Feature photo: Andres B; Photo: Andres Rueda

Only it had nothing to do with soccer.

Like most countries, Mexico’s been hard hit by the world financial crisis. Last fall, the Mexican peso–a relatively stable currency–plummeted in value. The U.S.’s own economic woes severely impacted Mexico’s GDP, as the countries are each other’s primary trade partners. Unemployment soared.

Even Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim–reputed to be among the world’s three richest men–predicted that the crisis could easily become catastrophic for Mexico in a February 2009 speech that was so heavy with doomsday predictions it landed Slim front page billing on most of Mexico City’s major newspapers.

So today’s news from the port city of Veracruz shouldn’t really come as a surprise.

According to a report in the newspaper La Jornada, a group of people in Veracruz showed up at a branch of the Banco Azteca to protest “exorbitant interest rates” and “threatening actions” taken by the bank against its debtors.

Protests aren’t uncommon in Mexico, but this one was particularly interesting: the protesters allegedly burned 50 credit cards right outside the bank’s entrance. Fellow protesters in other areas of the state staged their own card burning actions, burning more than 7,000 cards in all.

The action was organized by the non-profit advocacy group Fundacion Digna Vida. Back in March, Digna Vida had urged debtors not to simply stop paying off their debt, but to have their debt assessed and to work with their financial institutions on devising feasible payment plans.

Since that time, however, the organization learned that Banco Azteca’s convenient partnership with the appliance retailer Elektra had allowed it to “economically kidnap” its clients, keeping them in inescapable spirals of debt by extending credit for home appliances and then pressuring them to pay off those appliances at usurious rates.

Burning the credit cards won’t erase the debt, of course. But hopefully it will let Banco Azteca and its partner in crime know that the jig is up.

Community Connection:

How are credit cards viewed and used around the world? Check out “The Culture of Credit Cards Worldwide,” just one of the thousands of articles from our archives.

Got a fleet of Hummers the size of Desert Storm?  You’re still in little league until you upgrade to a submarine. 

Think your stockpile of AK-47s and grenade launchers is the pinnacle of drug lordship? 

The guys with anti-tank and Soviet surface-to-air missiles are laughing at you in their palatial estates in the jungle while tending to their pet hippopotami and the rest of their personal zoo.

Now you can add stolen oil refineries to the bling list of the deadly Mexican drug cartels. 

On Monday, the head of a Houston oil company plead guilty to illegally buying millions of dollars worth of black market oil from a drug cartel and smuggling it across the border.  The drug gangs–which now seem more like small armies–tapped remote pipelines to divert insane amounts of oil into their own stockpiles for resale.  Oil is Mexico’s chief source of foreign income and brings in about 40% of the GDP each year.

Authorities have not yet commented on what the street name for oil might be, though a popular drug known as “gasoline” is claimed by some to have similar effects.

Community Connection:

Read “The Trouble with Black Gold: 7 Sins of Oil Production,” a related article from our archives.

Photo: futureatlas.com

On July 17, the California State Legislature passed Assembly Concurrent Resolution (ACR) 42, co-written by Assemblymembers Paul Fong and Kevin De León. The measure, which received bipartisan support, offered an apology for the discriminatory laws enacted against the Chinese living in California during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Chinese immigrants began arriving in California during the Gold Rush of 1848 and were also invited to help build the Transcontinental Railroad in the 1860s. They are credited with constructing 80% of the Western portion of the railroad, often laboring under dangerous circumstances.

Large waves of Chinese immigrants continued to arrive in the decades after, and before long animosity against them started to rise. They were soon prohibited from owning property, working in the public sector, testifying in court, and marrying whites. They were also forced to pay unfair taxes at both the state and local levels and could not become naturalized citizens.

These racist measures spurred Congress to pass the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Chinese who were already living in the United States at the time had to receive certification upon each re-entry to the country from overseas and spent the rest of their lives living apart from family members they left behind in China, and could not integrate into mainstream American society.

The Act was not repealed until 1943, and immigration from China did not resume on a large scale until the late 1960s, after the Immigration Act of 1965 was passed.

Between 1910 and 1940, Angel Island Immigration Station served as the West Coast’s counterpart to Ellis Island, processing more than 56,000 Chinese who were either immigrating or returning from China; many were detained there for years because of the tough restrictions they faced, and a third were returned to China.

Says Assembly member de León:

“The State Legislature spent decades in the late 1800’s early 1900’s pushing discriminatory policies to marginalize Californians of Chinese descent. I hope that this resolution will help our children learn about the mistakes in our past and help us avoid the trap of scapegoating others for our problems in the future.”

The measure also recognized the contributions Chinese Americans have made to California, most notably the building of the railroad.

Even though most of the Chinese Americans directly affected are now dead, the apology is still significant. As Assembly member Fong put it, “These laws reverberate to this date because racism still exists.”

Fong will now bring this issue to Congress in the hopes of receiving an apology for the Chinese Exclusion Act, which was repealed in 1943. If he is successful, it will not be the first time in recent years that national government has issued a formal apology for past injustices.

In 1988, the U.S. government apologized and paid $20,000 to Japanese Americans who had been sent to internment camps during World War II. Shortly thereafter, a similar gesture was made north of the border to Japanese Canadians who had been subjected to the same fate by their government. In 2006, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper formally apologized to Chinese Canadians for Canada’s imposition of a Head Tax on Chinese immigrants between 1885 and 1923 as well as a subsequent exclusion from 1923 to 1947.

Early in 2008, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd officially acknowledged his country’s racist treatment of Aboriginals, particularly to the “Stolen Generation” of Aboriginal children forced from their homes in the 20th century. Also last year, the U.S. Senate apologized for the government’s history of mistreatment of Native Americans, while Congress made a landmark apology to African Americans for their suffering under slavery and the Jim Crow laws.

