lola Akinmade and contributors Erin Byrne, Darrin DuFord and Shelley Seale all won prizes in the 2009 Solas Awards, sponsored by Travelers’ Tales.

Congratulations to all of you!

Community Connection:

Do you want to become an award-winning writer?

MatadorU

MatadorU is the most supportive, engaging, and innovative course for helping students accelerate their careers as travel writers and new media professionals. Join us!

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matadorians-finish-strong-in-travel-writing-contests/feed/ 3 http://matadorpulse.com/learn-chinese-fast-with-matadorian-justin-white/ http://matadorpulse.com/learn-chinese-fast-with-matadorian-justin-white/#comments Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:36:14 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1518

Next time, you can speak the language, not just smile. Photo: mathieudreo

Matador member Justin White launches Learn Chinese Fast.

In the summer of 1997, I lived in Fuzhou, China.

It was, as most travel experiences are for me, a seminal moment in my life. I became a vegetarian, I really learned how to use chopsticks, I was told by my tai qi quan instructor I wasn’t cut out for the so-called “soft” martial art, and I began acquiring Mandarin language skills.

I’m not good at lots of things, but I do have an ear for languages. I picked up basic Mandarin fairly easily… and subsequently lost most of my skills when I returned to school in the US, where I had no one with whom I could practice conversational Chinese.

In the years since then, I’ve made repeated promises to myself that I’d pick Mandarin up again… that I’d take a class or find a language partner. Not being an urgent matter, it always get pushed down to the bottom of the to-do list, but Justin White’s Learn Chinese Fast program may motivate me to reprioritize.

Justin, a Matador member, is a 22 year old Canadian who teaches English in Taiwan. He’s involved in developing and marketing language products as a way to make additional money, and hey, there’s nothing wrong with that.

The full language learning program, which is part of Rocket Languages, is a bit pricey at $99.95 USD, but the six day “Learn Chinese Fast” course is free. It consists of audio tracks and language and culture lessons, and while you obviously won’t master Chinese in six days, this program might be a good kick in the pants to get you started.

The website for Learn Chinese Fast is dense with information, much of it presented in some over-the-top marketing language (“You Too Can Learn to Speak Chinese Confidently and Naturally with an Amazing Interactive Course that is Dynamic, Comprehensive, and Proven to Work!!), but browse through to learn a bit about the program.

Rocket Languages also has courses in Arabic, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Sign Language and Spanish, and each of these also offers a free rapid-learning option.

Community Connection:

Matador has dozens of language learning resources on our Language Learning Focus Page.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/learn-chinese-fast-with-matadorian-justin-white/feed/ 3 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-launches-online-database-for-volunteers/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-launches-online-database-for-volunteers/#comments Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:29:29 +0000 Matt Scott http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1512 Like many Matador members, Meghan Daseler has spent a lot of time online looking for the perfect volunteer opportunity, only to find the search a difficult one.

Add to that the frustration caused by the high costs of many programs.

Meghan Daesler, founder of World Help Link

In a effort to help other people in their search, Meghan decided to create her own database of volunteer opportunities on www.worldhelplink.com, a free website dedicated to no fee and low cost international and domestic volunteer opportunities.

World Help Link is adding new programs and opportunities every day and Meghan is particularly keen to promote small and independent organizations that may lack publicity elsewhere. The site has also recently added a visitors’ forum for potential volunteers and organisations to post questions, news, or ideas.

As well as working on the website, Meghan volunteers with the children’s program, Safe Nest, and as a keen traveller will soon be leaving for Ireland to work at Barretstown, a holiday center for children with cancer and other serious illnesses.

If you know of any organizations looking for volunteers, please add your comment below and they will be added to World Help Link.

Community Connection:

Looking for other opportunities to volunteer and travel for free? Matt has also written Matador’s 10 Volunteer Opportunities for Free Travel.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-launches-online-database-for-volunteers/feed/ 4 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-friday-photo-contemplating-the-view-of-tenerifes-volcano/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-friday-photo-contemplating-the-view-of-tenerifes-volcano/#comments Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:19:19 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1479 Every Friday, we show off Matador members’ photos.

“The photo was taken at Roque Nublo, nearly the highest point of Gran Canaria. From there you have a beautiful view of Tenerife’s volcano, Pico del Teide. Especially on clear days these like these.”

Photo: Bas Wallet

Community Connection:

If you’d like your photo considered for our Friday Photo series, please visit the Matador photo pool on Flickr.

Trying to become a successful travel photographer or find new markets?

Grab Matador’s Free Report 15 Publications That Pay For Travel Photography and help accelerate your career as a photographer.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-friday-photo-contemplating-the-view-of-tenerifes-volcano/feed/ 3 http://matadorpulse.com/what-does-matador-mean-to-you/ http://matadorpulse.com/what-does-matador-mean-to-you/#comments Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:10:43 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1484

Photo: Ed Yourdon

Matador is built upon its community. So what does Matador mean to you?

A couple things got me thinking about what Matador might mean to you.

Over the weekend, a reader left a passionate comment in response to Kate Sedgwick’s humorous article, “Crimes Against Hair in Buenos Aires”:

“It is sad that an article like this appears in the Matador Network…. Go write for a fashion magazine and not Matador, so we won’t have to read your garbage. PLEASE!”

At first, I was put off by the comment. Even if the reader didn’t like the article, did she need to be as aggressive in her reply as she was?

But then I thought about it some more and realized that the reader does seem to care about Matador. In fact, she seems to care about it so much that she has a very personal vision of what she thinks Matador is or “should” be.

*
The other thing that got me thinking about what Matador might mean to you is a conversation the editorial team has been having about how travel publications define themselves. Senior editor David Miller and I were noting that lots of travel publications try to define themselves by comparing themselves against their competition: “self-defining by saying who you’re NOT instead of who you are,” David says. It’s not really a useful way to identify oneself, though.

We’re pretty clear about what Matador means to us, as I wrote last week in an editorial about the original vision of Matador as articulated by co-founders Ross Borden and Ben Polansky.

But we’re curious to know: what does Matador mean to you? How do you use Matador? What do you value about Matador? What’s your role in this community? How would you like to see us grow and evolve?

We invite you to share your thoughts in the comments.

Community Connection:

Senior editor David Miller rounds up the 15 most vital narratives published on Matador in the article “Travel Writing as Punk Rock.”

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/what-does-matador-mean-to-you/feed/ 17 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-to-watch-jared-krauss/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-to-watch-jared-krauss/#comments Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:25:28 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1475

As soon as he heard about the earthquake in Haiti, Matador member Jared Krauss decided he wouldn’t just sit around and hope for the best.

Jared Krauss is a 19 year old college student.

He could be out drinking on Friday nights, but he’s not.

He’s raising money for Haiti.

Within a few days after the earthquake, Jared reached out to Matador’s senior editor, David Miller, writing:

“I’m an avid reader of the Matador Network. When I read that Julie was organizing a trip of specialists to go to Haiti and help I could do nothing but want to go with. However, being a freshman in college doesn’t really result in being a specialist in any area other than drinking coffee, alcohol, eating, sleeping, cramming, and talking. I don’t really have the skills to offer right now.

However, I noticed the amount of people who wanted to help, but weren’t able to for lack of skills like me. Although I have an able body and mind, like many others, without the skills needed for the jobs, we would just be another mouth to feed in a world of starving people.

So, I took it upon myself to begin to organize a trip of my own for others, mostly college students, to travel to Haiti as an alternative spring break option.”

You can read more about Jared’s effort in his piece published on MatadorChange today.

We’ll definitely be keeping up with Jared and his Haiti Volunteer Project as it evolves over the next few months.

Community Connection:

What projects are you working on? I’d love to hear about them. Email me at julie[at]matadornetwork[dot]com.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-to-watch-jared-krauss/feed/ 0 http://matadorpulse.com/five-new-matadorians-to-meet-right-now-february-11-edition/ http://matadorpulse.com/five-new-matadorians-to-meet-right-now-february-11-edition/#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:49:25 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1470

A cube is no place for a palm tree. Photo: Dr. Bacchus

Every week, hundreds of people from around the world join the Matador community.

This week’s crew are all cubicle-avoidant.

1. Hop and Jaunt

Hop and Jaunt, otherwise known as Aly and John, “are a couple of twenty-something designers who have decided to step away from the routine of 9 to 5 life and venture out to new horizons. We have started our own design agency, create cool t-shirts, and travel the world writing our blog.” First stop on the journey? Colombia or Argentina.

2. Core Reality

Core Reality is a “musician, turned lawyer, turned back into musician/photographer/author. After realizing I was miserable in an office setting, I left it behind and set about driving back and forth across the country, meeting people and collecting their stories.” Visiting national parks are among his immediate travel plans.

3. SweeneySays

21 year old SweeneySays will be graduating in just a few months. Here’s what she has to say about her job prospects:

The economy has gone to shit and everyone I know is in a panic over what they’re going to do with their lives. Personally, I think this is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me. For the first time in my life I have absolutely no idea what is going to happen next. It’s amazing. This probably says more about me than any extended list of facts ever could. The fact that I will travel is the only certainty I have right now, and I am on good terms with that fact.

4. marta@atravelroundtheworld

marta@atravelroundtheworld quit her 9-to-5 in London and is headed to Italy.

5. Karla J

Karla J writes that she’s “working up the nerve to leave my desk behind and start what I’m pretty sure is actually living, and then write about it.”

Community Connection:

And you, what are you up to? Leave us a note in the comments!

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/five-new-matadorians-to-meet-right-now-february-11-edition/feed/ 2 http://matadorpulse.com/from-the-editor-matadors-so-much-more-than-a-magazine/ http://matadorpulse.com/from-the-editor-matadors-so-much-more-than-a-magazine/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:55:43 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1465

Photo: wili.hybrid

Around this time last year, I asked Matador co-founders Ross Borden and Ben Polansky to write down what I called “The Matador Story.”

I was working on some publicity and marketing materials and wanted them to get down on paper exactly what Matador was and how it all got started.

Ross wrote:

High on Vulcan Misty, an 18,000 ft volcano near Arequipa, Peru, we began talking about the need for a global community of travelers where people could share stories like the one that was unfolding on that mountain and connect with locals and travelers over whatever they were passionate about. We didn’t know what this community would look like, but we were sure it didn’t exist yet.

Ben wrote:

It was an idea to create a space where people could share their experiences, connections and passions with others and inspire and support each other to live as travelers (curious, engaged, informed risk-takers) both at home and abroad. I always thought of Matador as a virtual campfire where people who are at different points in life can stop by and share or just look and listen for information and encouragement. I still think of the Matador Network in that way, it’s much bigger now though, but that same kind of campfire storytelling and collaboration is occurring, but at a much larger scale.

Matador turns four later this year, and though we’ve grown a lot,* we’re still so much more than a magazine: we’re a community.

Every day, I exchange emails with writers and MatadorU students who are writing articles and essays that are alive with the energy that only a materially transparent style can endow. No cliches like “gem” or “nestled”; this is writing that stirs readers out of their easy reading complacency and invites them to look at people and places with fresh eyes.

I follow Matador members on Twitter, a virtual tag-along on their journeys as they photograph micro-loan beneficiaries in South America, defy the US travel ban to visit Cuba (and meet my stepson in Havana), and prepare to volunteer in Haiti.

The campfire is virtual, but it’s also, increasingly, offline, too.

Over the weekend, I met up with Mitch Anderson of AmazonWatch, one of Matador’s organizational members. Though based in San Francisco, Mitch was in New York working on a project to encourage big oil shareholders to exercise their influence over oil company executives. We talked about Matador members holding house parties for the documentary, “Crude,” and he told me about efforts to protect a recently discovered uncontacted group of indigenous people in Peru.

A couple weeks earlier, I met with a Matador writer who’d just flown into town after spending days preparing a cargo ship’s worth of donations to send to Haiti from Miami.

There’s no shortage of websites and travel magazines that tell you where you should go and what you should do when you get there. And that’s fine.

But Matador’s different because it offers you a community of people who view travel not as an occasional journey, but as an integral part of life. There’s a place for everyone around the campfire– what stories do you have to share?

*more than 25,000 members of MatadorTravel;
*more than 10,000 followers on Twitter;
*more than 1.7 million unique readers each month;
*more than 300 students and graduates in our MatadorU travel writing school

Community Connection:

Have you set up your MatadorTravel profile? It’s free and easy. Create an account today!

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/from-the-editor-matadors-so-much-more-than-a-magazine/feed/ 24 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-friday-photo-hot-pan-in-peru/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-friday-photo-hot-pan-in-peru/#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:13:44 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1458 Every Friday, we show off Matador members’ photos.

“Pisac Peru, near Cusco, January 10, 2010. The town of Pisac specializes in fresh empanadas cooked in traditional style ovens. These ovens are also used to cook the morning bread and he is currently pulling fresh bread out of the oven. “

Photo: Robert Kittilson

Community Connection:

If you’d like your photo considered for our Friday Photo series, please visit the Matador photo pool on Flickr.

Headed to Peru? Start your trip planning by visiting our Peru Focus Page. Still have questions? Matador’s destination experts Nicholas Gill and Matt Barker are our men in Peru.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-friday-photo-hot-pan-in-peru/feed/ 2 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-to-watch-ryan-van-lenning/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-to-watch-ryan-van-lenning/#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:57:40 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1450

Ryan Van Lenning

Learn about Ryan Van Lenning now so you can say “I knew him before he won the Nobel.”

35 year old Matador member Ryan Van Lenning is based in Oakland, California, and with the activist history of that city, Van Lenning’s presence there seems apropos.

Van Lenning, a contributor to MatadorChange, says the following about himself in his MatadorTravel profile:

I left a good teaching job to travel for 6-months straight around the world, from Mexico to Thailand via Poland, Turkey, and Kenya. Then I did what I should have done years ago, resettled out in the SF Bay Area and make my way as writer and activist. I have them ol’ travelin’ bones and like to write on social justice, environmentalism/sustainability, peace and militarism, fiction, and of course travel. I think writers can be guerrilla fighters of the word and social change. I am scuba certified, I wish I knew how to build a straw-bale house. I also wish I could write the way Andres Segovia played Spanish guitar and could dance the way Twain and Nietzsche wrote.

Van Lenning has written for Matador on several of those topics that fire him up, including environmental issues related to big oil in articles like First Person Dispatch from the Chevron Protest, and peace and aid issues in the Middle East in Israel Detains Aid Ship Bound for Gaza.

“I think writers can be guerrilla fighters of the word and social change.”

When not writing for publication, Van Lenning updates his personal blogs:

Travelin Bones

Pull the Root

Rumi and the Cholo

What consistently impresses me about Van Lenning’s writing–and what makes him 100% Matadorian–is that all of his work is rooted directly in his own experiences. He doesn’t just write about activism; he’s out on the streets living it. He writes what he knows. Be sure to check out his blogs and enjoy some of that writing.

Community Connection:

Would you like to be featured as a Matador member to watch? Drop me a line at julie[at]matadornetwork[dot]com to introduce yourself!

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-to-watch-ryan-van-lenning/feed/ 5 http://matadorpulse.com/matadors-friday-photo-finding-exotic-animals-in-belize/ http://matadorpulse.com/matadors-friday-photo-finding-exotic-animals-in-belize/#comments Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:22:08 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1446 Every Friday, we show off Matador members’ photos.

“I was driving through Belize and saw an intriguing, run-down shack made of rusty tin. I really wanted to shoot it so we pulled off the road to get some shots. As we were about to leave, a man came walking out of the bush with his anteater, Fred, and two snakes in hand. He opened the door to his home and presented a whole slew of animals who’d been silently sitting inside the entire time. I’ve never seen anyone care so much for animals the way he did. This photo was taken in the heat of the moment as he introduced us to his newest creature, Lilo. “

Photo: Farryn Weiner
Read Farryn’s writing or follow her on Twitter.

Community Connection:

If you’d like your photo considered for our Friday Photo series, please visit the Matador photo pool on Flickr.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matadors-friday-photo-finding-exotic-animals-in-belize/feed/ 6 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-to-watch-ekua-ipraim/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-to-watch-ekua-ipraim/#comments Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:48:41 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1442

Ekua Impraim

San Francisco-based Ekua Impraim is a Matador member to keep your eye on.

When her favorite books were featured on MatadorGoods last week, I was intrigued.

Not by the selections, necessarily, but by this woman with a radiant smile sitting in a field of daffodils that stretched way back into the horizon.

I clicked through to her MatadorTravel profile, where I saw her fantastic screen name– Girl, Unstoppable– and learned we share some favorite musicians in common (Ani Difranco, Nina Simone, Zap Mama).

Then I clicked through to her blog, also titled Girl, Unstoppable, and was drawn in by its clean design, engaging font, and funny entries, like this one:

“The kids I work with are often full of hilarious and sometimes surprisingly insightful one liners. This week, a student said something about travel that made me smile and I knew I needed to post it here:

‘I like seeing new places, it makes you feel like a new person. Travelin’ be hella cool. I been everywhere- Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, Arizona, Las Vegas…’”

Ekua created Girl, Unstoppable to “inspire others (especially females) to be audacious adventurers.”

Welcome to Matador, Ekua!

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-to-watch-ekua-ipraim/feed/ 12 http://matadorpulse.com/matadors-friday-photo-reed-flute-cave-guilin-china/ http://matadorpulse.com/matadors-friday-photo-reed-flute-cave-guilin-china/#comments Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:10:17 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1436 Every Friday, we show off Matador members’ photos.

“This was taken at the Reed Flute Cave just north of Guilin, China. The naturally formed cave got its name from the verdant reeds growing at its mouth, which are used to make flutes. This shot was taken from a beautifully lit reflective pool in the heart of the cave.”

Photo: McLendon Garrett

Community Connection:

If you’d like your photo considered for our Friday Photo series, please visit the Matador photo pool on Flickr.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matadors-friday-photo-reed-flute-cave-guilin-china/feed/ 6 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-associate-editor-wins-writing-contest/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-associate-editor-wins-writing-contest/#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:34:25 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1433

JoAnna Haugen with her dog, Butch Mbwa

JoAnna Haugen wins Wanderlust and Lipstick writing contest.

JoAnna Haugen, one of Matador’s associate editors, was just coming back from a Caribbean cruise (a prize for one contest) when she learned that she’d won another contest: Wanderlust and Lipstick’s Wanderwomen Write Contest.

The contest invited female writers to submit one or more non-fiction pieces in one of five categories: Adventure,
Family Fun, Food & Drink, Off the Beaten Path, or Spiritual. Entries were judged by freelance travel writers Vera Marie Badertscher, Harriet Baskas, Rosalind Cummings-Yeates, and Angela Nickerson.

Five other entrants were selected as category winners; JoAnna, though, was the grand prize winner, selected for her piece titled “Building a Family in Kenya.” The prize is a 12 day culture and spa tour of Vietnam, led by Buffalo Tours.

Congratulations, JoAnna! We look forward to reading the pieces you’ll write from Vietnam!

Community Connection:

Though the deadlines have passed, check out joshywashington’s 4 Travel Writing Contests You Should Enter Right Now to learn about organizations and publications that run annual contests.

Become a travel writer!

MatadorU is the most supportive, engaging, and innovative course for helping students accelerate their careers as travel writers and new media professionals. Join Us!

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-associate-editor-wins-writing-contest/feed/ 18 http://matadorpulse.com/matadors-friday-photo-antigua-guatemala/ http://matadorpulse.com/matadors-friday-photo-antigua-guatemala/#comments Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:51:25 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1428 In a new series, we show off Matador members’ photos.

“I snapped this image while meandering through the streets of Antigua, Guatemala. I caught this group just after seranading a chica hermosa.”

Photo: Ashley Albright

Community Connection:

If you’d like your photo considered for our Friday Photo series, please visit the Matador photo pool on Flickr.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matadors-friday-photo-antigua-guatemala/feed/ 1 http://matadorpulse.com/matadoru-student-joannaline-c-young-hired-by-planeteye/ http://matadorpulse.com/matadoru-student-joannaline-c-young-hired-by-planeteye/#comments Wed, 13 Jan 2010 22:18:39 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1422

Photo: Joannaline C. Young, Photo courtesy of Joannaline

Joannaline C. Young joins another MatadorU alum, Abbie Mood, as a PlanetEye expert.

We keep getting good news from our MatadorU graduates.