Community Connection:

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.”

Malay women take a stroll in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: Vin Crosbie

The latest news comes from Kuwait.

Last weekend, Al-Jazeera reported that of 16 women who had run for national office, Kuwait had elected its first four female members to Parliament. One of the women was also named Kuwait’s first female cabinet minister.

The women share more than their gender in common. All four espouse liberal political views and were educated in the United States. All hold doctoral degrees, ranging from political science and economics to education.

The newly elected Parliament members also stressed their differences, asserting that they represent a wide range of constituents, noting:

“Yes, all of us are educated, but we also have a woman who won who is married to a non-Kuwaiti, one who is divorced, one who is not yet married, one whose mother is Lebanese…. We represent different social strata.”

The achievement of the candidates is particularly significant considering that Kuwaiti women were only granted the right to vote in 2006.

Yet as one observer has noted, the Kuwaiti women’s win is significant for another reason: it provokes Western feminists to finally confront the question:

“[W]hy… have [you] been so slow to get behind those women in the world’s all too numerous tyrannies who have to risk their lives to say anything [?]“

That observer–British writer Clive James– asks a question that’s increasingly pertinent as women in the so-called “developing” world make political strides that Western feminists have talked about within ivory towers for years but have taken little tangible, non-academic action to support outside their own countries. As James wrote for the BBC, these Western feminist pundits are just arguing rhetorically; meanwhile, their sisters abroad are “in the thick of a real battle”… feminist theory in action.

“Why their bravery doesn’t shame more of our feminist pundits I hesitate to say. It certainly shames me,” he concludes.

As a feminist and someone who holds a degree in Women’s Studies, I have to agree.

Community Connection:

What do you think? Are social justice movements in the West increasingly irrelevant because they’re largely theoretical? How do you view the political and social gains women are making, especially in the “developing” world? Share your thoughts below.

Francisco Collazo

So goes the inscription chiseled into the stone of New York City’s main post office on 34th Street and 8th Avenue.

But the economic crisis may well keep carriers from delivering mail, especially if customers resist the rising price (yes, again) of US postal stamps.

The price of a first-class stamp will increase to 44 cents on May 11.

And as if the stamp price increase wasn’t enough to make customers angry, the USPS recently petitioned Congress to scale back the postal delivery schedule, potentially eliminating one day of service.

So why are we writing about this on a travel news blog?

To make the point that the post office is a frustrating place for citizens and travelers alike.

In a recent Matador blog, Pulse co-editor Eva Holland wondered why a waiting group of customers at a New York City post office got angry with a clerk. Regular Matador contributor Audrey Scott wrote about 5 things a post office can tell you about a country.

What’s your strangest, funniest, or most annoying post office experience, whether at home or abroad? Share your story below!

“…I didn’t realize we were hauling ass.”

Photo taken in Bogota, Colombia on March 1, 2009 by Brian Requarth.

Enter the Culinary Corps.

Photo: Julie Schwietert

Founded by chef and social entrepreneur Christine Carroll, the Culinary Corps, dubbed the “Peace Corps for Cooks,” makes annual trips to the Gulf Coast to cook for volunteers, learn more about New Orleans’ culinary culture, and to participate in community building projects to restore New Orleans’ infrastructure and spirit.

Professional chefs are invited to submit an application for this year’s trip, which is scheduled for April 16-22, 2009. Applications are accepted through March 14. Chefs selected for this year’s Corps will cook for volunteers at Habitat for Humanity’s Camp Hope, Common Ground, Slow Food Mississippi, and the Edible School Yard NOLA, among other locations.

Other special highlights include:

-Visits to the Crescent City Farmers’ Market and the famous Cafe du Monde
-Behind the scenes tour at Cochon Butcher
-Tour of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum
-Dinners at The Bourbon House, The Shed, and Cochon (ranked by the New York Times as one of the nation’s 10 best restaurants)
-Evening of food, fun, and music and Rock-n-Bowl
-Private dinner at Dooky Chase, a New Orleans culinary institution
-New Orleans recovery tour with Share Our Strength

For more information, or to apply, please click here. To learn more about the organization, please read the Matador article, “The Peace Corps for Cooks: Volunteer Travel with the Culinary Corps.”

Photo: Pot Noodle

We don’t want to toot our own horn–well, not too much– but thanks to our supportive community of readers and contributors, Matador is a finalist in two categories of Lonely Planet’s Travel Blogger Awards!

Matador Goods is a finalist in the Best Consumer Travel Blog category, and Matador Network is up for an award in the Best Group Authored Blog category.

We’re also proud to announce that regular contributors Audrey Scott and Craig Martin have also been nominated in the categories of Best Travelogue and Best Podcast, respectively.

Voting opened today and will run through March 20, 2009 at 12 AM Pacific Time. You can vote once in each of the 14 categories.

Thanks for being a part of the world’s most exciting online travel community!

Photo: manuel l mc

A five-island archipelago, Guadeloupe is home to just under half a million people. It’s also one of the Caribbean’s few remaining pseudo-colonies, considered an “overseas department” of France.

Guadeloupe is one of those countries that hardly ever registers a blip on the radar of international media. Yet, as the economic crisis continues to spread around the world, leaving no country untouched, Guadeloupe, like many of its Caribbean neighbors, is struggling to prop up its economy, which is largely dependent upon the disposable dollars of tourists.

Photo: jarrycafe

As tourism has begun to decline, so too has Guadeloupe’s economy. On January 20, an alliance of 47 workers’ unions and local organizations initiated a general strike to protest the rising cost of living and to ask the government to intervene by raising the minimum salary, freezing rents, and slashing food and gas prices, as well as taxes.