Joannaline Young of Los Angeles, California, recently informed the Matador team that she has been hired by online travel guide Planet Eye as their Los Angeles Local Expert. This paid travel writing gig involves sharing local insights with readers who are interested in planning a trip to Los Angeles.

Joannaline will be blogging at least three times a week about activities and eats in her favorite city.

And don’t expect the boring same-old, same-old sights: so far, Joannaline has covered LA’s Tattoo Expo and her favorite ice cream shop, Scoops. Caramel bacon ice cream, anyone?

Want to pick Joanna’s brain about LA sights? Check out her Local Expert profile on Planet Eye.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matadoru-student-joannaline-c-young-hired-by-planeteye/feed/ 7 http://matadorpulse.com/three-students-awarded-scholarships-for-matadoru-travel-writing-course/ http://matadorpulse.com/three-students-awarded-scholarships-for-matadoru-travel-writing-course/#comments Sat, 02 Jan 2010 02:06:22 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1400

Photo: infodad

What better way to celebrate the new year than helping aspiring writers achieve their goals?

When the Matador team began accepting applications for its MatadorU scholarship program, the plan was to award one scholarship to a deserving and ambitious student who dreamed of becoming a travel writer.

But after reading dozens of scholarship applications, we decided one scholarship just wasn’t enough.

Last week, we informed three aspiring writers they’d been selected as the first recipients of MatadorU scholarships. These scholarships provide full tuition to MatadorU’s 12 week travel writing course. What better way to celebrate the new year than helping students achieve their goals?

The recipients of the scholarships are:

Juan Pablo de Gamboa of Panama

Juan Pablo, who will be taking the course along with his wife, was an easy choice because he’s already living the Matador vision. Juan Pablo and his wife, who are Colombian, moved to Panama to start a new life together. That new life isn’t just about their partnership, though; it’s also about their professional vision for themselves:

“Now that I don´t have a job [Juan Pablo lost his job recently], well… there is no better moment to jump into life and see where it takes me and my beautiful wife! We went to Hawaii on our honey moon, and there we discovered that we are an amazing traveling couple, so there is your answer: We want to travel all around the world, all the time, and we want to get paid for doing so. We are a 30 /33 year old couple struggling against the system, we want to teach the world that traveling is possible, even if you don´t have the money to do so.”

Reeti Roy of India

Reeti, a 21 year old college student, was already familiar to the Matador team, as she has published several articles on the Network. Aware of her potential to grow even more as a travel writer, we didn’t hesitate in selecting Reeti as a scholarship recipient.

“As a travel writer, I hope to be able to depict real life incidents and to tell stories with as much zeal, passion, sensitivity and compassion as I can,” Reeti wrote in her application. We have no doubt she’ll do exactly that.

Mijan Celie Wilder of the United States

Mijan, a single mom, wrote in her application:

“I only want to write fiercely moving work. Something that can bring a reader uptown where they swear they can hear the lyricists as if they were actually with me on the train and sitting in the front row. Words and passages stronger than strong, that make eyes cry so hard they swell, and bellies laugh so intensely they need super strength adult diapers.”

We can’t wait to see what she does with her scholarship.

Welcome to MatadorU, Juan Pablo, Reeti, and Mijan!

Community Connection:

Looking to become a better writer or make the leap to professional freelancer?

MatadorU is the most supportive, engaging, and innovative community of students and teachers anywhere on the web. Together, we’re helping students accelerate their careers as travel writers and new media professionals. Join Us!

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/three-students-awarded-scholarships-for-matadoru-travel-writing-course/feed/ 7 http://matadorpulse.com/twitter-attack-matadors-most-rtd-articles-in-2009/ http://matadorpulse.com/twitter-attack-matadors-most-rtd-articles-in-2009/#comments Tue, 29 Dec 2009 01:24:45 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1395

Photo: Mykl Roventine

At least eight articles published on Matador this year were re-tweeted 100 or more times. Which one is your favorite?

More than one media outlet called 2009 “The Year of Twitter.”

Matador established a strong presence on the social networking platform early in the year, and grew its following to more than 9,000 people as of today, thanks to Twitter ninja Andy Hayes.

Twitter has been a vital way for Matador to connect with travelers, writers, and readers in 2009, and thanks to active tweeters, many of the articles we’ve published have helped generate thoughtful conversation and build community, which has been our goal since our founding.

Here are eight of the most re-tweeted articles on the Matador Network in 2009, presented in ascending order of the number of RTs:

1. Twitter Contest Giveaway: The Marmot Diva Pack: 100 RTs

When we launched a giveaway series on Matador Goods this summer, the Twitter-verse went wild with RTs from travelers eager to win free gear. The Marmot Diva Pack was an early promotion and a high performer, with 100 RTs.

2. Twitter Contest Giveaway: The Marmot Genesis Jacket: 106 RTs

Our readers seem to love Marmot gear! At 106 RTs, the Marmot Genesis Jacket was another popular giveaway among our Twitter friends.

3. 12 Places to Get Close to the Edge: 113 RTs

2009 also saw the launch of several photo essay series across the Matador Network. The popularity of 12 Places to Get Close to the Edge–with 113 RTs–seemed to suggest that our readers are seriously adventurous folks.

Not that we didn’t know that already.

4. 10 Words and Phrases We Never Want to See in Travel Writing Again: 121 RTs

The craft of writing isn’t dead!

Just before launching our travel writing school as the first course offering at MatadorU, the Matador editorial team provided some freebie writing tips for aspiring travel writers with our 10 Words and Phrases We Never Want to See in Travel Writing Again.

The editors were pleased to see this article get 121 RTs, and hope the advice we offered has led to less cliched travel writing.

5. What Can 150k Buy in Real Estate Around the World?: 224 RTs

What with the recession and all, everyone was looking for a deal in 2009, and senior editor David Miller generated 224 RTs with his article, What Can 150k Buy in Real Estate Around the World?

6. 5 Key Ingredients in the Search for Happiness: 224 RTs

Everyone wants to be happy, right? Matador Trips co-editor Carlo Alcos offered five insights about the variables that lead to true happiness in this article that was RT’d 224 times in 2009.

7. Intolerable Beauty: Chris Jordan Photographs American Mass Consumption: 404 RTs

Another photo essay, this one of Americans’ excessive consumption, fired up tweeters and got this piece re-tweeted 404 times. Commenters were torn between appreciation for Jordan’s observations about mass consumption and debating the validity of the claims suggested by his photographs.

8. The Most Alien Landscapes on Earth: 440 RTs

Matador Trips co-editor Hal Amen proved he was the master of the photo essay in 2009, but even he didn’t expect 440 RTs–or the wild debate that took off in the comments section–on this piece. The Most Alien Landscapes on Earth was Matador’s most re-tweeted article in 2009!

Community Connection:

Are you still resisting Twitter or totally clueless about what it is? Matador member Kevin Chan offers a simple primer in his post “How to Get More Traffic to Your Travel Blog Using Twitter.”

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/twitter-attack-matadors-most-rtd-articles-in-2009/feed/ 3 http://matadorpulse.com/nomadic-matt-kepnes-featured-in-nyts-frugal-traveler-blog/ http://matadorpulse.com/nomadic-matt-kepnes-featured-in-nyts-frugal-traveler-blog/#comments Fri, 25 Dec 2009 18:32:56 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1388 Matador U student, community member, contributor, and travel blogger Nomadic Matt Kepnes featured in NYT’s “Frugal Traveler” blog.

Looking for budget travel advice?

If so, it’s likely you already know about the “Frugal Traveler,” Matt Gross. Gross, of the New York Times, has a weekly column in the Sunday paper and a regularly updated blog that’s heavily trafficked by budget travelers looking for penny-pinching advice.

One of Matador’s own members, Matt Kepnes, was featured in Gross’ blog this week, and the column was so popular that it caused Kepnes’ web server to crash as 15,000+ readers clicked through to his site, Nomadic Matt.

In his interview with Gross, Kepnes shares tips gained from his own budget travels and talks about the topics covered in his most recent e-book: how to make money by launching your own travel blog.

Be sure to check out the full interview on the Frugal Traveler.

Community Connection:

If you’d like to read more from Matt, please read Matador U Student Contributor Nomadic Matt Releases New E-book.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/nomadic-matt-kepnes-featured-in-nyts-frugal-traveler-blog/feed/ 2 http://matadorpulse.com/last-day-to-win-matador-u-tuition-from-passports-with-purpose/ http://matadorpulse.com/last-day-to-win-matador-u-tuition-from-passports-with-purpose/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:30:28 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1383

You can learn how to write better than this. Photo: shareski

What are you waiting for? You’ve only got a few hours left to win MatadorU tuition from Passports with Purpose!

Today’s the last day to make your donation to Passports with Purpose, the travel blogger-organized raffle that’s raising funds to build a school in Cambodia.

As we announced a couple weeks ago, Matador donated one spot in MatadorU’s travel writing course as a Passports with Purpose prize. For just $10 USD, you can select MatadorU tuition as the prize you’d like to receive if you’re picked as a winner.

Full details are on Passports with Purpose’s website, but hurry! You only have a few more hours to make your donation and get in the running; the fundraiser ends tonight at 11:59PM PST.

Winners will be notified on January 5, 2010, and we’ll feature the winner of our prize here on Pulse.

Community Connection:

Passports with Purpose isn’t the only chance to win free tuition to MatadorU! Gadling is also giving away a spot in our travel writing school, and their contest closes today, too. The contest closes at 5:00 PM EST. Full details are here.

If you miss both of these opportunities, drop your family member or loved one a hint that you’d like the gift of the MatadorU travel writing course this holiday. Learn how in this article: Give the Gift of Matador This Holiday.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/last-day-to-win-matador-u-tuition-from-passports-with-purpose/feed/ 0 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-u-from-students-to-editorial-interns/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-u-from-students-to-editorial-interns/#comments Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:10:55 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1366

Photos left to right of Nancy, Abbie and Neha provided by the interns.

We’re always looking for talent in our community and in our school. And we never fail to find it.

Just a couple months after the launch of Matador U, more than 200 students have enrolled in our travel writing program.

Three of those students–Abbie Mood, Nancy Harder, and Neha Puntambekar–recently joined the Matador team as editorial interns.

Their active engagement in the U and their solid writing skills drew the attention of the editors, who invited the three women to put all the skills they were learning to practice both behind the scenes and front of house across the Matador Network.

In addition to publishing their writing on Matador, Abbie, Nancy, and Neha will be working on a number of special projects related to social media and community outreach.

To learn more about these exceptional students, you can visit their blogs: Miles of Abbie, Nancy the Gnomette, and The Flying Suitcase.

Community Connection:

Want your writing to get noticed?

Sign up for MatadorU and accelerate your career.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-u-from-students-to-editorial-interns/feed/ 12 http://matadorpulse.com/give-the-gift-of-matador-this-holiday/ http://matadorpulse.com/give-the-gift-of-matador-this-holiday/#comments Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:19:16 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1368

Photo: Ana Santos

Your favorite traveler doesn’t need more tchotchkes.

I always wait until the last minute to do holiday shopping… if I do any at all. Most years, the December holidays sneak up on me. Reluctant to give people stuff they don’t need and often unsure what they’d really like, even my closest family members and friends are unlikely to find anything under the Christmas tree from me.

If you’re a gift dunce like me, Matador may be able to help you out… at least for the travelers in your life.

This year, we’re offering lots of different gift ideas for the holiday season.

First up: tuition for Matador U’s travel writing course. If you’d like to give someone the gift of this 12-week professional travel writing class, you can purchase tuition for MatadorU right here.

And if you’d like Santa to consider giving *you* that gift, then we’ve set up a way for you to give your family and friends a not so subtle hint about that. Those details can be found on the gift request page.

In addition to the gift of the travel writing course, the Matador Store offers coffee/tea mugs, beer steins (oh yeah!) and shirts designed by Matador members. Check out the inventory here.

What are YOU hoping to get for the holidays? Leave the top item on your wish list in the comments!

Community Connection:

Looking for some more gift ideas? Check out our original Top 10 Last Minute Gifts for Your Favorite Traveler.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/give-the-gift-of-matador-this-holiday/feed/ 2 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-writers-in-running-for-hawaii-writers-residency/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-writers-in-running-for-hawaii-writers-residency/#comments Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:18:04 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1360

Photo: jparise

Trazzler’s latest contest is a doozy: a $7,000 trip for two or a $6,000 writer’s residency in Hawaii.

Matador member Mike Lynch sent out a surprised e-mail last night, noting that he’d made it into round two of Trazzler’s latest writing contest.

Mike’s entry is just one of several from Matador members and contributors.

Are you one of them?

Leave the URL to your entry in the comments and tell us which of the Trazzler prizes you’re jonesing for.

If you’re NOT in the running, consider popping over to Trazzler and lending your vote in support of the Matador community!

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-writers-in-running-for-hawaii-writers-residency/feed/ 6 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-u-student-lands-gig-as-salt-lake-city-local-expert-for-nile-guide/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-u-student-lands-gig-as-salt-lake-city-local-expert-for-nile-guide/#comments Sat, 05 Dec 2009 03:30:17 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1354

Amiee Maxwell

You couldn’t have a better guide to Salt Lake City.

When Amiee Maxwell joined Matador U and introduced herself to her peers, the Matador team knew there was something special about her:

“Hi everyone – I am Amiee and I totally understand how difficult it is to come home and write after a full work day. That is why I ditched my totally secure job, minimized my expenses, and saved a ton of cash to head on out to try and live some version of my dream.

I honestly have no idea what I am doing and that is why I signed up for this course. It was too hard for me to whole-heartedly pursue writing while working full-time and I figured that quitting my job would give me the time (and pressure) to succeed – hopefully before all my savings disappears.”

Amiee set up her blog, secured a location-independent internship with Trail Runner Magazine, and jumped headlong into the U’s travel writing course. She’s also joining the Matador team as an intern for Matador Sports.

Then, she landed a writing gig with Nile Guide as their Salt Lake City expert.

I asked Amiee a few questions via e-mail about ditching the cubicle and visiting Salt Lake City:

Give us your personal elevator speech.
I had considered quitting my job for quite awhile so I saved up some cash and seriously minimized my expenses. After scoring an internship with Trail Runner , I decided to leave the job and dedicate myself to learning everything I could about publishing and commit to writing full-time.

I had been dabbling with writing for a few years and eventually that desire to get out and explore rather than read about the lives of those doing it became so overwhelming I just had to try it.

Are you from SLC?
I have spent the last 8 years in Utah. I grew up in Wisconsin and after graduating college headed to Salt Lake City for some of Utah’s famed snow.

“I had been dabbling with writing for a few years and eventually that desire to get out and explore rather than read about the lives of those doing it became so overwhelming I just had to try it.”

Sell us on SLC.
Salt Lake City is a surprising liberal haven in an otherwise conservative state.

Although the city is still dominated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), religion has recently taken a backseat to a burgeoning arts and film scene, great food and nightlife, and some of the best outdoor recreation in the country.

Visitors flock to Salt Lake City in winter to ski on the greatest snow on Earth and are soon captivated by the city’s quirky politics, the absolute stunning beauty of the Wasatch Mountains, and the seemingly endless recreational opportunities that surround the entire city.

What’s the biggest misconception of SLC?
Membership cards are no longer necessary to get into a bar in Salt Lake City. Utah eliminated their “private club” laws July of this year, making bar hopping now possible in Salt Lake City.

What are three of your favorite places/activities in SLC?

Squatters Brewpub – Downtown brewery featuring tasty microbrews and foods from locally produced ingredients

Alta Ski Area – Skier only resort with a wide variety of terrain, killer snow, and dedicated ski bum community

The Front Climbing Club – Indoor rock climbing gym that acts as the hub for Salt Lake City’s climbing community.

If you want more Salt Lake City advice, be sure to check out Amiee’s Salt Lake City guide on Nile Guide.

Community Connection:

Want to read more of Amiee’s writing?

A Dirtbagger’s Guide to the American West

Do you want to leave the cubicle behind and write full time?

Sign up for MatadorU and accelerate your career.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-u-student-lands-gig-as-salt-lake-city-local-expert-for-nile-guide/feed/ 9 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-kicks-off-fundraising-campaign-to-support-student-travel-scholarships/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-kicks-off-fundraising-campaign-to-support-student-travel-scholarships/#comments Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:26:23 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1350

Photo: kretyen

Remember your first travel abroad experience? Pay it forward.

When I was a 15 year old high school student I won a scholarship to study Spanish anywhere in the world.

It was my first experience traveling abroad, and that summer in Costa Rica remains one of the most formative experiences of my life. I survived a couple earthquakes, crossed the country on chicken buses with little clue about where I was headed, and learned that cold water showers are a no-fail way to promote water conservation.

Your story’s different, but I’m willing to bet that your first travel abroad experience was no less of a watershed moment for you than mine was for me. And perhaps you feel, as I do, that you’d like to find a way to help someone else experience a similar sense of discovery, wonder, and transformation.

Well, you can.

Last year, Matador launched the Brave New Travelers Youth Scholarship Fund, created by Matador co-founder, Ben Polansky. We raised enough money to send 11 inner city students on their first trips abroad this past summer. Among the countries the students visited were Nicaragua, New Zealand, and Cambodia. Each student expanded their comfort zone by living abroad for six weeks, immersing themselves in local cultures with the help of the educational tourism organizations, Where There Be Dragons, Global Glimpse, and AFS.

Their trips were possible because members of the Matador community donated generously to the scholarship fund.

This year, our goals are even more ambitious: raise $20,000 to send as many as 15 students abroad. We’re kicking off our fundraising campaign this month and will be actively seeking contributions to the scholarship fund until February. So far, we’ve raised a bit more than 10% of our goal.

We’d love it if you’d pay your first travel abroad experience forward by participating in the campaign. Donations can be as little as $1.00 and as much as… well, the sky’s the limit!

Complete details about the program and how you can get involved are on our Brave New Travelers Youth Scholarship Fund page.

Community Connections:

Travel changes lives.

Read past scholarship recipients’ stories about their first travel abroad experiences:

Be Bigger Than the Ignorance

My First Time Away From Home

It Was Me Who Had Changed

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-kicks-off-fundraising-campaign-to-support-student-travel-scholarships/feed/ 4 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-participates-in-passports-with-purpose/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-participates-in-passports-with-purpose/#comments Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:26:13 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1344

Photo: Charles Chan

We want to help build a school in Cambodia!

Last year, a few Seattle-based travel bloggers decided they wanted to leverage the power of their collective networks to launch a holiday fundraising drive.

But there was nothing ordinary about their project, which they named Passports with Purpose.

Beth Whitman, Debbie Dubrow, Michelle Duffy, and Pam Mandel asked travel bloggers to pitch in with prizes, promotion, and donations. People bought $10 raffle tickets for the chance to win the donated prizes. All of the raffle ticket money went to support the work of Heifer International.

The first year of Passports with Purpose raised $7,400. This year, the organizers set a goal of raising $13,000. That is the amount of money needed to build a school in Cambodia through the organization, American Assistance for Cambodia.

Last year, Matador donated a prize pack full of travel writing books and Matador gear. This year, we’re donating free tuition to our travel writing school, Matador U. This prize is worth $350.00.

Read all about Passports with Purpose and make your donation here.

Community Connection:

Over on Matador Change, writer Carina Port has put together a guide to Gifts That Give Back.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-participates-in-passports-with-purpose/feed/ 6 http://matadorpulse.com/meet-a-matador-team-member-andy-hayes/ http://matadorpulse.com/meet-a-matador-team-member-andy-hayes/#comments Sat, 28 Nov 2009 02:46:19 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1337

Matador’s Twitter Ninja, Andy Hayes

Do you know the names behind Matador’s blogs? In this new series, we’ll introduce you to the people who keep the Matador machine humming.

Andy Hayes knows that building relationships isn’t just about numbers. It’s about starting and keeping up a conversation.

Name:

Andy Hayes

Role at Matador:

Twitter Ninja and Social Media Outreach. Behind the wheels at @MatadorNetwork

How You Found Matador:

When I started in travel writing in 2007, I asked around for what were the highest quality travel content sites on the web. Matador seemed to keep coming up regularly, and I liked what I saw. It’s been in my RSS reader ever since.

How You Got Brought on Board as a Team Member:

As I mentioned in my review of MatadorU, (we have a travel writing program, did you hear?) I was working on a piece with Julie Schwietert before the most recent re-structure of the team and blog structure. They didn’t want my article anymore. Instead of throwing a tantrum at all the time lost, I just sent a replying saying “sorry to hear it” type thing and that I’d be interested if anything else came up that might fit.

Because I wasn’t a jerk about it, Julie actually recommended me for the Twitter Ninja role. And nearly 9,000 followers later….

Where Do You Live:

Edinburgh, Scotland

Your Next Trip:

I wish I knew. I’ll definitely be spending some time in the US as I am attending South By South West, so hoping to check out New Orleans and visit a dear friend in Los Angeles. In between I hope to make a stop in Southeast Asia, but I’m still trying to find a good deal.

What You Do When You’re Not Working on Matador Stuff:

I can’t tell you how many people are worried that I never spend any time away from Twitter. (It is a dangerous problem, I do admit. )

But I have two key businesses that keep me very, very busy. Like, a little crazy-what-the-hell busy:

Travel Online Partners – a resource for small businesses in travel and tourism to get help with online technology. We help these small companies make BIG ideas happen. Isn’t that cool?

Sharing Travel Experiences – formerly my travel solo travel blog which has exploded into a whole multi-author website full of travel goodness, like our travel concierge. Way cool, but not quite as cool as Matador. But close.

A Favorite Travel Memory:

My favourite has to be New Zealand. Always. I spent nearly a month on the South Island and it was absolute bliss. I started with the Abel Tasman National Park coastal trail and spent days rarely seeing a human.

If you need some digital detox, that’s where you should head. But the quirky fun of Queenstown, the breathtaking scenery of Fjordland, the glaciers of Fox Village, and the glowing waters and stars at night in Lake Tekapo. I could go on all day….

Oh, wait – did I tell you about my not-so-secret love affair with Melbourne…?

Community Connection:

Have you met other members of the Matador tribe?

Meet a Matador Editor: Carlo Alcos
Meet a Matador Editor: Lola Akinmade
Meet a Matador Editor: Julie Schwietert Collazo

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/meet-a-matador-team-member-andy-hayes/feed/ 11 http://matadorpulse.com/meet-a-matador-editor-julie-schwietert-collazo/ http://matadorpulse.com/meet-a-matador-editor-julie-schwietert-collazo/#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:43:07 +0000 Lola Akinmade http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1315

Managing Editor, Julie Schwietert Collazo in Tijuana, Mexico; Photos courtesy of Collazo Projects.

Do you know the names behind Matador’s blogs? In this new series, we’ll introduce you to the people who keep the Matador machine humming.

Managing Editor, prolific writer, published author, and new mother Julie does it all. She runs the bi-lingual blog, Collazo Projects which is dedicated to telling previously untold stories from Latin America. She recently contributed a chapter to the book, The Voluntary Traveler, and is currently working on a couple features for Fodor’s Puerto Rico, 6th Edition.

Name:

Julie Schwietert Collazo

Role at Matador:

Managing editor of the Matador Network; lead editor on Change and Pulse blogs.

How You Found Matador:

Through a posting on Craigslist in 2007.

How You Got Brought On Board as An Editor:

Julie in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Like Carlo, I was really engaged in the Matador Travel community, writing blogs, responding to others’ blogs, and becoming a destination expert on Havana.

I was also a regular contributor across the Network, so I suppose my passion for travel and my appreciation of Matador was evident.

What Projects Are You Working on For Matador Right Now?:

In addition to screening all incoming articles and directing them to appropriate section editors and writing articles for Change and Pulse, I’m writing a couple of continuing education courses for our travel writing school, Matador U.

I’m training three new interns.

I’m doing lots of behind-the-scenes work that keeps any organization moving forward. I’m dreaming of translating the U curriculum into Spanish.

That last one may take a while.

Where You Live:

I currently live in NYC and really miss Mexico City, where I lived until recently.

Your Next Trip:

I’m leaving for South Carolina later this week to spend Thanksgiving with my family. My husband and I will be traveling with our two month old daughter– it will be her first plane ride. Wish us (and the other passengers) luck.

What You Do When You’re Not Working on Matador Stuff:

Enjoying being a new mom! Finishing up two Fodor’s guidebook assignments. Working as an academic editor, researcher, and English/Spanish-Spanish/English translator. Building my own blog about the writing process. Finishing my applications for a PhD in Spanish.

Community Connection

Want to read more from Julie? Here are two of my favorites:

Sitting Beneath the Buddha with Barbara Bush

How to Bag Your 9 to 5 Job and Write / Travel Full Time

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/meet-a-matador-editor-julie-schwietert-collazo/feed/ 25 http://matadorpulse.com/meet-a-matador-editor-lola-akinmade/ http://matadorpulse.com/meet-a-matador-editor-lola-akinmade/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:05:10 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1307

Matador Goods editor, Lola Akinmade; Photos courtesy of Lola Akinmade

Do you know the names behind Matador’s blogs? In this new series, we’ll introduce you to the people who keep the Matador machine humming.

After resigning from a cushy 10+ year job as a System Architect and 14+ years in the GIS industry Lola Akinmade takes a few minutes to tell us about herself.

Name:

Lola Akinmade

Side note: My full first name is 15 letters long.

Role at Matador:

Editor of Matador Goods

How You Found Matador:

Back in 2007, I was searching for online travel communities and resources to help me plan a round-the-world trip. Stumbled across Matador Travel through a Google search and was instantly hooked.

I’d begun planning a RTW trip that same year and the trip was to commence in 2009, but life had other, more important plans.

How You Got Brought on Board as an Editor:

After milling around the community for awhile including writing two articles for Matador Traverse, I was interested in writing an article for Matador Goods to review the Keen Womens Targhee II hiking boots which helped me through the Inca trail without a single blister.

I sent CEO and founder, Ross Borden an email. Ross’ response was, “Your timing is great, actually. Would you like to help me with the gear blog?”

And that was it.

Other Projects You’re Working On For Matador:

There are tons of exciting projects in the works, most notably our Travel Photography course which I’m working on with Matador contributing editor and photographer extraordinaire, Paul Sullivan.

Can’t divulge too much right now.

I’m also on the lookout for travels, authors, photographers, filmmakers, and all around cool people to feature on our popular, What’s In Your Backpack? series.

Where You Live:

Currently splitting time between Stockholm, Sweden and the Washington, D.C./Baltimore area.

Your Next Trip:

Shifting base again to Stockholm this December and maybe a trip to Morocco in January. Also traveling up to Northern Sweden not too far from the Arctic circle. Fun times.

What You Do When You’re Not Working on Matador Stuff:

I write for a variety of travel publications and try to do as much photojournalism work as I can. I recently launched three projects:

Lemurworks – which is my official company that provides GIS consulting and programming/development services.

Art By Lola – which features some of my oil paintings and past exhibitions. I took a hiatus in 2009 to focus on travel writing and photography, but will be back on the canvas in 2010.

Office Supplies, The Comic – my comic strip centered around office supplies and their take on life. This comic strip is certainly my baby and labor of love project.

I truly love photojournalism work with NGOs and will be looking for more assignments and opportunities to collect impressions and document field projects in 2010. (hint. hint.)

A Favorite Travel Memory:

Pushing a van stuck in mud deep within the remote jungles of Fiji. Those weeks I spent with my fellow volunteers on the island were surreal.

Community Connection:

Want to read more from Lola? Here are two of my favorites:

The Most Valuable Thing You Can Pack on the Journey

5 Essential Tips for the Budding Travel Photographer

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/meet-a-matador-editor-lola-akinmade/feed/ 30 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-meets-the-new-york-times-the-sunday-telegraph/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-meets-the-new-york-times-the-sunday-telegraph/#comments Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:34:47 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1286

At Matador, we pride ourselves on keeping ourselves and our writing real.

As senior editor David Miller wrote yesterday in “Travel Writing as Punk Rock: 15 Vital Matador Narratives,” “Over the last three years, Matador contributors have continued to progress in their styles and abilities as travel writers outside of any pre-established ‘hierarchy’ or need for approval.”

We keep writing and living in a way that’s true to our experiences–not forcing our narratives into genre du jour– and though there’s not a “need for approval,” it sure is nice when our commitment to keeping it real is validated.

So we were stoked to learn yesterday that three Matador writers have been featured in the mainstream media over the past week.

First up: new contributor Benita Hussain, whose first article, “Discovering Kindness in Denmark’s ‘Cold Hawaii’,” was published on Matador Sports last week, was featured in an article in The Sunday Telegraph. The article explains how Benita left her unsatisfying career as a lawyer to travel the world and blog about it. What could be more Matadorian?

The second mention was of another Matador member following her heart wherever it leads her– Misty Tosh. Long time readers will be familiar with Misty, who has written for Matador about her first-hand experience renovating a vintage travel trailer and hauling it around Mexico, starting up an NGO in Indonesia, and rehabbing an old sailboat.

Misty was featured in this article by “frugal traveler” Matt Gross of The New York Times. Maybe Matt will tag along with Misty if she ever does another trek up the volcanic Mt. Rinjani.

Final kudos go to Matador Nights co-editor Tom Gates, who deserves more than a media nod for his ability to endure some of the world’s most repulsive foods. But until he receives a medal or some other accolade, we’ll celebrate his mention in this NY Times travel blog entry, which gives a lengthy treatment of Tom’s recent piece on The Five Worst Pizzas in the World.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-meets-the-new-york-times-the-sunday-telegraph/feed/ 6 http://matadorpulse.com/meet-a-matador-editor-carlo-alcos/ http://matadorpulse.com/meet-a-matador-editor-carlo-alcos/#comments Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:47:52 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1262

Matador Trips co-editor, Carlo Alcos; Photos courtesy of Carlo Alcos

Do you know the names behind Matador’s blogs? In this new series, we’ll introduce you to the people who keep the Matador machine humming.

After recovering from two weekends spent re-flooring his campervan, Carlo Alcos takes a few minutes to tell us about himself.

Name:

Carlo Alcos

Role at Matador:

Co-editor of Matador Trips

Photo courtesy of Carlo Alcos

How You Found Matador:

I can’t recall exactly how I stumbled on Brave New Traveler, but that is the site that led me to Matador as the two had freshly merged. Specifically, it was Daniel Harbecke’s article Budget Travelers are Hippie Scum (try NOT to click on that link). It remains one of my all-time fave pieces on the network.

How You Got Brought on Board as an Editor:

I’d contributed a few articles across the network and was very active in the Community. I interacted with Matador members, read their blogs, commented on them, posted forum topics, and also read and commented on articles across the Matador network.

You’d have to ask the senior eds to verify this, but I think my involvement with Matador and the fact that the articles I submitted didn’t need much revising were key reasons why I was approached to join the team.

Where You Live:

Melbourne, Australia…for now.

Your Next Trip:

A 5-6 week cycling trip in Cuba — the inspiration started with this interview…Freewheeling: Lynette Chiang’s Two Wheel Journey from Cubicles to Cuba.

What You Do When You’re Not Working on Matador Stuff:

Besides holding down a 9-5 (I’m trying to quit…honest), I am currently in deep preparations and plans for leaving Melbourne in January 2010. My wife and I have about half a year planned; after that, it will be played by ear.

We’re working on a campervan conversion to tour Australia down the road: I Am S.A.M. the Van. I’ve just started my personal blog at carlo-alcos.com and I’m also working on a new website, which will hopefully be launched before the new year!

A Favorite Travel Memory:

Here are two: skinny dipping in Lake Baikal in October and getting beaten with a besom in a Russian banya in Petrozavodsk.

Community Connection:

Want to read more from Carlo? Here are two of my favorites:

Hostel on Wheels: The Coolest Campers Around

A Budget Traveler’s Guide to Wedding Planning: 9 Useful Tips

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/meet-a-matador-editor-carlo-alcos/feed/ 18 http://matadorpulse.com/anna-brones-launches-a-social-media-start-up/ http://matadorpulse.com/anna-brones-launches-a-social-media-start-up/#comments Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:32:23 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1275

Anna Brones (l) and Emily Nuchols (r); Photo courtesy of Anna Brones

Anna Brones has been a Matador member since its own start-up days.

As senior editor at WEND Magazine, Anna forged a special relationship between WEND and Matador, recognizing that the core audiences of both publications were people who were living adventures by passionately pursuing their dreams.

Now, Anna’s jumped the WEND ship to set out on her own adventure: launching Under Solen, a social media start-up company, with her business partner, Emily Nuchols. Emily, by the way, is also a Matador member.

Over e-mail, the three of us talked about Under Solen, travel, Scandinavia, and whether they’re crazy to start a business in this economy:

What was the impetus for you and Emily to start Under Solen Media?

Emily and I have both been working in the outdoor industry for the past few years, she in the non-profit world and I in publishing. Because social media had been a large part of both of our jobs, we saw that there was definitely a niche in the outdoor industry that wasn’t being filled. The Internet and new media have changed the way companies, organizations and individuals brand themselves, and so much of marketing is about connecting with a message or a cause.

We want to provide the tools to bring these people together to push these messages out in the most interactive, dynamic way possible. In a day and age where a brand can offer a technical, do-it-all waterproof jacket, which company are you going to buy from: the one that listens to you as a consumer, supports worthy causes, and is committed to a certain set of ideals, or the one that simply markets their latest sales offers?

“How can you not be inspired to get out and explore?”

What does the name mean?

Under Solen means “under the sun” in Swedish. Emily and I first bonded over our Scandinavian heritage, so we figured it was only appropriate to choose something that related to that. And since we’re working with folks who love the outdoors…

Will this job allow you to be location independent?

Definitely! We believe in doing business a bit different than usual and that means traveling, exploring, and getting out the message of our clients on the ground. Plus, when you’re constantly working with a bunch of crazy cool adventurers and causes, how can you not be inspired to get out and explore? That being said, Portland is an excellent place to be based, both for the brands that are headquartered here, the general ethos and the number of amazing people.

Who are your ideal clients?

We started this business because we want to work with people who are driven to make positive change in this world and really get their message out. Since Anna and I are steeped in the outdoor industry, we haven’t had to look far. We are stoked to be connecting with people who are passionate about their causes — be they businesses, advocates, or adventurers.

What do you expect a typical work day to look like?

Every day begins with coffee. Swedes LOVE their coffee But seriously, we spend the majority of our time connecting with people — online, on social networks, on the phone, or in our own backyard. We obviously spend a lot of time in front of our MacBooks writing blog posts, streaming content from our clients through social media channels, and promoting our clients.

But Anna and I do things differently and that means a lot of travel and adventure — that could mean jetting off to Brazil to meet up with one of our expedition teams or hitting the trail for a run to mull over a new project.

Your future office?; Photo: mike baird

No one starts a business in a recession. Are you nuts?

Honestly, we didn’t think twice about taking the leap. Some people say that the people we work with are nuts — paddling first-descents on the most remote and dangerous rivers of the world, traveling for months in search of the perfect photo, or going head-to-head with the U.S. government to remove dams…. Well, we’re just proud to call these folks our partners.

We have an amazing group of folks who encouraged us from the very beginning. And we have the connections, energy and passion to succeed and we think that is exactly what is needed to jumpstart a flagging economy. How could we not dive in?

Community Connection:

Planning a trip to the Caribbean? Anna is also Matador’s Guadeloupe expert, and she’d be happy to answer your pre-trip questions.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/anna-brones-launches-a-social-media-start-up/feed/ 12 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-u-to-offer-travel-photography-course-in-2010/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-u-to-offer-travel-photography-course-in-2010/#comments Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:49:59 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1270

Picture yourself here. Photo: nattu

We told you we had big plans!

Last month, when we announced the creation of the Matador Flickr pool (which, by the way, now has more than 80 members and more than 700 incredible photos!), we alluded to some big plans we’d soon be unveiling for photographers.

[Insert virtual drumroll here.]

Matador U, Matador’s travel writing school, will be expanding its course offerings in the first quarter of 2010 with the launch of a travel photography course.

Working in collaboration with some of the world’s best known travel photographers, the course has been developed by our in-house editors and professional travel photographers Lola Akinmade and Paul Sullivan. Between them, Lola and Paul have had their photography featured in Vogue, CITY Magazine, and Time Out and Hedonist’s guide book series, among others.

More details about the course will be announced here as the launch date nears. In the meantime, we invite you to download our FREE report, 15 Publications That Pay for Travel Photography to get you excited about the program.

Want to be a successful travel photographer?

Grab Matador’s Free Report 15 Publications That Pay
For Travel Photography and kickstart your new career!

Community Connection:

We’re always interested in featuring Matador members’ exceptional photos in our photo essays. If you’d like to see your photos published on Matador Trips, please contact Trips’ editors, Hal Amen and Carlo Alcos: hal@matadornetwork.com and carlo@matadornetwork.com.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-u-to-offer-travel-photography-course-in-2010/feed/ 8 http://matadorpulse.com/michelle-schusterman-promoted-to-associate-editor/ http://matadorpulse.com/michelle-schusterman-promoted-to-associate-editor/#comments Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:51:49 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1257

Intern-turned-editor, Michelle Schusterman.

Matador Goods’ intern is promoted to associate editor.

If we’re looking for talent and skill, we’re likely to find it right under our noses.

Almost all of the Matador editors were brought on board after their Matador Travel blogs were noticed by Matador staff. Whenever possible, we scout talent from within our own community, filling open positions with people who are already channeling the Matador vibe.

This week, we’re pleased to announce that Michelle Schusterman has been promoted to associate editor after serving as intern with Matador Goods since May.

Michelle is a musician, long-term traveler, and freelance writer who has been focusing on writing gear and tech reviews for Matador Goods.

In her new position, she will continue working closely with Goods editor Lola Akinmade to research and write gear-related articles that are relevant to travelers.

Have a tip for Michelle or a special request about a product you’d like to see reviewed on Goods? You can reach her via e-mail: michelle@matadornetwork.com.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/michelle-schusterman-promoted-to-associate-editor/feed/ 25 http://matadorpulse.com/now-showing-matador-tv/ http://matadorpulse.com/now-showing-matador-tv/#comments Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:41:03 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1259

Matador member Grady, a documentary filmmaker

MatadorTV brings existing and original travel video content together in a single place.

Since its founding in 2006, Matador has always been dedicated to publishing the best travel writing online. As our community of travelers has grown, though, we’ve realized that not every story is told with words. Matador is also home to thousands of talented photographers and filmmakers.

Which is why we’re launching MatadorTV.

While there’s tons of incredible travel video on the Web that makes us want to get offline and go exploring, there hasn’t been a single place where all of this material has come together to be showcased. That’s what we’re building with MatadorTV.

MatadorTV will be headed up by editor Joshua Johnson, who will scour the Internet for the best travel video online. In addition to curating existing work, he’ll be working with freelance video producers and filmmakers to create original content.

Sound interesting to you? If you’re stoked about doing a film project at home or on the road, we want to hear from you. Read our contributor guidelines here, then hit us up with your best travel video.

And if you’re not handy with the camera, pop on over to MatadorTV to enjoy the collection of videos we’ve already put together for you.

Community Connection:

Want to perfect your filmmaking skills? Check out our archive of travel video tips here.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/now-showing-matador-tv/feed/ 12 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-announces-two-new-associate-editors/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-announces-two-new-associate-editors/#comments Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:11:05 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1254

Photo: dbdrobot

Matador just keeps growing!

Little did Ross Borden and Ben Polansky know when they launched Matador in October 2006 that they’d have a staff of more than 30 employees and interns just three years later.

Every day, Matador staff fire up our computers in New York, San Francisco, Mammoth Lakes, Vancouver, Oaxaca, Melbourne, Berlin, Buenos Aires, and points in between to bring you sweet, relevant writing about travel and life on our network of 10 blogs. Working across almost every time zone, we exchange as many as 100 emails a day (102 today at my last count), read a dozen or more submissions each day, moderate comments, plan contests, search through the community for new talent, and respond to readers’ and travelers’ questions.

It’s a big job, one that’s got to be shared among a few dozen brains, hearts, and hands.

We’re stoked to announce that two new folks have joined the Matador team. Candice Walsh and JoAnna Haugen, both students in Matador’s travel writing school, Matador U, have come on board as associate editors. They’ll be working with the team to identify timely story ideas and to continue our tradition of producing the best travel writing online.

Candice and JoAnna each bring a unique voice and set of experiences to the team. Candice will put good time experts Kate Sedgwick and Tom Gates, editors of Matador Nights, to the test. She’s already written a couple articles across the Network, sharing a voice that’s authentic, believable, and always funny.