To date, the local government has refused to concede to the list of more than 100 demands made by the strikers. The French government has sent in a representative to intervene, as the strike has progressed to such a point that the economic crisis is likely to be exacerbated.

Already, the travel and hospitality industry on the island seems to be going into shock. North Star Travel Media reported yesterday that Guadeloupe’s Club Med will close tomorrow, and other reports have speculated that flights and cruises will be affected negatively as well.

What You Can Do:

1. Learn more about the strike and background events. If you read French, a good place to start is the local newspaper, Carib Creole One, which can be found online.

2. If you support the strikers in their calls for economic intervention, sign this electronic message of support, which is being sent to Guadeloupeans today.

There are scholarships for travel photographers.

And finally, thanks in part to Matador member Craig Martin, there’s a scholarship for travel podcasters!

Craig, host of Indie Travel Podcast, has partnered with World Nomads and Global Vision International to offer emerging podcasters the opportunity to travel to Guatemala… for free.

While the ultimate goal of the scholarship is to help the winner develop podcasting skills that will result in the production and launch of a five minute podcast documentary, the scholarship is especially sweet because it will offer the winner the opportunity to participate in a community building project on the ground in Guatemala.

The winning applicant will have airfare, vaccinations, visas, a homestay, and meals covered. Bonus goodies include a handheld digital recorder the winner will be able to keep after the trip, as well as mentoring from ABC Australia’s Tim Latham, a radio journalist.

For full details of the scholarship and instructions for applying, visit this site.

And kudos to Craig for living the Matador vision: using travel as a means of building community. That’s what it’s all about.

Photo: Surizar

I’m slightly suspicious of superlatives– you know, the best of this or the worst of that– so I tend to approach them with some skepticism.

Professor and researcher Dr. John W. Miller of Central Connecticut State University has just released the results of the 2008 study of America’s most literate cities. Miller, who launched the America’s Most Literate Cities study in 2003, examines six indicators of literacy:

1. newspaper circulation;
2. number of bookstores;
3. library resources;
4. periodical publishing resources;
5. educational attainment; and
6. internet resources.

Based on his review of available data, culled from other sources (such as the American Booksellers’ Association, National Center for Education Statistics, and the U.S. Census Bureau, among others), Miller reports that the most literate cities in America in 2008 were Minneapolis; Seattle; Washington, D.C.; St. Paul, Minnesota; San Francisco; Atlanta; Denver; Boston, St. Louis; Cincinnati; and Portland, Oregon.

Now I’m not saying that these cities aren’t highly literate, but it’s hard for me to believe that New York City ranked 24 on the list. With one of the most respected newspapers in the United States, thriving bookstores (just try to plow through the crowd at The Strand), and one of the best circulating and research libraries anywhere, Miller’s list has me itching to travel to these other cities to see how they bested the Big Apple.

What do you think of this list? And what would you rank as the most literate cities outside the United States?

Photo: douglemoine (Flickr creative commons)

If you’re one of those brave or crazy folks planning on ringing in 2009 in New York City’s Times Square, this post’s for you.

One million people are expected to crowd into the world’s brightest crossroads to await the dropping of the Waterford crystal ball, a tradition that’s more than a century old.

Here’s what you need to know if you’re one of them:

-Revelers begin gathering by early afternoon. The ball is raised to the top of the flagpole at 6 PM. You should definitely be in place by then if you expect to get even a long view of the ball. You may want to stop by the Times Square Information Center before staking out your space so you can fill out a wish for the new year. Your wish will be added to the one ton of confetti that will rain down upon the crowd at the midnight hour.

-There are no port-a-potties or public restroom facilities available within the cordoned viewing area, so go light on liquids before arriving and while waiting.

-Leave the alcohol at home or in your hotel room. It’s not allowed.

-Leave bags and backpacks at home, too. They’re not allowed either, and police manning the entry checkpoints will turn you back if you arrive with a bag or pack.

-If you’re planning on arriving by car, check out this list of street closures.

-Eat up! There are no food vendors inside the cordoned area, so unless you plan to charm your way into a seat at one of these restaurants with a view, you better make sure you eat early.

-Be patient! With a million people circulating in a relatively small space, the vast majority of them surging towards the subway once the ball drops, patience will be necessary if you plan on ringing in 2009 on a positive not.

Online Resources:

City of New York’s website.

Times Square Alliance’s website.

Other Resources:

If you have any questions at all about New York City or the New Year’s event, call the city’s all-purpose information line, 311.

Photo: HGruber (Flickr creative commons)

At last count, there were 250,000 people on the streets of Mumbai on December 3, the one week mark of the terrorist attack on Mumbai City.

Civilians– old or young, common folk or celebrities, educated or uneducated, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, or Jew. It didn’t matter. They all marched in unison for the same cause, the same country, and the same outcome: Peace.

Police and the Royal Action Force were everywhere, with guns in arms, ready to control any unrest. But they didn’t need them. There was no malice or revenge. There was no anger, either. All they wanted was peace and safety, for themselves, their family and their brother and sister Indians.

They marched shouting peace, anti war, and political slogans, but the common factor was that they shouted together, moving in the same direction, toward the same goal. Residents of the neighborhood brought water and tea and began distributing it to the crowds.

It all began around 5 in the evening; trains headed toward the south end of the city were packed. People wore I LOVE MY COUNTRY t-shirts and carried Indian flags. Once off the trains they walked to their final destination, the gateway of India. Everyone then headed to the sea front to light a candle for the people who perished in the attack. Slowly, dusk set on the city, but the protesting went on. There was no organizational committee or event manager organizing this rally; everyone who was there, was present of their own accord.

One of the most interesting sights was the gully that led to The Taj Mahal hotel. This road was completely blocked by the police and the Royal action Force. At a discreet distance behind these armed forces stood a row of peaceful citizens.