JoAnna, who’s currently on a press trip in Honduras, is a former Peace Corps member who recently took the plunge into full-time freelance writing. She also embodies the Matador vibe– if you haven’t already read about the fund she set up for Peruvian porters who lead treks to Machu Picchu, you should definitely check that out here.

We welcome both to the team!

Community Connection:

Are you interested in working for Matador? Keep your eyes on our job listings.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-announces-two-new-associate-editors/feed/ 21 http://matadorpulse.com/matadorians-halloween-finery-caught-on-film/ http://matadorpulse.com/matadorians-halloween-finery-caught-on-film/#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:14:17 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1244 You sent in photos from Germany, Canada, and points in between.

Here are three of our favorites:

Matador Nights co-editor Tom Gates on Halloween in Berlin: “It’s not me but I just love the whole family thing. Even Satan needs to refuel on some fries and currywurst.” Photo: Tom Gates

Candice Walsh dresses up as every child of the 1980’s favorite traveler: “This photo is me dressed as the lovely globetrottin’ Carmen Sandiego. I spent the night on George Street, which hosts its annual Mardi Gras celebration every Halloween, with a huge costume contest on the street.” Photo courtesy of Candice Walsh

Sydney-based Larissa de Villa, dressed as Luigi from Super Mario Brothers.

Community Connection:

Missed our call for costumes? Add your Halloween photos to Matador’s Flickr pool!

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matadorians-halloween-finery-caught-on-film/feed/ 0 http://matadorpulse.com/joanna-haugen-co-founds-fund-for-machu-picchu-porters/ http://matadorpulse.com/joanna-haugen-co-founds-fund-for-machu-picchu-porters/#comments Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:25:17 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1229

Porters of Machu Picchu, Photo by Lola Akinmade

Plenty of people haven’t seen their own country’s most famous sites.

Americans who haven’t seen the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone. Mexicans who have never been to Chichen Itza. Egyptians who’ve never cast their eyes upon the Sphinx.

It’s one thing to choose not to visit these places. It’s another entirely when your job involves ferrying travelers to the edge of these wonders but never being able to cast your own eyes upon them.

Such is the case in Peru, where porters carry 55 pound packs of travelers’ gear right to the edge–but not within viewing distance–of Machu Picchu before turning around and catching a train to Cusco to start the trek all over again. “[V]ery few porters [can] ever actually visit Machu Picchu,” wrote JoAnna Haugen, adding, “[It] hits a nerve. Global travelers can probably name countless times they’ve met local people who have never experienced the things that draw travelers to a country.”

And she wanted to do something about it… at least in Peru.

Collaborating with Julio Tello, the founder of the tour outfit Karikuy, Haugen co-founded the Karikuy-Haugen Fund, which is raising money to pay`for porters to visit Machu Picchu.

Read more about the fund and learn how you can support the project here.

Community Connection:

Headed to Machu Picchu? Matador Trips co-editor Hal Amen tells you how to visit on the cheap.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/joanna-haugen-co-founds-fund-for-machu-picchu-porters/feed/ 9 http://matadorpulse.com/blog-to-follow-taxi-gourmet/ http://matadorpulse.com/blog-to-follow-taxi-gourmet/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:01:36 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1216

Matador managing editor Julie Schwietert eating in Oaxaca. Photos: Francisco Collazo

We’ve featured Layne Mosler before on Matador. But if you’re not keeping up with her blog, you should add it to your reader. Now.

The Matador editorial tribe is a diverse group of folks, but if there’s one thing we share (besides our love of travel), it’s a love of food. Whether we’re sampling mole in Oaxaca, indulging in Korean tteok in Mexico City, or subjecting ourselves to a tour of the world’s worst pizzas, followed by a full day of binge eating in Berlin, we’re as alert for our next meal as we are for the next adventure.

That’s why we love to hear about other travelers’ favorite food moments.

Matador member Layne Mosler has lots of them… so many, in fact, that she documents them in close detail on her blog, Taxi Gourmet.

Mosler’s mode of travel revolves around food: wherever she goes, she hops into a taxi, asks the driver to take her to his or her favorite restaurant, and then narrates the ride, the meal, and the cultural/political/historical context of the whole experience on Taxi Gourmet.

More than a “Look at what I ate today!” post, Mosler’s writing offers a thoughtful, often funny and often poignant look at cab drivers’ lives. Her writing is so good, in fact, that she’s been featured in The Economist, The Guardian, and The Washington Post, among other international magazines and newspapers.

For the past three years, Mosler’s posts have mapped the culinary landscape of Buenos Aires, but in June of this year, Mosler returned to the US to settle down in New York… and become a cab driver herself.

You can follow her quest to secure a coveted taxi driver’s license–and her ongoing adventures at the table–at Taxi Gourmet. Taxi Gourmet also features loads of useful information for food lovers on the move, including a list of her favorite food blogs, as well as links to cabbie resources in the US and elsewhere.

Community Connection:

Headed to Asia? Check out our 5 favorite Asian food blogs before you go.
What are your favorite food and travel blogs? Share links in the comments below.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/blog-to-follow-taxi-gourmet/feed/ 0 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-launches-yoga-meditation-social-network/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-launches-yoga-meditation-social-network/#comments Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:05:50 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1179 “Kunga is the kinyarwandan word for ’service.’ And I thought the word ‘Kungaroo’ sounded super nifty since it’s aimed towards globe ‘hoppers.’”

Nancy Harder

So what is Kungaroo?

According to its founder, Nancy Harder, Kungaroo is a online social network intended to help travelers who practice yoga or meditation to make connections with like-minded folks during their journeys.

She says:

“My intention for this network is that those on their respective spiritual journeys will find oneness and connection through reaching out to others in their communities and abroad. As I’ve traveled around the globe and utilized other networks like couchsurfing , I’ve often wished I could reach out to others practicing yoga or meditation.

Whether you can offer information to locals or visitors about yoga and/or meditation classes in your area, share your own practice with others by meeting up for yoga and/or meditation, share service projects in your area, or just simply connect to others on the path to enlightenment, I hope this site is of service to you.”

If Kungaroo sounds like a service that may be of use to you–or if you can provide information and support to people who may be traveling through your community– you can register for Kungaroo by visiting the site here.

Community Connection:

Are you new to meditation? Check out Nancy’s beginner’s guide to meditation retreats here.

And you can find all of Matador’s yoga articles here.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-launches-yoga-meditation-social-network/feed/ 2 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-intern-prepares-for-honduras-volunteer-trip/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-intern-prepares-for-honduras-volunteer-trip/#comments Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:05:06 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1175

Juli Huang; Photo courtesy of Juli Huang

It’s happened to lots of Matador members: you get together with some friends, have a couple drinks, talk about travel, and before you know it, you’ve dreamed up your next adventure.

For Matador intern Juli Huang, it happened at a birthday party last month. After telling some people about her volunteer work with a community health clinic in Berkeley, California and her passion for advocating health care for everyone, Juli learned about Global Medical Brigades, an organization that brings together medical professionals, students, lay health care workers, and volunteers to provide health care and health education to communities in Latin America that lack health care access, resources, and information.

After learning more about the organization, Juli signed on for a week-long volunteer trip in Honduras that will take place in January 2010.

The trip is an extension of the work she’s been doing in Berkeley. As she says, “the provision of health care as a basic human service independent of privilege or race or condition or history is extremely important to me. And though I am not interested in embarking down the path to becoming a medical professional, helping to provide people with the information to exercise more agency over their own health is something I feel strongly about.”

As part of the medical brigade, Juli will help with patient intake, triage, pharmacy, and education. Depending on the amount of money the organization raises prior to the trip, she may also be involved in public health education workshops in Honduras, focusing in particular on getting word out about how hand-washing and sanitized water can cut down on the number diarrheal deaths and disease transmission. If you’d like to make a donation to support the brigade’s work, click here.

We look forward to her first-person dispatches from Honduras.

Community Connection:

Want to learn more about volunteer opportunities abroad? Check out Matador’s organizational member listings here.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-intern-prepares-for-honduras-volunteer-trip/feed/ 0 http://matadorpulse.com/david-page-wins-lowell-thomas-award/ http://matadorpulse.com/david-page-wins-lowell-thomas-award/#comments Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:34:19 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1171

David got started on his research early…. Photo courtesy of David Page.

The annual Society of American Travel Writers convention was held last week in Guadalajara, Mexico. Though he was chopping wood in chilly northern California, Matador’s contributing editor David Page received some good news from south of the border.

Each year for the past 25 years, the Society of American Travel Writers has sponsored a travel journalism contest that has become the premier competition in this field. The Lowell Thomas Awards, named for a radio and print journalist who made his media reputation as a globe-trotting correspondent, are considered to be travel writing’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize.

And Matador’s own David Page earned one this year.

The Lowell Thomas Awards are given in 25 different categories; David took the bronze in the Guidebook category for his Great Destinations: Yosemite & the Southern Sierra Nevada. Explaining why they selected David’s book for an award, the judges wrote:

“David T. Page presents a thorough, entertaining guide to the region. It contains an unusually detailed section on the natural history of the area, sure to appeal to Page’s outdoor-minded readers. It’s a joy to read.”

The Lowell Thomas Award isn’t the first honor David has received for this guidebook; it also won the distinction of the Best Guidebook of 2008 from the Outdoor Writers’ Association of California.

If you’d like to read David’s book for yourself, here it is:

And be sure to check out the articles David has published on Matador, including:

How to Travel to Socotra Island, Yemen

Powderquest Patagonia: Trip Report from Devin McDonell

10 Fundamentals When Packing for a Fun Family Ski Trip

Adventures in Weaning: Cold Turkey in the Great American Desert

Community Connection:

Would you like to see your name on the list of Lowell Thomas Award winners? Join Matador U’s travel writing school to learn how to author guidebooks…and much more.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/david-page-wins-lowell-thomas-award/feed/ 9 http://matadorpulse.com/matadors-editorial-team-welcomes-leigh-shulman/ http://matadorpulse.com/matadors-editorial-team-welcomes-leigh-shulman/#comments Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:33:03 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1167

Matador Life editor, Leigh Shulman. Photo courtesy of Leigh Shulman

Leigh Shulman: wife, mom, long-term traveler, blogger, social media aficionado. And now: Matador Life editor.

It was right around this time last year that Matador launched the blog Matador Life.

The idea behind the creation of the Life blog was that it could be the platform for articles and conversations about everything that happens between trips. As we wrote when we introduced Life:

Everyone comes home from their travels eventually, and the way we return can be the most important part of all.

Matador Life is about people in their hometowns, how they represent where they’re from, and what we can learn from each of the unique places we inhabit.

Here you’ll find articles ranging from financial advice and tips on being more productive at work to portraits of people’s hometowns and profiles of individuals strongly rooted in their communities.

Since then, the Matador community has grown and become even more diverse. Our members range in age from 15 to 70+. They’re parents and partners, single or divorced. New graduates, drop outs. Professionals, retirees. Artsy fartsy, business minded. Expats, experienced travelers, people planning their first journeys into the world, and soldiers looking forward to finishing up their deployments.

What they share is the eventual need to come home and make a meaningful life where they thrive by bringing their travels into daily life. And what they need is someone who’s where they are… and who can publish writing that speaks to their experiences.

The`Matador team is confident that we’ve finally found that person.

We’re happy to announce that Leigh Shulman has joined the Matador editorial team. Her first post is up on Life today… say hi and share your ideas about the types of articles you’d like to read on Life.

Community Connection:

Want to know who’s who at Matador? Meet the team here.
Want to work for Matador? Our job listings are posted here.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matadors-editorial-team-welcomes-leigh-shulman/feed/ 8 http://matadorpulse.com/winner-of-matadors-twitter-contest-for-free-tuition-introduces-herself/ http://matadorpulse.com/winner-of-matadors-twitter-contest-for-free-tuition-introduces-herself/#comments Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:33:46 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1160

Susan Marjanovic, winner of Matador’s Twitter tuition contest.

Last week, Matador’s senior editor, David Miller, announced the winner of Matador’s Twitter contest in which we gave away free tuition to our travel writing school, Matador U.

The winner was Susan Marjanovic, an artist, photographer, writer, audiophile and healer. We interviewed Susan to learn more about her…not surprisingly, she’s totally living the Matador vision.

Matador: Tell us a bit about you: where you’re from.

I kind of feel like I’m from all over. I consider San Francisco ‘home’ these days, but before that I lived in NYC for about a decade. I was born and raised at the Jersey shore, and my parents are from the old Yugoslavia (Serbia and Croatia), so I grew up in a European/Socialist sort of household surrounded by beach culture environment, stuck between two major cities.

When I was younger, I kind of felt like an outcast because of all those crazy juxtapositions but when I got older I was able to realize how lucky I was to have been exposed to so many different cultures all at once and it really shaped me in ways I am eternally grateful for.

Matador:… why you travel…

There just isn’t any other experience that comes close to it. I can’t really imagine life without traveling. I took my first overseas flight to the Adriatic coast & Serbia when I was 4 and was instantly hooked.

Photo: snowcrash

My parents had one of those huge fancy world atlases and I used to spend hours poring over it, planning all the places I would go when I got older and could afford it.

We used to get National Geographic too, which fueled even more daydreams (I loved the free maps that came with it) of exploring cultures all over the world. I was especially interested in tribal cultures, where people seemed to live more in harmony with each other and the earth, and where ritual, dance, and body decoration played a huge role.

Matador: …what you do…

I’m in pursuit of ultimate freedom always.

I’m also an artist, photographer, writer, audiophile, and healer.

I am interested in so many things, so I’ve never had one official career. The idea of doing the same thing over and over for days on end makes me cringe.

I studied photography at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, did some commercial work for record labels and magazines, had art shows, helped run an indie hip-hop label in NYC, worked at Current TV watching documentaries about the world for a brief stint, and then temped for a year because it gave me freedom, not just physically but mentally and emotionally, which were even more important to me at the time.

“How do I get paid to travel around the world doing what I love – creating art, making beautiful images, spending time in nature, meeting amazing people, and helping others?”

I tried going back to work at a landscape architect’s office for a bit. Temping doesn’t really provide financial stability, and I really love plants, so I thought I could learn something new and sort out my finances at the same time. But I found the environment to be really stifling and knew my freedom and happiness were worth way more than a steady paycheck so I began trying to sort out ‘How do I get paid to travel around the world doing what I love – creating art, making beautiful images, spending time in nature, meeting amazing people, and helping others?’

I had a health crisis. As I began to learn how to heal through a steady diet of raw/living foods, herbs, spiritual work, and hours spent in the wilderness hiking, I ended up stepping into my power as a healer, which really clicked everything together for me….

All the synchronicities in my life began to increase. I knew I was on the right path and didn’t need to focus only on one thing – what I needed was to find a way to make them all work together.

I signed up for a raw foods nutrition class and was praying for everything to get taken to the next level when I got fired from my job. It was a huge blessing. I began blogging about raw foods, health, life transformation and began consulting with clients one-on-one to help sort out their health issues. I finally had the time to spend my energy doing things I loved, so I began volunteering more than ever and immersing myself in [my passions]: food, permaculture, food foraging, the environment, and healthy living.

I knew travel was an integral part of the puzzle, so I applied for a paid WWOOF sponsorship to study permaculture in Bulgaria for six months and got it. Everything was coming together perfectly.

Matador: What are you up to these days?

I planned to spend some time with my family back east for a month or two before heading to Bulgaria and decided to take a cross country road trip to get there. Just as I was finalizing my trip, the WWOOF Bulgaria program told me that because I wasn’t an EU citizen, they weren’t going to be able to get my paperwork processed in time to make the funding deadline.

I trust that everything happens for a reason, so decided to just roll with it. I turned my cross country adventure into a bigger trip with no real end date. I left San Francisco in February and embarked on an experiment to trust that if we’re being of service, we are always being provided for. In my case this meant educating people about raw food and inspiring them to take their health back into their own hands, volunteering on organic farms and gardens, and exploring the power of community everywhere I went.

Photo: Ian Muttoo

It’s been amazing so far. I’ve met some of the most positive, inspiring, beautiful people who are changing the world. I’ve also been taking part in a lot of intense North American Indian ceremonies and sweat lodges and deepening on my spiritual path. It’s been beautiful and empowering experiencing how everything in your life shifts when you begin to trust the universe, listen to your intuition, and live in alignment with your soul.

My life feels so magical. I don’t really want this trip to end, but I think it’s time to head back to SF to work on a few projects and work my magic on a few other areas.

About a year ago I decided to start a raw, organic, medicinal chocolate company because I wanted to build an eco-conscious business of my own that would allow me to do good things in the world and allow me to travel and fund my art. On this trip I’ve had so many chocolate and herb syncs, so I’m itching to get work on that and start working with an incubator program to get that off the ground.

I’m also applying to school to become an herbalist and continue to work with plant medicines all over the world, especially South America and the Himalayas.

I also have a few big art projects I want to work on, especially one I am excited about that harnesses the power of community and human connection. It’s a roving art gallery in a truck that travels to cities all over the country. I’m really into alternative economies, so instead of purchasing the art, people will barter their own art for what’s already on the walls. The new art show will travel to the next city, and the barter process will continue.

I really like things that are constantly changing and evolving and want to be able to connect art communities all over the world and have everyone be a part of something bigger. I want to try to also capture the whole process digitally in an online museum of sorts so that people can know where their art ended up & keep in contact with whoever has it. I’d really love it if it spurred a few collaborations as well.

Matador: How did you learn about Matador?

I can’t remember exactly, but I know I found it while researching how to be a location independent digital nomad. I think it might have been through a link from Soultravelers3 on twitter.

Matador: You won Matador’s Twitter contest for free tuition… have you ever won anything before?

A few things. I won a small photography scholarship fund in high school. My freshman year of college, SVA had a photo show that was judged by one of the curators of MoMA and I placed…I think my prize was a gift certificate for photo supplies. Oh, and last year I won a Japan guidebook from Lonely Planet.

Matador: What are you hoping to get out of the Matador U program?

I want to connect with other people who are living a nomadic lifestyle and get high off the journey. I feel like I need to learn the economy of words. Several people who read my blog have been writing me to suggest I turn this current adventure into a book, so it would be fantastic to learn how to do that and get published.

“I want to connect with other people who are living a nomadic lifestyle and get high off the journey.”

I’m also in the process of revamping my photography site, elasticfate.com, so I’d like to learn how to morph it into a monetized travel site that will help me bring in another stream of income from doing what I love and inspire others to do the same.

Matador: What’s your favorite kind of travel writing or travel writer?

The kind that has the power to transport you fully to a place and moment in time without having to rely on crazy partying and outlandish tales to keep you riveted, though those can be entertaining in their own way. I really like travel writing that gets inside the local culture and teaches me something new and inspires me grow in some way.

Community Connection:

Want to learn more about Matador U? You can do that here. To read more about raw food and spiritual healing, check out senior editor David Miller’s review of Sofia Brandon’s book, The Adventure Cookbook, published on Matador Goods earlier this week.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/winner-of-matadors-twitter-contest-for-free-tuition-introduces-herself/feed/ 6 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-launches-its-flickr-photo-pool/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-launches-its-flickr-photo-pool/#comments Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:08:15 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1153

Mongolian girl, Photo by Matador Trips co-editor, Carlo Alcos

Matador’s a community of travelers, writers, and photographers.

But admittedly, photographers have gotten short shrift in our three years of existence.

That’s all about to change.

Matador Trips editors Hal Amen and Carlo Alcos have already taken the lead in highlighting Matador members’ photography by publishing stunning photo essays from Iceland, Brazil, and Papua New Guinea, to name just a few. Other Matador editors have followed their lead, featuring photo essays on Matador Sports and on Matador Change.

We’ll have some other exciting news to share with photographers over the next few weeks and months, but in the meantime, why not add your travel photos to Matador’s Flickr pool?

If you already have a Flickr account, all you need to do is join the group by following this link and clicking “Join This Group.” Then, you can add photos from your own photostream to the Matador pool, sharing your talent and your travels with the rest of us. The photos you add will carry the same license you’ve selected for them in your own photostream. Leave your photos licensed for Creative Commons and commercial use, and you may just see your work featured in a Matador article!

Interested in having your photography considered for a photo essay? E-mail me at julie@matadornetwork.com and I’ll direct your query to the appropriate editor.