They were employees of the hotel. They stood hand in hand, spread across the whole street as if protecting their hotel. They had their uniforms or their employee ID cards round their necks, and they didn’t budge for most of the evening. When asked about it, one of them replied,

“We are preventing anyone from going down this lane and seeing the hotel. We want to restore it to its previous prestigious glory and then open it to the public so it doesn’t change in any of its patrons’ eyes. We will repair it brick by brick and show the terrorists that did this that they don’t scare us, they can’t change us, and they will never break us”.

Most people walked half way home that night because the thousands of people concentrated on one single street of the city caused havoc with the local transport system. There weren’t any taxis or rickshaws available either. Trains and local buses were full of euphoric citizens cheering each other on for making this day a reality.

Some people who gathered on that Wednesday decided they would take it further. They have planned to meet on December 12, at the gateway of India, and drive 48 hours to Delhi. There, they will insist the Prime Minister see them and demand reformation. This road trip is called ‘We are coming, Mr. Prime Minister.” You can take a look at its plans, progress, route map and demands from the government here. There is also a human chain from one end of the city to the other planned on this same day.

Photos by author.

There’s no doubt that social media exerted a profound impact over this election.

Here are 5 of the best election night tweets, funny and deep:

1. “Girl in front of us will obviously sleep with someone tonight, but that guy should know the orgasm is Obama’s.”-joeschmitt, written from Grant Park rally in Chicago.

2. “President Obama. President Obama. Love the sound of it!!!!” -dianakuan, written from a bar in Beijing

3. “kids born from this day forward will never know a world when a black man hadn’t been President. That’s awesome.” JDArtist

4. “”The first election the internet won”- blogislam, blogging live from NPR HQ in DC

5. “Today is a great day for the global family. I am SO delighted about the presidential election results! Fantastic!”- BongoBloggs

But there are also facts–both serious and fun–that won’t make full stories yet are still worth sharing.

1. Guantanamo isn’t just a detention facility.

While the Global War on Terror (or “GWOT” in military lingo) has focused the world’s attention–and rightfully so–on Guantanamo as the site where detainees are being housed indefinitely, there’s more to GTMO than the detention camps.

Over the course of its long history, this naval base has served as the site for temporary refugee housing during Caribbean migration movements (and will continue to do so) and is the site of some of the most fascinating and pristine research opportunities in the world for herpetologists, archaeologists, oceanographers, and historians.

2. The U.S. and Cuban military share a border… and share coffee. A fence separates the US naval base from what US troops refer to as “Cuba proper.” Despite accounts of past animosity on both sides of the fence, relations have improved progressively–and positively– in recent years.

Once each month, US brass and Cuban brass get together for meetings to ensure operational cooperation. Though they avoid “talking politics,” according to my interview with Captain Steven Blaisdell, the Commander/Commanding Officer of the naval base, the officials discuss business of mutual interest and have even recently begun planning some joint exercises, such as making contingency plans and practicing for a fire on both sides of the border.

Once they’re finished with business, Captain Blaisdell said, both sides talk baseball.

And intelligence sources tell me that the Cubans brew up a mighty fine coffee.

3. Troopers live in fear of the $10,000 fine. “Troopers” is the name given to all the troops–irrespective of military branch–who serve on the base. Regardless of their military affiliation, they all brake for iguanas.

The long, lazy lizards, which like to sun in the middle of the road, are protected on the base. And deliberately running over an iguana can result in a $10,000 fine.

4. The deadliest catch has a double meaning here. Detainees, repeatedly described by US government officials as deadly individuals with deadly intentions–the “worst of the worst,” in the words of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld–reportedly love to watch DVDs of the popular TV show, “The Deadliest Catch.”

Officials reported that the detainees also like soccer videos and cartoons.

5. Gas is $4.51 a gallon on base. If you think gas is expensive where you live, try buying a gallon on GTMO with a soldier’s salary. The speed limit, by the way, is 25 mph.

What else would you like to know about Guantanamo?
Share your questions below!

All photos by Julie Schwietert.

In the US and looking for something offbeat to do for Halloween?

The New York Public Library’s “LIVE from the NYPL” Program has scheduled an eerie-sounding event for October 27: a panel called “The Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries.”

Ann Wroe, described as “the editor of some of the best obituaries in the world,” will be discussing “the making of obituaries, their thrills and pitfalls, their rewards, and their insidious influence with Marilyn Johnson, who has studied the art and peculiar habits of obituary writers around the world….”

A somewhat strange departure from the LIVE program’s usual events (past panels have included author-scholar Samantha Power, travel writers Pico Iyer and Simon Winchester, and filmmaker Spike Lee), the obituary panel should, nonetheless, be well-attended by the living– LIVE’s events regularly sell out.

For more information and ticket prices, visit LIVE’s website here.

Photo: Curious Expeditions (Flickr creative commons)

So what’s the biggest threat to the United States of America these days?

Is it terrorism? The economy, or the lack of affordable health care? Wealth disparity, or the poisonous partisan divide in Washington?

Answer: Well, maybe, none of the above.

Instead, it just might be the terrifying, towering ignorance and hatred of too many people just like this.

Photo by paul goyette (Creative Commons)

Obama supporters abroad, unite!

Just because you’re living or traveling abroad doesn’t mean that you can’t contribute to Obama’s campaign.

Here are seven tangible actions you can take for Obama:

1. Get your absentee ballot NOW! Just because you’re abroad doesn’t mean you give up your right and responsibility to vote. Here’s all the informaiton you need to obtain your absentee ballot.

2. Get informed about Obama’s policy platform. Obama’s “Blueprint for Change” is no dry policy document; it’s actually a good read, and you can download the whole thing here for free. But if you’d rather just hit the highlights, check out the issue-by-issue bullet points here.

3. Share your expertise. As an American living or traveling abroad, you have a unique perspective about the needs and interests of people in other countries. The Obama campaign knows this:

“Americans abroad are uniquely aware of the impact that our government’s policies have on the rest of the world, and recognize that it’s time for America to be seen as a global leader once more”

Share your expertise by blogging about your experiences, informing voters about why the current election matters as much abroad as it does at home.

Share your thoughts on the Obama blog or set up a Matador profile and start blogging right here!

4. Join an Americans Abroad group. Lots of other expats and long-term travelers are politically active and engaged and are just waiting to welcome you into an Americans Abroad chapter. Find one near you and celebrate the strength in numbers!

5. Get other friends to join, too. Once you’ve joined an Americans Abroad group, let your other expat friends know about the opportunity and encourage them to join, too.

6. Change the conversation. Americans living and traveling abroad are often asked why our country voted for Bush. While it’s a legitimate question, a more constructive one is: “What will four years of Obama look like for the US and the world?” When asked questions about the election, use the opportunity to engage foreign friends and acquaintances in a mutually satisfying conversation. What do they think the election will mean for them, and who would they vote for?

7. Celebrate hope and change! Election day is really just around the corner… start planning an election night party now. Need some inspiration? Check out “10 Best Places to be on Election Night.”

Sure, the Matador editors have been a little bit obsessed with Sarah Palin over the past couple of days.

We’ve poked fun at Palin’s patriotism (she took things WAY further than a lapel pin; how’d you like that American flag bikini and the confident trigger finger?).

We wondered aloud how she could permit oil drilling in her state.

Amongst ourselves, we’ve debated her foreign policy cred.

But we’re not done yet.

Governor Palin, could you please show us your passport?

According to a New York Times article published earlier this week, Palin has only held a passport since the middle of last year.

Her reason for applying? She needed a passport in order to visit troops in Kuwait.

Blogosphere speculation abounds, of course, as to whether there’s any other ink in her passport, but as one Salon.com blogger noted, Palin can’t “compete with…Biden…who has been to every war zone in recent memory and logged plenty of time in every time zone relevant to our national interest.”

While some bloggers argue that her lack of a passport makes her MORE likeable (this from a guy whose screen name is “strung out“), Matador editors and passionate travelers know that travel is, in fact, an important veep credential.

And Palin doesn’t have it.

Photos: asecondhandconjecture (Flickr creative commons)

As someone who spends lots of time in airports and airplanes, I got a good laugh out of Matador writer Liv Hambrett’s “10 Constants of Air Travel.” Take a look at her list and see how many of these things you’ve experienced on your most recent flight:
*

1. The Seat Hogger

The Seat Hogger has no qualms in taking both arm rests, sitting with their legs spread far wider than common decency suggests and lolling into your personal space when they fall asleep, head back, facing you. The Seat Hogger may be sitting behind you, and feel it necessary to put one foot on either arm rest, thus tickling your elbows with their bed socks. The Seat Hogger is a shifty being, so always be assertive in reclaiming your precious space. Do not let it be usurped.

2. The Breakfast Sausage

No matter what airline you are flying with, it’s there. Like something out of an RL Stein novel, it nestles in next to the scrambled eggs, or ‘bacon’: It is The Breakfast Sausage.

Indeterminable ingredients, indeterminable, texture and indeterminable taste. I have eaten a breakfast sausage, once, and felt sub -human for days, like I had eaten something alien and it had made a home in my stomach. The Breakfast Sausage deserves its place on this list for its unwavering support role on the breakfast tray.

3. The Nasty Flight Attendant

Some airlines feature more of these stalwarts on their team than others, but there is always one. There has to be, to off set the Too-Nice Flight Attendants (see below), to whom nothing is ever, nor ever will be, a problem. The Nasty Flight Attendant sighs when you request a thimble of faux orange juice (also see below), or is quick to snatch back the headphones as you prepare to land.

4. The Too-Nice Flight Attendant

Although I’m loathe to complain about people being too nice, particularly people who may have to serve you for the next 14 hours, the Too-Nice Flight Attendant can become unnerving. The constant smile, the bouncy walk, the wide eyes. Around hour seven of a long distance flight, this continuous delight in everything aircraft, combined with the onset of long-haul-flight-delirium, begins to play out like a scene in “Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas.” You begin to yearn for the normality of the Nasty Flight Attendant.

5. The Bathroom Hogger

The worst type of hogger/passenger. The Bathroom Hogger is only really familiar to the poor sods whose seats are right outside the bathrooms, seats which are akin to torture on any flight that exceeds two hours. The Sydney-LA flight, seated outside the bathrooms? Hell. The Bathroom Hogger will either try to mix it up and patronise the bathrooms at either end of the section, or proudly utilise the same cubicle every time. Neither situation is a winner. The best you can do is keep a miniature bottle of fragrance in your bag and hope to God you’re not near the bathrooms.

6. The Annoying Child

The Annoying Child can take on a variety of forms; it can be the little baby who won’t stop crying, the three year old who won’t stop running up and down the aisles, or the six year old who can’t control the volume of its voice, particularly when lights are out, curtains are drawn and eye patches are on. Whichever Annoying Child may be on your flight, chances are the exhausted/oblivious parent will do little to appease the situation, particularly if the child running up and down the aisles means time out for the parent.

7. The Snorer

The Snorer doesn’t even have to be next to you. In fact, chances are The Snorer will be several rows down, and the noise will blanket the entire cabin, treating all passengers to the dulcet tones of their faulty adenoids. Unless you fall asleep before The Snorer, there is little chance you will get any sleep on the flight, unless you had the foresight to pack ear plugs. Otherwise, headphones plugged into easy listening is your only option.