Community Connection:

Would you like to WIN a beautiful photograph taken by professional travel photographer Peter Guttman? Check out our Twitter contest– details here.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-launches-its-flickr-photo-pool/feed/ 4 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-u-students-share-their-success-stories/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-u-students-share-their-success-stories/#comments Sat, 03 Oct 2009 10:44:12 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1150

Photo courtesy of Abbie Mood

It was just about a month ago that Matador launched the first course at Matador U: the 12 week travel writing curriculum.

Since then, dozens of aspiring travel writers have joined the course, working through the curriculum at their own pace and enjoying the conversation with other students and the Matador editorial team.

One of those students is Abbie Mood, who has also been a member of the Matador Travel community for about six months. Abbie registered for Matador U two weeks ago, and says, “I already feel like I’ve gained so much! Besides the chapters being really informative and interesting, being able to connect to and share feedback with editors and other writers has been amazing.”

Abbie has taken full advantage of Matador U’s features, including the Market Leads board, which provides students with exclusive listings of online and print opportunities for publishing their work. In fact, Abbie has already landed a writing gig through the market leads; she learned this week that she has been hired as Planet Eye’s local expert blogger for Orange County, California. “I’m very excited,” she says, “because this is my first official writing gig!”

Abbie has lived in Orange County for just over four years and will be using her experience to inform her postings for Planet Eye about what’s going on in Orange County. Some of her favorite places there are El Moro Canyon/Crystal Cove State Park to trail run (“There is a beautiful view of the ocean, and the trails kick my butt!”), Main Street on Huntington Beach to bar hop and people watch, and the Irvine Spectrum in Irvine for shopping!

Though it will be a few more days before her local expert page is active, you can check out the site and other cities’ local experts–including Matador’s own Twitter Ninja and Edinburgh local expert, Andy Hayes–at www.planeteyetraveler.com.

Community Connection:

Abbie isn’t the only Matador U student who has landed a writing contract since entering the travel writing program. Over the next few days, we’ll be profiling other students who have found gigs through the Market Leads board.

Interested in joining the U? Learn all about it here. And keep your eyes on that page– over the next few months, Matador will be introducing other courses, too!

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-u-students-share-their-success-stories/feed/ 8 http://matadorpulse.com/austin-chus-the-recess-ends-premieres-in-san-francisco/ http://matadorpulse.com/austin-chus-the-recess-ends-premieres-in-san-francisco/#comments Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:42:22 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1144

Photo: Andrew Ciscel

Maybe you’ve seen some of the clips of “The Recess Ends” on Matador Life.

Matador’s own Austin Chu, who occasionally reviews gear for Matador Goods, was laid off his job in December 2008. Rather than sit around and despair about his bank account or struggle to find a new job in a dismal economic market, Austin hit the American road with his brother Brian to make a documentary about the current state of the economy and, more importantly, what’s next.

Less than a year later, the Chu brothers can say they traveled through all 50 states, completed editing and post-production, and launched their documentary, “The Recess Ends,” to enthusiastic reviews. The premiere was held last night in San Francisco. Matador’s co-founders, Ross Borden and Ben Polansky, showed up early and still had to sneak in to the theater; it was that packed.

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the trailer and then head on over to TRE’s website to find out when the film may be showing near you:

Official Trailer: The Recess Ends from B-Rilla on Vimeo.

Community Connection:

Were you at the premiere? Share your thoughts about “The Recess Ends” below. You can also check out other clips from the film on TRE’s Vimeo channel.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/austin-chus-the-recess-ends-premieres-in-san-francisco/feed/ 11 http://matadorpulse.com/from-the-editor-its-time-to-take-our-pulse/ http://matadorpulse.com/from-the-editor-its-time-to-take-our-pulse/#comments Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:06:07 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1138 For the past year or so, Pulse has been Matador’s news blog.

My big news? Baby Mariel!

There have been some exceptions, but during that time we’ve looked mostly outside of our own community to find “news.”

Though we always cared about finding the stories that were overlooked by mainstream media and bringing them back to you–as often as possible by reaching out to someone on the ground for a first-person dispatch like this one– we recently realized how much news is being overlooked within our own community.

In the three years since Matador was founded, we’ve created a large, tight-knit community of travelers and writers around the world who are living what we call the “Matador vision” every single day. That vision is to:

“…raise questions and share ideas and information in a way that isn’t bounded by geography or culture but ripples out from one traveler to another worldwide. Over time, these connections, dialogues, and relationships are affecting positive changes and creating new opportunities in the real world.”

Living the Matador vision looks different for each of the 12,000+ members of the Matador Travel community, the 1.6 million + people who visit our blogs each month, the nearly 8,000 people who follow us on Twitter, and the 70+ students enrolled in our travel writing school, Matador U.

For new member justdanny, who is currently serving in Iraq (which has a “hell of a sunrise,” he says), living the Matador vision means figuring out how to use the time and experiences he’s had at war once he gets back home. For HittheRoadJACK, it’s figuring out how to “hold on and continue believing in this dream” of living in their RV and “taking photographs and sharing our stories with others,” even when nothing seems to be going their way.

So long story short: go get your travel news elsewhere. Check Global Voices Online for politics and world news. Check other travel blogs for fare deals. And stay here to learn more about the incredible people who make up the Matador community.

Community Connection:

Want to contribute to Matador? Read our submission guidelines here.

If you have a story about what’s going on in your part of the world or if you want us to celebrate your good news, send me an email at julie@matadornetwork.com.

[Feature photo: qrtzcntrl]

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/from-the-editor-its-time-to-take-our-pulse/feed/ 9 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-wins-international-food-wine-travel-writers-association-scholarship/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-wins-international-food-wine-travel-writers-association-scholarship/#comments Mon, 21 Sep 2009 00:47:27 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1100

Photo courtesy of JoAnna Haugen

It’s been a good summer for JoAnna Haugen.

You’re probably already familiar with JoAnna Haugen, an active member of Matador.

She’s a Matador contributor, having written the popular article “5 Things You Should Know Before Joining the Peace Corps” for MatadorChange.

She’s an enthusiastic and supportive student in Matador’s travel writing program, MatadorU.

She’s an active blogger, writing here on Matador and on her own self-hosted blog.

She was one of the Roads Scholars, using her travel stipend to explore the U.S.’s national parks and to write about her transformative experiences at Burning Man.

So the Matador team was stoked to wake up this morning to an e-mail from senior editor David Miller, who shared JoAnna’s latest blog–and good news–with us. JoAnna has won the 2009 Wine Food Travel Scholarship, awarded by the International Food, Wine & Travel Writers Association (IFWTWA). In addition to being awarded a one week trip to the Caribbean in the dead of U.S. winter, JoAnna was given a one year membership to IFWTWA and will have at least one of her articles published in Global Writes.

Best of all, JoAnna’s decided to start a new writing project: her two weeks notice at her day job. She’ll be pursuing travel writing as a full time career.

And Matador will be pulling for her all the way!

Community Connection:

Interested in connecting with people like JoAnna? Set up your MatadorTravel.com profile today to meet other passionate travelers. You could also consider joining MatadorU, a 12-week curriculum developed by the Matador team where we teach you all you need to know about the history, craft, tools, and future of travel writing.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-member-wins-international-food-wine-travel-writers-association-scholarship/feed/ 13 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-members-reach-semi-final-in-trazzlers-nycgo-writing-contest/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-members-reach-semi-final-in-trazzlers-nycgo-writing-contest/#comments Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:03:48 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1042

Photo: Ed Yourdon

$10,000 to live and write in New York City for two weeks? That’s what four Matador members have at stake in Trazzler’s NYCGO Writing Contest.

Sorry, it’s too late for you to get into the game, but four Matador members have made it into the semi-final round of Trazzler’s NYCGO Writing Contest.

At stake is a $10,000 prize and a most-expenses paid two-week stint to visit New York City, where the winner will spend his or her mini-residency writing about the city.

To get to this round, entrants had to make an initial editorial cut after submitting a short trip guide on the theme “Oasis.”

The initial pool of entrants has been culled to 200 semi-finalists. Visitors to the Trazzler site will vote for their favorite trips and the 10 entries garnering the most votes will move on to the finals. A jury will choose the grand prize winner. Even if you’re not a Trazzler member, you can vote for your favorite semi-finalists by logging in through your Facebook account.

Here are the Matador members who are in the running for the next round:

Katie Hammel:

Katie is a regular contributor to Matador Trips, writing frequently about her hometown of Detroit. She’s also written about Chicago, Denver, and Iceland.

Katie’s Trazzler entry is “Brunching at a Hidden Urban Oasis in Detroit, Michigan.”

Sabina Lohr:

Sabina is Matador’s expert on Martha’s Vineyard, an area she writes about frequently for Matador Trips. Her most recent Matador article is All Over the Map: A U.S. Festival for Each Month of the Year.

Sabina’s Trazzler entry is “Jumping Off the Jaws Bridge on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.”

Michelle Schusterman:

Michelle, a musician, Matador intern, and regular contributor to Matador Goods, currently calls South Korea her home base.

Michelle’s Trazzler entry is “Stumbling Onto a Bahiano Making Dende Oil in Santo Amaro, Brazil.”

Ryan Van Lenning:

Ryan is a writer, educator, activist, and regular contributor to Matador Change, where he writes about environmental and social justice issues.

Ryan’s Trazzler entry is “Lounging in the Turquoise Pools in Semuc Champey, Guatemala.”

Click on over to Trazzler to vote for these Matador members!

Community Connection:

We’ll forgive Katie, Sabina, Michelle, and Ryan for using the word “oasis,” but don’t be caught using it when you send a submission to Matador. “Oasis” is one of the 10 Words and Phrases We Never Want to See in Travel Writing Again.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-members-reach-semi-final-in-trazzlers-nycgo-writing-contest/feed/ 10 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-featured-in-wordpress-showcase/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-featured-in-wordpress-showcase/#comments Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:45:06 +0000 David Miller http://matadorpulse.com/?p=1024

Screenshot from WordPress Showcase

Bigups development team and Matador community! We’re now featured in the WordPress Showcase, a listing of best-designed WordPress websites.

First up, many thanks to WordPress for including Matador at the WordPress Showcase. Currently we’re rated #1 based on our implementation and use of WordPress. To vote, please click here and roll over the number of stars you feel we deserve, then click the mouse. You don’t have to sign up or register for anything, however, please vote only once.

As far as why we were included in the showcase, WordPress wrote:

Matador is made up of a number WordPress blogs that work together to provide content on a variety of travel-related topics.The site averages more than 1.8 million monthly pageviews.

I fired off a couple questions to Ian MacKenzie, who (along with his wife Karen) has been the primary architect responsible for Matador’s design.

David: How many designs had you and Karen worked on before this latest one?

Ian: Well I’d say it was the second major theme makeover since the first one. We’re always making tweaks, but this was substantially different.

David: What was the overarching design element you were going for with this latest theme?

Ian: We mostly wanted to showcase more content from across the entire network, in a visual way, and make it easier to catch people’s eyes. We also wanted to increase the ability for people to scan many headlines.

David: What does it mean to you and karen as developers to have a design currently ranking # 1 in the WP showcase?

Ian: Ha, is it really?

David: Yes.

Ian: I’d say we’re happy people seem to like the theme, and we’re looking forward to its continued evolution in the future.

Spoken like a true developer, I think. Thanks again to everyone on the team and in the community–this is really the cumulative vision of many many people with lots of feedback.

Community Connection

Interested in site design, or just wondering about which blogging platform is best for your writing? We’ve been having a good discussion on this at the Notebook this week.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-featured-in-wordpress-showcase/feed/ 8 http://matadorpulse.com/breaking-news-matador-contributor-detained-in-iran/ http://matadorpulse.com/breaking-news-matador-contributor-detained-in-iran/#comments Sun, 02 Aug 2009 04:43:04 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=899 One of Matador’s contributing writers has been detained in Iran.

Matador writer Sarah Shourd.

Earlier today, mainstream US media reported that three American hikers were arrested in Iran after crossing the Iran/Iraq border on Friday. According to this report in The New York Times, Iranian television confirmed the arrests.

The news hits close to home for Matador, as one of our contributors, Sarah Shourd, is believed to be one of the arrested hikers, though her name has been spelled inaccurately in various reports. The other two detained hikers have been named as Shane Bower and Joshua Steel.

The arrests were reported to the US Embassy in Iraq by Shaun Gabriel Maxwell, a fourth hiker who had not been with his friends when they were detained. Though some reports have indicated that the three hikers defied local warnings not to cross into Iranian territory, other reports tell a different story. USA Today reported that Maxwell stated that the detained hikers–who contacted him by phone–told him they had gotten lost and wandered across the border unintentionally, where they were surrounded by troops and arrested.

Shourd penned this story for Matador in November of 2008.

While details are still coming in, Matador will continue to follow the story and wishes the best for Shourd and her companions.

Feature photo: Lezan

Community Connection:

Read Sarah Shourd’s story, “Escape from Iraq: A Muslim Family Finds Solace in Ramadan,” here.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/breaking-news-matador-contributor-detained-in-iran/feed/ 29 http://matadorpulse.com/middle-eastern-women-redefining-politics-and-public-space/ http://matadorpulse.com/middle-eastern-women-redefining-politics-and-public-space/#comments Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:56:01 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=748 Tomorrow, Iranians will go to the polls to vote for president. Though no woman is running, the outcome will reflect the extent to which women are redefining politics and public space in Iran and throughout the region.

Photo: Amir Farshad Ebrahimi

The future of incumbent candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is at stake in tomorrow’s election. Ahmadinejad, often described as a hard-line traditionalist, is being challenged for the country’s top political seat by former prime minister, Mir Hossein Mousavi.

The two candidates couldn’t be more different, but that’s not the main issue galvanizing many Iranian voters and outside observers.

Instead, it’s Mousavi’s wife, Zahra Rahnavard, a former university chancellor, who has captivated the country’s attention as the final hours of campaigning approach.

In an article in Der Spiegel, journalist Ulrike Putz explained Rahnavard’s appeal and influence:

“Since the revolution in 1979 no other political spouse has been so much in the public eye. Rahnavard is even featured in her husband’s election posters: she stands next to him, holding his hand. In Iran’s strict Muslim society this alone is nothing short of spectacular. She wears her black chador loosely and instead of a plain scarf, hers is printed with a colorful floral pattern….

For weeks Rahnavard has been travelling around Iran — with and without her husband — trying to drum up support for the conservative reformer. She talks about providing women with more rights before family courts, better education opportunities and more jobs. That is not only appealing to the female half of the estimated 46 million eligible voters — many of their fathers, brothers and husbands also think this the right way forward.

While Rahnavard is certainly the most visible example of women increasingly defining and claiming a space for themselves in Iranian politics and social life, she’s not the only one. Throughout Iran and neighboring countries, women are openly addressing larger audiences, talking about traditionally taboo topics and asserting their right to define their own roles in society.

For another example of the ways women are articulating and exercising their rights, check out this excerpt from the PBS Wide Angle documentary, “Dishing Democracy,” which features popular TV hosts Fawzia Salama, Rania Barghout, Muna AbuSulayman, and Farah Besiso talking about their Cairo-based program, “Kalam Nawaem.”

If you’re interested in seeing the full documentary, you can access the video segments here.

Community Connection:

Interested in politics outside the West? Be sure to read Sarah Stuteville’s dispatch from Pakistan, “Pakistani Politics: Why Women’s Voices Matter.”

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/middle-eastern-women-redefining-politics-and-public-space/feed/ 2 http://matadorpulse.com/roads-scholarship-winners-announced/ http://matadorpulse.com/roads-scholarship-winners-announced/#comments Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:56:43 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=712 Back in April, Matador announced the launch of the Roads Scholarship. Today, we’re thrilled to announce the winners.

Photo: snappybex

The Roads Scholarship is the pet project of Matador member Pat the Digital Vagabond, a long-time traveler who wants to make travel possible for other people. Pat dreamed up the idea of sending one person–a “Roads Scholar”– around North America during the summer of 2009 on an unfixed route of their own choosing, fully funded, ending up at the popular Burning Man Festival in September.

The only catch? That the winner document his or her journey on Matador and other multimedia platforms.

More than 100 aspiring Roads Scholars submitted applications.

Pat found many of the applications so compelling that he couldn’t choose a single winner. Instead, he chose one primary Roads Scholar and three honorary scholars. They are:

Primary Roads Scholar: Kyle Smith

Honorary Roads Scholars: Joanna Haugen, Marina, and Alanna

Visit Digital Vagabonding to learn more about the winners. And be sure to sign up for Matador’s RSS feed so you can keep up with all the digital dispatches we’ll be featuring from this year’s winners.

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to Pat for his generosity and vision!

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/roads-scholarship-winners-announced/feed/ 3 http://matadorpulse.com/nomadic-matt-releases-travel-ebook-about-seo-and-monetizing-blogs/ http://matadorpulse.com/nomadic-matt-releases-travel-ebook-about-seo-and-monetizing-blogs/#comments Fri, 22 May 2009 14:47:04 +0000 David Miller http://matadorpulse.com/?p=670

Matt Kepnes, happy about new friend.

Matadorian Matt Kepnes (aka Nomadic Matt) has just come out with his first ebook. Here’s what’s up.

We were stoked last week when Matador contributor Matt Kepnes, aka Nomadic Matt, sent us a copy of his first travel ebook.

In Matt’s own words, his ebook “teaches people some basic coding and what to think about when creating a travel site. The real meat of the ebook are the sections on SEO and how to make money with your blog. I go through the whole process and where to find advertisers.”

I read through the book and found the information to be laid out in a very easy to follow, step by step kind of way that draws directly on Matt’s own experience over the last year, as he’s gone from someone without a travel blog to someone able to sustain himself on ad revenue generated via his site NomadicMatt.com.

After reading the ebook I realized that even though I felt like I “knew” Matt, especially after working with him on several of his classic stories on Matador (such as Top 20 Craziest Party Hostels around the World), there were still several basic things about Matt I wanted to know for this article.

Where are you from? What’s your age / background?

Born and raised in Boston, I have a background in teaching and business but abandoned both to follow my dream of endless travel. I’m 27.

How long have you been with Matador?

Since April 2007 (you guys gave me my big break!).

How long since you started your own site?

February 2007.

How many pageviews do you get?

350,000 per month (not bad, huh?).

Where do you work from?

My laptop.

Where are you right now?

Bangkok, Thailand.

Where are you going next?

Scotland for my birthday! (June 12th!).

What’s the ‘big vision’ for the next 3-5 years?

Finish seeing every continent, getting to the World Cup in 2010, and moving to Europe (Paris or Amsterdam).

Anything special you want readers to know about the ebook?

This book is designed to help those with blogs make an even bigger and better blog and make some money off of it. Many people get discouraged that they put so much work in but see such a little return. The book is here to help you put in less work and get bigger returns by avoiding common mistakes.

Community Connection

You can connect with Matt either via his website or friend him up at Matador.

Want to learn the craft of travel writing?

Sign up for Matador’s new Travel Writing School and get the skills you need.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/nomadic-matt-releases-travel-ebook-about-seo-and-monetizing-blogs/feed/ 7 http://matadorpulse.com/a-new-way-of-looking-at-the-news/ http://matadorpulse.com/a-new-way-of-looking-at-the-news/#comments Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:20:30 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=460

Photo: Zarko Drinic

Eva Holland and I have been co-editing Pulse for a while now, turning out an average of two pieces per day about international news. The stories have included quirky quick takes (Obama fingers, anyone?) to concise, thoughtful analyses about world developments overlooked by mainstream media.

As the Matador Network gets a face lift, we’ll continue to bring you news about travel–and we’re not talking about fare deals or new airline routes. Though Eva will be taking a sabbatical at the end of March as she hits the road, you can still count on Pulse to keep you up-to-date with what’s going on in this big world.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/a-new-way-of-looking-at-the-news/feed/ 0 http://matadorpulse.com/congrats-to-matadors-solas-awards-winners/ http://matadorpulse.com/congrats-to-matadors-solas-awards-winners/#comments Sun, 01 Mar 2009 18:56:45 +0000 Eva Holland http://matadorpulse.com/?p=433

The winners of the third annual Solas Awards, honoring the best travel stories of the year, have been announced — and a few Matador members are in the mix!