8. The Movie You Really Want to See but Can’t Hear

On a long distance flight (so, every flight out of Australia) your one saving grace is the in flight entertainment system and a good book. Inevitably, out of all the movies offered, there is one you’re genuinely desperate to see. Perhaps you missed it at the movies, and you thank God two hours of the flight are taken care of. And then you plug in your headphones and discover it is the one movie in the entire program that has audio problems. You are thus resigned to watching the two offered episodes of “The Office”, on repeat.

9. Faux Orange Juice

Faux orange juice, served in half full plastic thimbles, is a total staple of air travel. However, what has to be addressed is the simple dietary issue that sugar dehydrates and nothing is more sugary than aeroplane juice. So you drink it like it’s going out of fashion and dehydrate yourself even further, so much so that the next time the flight attendant passes by with a tray, you clamour for more, unaware it is directly contributing to your papery skin and cotton mouth.

10. The Bizarre Neighbour

The Bizarre Neighbour will always attempt to engage you in conversation, will reveal an uncomfortable amount of detail about themselves without being asked and will make a two hour flight seem like a lifetime. The bizarre neighbour is almost statistically unavoidable, particularly if you are a frequent flyer. You have no choice but to enter the realm of weirdness for the duration of the flight and engage in conversation or wear your eye mask for the entire flight. If all else fails, feign deafness.

Have you experienced these constants of air travel? Would you add any to Liv’s list? Share your experiences below!

Feature Photo: aelita (creative commons)
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No matter where you travel, you’re sure to come across McDonald’s and KFC.

But you don’t REALLY want to eat there, do you?

The Internet offers some great resources for hungry travelers. From the high-budget to the low-budget, there’s no excuse for not going 100% local when you eat.

Chowhound, one of the web’s oldest and most popular food guides, has a home page that’s organized by region, both U.S. and international. With stories, blogs, videos, and unflinching praise and criticism by the site’s hounds, few corners of the Earth have been left untouched by Chowhound’s foodies.

Road tripping across the USA? Check out Traveling USA, which is comprehensive in its coverage of all types of culinary sites: from candy shops to roadside stands. You can search by state, too!

If you want to plan a trip around travel, check out Epicurious’s Dining & Travel blog. While many of the itineraries tend to focus on US destinations and on higher-end restaurants, the articles on this blog are delicious enough to savor as an armchair traveler. My favorite recent article is The Top 10 Farm-to-Table Restaurants. What’s nice about this article is that it overlooks predictable locavore restaurants like Chez Panisse, for lesser known restaurants in less frequented cities and towns.

*
Hungry for more? Check out Matador’s menu of food-related articles: 8 Surefire Ways to Spice Up Your Travels, What Every Backpacker Should Know About Cooking for Themselves, and The Ultimate Vegan’s Guide to Finding Food on the Road.

And food, of course, is great fodder for blogs. Check out some of my Matador favorites: An informative blog about eating in Japan by Matador member lizardlee; Common Denominators: Soy Sauce and Chilies by noellejt; and Hechizo: Culinary Enchantment in Tulum by Michelle in Playa.

Feature photo: dfinnecy (creative commons)
Photo: hazy jenius (creative commons)

There’s lots of bad news in the world.

War.

Poverty.

Threats to the environment.

But amidst all the doomsday forecasts, there’s lots of good news, too.

And the Global Oneness Project wants you to know all about it.

The Global Oneness Project, an organization dedicated to the exploration of “how the radically simple notion of interconnectedness can be lived in our increasingly complex world,” travels the world in search of stories about people and organizations doing transformative community building. What they find is turned into short documentaries distributed for free.

This week’s freebie is a DVD of short films produced by the Global Oneness Project. Taking the viewer from India to Ecuador, every short film–ranging from 4 to 17 minutes in length–is a straight up shot of positive stoke about the state of the world.

I’ll send my copy to the first person who posts a link to their Matador profile in the comments section below. Don’t have one? No problem… sign up for a free account here.

Photos by: Global Oneness Project (creative commons)

Last year, Galactic Suite Limited established itself as a private corporation dedicated to pioneering the space tourism industry. Shortly thereafter, Galactic Suite announced that it would be devloping “orbital resorts” in space, with rooms available to deep-pocketed tourists (the cost is $4 million USD for three nights) as early as 2012.

Travelers buying a space travel package will start their 18 week vacation on a tropical island–not yet identified–where they will receive training that simulates that received by astronauts. With the training under their belts, travelers will then be launched into space, where they’ll confirm whether Galactic Suite’s sales pitch is true: Watch a sunset 15 times a day. Orbit the world in 80 minutes.

Earlier this week, Galactic Suite announced that it already has some reservations, and that everything’s on track for the official opening in 2012.

What do you think about space tourism? Would you sign up for a Galactic Suite trip if you had the money? Share your thoughts below.

Feature photo: Carmelo Aquilina (creative commons)

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Feature photo: xiaming (creative commons)

Would it be too dramatic if I said that ‘Ghost Train to the Eastern Star‘ is the most anticipated travel book of the year?

Maybe. But for me at least, dramatic or not, it’s certainly true.

It’s been nearly 35 years since Theroux’s travel classic, ‘The Great Railway Bazaar‘, was first released – and in those years, I can’t be the only reader to have been electrified by those famous opening lines:

“…I have seldom heard a train go by and not wished I was on it…”

In the intervening years, Paul Theroux has covered plenty of other ground, in well-loved books like ‘The Old Patagonian Express‘ and ‘Dark Star Safari‘. But now, with ‘Ghost Train’, he re-traces his steps on that first, famous journey.

I haven’t gotten my hands on the book yet, but this Q&A, courtesy of World Hum, is a great appetite-whetter.