Congrats to all the winners, but special shout-outs go to Matador Goods editor Lola Akinmade, who took the bronze in the “Travel and Shopping” category (and also landed a couple of honorable mentions), Matador member Darrin DuFord, who received second place in the “Travel and Food” category, and Matador member Dana Hill, who also received an honorable mention.

The Solas Awards are put on every year by Travelers’ Tales, a San Francisco-based publishing house dedicated to literary travel writing and travel storytelling at its best. If you’re an aspiring travel writer, consider sending in your best stories for next year’s Solas Awards, and check out the submissions page for the latest Travelers’ Tales anthologies, too.

To learn more about what Travelers’ Tales is looking for (and to read some great writing — one of the best ways to keep learning!) give The Best Travel Writing 2009 or The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2009 a read.

Congratulations again to Lola, Darrin, Dana, and everyone else! And if we missed your name on the winners’ list, because we only know you by a Matador nickname, please let us know!

Keep writing, everybody.

Photo by tnarik (Creative Commons)

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/congrats-to-matadors-solas-awards-winners/feed/ 2 http://matadorpulse.com/editors-roundup-matador-2008-year-in-review/ http://matadorpulse.com/editors-roundup-matador-2008-year-in-review/#comments Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:09:45 +0000 David Miller http://matadorpulse.com/?p=380 Earlier this month we asked everyone on the editorial staff what their picks were for the best of 2008, both personally and at Matador. As expected it ended up being a perfect cross-section of perspectives on the community, good writing, video, and stoke. Here’s your Matador Editors’ 2008 Year in review:

David Miller – Senior Editor

David Miller with daughter Layla. Morning after her first camping trip. Elwha River, Olympic Peninsula, Washington.

1) What was your favorite article on Matador in 2008?

There were so many good blogs and articles written this year, but one in particular, Teresa Ponikvar’s What’s up with Pachuca just hit all the right notes. “How can a town without a living river be a living town?” she asks. This piece speaks for the growing number of us who seem to be perpetually searching for and in love with place.

2) Where was the best place you visited this year and why?

This year we moved to the Pacific Northwest and quickly discovered the Olympic Peninsula. It’s the best place we visited this year and now one of my favorite places in the world for sure.

This was the last place in the US to be “settled,” and unique in that the native peoples here, particularly the Quiluete Nation, were able to remain in their homeland, and to a large extent, preserve their culture and way of life. When you roll in to La Push (a classic surf break), you pass a sign that says “Quilete Nation: You are welcome in these lands.”

People are smiling, stoked. The water is clear; the forest is massive. There were gray whales out there while I was surfing.

3) If you could travel anywhere in 2009, money aside, where would it be?

Over the last several years my travel style has changed. Instead of traversing places, now I’m more interested in deepening relationships with places I’m still just getting to know.

So even if money were no object, 2009 would still be about heading back down to Patagonia, where our family has been traveling for the last several years. Some local trips on the wish-list: expedition / exploratory kayak trip in the Rio Azul headwaters. Backcountry snowboarding in the cordillera above El Bolsón.

4) What is your favorite online video (youtube, etc) from this year?

I keep peeping this one. KRS-1 just killing a freestyle. What I love about this video is the full-on Buddha presence KRS-1 exudes–just totally calm and centered–as he goes from just walking around, to entering the studio, to flowing right over whatever is coming out of the speakers.

Here’s someone who takes nothing for granted: when he first walks in, one of the engineers asks him “what’s poppin’?” His answer: “the world.”

5) If you had to buy the incoming president a holiday present, what would it be?

It would be a trip. Say a multi-day overnight float trip through some high-desert canyon in the American West. Maybe the Dolores River in Colorado. Someplace where he could float in, then set up camp dozens of miles from any roads or buildings, and hike up in the sandstone to ancient Pueblo granaries–places where you could literally see the fingerprints of peoples who lived here thousands of years ago.

I don’t even know why this is what I’d want his present to be. Maybe it’s just the idea that he’d see into a different part of this place we call America.

Ian Mackenzie – Matador Network Architect

Ian in Hawaii. Looks like Canadian Survivor.

1) What was your favorite article on Matador in 2008?

Very difficult to choose, but my favourite would have to be 10 Revolutionary Acts Of Courage By Ordinary People. I came up with the original idea for the article, but Robyn Johnson fleshed out each person and really made it her own. It’s intelligent, thought provoking, and it makes me proud that this type of material can be published on Brave New Traveler.

2) Where was the best place you visited this year and why?

Last February, I spent 3 weeks in Hawaii. The first two, I was shooting a documentary project that took me to some incredible locations. The first week I found myself on the summit of Mauna Kea, gazing up at massive telescopes crusted with ice and snow.

The second week I was wandering miles and miles of hardened lava at the Volcanoes National Park. Finally, the third week I was finished working and my wife and I flew to Kauai to cap the end of an unreal trip. Despite being a well-trodden tourist destination, Hawaii is still magical.

3) If you could travel anywhere in 2009, money aside, where would it be?

Bhutan. I’ve simply been hearing too much about it -from the incredible scenic beauty, to the startling discovery that they balance their economic growth with the happiness of their people. Money aside, that’s definitely where I’d go.

4) What is your favorite online video (youtube, etc) from this year?

I know it’s past the point of cliche now, but definitely Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up. There’s something about that whole phenomenon that went beyond merely tricking your friends/family into a “Rick Roll.” It was a cultural milestone.

Plus, I spent hours crafting how to best develop my strategy… from embedding the video into a new page, to hiding link with a TinyURL…etc. Good family fun.

5) If you had to buy the incoming president a holiday present, what would it be?

A George W. Bush bobble-head. Because that would give Obama a chuckle whenever he needs it.

Julie Schwietert – Managing Editor

Julie con la gente.

1) Favorite article on Matador in 2008:

That’s tough, but my pick is Misty Tosh’s The Ultimate Baja Escape.. Misty has totally nailed the Matador formula: Take your deep knowledge and intense experience of a place, write about it in your own unique voice, and make it real and relevant for readers.

“The Ultimate Baja Escape” is a three day road trip guide and it’s clear that she knows the terrain from her own experience of riding it. She provides insider tips you can’t know just by surfing the internet. This is EXACTLY the kind of article Matador editors and readers want to see. And after I read it, I was ready to find myself a truck and hit the road.

2) Where was the best place you visited this year and why?

What a cruel question! I have to choose?! 2008 was an incredible travel year for me, the best of my life so far. I was able to spend significant amounts of time in my favorite stomping grounds, Latin America, where I listened to amazing stories and found ways to bring them back to readers.

I spent a month in Colombia, about six months in Mexico City (with trips to Oaxaca, Veracruz, Perote, & Guadalajara), and just enough time to fall in love with Chile. I also went to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It’s impossible to choose a best place; they were all incredible, each with their own unique people, experiences, and stories.

3) If you could travel anywhere in 2009, money aside, where would it be?

I know that I should say I’d go some place really far-flung or spend the money on a round-the-world trip since money’s no object, but I really just feel pulled to settle down in Latin America and do some serious slow travel around Central America, South America, and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean.

I love to live in a place, not just pass through, so if money were no object, I’d travel around for the whole year, settling down for awhile and renting a home.

4) What is your favorite online video (youtube, etc) from this year?

I’m pretty stoked about some video footage I shot during my visit to Guantanamo Bay that Matador’s video editor, Joshua Johnson, worked wonders with and got live a couple weeks ago.

A day at Guantanamo Bay; one guards perspective from Matador Network on Vimeo.

5) If you had to buy the incoming president a holiday present, what would it be?

I don’t think I’d buy President Obama anything. Instead, I’d encourage him to read stories about Matador members and their travels. There’s no single site where he would feel more inspired by how people build community online, at home, and in the world, and there’s no single site where he’d find better writing about it.

Tim Patterson – Contributing Editor

Tim hard at work.

1) What was your favorite article on Matador in 2008?

Apart from my own brilliant articles you mean? I gotta go with Sarah Stuteville’s essay Why We Still Need To Write About African Poverty. Remember that name, Sarah Stuteville. She’s an up-and-coming superstar journalist, gonna be the next Nick Kristof, guaranteed.

2) Where was the best place you visited this year and why?

Tough call. I rang in the New Year with college buddies in El Chalten, Patagonia, but it was too freaking windy down there. Plenty of fond memories of crazy times in Punta del Diablo, Uruguay with Brian Meissner and the hostel crew. Went back to some old haunts – camping on Koh Rong island in Cambodia with my friend Jon and two curvaceous Dutch girls was a blast….and while it wasn’t exactly a happy experience, visiting the Kachin Independence Army’s mountaintop base in northern Myanmar was a unique privilege. Can’t pick just one, sorry.

3) If you could travel anywhere in 2009, money aside, where would it be?

I would go home to Craftsbury, Vermont and stay there for a while. But my job is to travel so I’ll be bouncing back and forth between New England and SE Asia. Tough, huh? I’m sure y’all feel sorry for me.

4) What is your favorite online video (youtube, etc) from this year?

No question about, the BNT 1,000 subscriber celebration video where I get naked and Ian gets drunk.

5) If you had to buy the incoming president a holiday present, what would it be?

A lump of coal in his stocking. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got great respect for Obama, but he needs to know just how “clean” coal really is. Check out Exposing the Bi-Partisan Myth of Clean Coal for more.

Tom Gates – Editor, Matador Life

1) What was your favorite article on Matador in 2008?

I loved this blog by member Jon Brandt and it has kicked around my brain ever since. The article that really got to me was Digging out of the Sinkhole by Susan Greenwood. Next year isn’t going to be any better for the economy and this article gave me a little bit of hope.

2) Where was the best place you visited this year and why?

Laos by a mile. I think it might have had something to do with the fact that by then, I was in The Zone with my 3 month trip through SE Asia. Nothing much could phase me and, even if it did, there was valium readily available. This place is delicious.

One word: Tom.

3) If you could travel anywhere in 2009, money aside, where would it be?

No matter how incredible and remote the experiences have been since, I’ve never enjoyed a weekend more than the one I had at Singita Game Reserve in South Africa. You can romanticize the bum mattresses in guest houses only so much before you bump into an experience like this, where the concept of luxury is completely re-invented. Incredible people, the most astounding rooms, a great respect for nature, unbelievable food and a massive wine cellar. Oh, and the animals. RIGHT THERE. Yeah. This is where I’d go.

4) What is your favorite online video (youtube, etc) from this year?

I’m really bad at these. They enter and leave my brain in minutes. I keep coming back to the Snagglepuss sketch on SNL from a few weeks ago. It just cracked me up to no end. Watching Jay Brannan fumble and bumble through a career in music is pretty fun too.

5) If you had to buy the incoming president a holiday present, what would it be?

A subscription to Coast To Coast AM’s podcast. This is the best talk radio show in the world. Conspiracy theories, UFO’s, ghosts, space, abductions, secrets…I could listen to theories about the disappearance of honey bees and mysterious calf mutilations for hours. Perhaps this is too revealing.

If only 5% of what is covered on here is true, the world is a much different place than anyone understands it to be. I’m dying to know what secrets the incoming president gets to know and which are outside of even the his boundaries. By the way, if you’re traveling, this show makes bus rides fly by!

Eva Holland – Contributing Editor

Eva, seconds before licking the microphone.

1) What was your favorite article on Matador in 2008?

It’s hard to choose, but probably Spencer Klein’s essay, When Maximo Was Our Captain: Surfing Bocas. I don’t know much of anything about surfing, or Panama, but Spencer had me right there with powerful, hard-working word choices, telling details, and great use of dialogue.

2) Where was the best place you visited this year and why?

Oh gosh, this is tough. I covered a ton of ground this year and had a lot of amazing experiences. I’ll have to go with New Orleans, though – I visited for the first time in March and absolutely fell in love with the city’s food, its architecture, its people and its play-hard ethic.

NOLA combines everything that’s wonderful and welcoming and alive about the South, with the live-and-let-live progressive attitudes of a San Francisco or Vancouver. I was back there this summer for several weeks, and got caught up in the evacuation leading up to Hurricane Gustav. It was a sad way to leave, but I know I’ll be back.

3) If you could travel anywhere in 2009, money aside, where would it be?

South Africa, no question.

My answer to that one hasn’t changed in years: I got hooked on the country’s history, culture and literature as an undergrad, and – as anyone who follows Matador Pulse or my blog in the Matador Travel community knows – I never get tired of talking about it.

I’ve never yet managed to scrape together the money to get there (the flight alone from Canada can run between two and three grand) but when I do, I’ll probably be one of the best-informed tourists ever to land in a new place. Someday, I plan on solemnly taking in Robben Island, hitting up the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria, eating my way through Soweto’s up-and-coming dining scene (while pausing to appreciate the tragedy and political impact of the Uprising) and, of course, cheering the Springboks on at an international rugby match.

4) What is your favorite online video (youtube, etc) from this year?

Is it too corny to pick the “Yes We Can” clip?

Barring that, definitely the footage of ImprovEverywhere “freezing” Grand Central Station:

5) If you had to buy the incoming president a holiday present, what would it be?

Not to go on about South Africa too much, but probably Antjie Krog’s Country of my Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa. It’s an account of Krog’s experience as a journalist covering the Truth and Reconciliation Commission following the end of apartheid, and it’s one of the most powerful books I’ve ever read. It also has an awful lot to say about the immense challenges and rewards of healing and bridge-building after a terrible period of division.

Lola Akinmade – Editor, Matador Goods

Lola, not enjoying herself at all.

1) What was your favorite article on Matador in 2008?

One of my standout favorites is 5 Ways Inner Travel Helps Your See Other Cultures. As avid travelers who move beyond the mainstream to the offbeat, we can also fall into the trap of constantly pursuing the most “authentic” experience, when it’s actually being lived all around us.

2) Where was the best place you visited this year and why?

Peru was hands down my favorite spot this year and hiking the Inca Trail was the experience of a lifetime. I totally hammed it up at Macchu Pichu – jumping in a Matador t-shirt. Be sure to check out my Peru photo gallery. You can find more travel photography at http://www.lolaakinmade.com.

3) If you could travel anywhere in 2009, money aside, where would it be?

Mongolia has been calling me for awhile. Would love to spend some time in Mongolia, take in its raw beauty, and immerse within the culture. Sometimes, I consider myself a cultural ambassador and would love to share more of my own culture and heritage in far flung places.

But honestly, if money was not an issue, I would probably go on a year long round-the -world volunteering/photojournalism trip. It would be focused on working with children and in orphanages and I would work my way from the South Pacific islands through Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and back.

4) What is your favorite online video (youtube, etc) from this year?

I wish I could link to some thought provoking, insightful piece, but this video hands down, had me laughing and clapping in total admiration of the dancer’s talent – Guy dancing to Beyonce’s Single Ladies.

5) If you had to buy the incoming president a holiday present, what would it be?

Not to get into any religious tiffs here, but I’d probably buy him a Bible as a continual guide for the inclusive, “my brother’s keeper” exemplary lifestyle he’s already leading by. People caring for and sharing with each other at the grassroots level can change a nation. And together, they can do many great and mighty things.

To everyone in the Matador community: thank You for making 2008 our best year yet. We’ll see you in 2009!!

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/editors-roundup-matador-2008-year-in-review/feed/ 1 http://matadorpulse.com/7-memorable-matador-stories-that-went-popular-on-digg-in-2008/ http://matadorpulse.com/7-memorable-matador-stories-that-went-popular-on-digg-in-2008/#comments Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:33:50 +0000 David Miller http://matadorpulse.com/?p=375 44 Matador articles graced the Front Page of Digg in 2008. Here’s a look back at 7 of our favorites.

1. 50 Things to do Before You Die

# 27: Participate in Burning Man. Photo by John Curley.

From participating at Burning Man to seeing India by train, Matador’s bucket list of 2008 went both far and deep. In an editor’s forward to this piece I’d hinted at that common perspective where “sometimes it feels like we’re racing against time to experience something or somewhere before whatever it is that makes it special has been exhausted, used up, crowded out.”

Instead of choosing all obvious experiences (i.e. skydiving), author Josh Lew included long-term experiences, like learning a foreign language, or surfing.

2. Teaching English in Japan is Awesome and Sometimes Hilarious

Our man in Japan, Abram Plaut, posted this essay that one of his students wrote.

Little did he know it would be read by almost half a million people.

Best comment: “I’m all about the pants romance.”

3. 10 Customs You Must Know Before a Trip to Japan

Photo by: kalandrakas.

From tipping to table manners, bathhouse etiquette to using chopsticks, Turner Wright keeps us on point when it comes to Japanese customs.

Of particular interest were the insights on fear and conformity in Japanese society. Turner writes: “When groups of high school students in Japan were asked to identify the dangers facing children today, the majority agreed on the number one threat: individualism.”

4. 10 Things to do in Amsterdam Besides Smoking Pot

Photo by: earcos.

Marla Seidel’s piece on Amsterdam and the resulting conversations it started represented the best of both Matador and Digg. People who have lived in Amsterdam for years not only agreed with her picks, but also helped with a few minor corrections as well as new suggestions.

This was one of the few pieces we’ve seen go popular on Digg where the haters seemed to stay under their bridges.

5. Where to Find the Hottest Girls Outside the US

Photo by Celeste.

Denis Burke’s geographic roundup of female beauty pretty much became a free for all in the comments, and maybe deservedly so. (Brazil was a major omission.)

But then again this topic proved the old adage beauty is in the eye of the beholder, only now with a web 2.0 (and mildly perverted) twist. Just take this comment from Babage: “The internet has the most beautiful girls, never fail to satisfy.”

6. The Red Pill: 10 Films Guaranteed to Blow Your Mind

“The following 10 films are chosen because they shed light on the forces at work within our lives, this very moment. They use satire and metaphor to approach the truths that would otherwise be too difficult to understand, or too terrifying to comprehend.” So writes Matador Network architect Ian Mackenzie.

This article produced a record number of comments (547 as of this writing), and prompted a follow-up piece: 311 More Films Guaranteed to Blow Your Mind.

7. How to Deal With Your Bus Getting Hijacked When Living Abroad

Photo by: Weidmaier

This piece started out as a blog from our friend Jon Brandt. It was heartbreaking to read, one of those worst-case scenarios that’s always out there when you’re traveling–even though you try not to dwell on it.

But all of us in the community were proud of Jon for choosing to stay in Ecuador, to keep traveling, and to share his experience.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/7-memorable-matador-stories-that-went-popular-on-digg-in-2008/feed/ 1 http://matadorpulse.com/aspiring-travel-writer-alert-win-a-trip-to-india/ http://matadorpulse.com/aspiring-travel-writer-alert-win-a-trip-to-india/#comments Sun, 14 Dec 2008 18:22:32 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=363

Our friends over at World Nomads just announced the opening of their 2009 contest for aspiring travel writers.

If you include yourself among the legions of globe-trotting, pen-wielding writers looking for a free trip and a big break, then keep reading.

According to Chris Noble, World Nomad’s General Manager:

The scholarship recipient will go on assignment to Kerala, India in early 2009 with travel writing mentor David Stott, spending 10 days on tour with The Blue Yonder exploring the River Nila civilization and 10 days writing and reviewing for the upcoming Footprint India Handbook.

And if the destination itself doesn’t sound fantastic enough, there’s more:

The Blue Yonder Tour, specifically tailored for the scholarship recipient, will be based on the age-old tradition of story telling that reveals the uniqueness of the region and the importance of rivers for a sustainable life. It will include interactions with musicians, folk artists, bell metal workers, potters, sand miners, fire worshippers and ritualistic healers, and planting saplings at the Traveller’s Forest, a community driven eco-restoration project.

Sounds like a trip tailor-made for a Matador member!

Here’s what you need to know:

1. The trip is scheduled to take place between February 16-March 7, 2009, so you’ll need to be available these dates to be eligible to win.

2. You’ll need to write a 500 word essay on one of the following topics: a journey that changed lives; responsible travel; or adventure in an unknown culture.

3. Applications must be received by January 9, 2009.

For full contest submission details, visit World Nomad’s site.

Photo: Robbie73 (Flickr creative commons)

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/aspiring-travel-writer-alert-win-a-trip-to-india/feed/ 0 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-wins-consumer-award-at-travel-rantscom/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-wins-consumer-award-at-travel-rantscom/#comments Mon, 08 Dec 2008 19:04:48 +0000 Eva Holland http://matadorpulse.com/?p=354 Pardon the shameless self-promotion, but we’re thrilled to announce that over at Travel-Rants.com the Matador Network has just received the Consumer Award for Best Travel Content!

Darren Cronian of Travel-Rants chose the nominees, but the winners were selected by online voting — so thanks Darren, and a huge shout-out and thank you to everyone who sent some ballot love our way!

Congrats also to our fellow-nominees, BootsnAll, Lonely Planet, and WikiTravel.

It’s great to see the array of quality content offered here at Matador seeing some recognition. If you’re new to the network, or have only browsed a couple of our sites before, why not take a moment to look around?

We’re home to a thriving online community of travelers, and an interconnected network of informative and inspiring travel blogs, covering everything from hot nightlife to studying abroad to spiritual travel, and more.

Here’s a video introducing the Matador Network, from our YouTube channel:

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-wins-consumer-award-at-travel-rantscom/feed/ 1 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-participates-in-passports-with-purpose-you-can-win/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-participates-in-passports-with-purpose-you-can-win/#comments Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:07:18 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=348

If you’re at all connected in the travel blogging community, it’s likely that you already know about Passports with Purpose.

Just in case you don’t, you can get the quick low-down by reading Matador writer Robyn Johnson’s interview with Pam Mandel.

The Matador editors are so stoked about Pam & Co.’s project that we’ve put together a prize pack stuffed with goodies any traveler or travel writer will love, including:

-10 CDs and DVDs (worth more than $120.00)
-Lonely Planet’s Guide to Travel Writing ($19.99 value)
-Moleskine journals ($12.00 value)
-Broke Ass Student’s Guide to Living in New York City ($14.99 value)
-Matador t-shirts (worth $20.00 each)
-a one year subscription to National Geographic Traveler ($17.95 value)
-The Reluctant Fundamentalist ($18.00 value)
-Nintendo DS Game: Brain Age 2 ($30.00 value)

So how do you get the goods?

Visit Passports with Purpose for full details (including a list of the 50+ OTHER prize packages!) about how you can buy a $10 raffle ticket for a chance to win. The Passports with Purpose project ends on December 29, so get on over there!

Photo: jaaron (Flickr creative commons)

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-participates-in-passports-with-purpose-you-can-win/feed/ 1 http://matadorpulse.com/trespassers-welcome/ http://matadorpulse.com/trespassers-welcome/#comments Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:03:23 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=346 Matador members are always rolling out cool projects at home and abroad.

Today, long-time Matador member Olivia Hambrett launches the online magazine, Trespass.

Olivia, who has written on subjects as diverse as national identity and 10 activities in Europe that can make a traveler smarter, started Trespass with the same intention: to provide a forum for writers to engage diverse topics, from the admittedly glossy and superficial to the erudite and edgy.

As Liv wrote:

Trespass has been created on the premise that: Gen Y is smart, informed, engaged, aware and active; emerging writers need opportunities; we need a platform to educate, inform and entertain that doesn’t underestimate its readers; doesn’t claim not to be elitist but prove otherwise; doesn’t ooze pretension; and does acknowledge the sheer wealth of material both online and in print, and uses that to our advantage.

There are plenty of opportunities for writers and readers alike, so add this new online magazine to your daily reading list.

Photo: Dusty Wall (Flickr creative commons)

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/trespassers-welcome/feed/ 0 http://matadorpulse.com/wise-words-from-working-writers/ http://matadorpulse.com/wise-words-from-working-writers/#comments Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:57:13 +0000 Eva Holland http://matadorpulse.com/?p=298

Matador’s own Tim Patterson popped up in an interview on Written Road this week — you can read it here — and the discussion (with another Matador member, Anna Brones) got me thinking about all the great interviews out there on the interwebs.

About a year and a half ago now, when I had just come home and started working an office job that I hoped would pay my way into the world of travel writing, I spent a lot of time cruising the net and trying to figure out the “secret” to making it.

I read a lot of interviews with writers in that time, and while I eventually realized that there is no “secret”, I did learn an awful lot.

So, to accompany Tim’s excellent interview, here are a few more favourites:

Pico Iyer: On Travel and Travel Writing — This in-depth interview with Iyer, from World Hum, is jammed full of useful insights and fascinating biographical bits and pieces.

In this May 2006 installment of Rolf Potts’ monthly travel writing interviews, San Francisco Chronicle travel editor John Flinn is as helpful and funny as always.

David Miller’s interview with Outside Magazine’s Eric Hansen always stuck with me for, among other things, Hansen’s anecdotes about looking for one story, and finding another, in Italy.

Tim Patterson’s interview with Perceptive Travel editor Tim Leffel, over at Brave New Traveler, is another one that stayed with me, for its blunt take on the differences between alternative, online travel writing and mainstream print publications.

Read up when you get the chance, and for more interview fun, check out the World Hum Q&A archive, the Written Road interview archive, the Rolf Potts Writers archive, and the BNT interview archive.

And after you’re done all that reading, make with the writing already!

Photo by rachel_thecat (Creative Commons)

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/wise-words-from-working-writers/feed/ 1 http://matadorpulse.com/cmon-take-a-free-ride-to-indonesia/ http://matadorpulse.com/cmon-take-a-free-ride-to-indonesia/#comments Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:30:23 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=286

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: Matador members are incredible people.

They travel not just to see the world, but to take in what they see and then act as agents of positive change.

Maybe you’ve already met Misty Tosh.

She’s a regular contributor to the Matador Network… her most recent article, “The Ultimate Baja Escape,” left me ready to step away from the computer, get behind the wheel, and get on the road.

She’s a TV and film producer… currently, she’s on location in Kentucky, where she’s also found time to munch her way around Louisville (she’s a food critic in all her spare time. About Louisville’s eats, she says, “I’ve had some of the best food in my belly’s career here.”)

She also produces Pilates retreats in Isla de Mujeres each year–I’d give you the link for the next one, but it’s already sold out–, drives her solar powered travel trailer around the Americas, and sails her boat on the world’s seas.

And oh, she’s just launched phase 1 of her NGO– Fourth World Love. There’s a million things to say about 4WL, and you should definitely check out its website, which channels the Misty vibe just like any other project she pioneers. But the big announcement she’s asked me to make is this:

DONATE $100 and you can not only provide funding for the next phase of her project–which helps kids in Indonesia–you can also win an expenses-paid trip to Indonesia to see 4WL in action, snorkel in the ocean, trek a volcano, and, I’ve got no doubt, eat some seriously good local food.

That’s her up above in the photo, by the way–and I’m pretty sure that jaw-dropping, eye-popping scene in the background is where you’ll find yourself next spring if you win her contest.

Learn all about it here.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/cmon-take-a-free-ride-to-indonesia/feed/ 0 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-endorses-barack-obama-for-president/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-endorses-barack-obama-for-president/#comments Sun, 21 Sep 2008 18:34:15 +0000 Ross Borden http://matadorpulse.com/?p=246

In our official endorsement of Barack Obama, we define the values of our community, and explain how Barack Obama’s policies align with our vision and hopes for America.

When we started Matador, we never anticipated publishing much about American politics. After all, we’re a travel site. There are so many thousands of amazing places and cultures to write about without venturing into the political fray.

But as the primaries heated up, our readers asked for more political content. Since then, we’ve been calling it like we see it.

A Big Moment In History

Here in America we’re facing the most difficult economic times and the bleakest outlook that any of us has ever experienced. These are sentiments also echoed by our parents’ generation.

People who built successful businesses and who gave their productive lives to their communities are now struggling to pay the bills.

How has this happened?

How, with our resources, ingenuity, and work ethic, have we gotten to a point where two parents working full time still have trouble making ends meet? And what effect might this crisis have on the next generation?

These are very serious times, and we need a very serious leader. After much careful consideration of the issues, the Matador team emphatically endorses Barack Obama for President. Here’s why:

At Matador we believe passion is a virtue,

We believe in making the most of opportunities, but always giving back to the community.

John McCain graduated at the bottom of a class of 500 people. Barack Obama graduated Magna Cum Laude, first in his class at Harvard Law School, and was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.

Afterward he returned to his community and taught Constitutional Law for over a decade.

At Matador our core values are rooted in respect for other cultures, lands, and peoples.

We recognize the importance of free and open dialogue and cultural exchange as a means to deeper understanding.

After graduating from college, Barack Obama spent two months traveling, connecting with local communities in Europe and Africa.

By contrast, McCain has no record of travel as a young man outside of his military career, and running-mate Sarah Palin never even held a passport until the middle of 2007.

At Matador we believe sustainability and transparency are the building blocks of communities, businesses, and government.

Barack Obama has laid out a clear and practical economic plan that will create 5 million new green jobs.

By stark contrast, McCain’s plan is a continuation of the very same nefarious practices and policies that have plunged our country into a time of historic economic losses.

John McCain is being advised by people whose very actions precipitated the cataclysmic downturn of the US economy.

One of McCain’s top advisers, the general co-chairman of his campaign, Phil Gramm, is directly responsible for deregulating the banking industry in the late 90s and lobbying Congress to roll back state restrictions on predatory and subprime mortgage lending practices.

Effectively, John McCain is being advised by people whose very actions precipitated the cataclysmic downturn of the US economy.

At Matador we’re concerned for the health and well being of our parents and extended families.

Barack Obama has a visionary plan to reduce healthcare costs as well as cut taxes on seniors while protecting and enhancing Social Security.

By contrast, John McCain wishes to privatize Social Security. His “plan” would funnel money straight out of senior’s pockets and into the coffers of multinational corporations.

At Matador we believe in being a good guest, a good ambassador.

On the stage of international politics, this translates into equanimity, diplomacy and smart foreign policy. We have cringed at McCain’s aggressive rhetoric on the prospect of bombing Iran, and his escalating animosity towards Russia.

And whereas Sarah Palin has no foreign policy experience whatsoever, Joe Biden is a long-time member and current chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

At Matador we believe in conserving the earth for future generations and understand the critical need for energy independence.

From our travels, we see how other countries are making real progress, harnessing solar and wind energy and being good stewards of the land. Barack Obama will implement an energy plan that makes America the leader in alternative energy technologies, whereas McCain’s plans for “energy independence” can be summed up with the RNC chant of “drill baby, drill!”

Looking Ahead

Over the next 4 years, the Matador team hopes to see the damage of George W. Bush’s calamitous presidency undone. We want less war and more education. We want less time in the office, and more time with our families. We want less terror, and more hope.

We want our next leader to put the interests of average American citizens before those of big oil companies and other multi-national corporations. We’d like to see a resurgence of the middle class.

While traveling abroad in the last year, we can’t help but notice that being American now carries a stigma. It’s not surprising. We believe that electing Barack Obama will help America earn back the trust of people in all corners of the world.

We will not be silent.

We will not be silent at this crucial moment in history. We believe in the power of the American people to make the right decision. We are proud to support Barack Obama, and we encourage you to do the same.

Call your friends! Call your family! Write letters! The future depends on our ability to rise to this moment.

We hope you will continue to help us build the most vibrant travel community on the Web. We appreciate all perspectives, regardless of political affiliation, but request that the discourse remain civil at all times.

Thank you!

Photo, top, by Joshua Wanyama (Creative Commons)

Photo, right, by springhill2008 (Creative Commons)

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-endorses-barack-obama-for-president/feed/ 3 http://matadorpulse.com/picks-of-the-week-new-orleans/ http://matadorpulse.com/picks-of-the-week-new-orleans/#comments Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:51:53 +0000 Eva Holland http://matadorpulse.com/?p=154

Photo by Eva Holland

I’ve just arrived back in New Orleans for a second visit, after catching a serious case of the smittens for the city when I was here in March.

It’s one of those places that catches hold of people – I’ve lost count of the stories I’ve heard from people here, who arrived on holiday however many years back and never did manage to leave. It’s always “I came down here to party after college graduation…and never left,” or “I came down here 16 years ago… been here since.”

New Orleans is not a place that people gravitate to for logical reasons – it never seems to be about the job market or housing prices or an of the usual reasons people pick up and move their lives cross-country. At the risk of sounding completely corny, I’ll say it: there’s something almost mystical about the power this city holds over people.

I’m not the only Matador member who’s caught the New Orleans fever at one time or another. Here’s some of the best NOLA-related content on the network:

My Pulse co-editor Julie headed down this way in June, and turned out several great articles: Top 10 Reasons To Travel To New Orleans NOW (a must-read!), Top 6 Volunteer Experiences In New Orleans, and The Peace Corps For Cooks: Volunteer Travel With The Culinary Corps.

There’s something almost mystical about the power this city holds over people.

In Matador’s Traverse Magazine, Trips editor Tim Patterson interviewed Katherine Burgess, an urban planning student who got involved in the post-Katrina re-building: From Berlin To The Bayou.

Over at Brave New Traveler, Eric Daams tackled the touchy subject of ‘dark tourism’ – including the Hurricane Katrina tours on offer here.

Matador member Olivebeard has spent a lot of time in New Orleans since his parents relocated here. Check out his blogs: How The Grinch Gave Christmas Back, and Cajun-Tossing and Other Signs of Happiness.

Finally, I posted a few items from here myself: in Faulkner on New Orleans I shared the best description I’ve yet read of the city, and wrote about my impressions of voluntourism in the city in the blog post Seen & Heard.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/picks-of-the-week-new-orleans/feed/ 2 http://matadorpulse.com/if-you-cant-make-it-shake-it/ http://matadorpulse.com/if-you-cant-make-it-shake-it/#comments Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:39:29 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=149

Last week, we announced Matador’s upcoming party, which is less than a month away.

We hope you’ll be able to make it, but if not, please consider offering a donation that will support the party’s cause.

Besides providing all the fixings that will help you get your groove on, all proceeds from the party will go towards the establishment of Matador’s scholarship fund, which will provide two inner-city students with the opportunity to travel abroad for the first time.

Our goal is to raise $5,000 by August 16.

Can you help us get there?? No donation is too small (or too large!).

If you’d like to help us with this important project, please visit Matador’s scholarship fund page.

Thanks!

Photo: sml! (creative commons)

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/if-you-cant-make-it-shake-it/feed/ 0 http://matadorpulse.com/whats-your-favorite-travel-gadget/ http://matadorpulse.com/whats-your-favorite-travel-gadget/#comments Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:02:48 +0000 Eva Holland http://matadorpulse.com/?p=148

A Matador member’s home in Baja

Do you have a favorite travel gadget or must-have piece of travel gear?

Maybe it’s a perfect pack or a trusty pair of hiking boots. Maybe it’s an iPod.

Whatever it is, Matador Goods wants to know!

Send your go-to gadgets and gear, along with a description of why they get the nod, to Goods editor Lola Akinmade, via lola [AT] matadornetwork [DOT] com. If you’ve got a picture of yourself using your fave, even better! Send it along, too.

Your selection could wind up being featured in a review on Goods, Matador’s excellent gear blog.

Photo by Laura Bernhein

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/whats-your-favorite-travel-gadget/feed/ 0 http://matadorpulse.com/calling-all-party-people/ http://matadorpulse.com/calling-all-party-people/#comments Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:05:53 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=143

The Matador Team is throwing a party and you’re invited!

When: Saturday, August 16th 9 PM to 2 AM

Where: 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, California, USA

The Cause : Travel can be one of the most powerful experiences in a young person’s life.

The cultural exchange that transpires during travel abroad unites young minds and voices and empowers young people to look at themselves, their communities, and the world differently.

Unfortunately, many young people lack the resources to travel.

To address this disparity, Matador is bringing its online community off-line with a blow-out party to raise money to send two Bay Area inner-city high school students on their very first trip abroad.

The Party : The event will feature SF’s best soul DJs, live painting, live music, local art & photography, 2 full bars, free food, raffle prizes, a photo booth, leg shakin’ & much more.

Funk, Soul, Hip-Hop, Dancehall, Reggae & House from DJ Pleasuremaker and Professor Belway will be bumpin’ in both rooms all night, with a special live set from the Afrolicious band (from Thursday nights at the Elbo Room).

Local Art & Travel Photography will be on display from Oliver Black, Ian Ross, & Friends.

A special exhibit will feature essays from young travelers from around the world.

Don’t miss this one!!

Bring your family and friends.

Come celebrate the power of travel.

Give back.

Get down!

$15 Door Cover, 21+

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/calling-all-party-people/feed/ 0 http://matadorpulse.com/matador-community-spotlight-members-on-the-web-part-2/ http://matadorpulse.com/matador-community-spotlight-members-on-the-web-part-2/#comments Thu, 10 Jul 2008 08:26:20 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=126

In the first part of our occasional series spotlighting the interests and projects of Matador members, we introduced you to 7 people living, traveling, and realizing amazing projects all over the globe.

The piece was so popular, we’re back with round 2. Meet:

Craig Martin: www.indietravelpodcast.com

You may know him as the IndieTravelPodcast guy and Matador’s #1 podcaster. But did you also know that Craig has been living on the road full-time since 2006 with no fixed address? His most recent Matador article was “Everything You Need to Know About Traveling with a Eurail Pass.” If you need insider info. on a European destination, Craig’s website is sure to provide you with some useful tips.

N. Chrystine Olson: www.wranglingrhinos.com

Chrystine describes herself as a “geographical mutt,” which only serves to stoke her insatiable curiosity about almost everywhere! She’s wrangled rhinos in in Africa, tagged kangaroos in Australia, and rebuilt sailboats in Baja. In addition to contributing frequently to Matador–check out her latest piece, a road trip guide to Idaho’s panhandle–she also writes for Everywhere Magazine.

Stephen Orchard: www.freelancetravelwriter.co.uk

One of Matador’s consistently creative and funny writers, Stephen has written about everything from the five worst travel gadgets to surfing in Croyde Bay. He also has some pretty great photos in his online portfolio.

Michaela Lola: http://michatheperegrine.googlepages.com/

Born in the Philippines, Michaela currently calls Berlin home. Her candid blogs are funny snapshots of expat life, and her articles always tackle tough, travel-relevant issues. On her personal website, she brings all of these interests together under a single cyber roof, adding her vivid photos for a complete travel writer’s portfolio. Check out her thoughtful blog, The Second Leap.

Stay tuned! Installation 3 is coming up next week, introducing you to some of Matador’s newest members! And if you haven’t already sent us your website, what are you waiting for? Drop us a line, won’t you?

Photo: canonsnapper (creative commons)

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/matador-community-spotlight-members-on-the-web-part-2/feed/ 0 http://matadorpulse.com/ingrid-betancourt-libre/ http://matadorpulse.com/ingrid-betancourt-libre/#comments Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:02:17 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=121 I couldn’t have been happier to come home last night to the news from journalist and Colombia-based Matador member Richard McColl that Ingrid Betancourt had finally been rescued after six years in captivity as a hostage of Colombia’s FARC forces.

In a daring military operation that may well become one of the world’s boldest rescues in history, and which Betancourt herself described as an “extraordinary symphony in which everything went perfectly,” Betancourt and other FARC hostages were secured and then freed on Wednesday.

You don’t have to know who Betancourt is to understand how extraordinary this news is, but learning a bit more about her reveals how important this amazing, strong woman has been for Colombia, Latin America, and the rest of the world. Betancourt, former Colombian senator and presidential candidate, was known for fighting corruption and supporting social justice movements.

For more about Betancourt, read this January 2002 Salon.com interview. Just one month later, Betancourt was kidnapped.

I also recommend Betancourt’s memoir, Until Death Do Us Part: My Struggle to Reclaim Colombia.

And check out this video, in which Betancourt reunites with her mother. You don’t have to speak French to understand the intense emotion that is shared between mother and daughter.

Betancourt says she still aspires to serve Colombia as president.
Ingrid Betancourt: LIBRE POR FIN! FREE AT LAST! Miracles do happen.

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/ingrid-betancourt-libre/feed/ 2 http://matadorpulse.com/so-you-think-youre-well-traveled/ http://matadorpulse.com/so-you-think-youre-well-traveled/#comments Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:03:33 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=113

Matador member Lola Akinmade–herself a carrier of a well-inked passport leafed with multiple visas–sent in a tip about the website Most Traveled People.

Think you’re well-traveled?

Well, compare your passport stamps to those of Charles A. Veley, who has visited 630 of the world’s 673 “countries, territories, autonomous regions, enclaves, geographically separated island groups, and major states and provinces” and has the stories and pictures to prove it.

Nancy Dockry, though, isn’t far behind, clocking in with an impressive 620 place-visits on the MTP roster.