That’s the theory put forward in this provocative opinion piece by Globe and Mail columnist Judith Timson.

“Let’s face it,” she writes, “less-affluent kids simply can’t afford to have that global do-gooding experience, let alone drop it strategically onto their résumés for key impact in grad school or job applications.”

But there’s another side to it. These trips, organized by student volunteer agencies across North America and in Europe, are filled with the potential to not only offer helping hands in needy communities, but to change a young person’s direction in life.

At their most emotionally porous, open-hearted and idealistic, university students may well discover their calling abroad, or even develop a much-needed global vision. So if there was ever a time to, say, plop them in an HIV clinic in Kumasi, it’s now.

Her point?

Sure, the efficiency and efficacy of voluntourism (in terms of results for the recipient societies) may be up for debate, but there’s no arguing its impact on the volunteers. And that, Timson decides in the end, is a good thing.

Looking for a life-changing volunteering experience of your own?

Check out Brave New Traveler’s Complete Guide to Volunteer Tourism, and then swing over to Matador’s volunteering blog to find the opportunity that’s right for you.

Photo by Dave Bezaire and Susi Havens-Bezaire
(Creative Commons)

Hurricane Dolly made landfall earlier today in the coastal region of Texas and northern Mexico. While locals brace for gale-force rains and winds, a special group of tourists gears up for adventure tours that take them into the eye of the storm.

These types of tourists have to be on-call for their one-of-a-kind trips. Tour operators keep a constant vigil of local and national weather reports and notify would-be hurricane thrill-seekers 48 hours in advance if a storm is poised to reach Category 2 or higher.

Of course, if you’re not willing to pay the exorbitant price for this type of trip, you can always organize your own hurricane tour… check out the YouTube video above.

What do you think about hurricane and other natural disaster tours? Sound off in the comments!

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

Citysearch.
Zagat.
Time Out.
Village Voice.
Wallpaper City Guides.

There are hundreds of printed and online guides to New York City, but one of the newest is YourLocal, an online guide with an up-to-date searchable database of events and places, which you can check by date, neighborhood/zip code, or popularity.

The clean, clutter-free design makes it a welcome addition to the online guides, and the YourLocal editorial team plans to expand to other cities soon.

What websites to you use to learn about events in cities around the world? Share your suggestions below!

Photo: ontheinside new york (creative commons)

that I’ll be avoiding all these new bag charges that US airlines are imposing.

After the April announcement that they’d be charging a “nominal” –$15-$25– fee for a second bag, travelers were seriously up in arms.

But last week’s announcement that three domestic US airlines–United, US Air, and American– will also be charging passengers for a FIRST bag is sky-way robbery, says Baltimore Sun’s travel editor, Michelle Deal-Zimmerman.

I’ll be doing as much as possible to avoid these airlines, and here are my tips for doing so:

*Fly non-domestic airlines: Though they’ll figure it out and catch up soon enough, most of the non-domestic carriers still have normal bag regulations. If I’m flying internationally, I’ll definitely opt for a carrier based in the other country rather than a US airline.

*Give props to domestic carriers that haven’t changed their policies. Though they’re likely to cross to the other side, too, the more business these carriers get from disgruntled passengers protesting bag prices, the more likely they’ll be to keep their own policies the same… we can hope.

*Pack tighter, not lighter. What really irks me about these new bag policies is that they don’t take into consideration the reasons why people travel and the circumstances that cause people to carry so much stuff. But, since the airlines don’t care, I’ll just have to start packing tighter. I’m taking my tips from this video:

Community Connection: How are YOU handling the new luggage fees? Add your tips in the Comments section below.

One of my perpetual interests and preoccupations is the loss and capture of great stories. Who used to live in my apartment? What was the corner store before it became a bodega?

The answers may not seem so important in the overall rush and bustle of life, but the stories that are saved open windows into the past that would otherwise remain closed.

A new website, City of Memory, opens lots of windows. An initiative pioneered by City Lore , a group of “cultural activists,” City of Memory lets folks, both storied and ordinary, share their memories and histories about places around New York City.

The site is easy to use and highly interactive. Click on the dots on the map and hear a story about the former Spanish Camp on Staten Island, read one woman’s memories of adolescence in the Bronx, or watch an audio slideshow about an Egyptian entrepreneur’s tough life after 9/11.

Have your own story of the city? City Lore actively solicits and curates stories, but also accepts submissions from the general public. Check out the submission guidelines here.

Community Connection: Make your own NYC story! MichaLola has just written a guide to NYC. The Traveler’s Notebook has a Green Guide to New York City. And I’ve got a few guides that might help you, too: 10 Best NYC Experiences. Period; Top 10 Tips for Navigating JFK; and Discover Lovely Long Island City!

Photo: DewCon (creative commons)

I’m recently back from a trip to New Orleans, and what impressed me as much as anything was the level of local entrepreneurial spirit and robustness of home-grown businesses.

My four favorite local biz picks are below. Be sure to check them out if you’re headed to the Big Easy… but even if you’re not, you can find all of these interesting entrepreneurs and their fantastic products online.

*Dirty Coast: 5704 Magazine Street OR www.dirtycoast.com
“…a city with 2-million t-shirt shops in the French Quarter and none of them were worth wearing.”
It’s a description that could be applied to most tourist-destination cities, but Dirty Coast founders decided cheesy t-shirts did not need to be the NOLA norm. Instead, they rolled out some whip-smart sayings and some witty designs and printed their tees on American Apparel shirts using lead-free inks at a local shop.

Shirts range in price from $10 to $25. Check out my favorites: “Onward. Upward. 9thWard.” and “Be a New Orleanian Wherever You Are.”

Dirty Coast also makes and sells stickers and other gear, my faves being the Geauxbama sticker and “Da Mayor in Your Pocket,” your very own portable Mayor Nagin.

*Joshua Lee Nidenberg’s Photography: www.joshualeestudio.com
Joshua Lee Nidenberg is a local photographer whose passion for New Orleans is evident in his work. If you’re planning a trip to New Orleans, you can meet Joshua and view his work at one of the city’s many art fairs (schedule is available on his website). His portfolio is also available on his website.

*Forrest Bacigalupi’s Handmade Jewelry: www.artskinetic.com
I met Forrest at the Palmer Park Art Fair and loved his handmade necklaces and earrings. They’re super creative and super affordable. If you can’t find him at one of the many art fairs around town, check out his website.

*Hometown Writers: Local writers–whether natives or transplants–are keeping New Orleans on the literary map with great books like Sara Roahen’s Gumbo Tales and Billy Sothern’s Down in New Orleans. Grab a copy at independent booksellers like Octavia Books or the quirky Faubourg Marigny Arts & Books on Frenchman Street.

Photo: smwarnke4 (creative commons)

What are your favorite local businesses? Share your favorite cities and their local entrepreneurs in the comments below.

For more news from New Orleans, check out this audio slideshow on my website, www.collazoprojects.com.

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

Gitmo, Pennsylvania.

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

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

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

Events are also being held in Portland, ME.

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

Photo: Amnesty International UK (creative commons)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo: christyfu (creative commons)

If you’re a writer, you don’t need me to tell you about that creeping feeling of anxiety that swells up at the end of each month when you think about paying the rent.

You’ve typed yourself into Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, but you’ve got nothing to show for it but a sheaf of rejections or a check so pitiful it might be more worthwhile to stand in the unemployment line.

Sound familiar?

If so, and if you’re a single writer (and traveler), check out these writer’s residency programs, which offer free lodging in off-the-beaten-path locations for three months to a year, allowing you to create anxiety-free.

Hub-Bub Artists’ in Residence (AIR) Program: Hub-Bub is a residency program for writers and artists under 30 who are not only interested in having a place to live and work-rent free for a year, but who also are invested in community building. From their gallery to their community movie nights, Hub-Bub has breathed new life into the downtown area of my hometown, Spartanburg, South Carolina.

The work/live space is a gorgeous recently renovated factory/shoe store, within walking distance of cafes, restaurants, and the public library. If you’ve already missed this year’s deadline, sign up for Hub-Bub’s mailing list and receive early notice for next year’s residency program.

Pretty Apartments Writers’ Fellowships: Ever dreamed of living in a Victorian house… one that’s fully modern? These fellowships offer writers with works in progress the opportunity to live rent- and utility-free in Schnectady, New York for a period of three months… just long enough for you to produce your magnum opus… and roll pennies.

Talk with us! Have you ever accepted a writer’s fellowship? Do you know of great artist-in-residence opportunities? Share your story in the comments.

Photo: Adam Lyon (creative commons)

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)

Maradona talks to El Comandante.
(He could have gotten a little dressed up for the occasion.)

24 hours ago, I didn’t know who Diego Maradona was.

But after Matador editor David Miller shot over an e-mail about “Maradona,” the just-released documentary by Serbian director Emir Kusturica, I fell head-over-heels for the soccer star turned political activist.

It’s not because he’s handsome. The guy’s worn down by some wild drug and alcohol abuse.

It’s not because he’s remembered as the soccer star who scored the “Goal of the Century.” I could care less about sports.

It’s because Maradona is a big-time traveler, using his celebrity to gain audiences with Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro and to speak out against imperialism. And I’m always a sucker for people who realize how important it is to get out into the world and see things with their own eyes.

For some great blogs from Matador members who’ve gone into the world to check things out for themselves, click over to durban.swartz’s entry from Venezuela, YoLeven’s dispatch from Afghanistan, and ross’s entry about a cocaine cowboy in Colombia. Also, if you missed it the first, time, check out 7 Reasons to Travel to Iran NOW, written by Jason Rezaian and accompanied by some gorgeous photos by Matador member Horizon.

Photo: cardiffteam (creative commons)

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)

That’s the question Sara Corbett asked in a recent New York Times Magazine article about the varied uses of cell phones around the world.

Corbett profiles Jan Chipchase, a human behavior researcher for cell phone company, Nokia. Chipchase has the enviable job of jaunting around the world to observe cultures in close detail. Making notes, snapping photos, and collecting cultural ephemera, Chipchase advises Nokia about the different ways in which people use technology and what developments might promote the use of cell phones in parts of the world where such technology is not yet widely available.

What Chipchase has observed is that people in developing countries use phones for novel purposes, often boosting local economies through individual or shared cell phone service. It’s an observation that seems supported by research. According to a study cited by Corbett, even the poorest families around the world are investing in cell phones and, when they do, are improving their socioeconomic status.

Even if cell phones won’t end poverty, Corbett concludes, they may at least make a dent.

Talk with us! How have you seen cell phones being used around the world?

Photo: astrocruzan

Whether you’re a city hopper or a slow traveler, the newish website Dopplr.com, founded in 2007, may be an interesting social networking tool to add alongside your Facebook, MySpace, or LinkedIn accounts.

The idea of Dopplr is simple. By creating a free account and noting your upcoming travel plans, you can let friends, family, and acquaintances keep you on their radar. If they also create an account and indicate their travel plans, then Dopplr will automatically let you know whether your paths might cross. Dopplr makes calling ahead and making arrangements to get together seem downright antiquated.

Clean of ads and functional, Dopplr has gained favorable coverage from TIME, The Wall Street Journal, and The Guardian.

Do you have a Dopplr account? If so, share your experience with Dopplr in the comments section!

Photo: upshift