If you want to start keeping track of your travels, check out MTP’s printable list of places and see how you stack up beside Veley and Dockry.

Or if you think you’ve got what it takes to join the ranks of the world’s most traveled people, start your own account.

According to your own count, how many countries have you visited? Post your travel stats in the comments below!

Photo: disco~stu (creative commons)

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/so-you-think-youre-well-traveled/feed/ 11 http://matadorpulse.com/bye-bye-backpacker-hello-flashpacker/ http://matadorpulse.com/bye-bye-backpacker-hello-flashpacker/#comments Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:04:18 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=112 Guest Editorial by Matador member Matt Kepnes

Somewhere before my bus broke down in Australia, I was called a flashpacker. Despite being on the road for 18 months, it was the first time I’d heard the term.

What is a Flashpacker?

“Flashpacker (def): Someone usually in their mid 20s to early 30s, who travels like a backpacker but has more disposable income, as well as electronics such as a camera, Ipod, or laptop. Flashpackers also expect better accommodation and amenities.”

Neither fully backpacker nor tourist, flashpackers are new to the traveling lexicon. Flashpackers sleep in hostels, carry a backpack, and find cheap transport, but blow their wad on meals, tours, and parties.

They usually aren’t strolling into a hostel randomly or wearing the same shirt for a week.

A number of hostels are upscaling to meet the growing demands and needs of flashpackers and you’ll find them in all corners of the world. Flashpackers still have no fixed journey and all the time to meander around but don’t pinch every penny.

They are backpackers with means.

Is flashpacking backpacking?

What makes a backpacker a backpacker? The backpack? The clothes? The lack of showers? People look down on flashpackers, but they are just as much a backpacker as anyone else.

Backpacking is not a look, it’s a lifestyle. Just because someone doesn’t have the look, doesn’t mean they lack the spirit. It doesn’t make them less of a backpacker. It goes against the backpacker mentality to look down on someone because they travel differently.

Aren’t we supposed to be embracing different ways of life?

When I travel, I don’t want to sacrifice. I pinched pennies at home so I could enjoy my travels. I didn’t work hard to go to Italy and not drink the wine or eat a meal in Florence. I didn’t fly to Japan to not eat the sushi. And I didn’t fly to Australia to skip the Barrier Reef.

It comes down to what makes a backpacker a backpacker. That sprit. The desire to explore new places and experience new people. Backpacking is about opening your mind to new things and looking differently at the world. It’s not about the stuff you carry. If your spirit is the same the stuff you carry shouldn’t matter.

The Wave of the Future

We’re all flashpackers, whether you like it or not. We may not be driving up to the hostel in a limo but we all expect a little “flash” nowadays. According to a 2006 Hostelworld study, 21% of people travel with a laptop, 54% with an MP3 player, 83% with a mobile phone, and a whopping 86% travel with a digital camera.

Think about your last trip- how many people did you see with cameras? Ipods? Laptops? I can’t remember seeing one person without a camera, and at least 3/4 of the people I saw had Ipods.

We all travel with fancy electronics now. We check our e-mail and Skype our friends. We all have a camera and most of us have an Ipod. We’ve become flashpackers…and it’s not a bad thing. All this stuff allows us to stay better connected with our friends, our family, and helps us better document our travels. The key is to put down the camer and turn off the computer once in awhile to enjoy the culture you came to see.

The backpacker who sets off with one shirt, a small pack, and two baht to his name is getting hard to find. Most of us have and expect a little more but we still carry his spirit.

We still seek new cultures, exotic locales, and long term travel. We still look for cheap hostels and transport. We camp on that jungle trek. The difference is that now we also want a place to plug in our camera, check our e-mail, take a hot shower, and splash out on tours.

We just want to be pampered…once in awhile.
*
Matt Kepnes is a globetrotter who’s “fully sick with the travel bug.” Whether at home in Boston or on the road, he offers fresh travel ideas daily on his website, www.nomadicmatt.com.

Are you a flashpacker? What do you think of this idea? Share your reactions in the comments.
Luxury Backpacker Photo: klenze17 (creativecommons)
Lone Packer Photo: Werner Schnell (creative commons)

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/bye-bye-backpacker-hello-flashpacker/feed/ 7 http://matadorpulse.com/freebie-of-the-week-the-snake-charmer/ http://matadorpulse.com/freebie-of-the-week-the-snake-charmer/#comments Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:19:58 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=101

Back when they were in college, my parents’ idea of a cool Saturday night date was hunting for snakes in the Florida swampland.

Perhaps that’s why I liked Jamie James’s book, The Snake Charmer, so much; its subject, the herpetologist (that would be “professional snake guy” for the non-scientific among us) Joe Slowinski, reminded me a bit of my intrepid dad.

But there are lots of other reasons you should like The Snake Charmer.

In the tradition of retrospective eccentric outdoor adventurer narratives gone awry a la Into the Wild, James identified a compelling story and researched it fully without turning the tale into either an overly sentimental hero’s journey or an overly didactic and boring biography.

The life story of Joe Slowinski, the snake charmer of the title, is told with skill and respect. Right away, the reader learns of Slowinski’s fate after being bitten by the deadly many-banded krait, but the story is no less engaging as the result of this early spoiler.

In an impressive inversion of conventional narrative chronology, James delivers the ending in the beginning and then works his way backwards, developing Slowinski’s character by tracing his life all the way back to his outdoor-loving childhood.

Along the way, the reader becomes endeared of the intelligent yet reckless snake expert, seen through the eyes of friends, family members, colleagues, and even Slowinski’s critics. Though the reader already knows what will happen to Slowinski on his fateful 2001 trek into the high northern territory of Burma/Myanmar, the adrenaline rush of the days leading up to and including the snake bite is no less intense, and the efforts his colleagues undertook to save his life remind the reader how on-the-edge off-the-beaten path expeditions can be and how even the most experienced travelers should take precautions and exercise sound judgment on the road.

James’s story of Slowinski’s life is, finally, so compelling because the author seems, with the help (which he acknowledges) of experts, to have acquired such nuanced knowledge of his subject’s passion—snakes—and the places where Slowinski performed field work.

As much as The Snake Charmer is a fascinating tale of one man’s life and death, it is also an important chronicle that touches upon political issues and raises scientific debates, leaving the reader with lots to think about once the book has been closed.

We’re giving away our hard cover copy of The Snake Charmer!

Want it? Here’s what you need to do:

1) Sign up for a Matador profile if you don’t have one already.
2) Post the URL of your profile in a comment below.
3) In the comment, include one sentence describing why you’d like the book or tell us a good snake story.

We’ll contact the first person who responds and get your address to ship the book your way. And if you’re not the winner of this week’s freebie, check out this “trailer” for the book:

Freebies. One more reason to sign up for Matador Pulse’s RSS feed!

Photo: Martin and Kathy Dady (creative commons)

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/freebie-of-the-week-the-snake-charmer/feed/ 4 http://matadorpulse.com/community-spotlight-matador-members-online/ http://matadorpulse.com/community-spotlight-matador-members-online/#comments Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:25:58 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=93

Another one of the perks of the Pulse editing job is surfing through the Matador network and meeting really interesting travelers who aren’t simply taking cool trips, but are also realizing amazing projects along the way.

In this week’s Spotlight, we’re introducing Matador members who aren’t just frequent contributors to the community, but who’ve also got it going on online.

Lola Akinmade: www.lolaakinmade.com

You probably already know Lola for her fantastic photography articles on The Travelers Notebook and her beautiful photos (that’s hers above!).

Check out her website, though, and you’ll learn a little bit more about her other writing and travel interests. My favorite recent post is a thoughtful, funny, and informative piece about her sister’s wedding in Nigeria.

Christine Gilbert: www.almostfearless.com

In just 11 days, Christine and her husband will be pulling up their Boston roots and setting off on a who-knows-how-long-journey: first stop: Spain. She’s left a cushy job to commit herself to following her bliss, but each weekday she serves up funny and useful posts that are both intimate and totally relevant to the reader. Be sure to check out “Escapism: The Dirty Word That Keeps Us Doing What We Loathe.”

Eva Holland:

In addition to co-editing Pulse, writing for Vagablogging and World Hum, and contributing frequently to the Matador community with articles and blogs, Eva’s film and music blogs are evidence of how wide-ranging her interests are and how well she writes about all of them.

Matt Kepnes: www.nomadicmatt.com

Matt is also a frequent contributor of articles to the MatadorNetwork, but he also manages to post fresh content daily on his own website, which is full of useful tips and lively conversations about every travel-related topic you could imagine. His “Things I’d Tell a New Traveler” is a mandatory read for people new to the open road. Pass it on to someone you know.

Ian MacKenzie: www.ianmack.com

Ian is the founder of Brave New Traveler, one of the nine blogs in the MatadorNetwork, but on his personal website he reflects on film, pop culture and current events, and multimedia.

Richard McColl: http://www.suite101.com/profile.cfm/ricardo_emp

I’m headed down to Richard’s Casa Amarilla in Colombia in a week or so, and I can’t wait to meet this London expat who has called South America home for the past five years. In addition to contributing some great blog entries to Matador, Richard also writes insightful, important journalistic pieces from Latin America. If you don’t know who Ingrid Betancourt is, read Richard’s recent article, “Ingrid Betancourt: FARC Hostage 6 Years and Counting….”

Misty Tosh: www.bigsweettooth.com

Misty’s also a frequent contributor of articles to Matador and is the resident expert on living the solar life from a travel trailer or sailboat, but you have to check out her personal website to begin to get the full scope of what she’s got going on. Reading her blogs each morning gets me stoked for the whole day, but chatting with her just blows me away and reminds me why this one wild and precious life, as the poet Mary Oliver said, is so damn amazing.

Community Connection: Introduce yourself! Who are you? What are you doing? Where can we find you online and on the road? Share your story in the comments below.

Photo: Lola Akinmade

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/community-spotlight-matador-members-online/feed/ 13 http://matadorpulse.com/member-spotlight-not-your-average-summer-vacation/ http://matadorpulse.com/member-spotlight-not-your-average-summer-vacation/#comments Wed, 04 Jun 2008 01:38:45 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=71

Ahh… June. Time for the annual family vacation! The average experience of spending quality time with the family is generally equal parts fun and frustration.

But Matador member Nancy Sathre-Vogel is not planning an average family vacation. Nancy and her family will be hitting the road next week, traveling by the seat of their pants—literally. Nancy, her husband, and their twin sons are setting off on a bike trip that starts in Alaska and will end in Tierra del Fuego. We caught up with Nancy to ask her some questions about the trip.

Matador: Tell us a bit about your family– how old are your twins? How did the idea for the Alaska to Tierra del Fuego bike trip evolve?

Nancy: We are a family of four – Mom, Dad, and 10 year-old twin boys. This whole idea of biking to Tierra del Fuego sounds kinda…I dunno – out there? But for us, it’s really a natural progression.

My husband and I met on a year-long cycling trip around the Indian subcontinent back in 1990. We spent the year cycling through Pakistan, India, Western China, Nepal, and Bangladesh – wonderful, but intense cycling.

John and I continued touring every chance we got, and once we moved overseas to teach we took advantage of every school break to get out touring in various countries – Yemen, Mali, and Israel, among others.

Once our twins were born (while we were living in Ethiopia), we put our touring on hold for a while – but we always dreamed of taking off with them. That dream came to life in 2006 when John came home after a particularly hard day in the classroom and announced he wanted to get out of the rat race – he wanted to buy a bicycle built for three and take off. A few months later we did exactly that.

As we cycled Baja on that journey, we met a number of cyclists who were headed all the way to Argentina – and we wanted to badly to join them. But reality hit us in the face, and we realized we simply were not prepared for a journey through the Andes – our triple bike was great for a North American adventure, but it wasn’t the machine for a South American one. We put that dream on hold.

It didn’t remain in the holding tank for long though. A mere twelve months after arriving home from our last adventure, we’ll be taking off again – and we can’t wait!

Matador: What are some of the nitty-gritty details of your trip: how long do you anticipate the trip will take? Where will you stay along the way?

Nancy: We expect the journey will take approximately 2 ½ years, give or take a year or so, and we’ll most likely pedal somewhere in the vicinity of 20,000 miles.

Along the way, we will stay wherever we can. On our last journey we stayed in a dead gold miner’s house, in a cabana by a swimming pool, on the side of the interstate with cars whizzing past twenty feet from our heads, on the concrete porch under a café’s awning, and in many, many kind and generous people’s houses.

We expect more of the same on our upcoming journey. We are totally set up for self-contained camping, so can camp pretty much wherever we need to.

As for food, we will mostly shop in grocery stores and cook on our little camp stove. Restaurants are reserved for a treat – they are too expensive to frequent on a regular basis.

Matador: What do you hope your kids get out of this trip? How are you handling schooling along the way?

Nancy: We hope our kids learn that they are not limited by anything and that they can do anything they set their minds to. Yes, they will also learn the “3 R’s of Education,” but those will take a back burner to learning about life.

We will take advantage of each and every educational opportunity we find – whether it be national/state parks, historical sites, or daily life in small villages. We’ll seek out experts who can help us learn all kinds of things – from sea turtles laying eggs on beaches to ancient Aztec ruins.

Our boys will write regular journal entries to record their thoughts, which will help them with their writing. They will read all kinds of stuff – novels and informational signs and more. We will also carry with us some small math workbooks for the kids to work through.

Matador: Tell us a bit about your gear: your bikes, accessories, what you plan to carry with you.

Nancy: Our basic setup will include a tandem bike and two singles. John will captain the tandem, while I’ll be on one single. The boys will switch between the rear seat of tandem and the other single bike.

We’ll have two trailers – one behind the tandem and I’ll pull one. Strapped, lashed, or otherwise attached to the three bikes will be all kinds of stuff – our tent, sleeping bags, stove, cooking pot, rain jackets, clothes, laptop computer, and beads. (Yes – I did say beads. I figure a certain amount of beads is an indispensable item!)

Matador: What do your boys think about the trip?

Nancy: For the boys, this journey just…is. It’s not anything spectacular or unusual. They don’t understand all the hype around it at all. For them, it’s basically no different that taking an afternoon trip to the zoo.

Along the way, we will be volunteering our time with and raising funds for Reach the World (www.reachtheworld.org) – a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing the world to under-privileged kids in inner city schools. As we pedal southward, we will be posting what we’re seeing and learning on the internet, and the students will follow along with us. In essence, our journey will become their curriculum. We’re thrilled to be helping kids learn about the world!

To keep up with Nancy’s adventures on the road, check out the family’s website: www.familyonbikes.org.

What’s your craziest family vacation? Would you ever consider a long distance bike trip? Share your experiences in the comments section below!

Photo: worldwidewandering (creative commons)

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/member-spotlight-not-your-average-summer-vacation/feed/ 4 http://matadorpulse.com/visual-guidebook-triporiacom/ http://matadorpulse.com/visual-guidebook-triporiacom/#comments Fri, 30 May 2008 14:28:21 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=62

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

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/visual-guidebook-triporiacom/feed/ 3 http://matadorpulse.com/hey-yall-dispatch-from-the-south/ http://matadorpulse.com/hey-yall-dispatch-from-the-south/#comments Sat, 24 May 2008 16:17:18 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=56

The South: It ain’t all ’bout beer ‘n’ guns.

Pulse co-editor Eva Holland recently returned from a month-long road trip around the American South and wondered why more people don’t choose the southern states as a travel destination.

From music and food, to accents and souvenirs, Eva penned some fantastic entries about Southern culture over on Matador’s community blog.

I thought about her observation as I returned to my hometown of Spartanburg, South Carolina yesterday.

You should put the South on your travel to-do list, and if you can visit soon, here are some great summer events taking place in Upstate South Carolina:

Upstate Farm Tour: Tours of local farms, with special emphasis on sustainable and organic practices: May 31 and June 1

Scottish Games: Sports, bagpipe, and dancing contests celebrating Scottish heritage. June 6 and 7

Reedy River Nighttime Concert Series: Every Wednesday night in June

Downtown Alive: Every Thursday night in June

Main Street Jazz: Every Friday night in June

Upstate Shakespeare Festival: June 5-8

But if you can’t come visit us here over yonder, dip into some super place-based writing about the southern states. One of my favorite contemporary Southern authors is George Singleton who, in full disclosure, was once my instructor.

Singleton, a short story writer and novelist, specializes in stories about true Southern characters, and while these folks may seem outlandish to the non-Southern reader, Singleton insists they’re “just regular people trying to get by.” He’s singularly adept at capturing and conveying Southern culture in an authentic, empathic, and humorous way.

Check out this excerpt from an interview over at www.failbetter.com, in which Singleton talks about the South as muse:

“I barely have to make anything up. One time I was in line at the little general store…, and the man in front of me looked outside at the gas pump. The driver hauled a horse trailer. The guy in front of me looked at the trailer and boomed out, ‘What the hell kind of donkeys is them?’ ‘They were llamas.’”

If you’re headed South–or even if you’re not–check out Singleton’s writing. And while you’re at it, let us know what you’re reading. Which writers capture the essence of a place so perfectly that you’re practically transported?

Photo: Felix the Kraut (creative commons)

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/hey-yall-dispatch-from-the-south/feed/ 5 http://matadorpulse.com/what-we-hate-about-travel-love-to-complain-about/ http://matadorpulse.com/what-we-hate-about-travel-love-to-complain-about/#comments Thu, 22 May 2008 18:19:48 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=54

Matador members love travel, and because they’re on the road, in the skies, and on the seas so much, they have a lot to say about how the travel industry could be better.

I asked Matador members to share ideas about how the travel industry could improve in a recent Forum post.

To be honest, I forgot about their answers until today, when I was asked to take my flats off and go barefoot through a security checkpoint at Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport. (Thanks, Richard Reid, for exposing millions of travelers to athlete’s foot; we’re all paying for your failed shoe bomb escapade).

Here’s what we hate about travel… and love to complain about:

*Airport Food: Is it really impossible to have at least one decent option for fresh food?

*Airport Check-In Procedures: Why do kiosks exist if they hardly ever work? Can’t baggage be handled more efficiently?

*Airport Bathrooms: Sure, we passengers should scale back on the amount of stuff we lug around with us. But since some people seem to be incapable of doing so, could you please make a few oversized bathroom stalls– and while you’re at it–install more shelves so we can put our stuff somewhere other than the floor?

*Airport/Airplane Advertisements: We know fuel costs are up… more than 85%, according to Delta’s CEO. But we’ve already paid the equivalent of our first born child for this plane ticket… why do we have to be subjected to shameless advertisements on our tray tables and extra “exciting” announcements about a “low, low fee” credit card? (US Air, I’m talkin’ to you!)

What’s your travel gripe? Sound off in the Comments section!

Photo: veganstraightedge (creative commons)

]]> http://matadorpulse.com/what-we-hate-about-travel-love-to-complain-about/feed/ 4 http://matadorpulse.com/pulse-picks-of-the-week-know-your-hostelier/ http://matadorpulse.com/pulse-picks-of-the-week-know-your-hostelier/#comments Tue, 20 May 2008 04:44:30 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://matadorpulse.com/?p=47

The Matador community is full of people with interesting businesses, and it’s not surprising that a handful of members are travel industry entrepreneurs. This week, we highlight two members who own and run hostels.

Be sure to check out their profiles and click on the links to their blogs and websites to learn more. And if you visit, let them know you learned about them from Matador!

ricardo_emp: Casa Amarilla, Mompox, Colombia:
Richard McColl, a freelance writer from London, had been calling Colombia home when he decided to make it official, buying a run-down house and turning it into a sparkling new hostel in a town designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Read all about Richard’s adventures restoring the house here.

bmeizz: El Diablo Tranquilo, Punta Del Diablo, Uruguay: After spending 8 months traveling around South America, Brian happened upon the seaside town of Punta del Diablo, where he “fell in love with the place before the end of the first day.” Quickly becoming obsessed with Punta del Diablo, Brian had a dream he couldn’t shake: opening a bar and hostel in the town and setting down some roots. Check out Brian’s story of how the hostel went from dream to reality here.

Matador Network has tons of great content about hostels. Check out a few of our favorite pieces!

The Top 10 Hostels in Europe

What Every Backpacker Should Know About Self-Catering

Do you have a favorite hostel? Tell us about it in the comments section!
Photo: thephotoholic (creative commons)

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