Where to go in October

New England

There are few better ways to see the season in its full glory than a leaf-peeping road trip through New England. Head for Maine’s Acadia National Park, taking in the fishing village of Bar Harbor en route, for an unforgettable palette of natural splendour (foliagenetwork.com).

Venice

A place with such unique appeal as Venice will always be busy, but October nicely strikes the balance between mild-ish weather and a lapse in the tourist flood. To really beat the crowds, try a walk around the Piazza San Marco at dawn (turismovenezia.it).

West Country, England

It’s apple-picking season in Somerset and Herefordshire – time for tranquil orchards, snuffling pigs and lashings of cider. Head for Burrow Hill farm in Martock for a great introduction to the traditions of this most ancient of drinks (ciderbrandy.co.uk).

Morocco

The temperatures in North Africa begin to slide down the thermometer to ‘bearable’ this month, making the evocative narrow streets and medinas of Fès or Marrakesh a great option (visitmorocco.com).

Where to avoid: Thailand

Imagine how fantastic Thailand can be – turquoise seas, white sands, cocktails on the beach. In October, flip-reverse that image – raging, black waters, gluey mud, torrential rain. Not so much fun now, eh? Wait a couple of months for the end of the monsoon.

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Top 10 geek destinations to visit this summer

As summer approaches, our thoughts turn to taking a break. Rather than bring you boring beaches or tacky theme parks, we're planning pilgrimages for our inner-geek.

From the birth of Silicon Valley, to the inception of Twitter, we've pinpointed ten places across America that should be of particular interest to those with a passion for tech and social media.

Whether you're an Apple fanboy, mad for social media or just a retro gaming fanatic, our top 10 places to visit this summer will give you some great geek-themed road trip ideas and destinations.

Bon voyage!

1. 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA 95014

While waltzing into Apple's headquarters and demanding a meeting with Steve Jobs won't get you very far, one place you are welcome is Apple's "Company Store."

A unique Apple retail space, the Company Store isn't your run-of-the-mill Apple shop, but instead sells Apple-branded products.

In the words of the company, it's "the only place in the world that sells Apple logo t-shirts, caps and accessories." We assume they mean the only place for official Apple logo t-shirts, caps and accessories.

Geek-vacation must: Pick yourself up an "I visited the Mothership" t-shirt.

2. 579 Endicott Street North, Laconia, NH 03246

At 579 Endicott Street North you'll find "Funspot," New Hampshire's "entertainment supercenter." But more importantly, within the Funspot premises can be found the The American Classic Arcade Museum.

The museum contains the world's largest collection of classic arcade games, from pre-war pinball machines, through "Pac Man," and up to "Time Crisis 3."

In addition to the arcade games themselves, you'll find written, audio, video and electronic data about the history of coin-operated games and the people who created them, making this a mecca for retro gaming fans.

Geek-vacation must: Play Donkey Kong on the same machine where Steve Weibe scored a million points.

3. South Park, San Francisco, CA 94107

Described as the "ground zero" of the dot com revolution, South Park in San Francisco has seen many a web entrepreneur eat lunch on its grass over recent years. It's most notable for being the location where Twitter, or "Twttr" as it was to be called, was first conceived by Jack Dorsey.

Dom Sagolla described the Odeo brainstorming session that saw it born:

"'Rebooting' or reinventing the company started with a daylong brainstorming session where we broke up into teams to talk about our best ideas. I was lucky enough to be in @Jack's group, where he first described a service that uses SMS to tell small groups what you are doing. We happened to be on top of the slide on the north end of South Park. It was sunny and brisk. We were eating Mexican food. His idea made us stop eating and start talking."

Geek-vacation must: Tweet from the top of the slide!

4. 15010 NE 36th Street, Redmond, WA 98052

If you venture to Redmond on a week day, you can head to Microsoft's 300-acre corporate campus where, in Building 92, you'll find the official Microsoft Visitor Center.

The blurb for the center promises "the vision, products, culture, and history of Microsoft," with exhibits ranging from an Xbox 360 that you can play on a giant screen to the first personal computer.

You can also hit the Microsoft Company Store, which, in a similar vein to the Apple Company Store mentioned above, offers all manner of Microsoft-themed clothing and trinkets.

Geek-vacation must: Have a go on Microsoft Surface.

5. Kirkland House, Cambridge, MA 01238

It's common knowledge that Facebook was conceived and launched by Mark Zuckerberg while studying at Harvard in 2004, but did you know the whole thing started as "thefacebook.com" from his dorm room in Harvard's Kirkland House?

Kirkland's online mailing list was how news of the fledgling service debuted. After Zuckerberg told his friends about the site, one suggested putting it on the 300-strong mailing list. As legend goes, within 24 hours of the list hitting inboxes, between 1,200 to 1,500 students had signed up.

You can easily see Kirkland House on a visit to Harvard independently, but if you want a better perspective on its history, then the student-led walking tours can offer more insight.

Geek-vacation must: Tag Kirkland House in a photo on Facebook.

6. 367 Addison Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94309

While Hewlett Packard might not be the sexiest consumer electronics company around, it has played a very important part in the history of the industry. Proof of their contributions are marked by California Historic Landmark No. 976: HP Garage -- dubbed the "birthplace of Silicon Valley."

Way before today's tech giants were even twinkles in our eyes, college friends Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard started their business in the late 1930s from a 12 by 18-foot garage on Addison Avenue.

Hewlett Packard began restoring the garage in 2004 -- complete with authentic tools, furnishings and equipment -- in order to preserve the tiny property as a historical landmark. Sadly, it's not open to the public but you can view the garage from the sidewalk. While it's in a residential area, HP urges visitors to respect the privacy of neighbors.

Geek-vacation must: Grab a pic of the historical garage plaque.

7. 2615 Broadway Street, Redwood City, CA 94063

To those ignorant of the tech world's current affairs, this is just a nice German-themed shop and beer garden. But to those in the know, it's so much more. The place where the iPhone 4 made its unofficial and unintentional public debut has to be on the Apple fanboy's must-see list.

The Gourmet Haus Staudt in Redwood City, California offers a vast selection of German beers on tap. Who knows, maybe you'll find an iPhone 5?

Geek-vacation must: Make sure you have all your belongings before you leave.

8. 1401 N. Shoreline Boulevard, Mountain View, CA 94043

Offering one of the world's largest collections of computing artifacts, the Computer History Museum is another must-visit attraction for any geek.

Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, the museum currently showcases some of the stories behind local corporate giants like Adobe, Apple, Cisco, HP, Intel and Sun Microsystems, as well as a model of the Babbage Engine and a look at the history of computer chess.

New exhibits are planned for 2011, so you might want to check what is showing before you take the trip.

Geek-vacation must: Check out the "Hall of Fellows" awards honoring individuals who have made great contributions to the industry.

9. 241 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, CA 94025

The Homebrew Computer Club's place in the history of modern computing cannot be understated. Back in the late 70s, for example, a 26 year-old Hewlett Packard employee nicknamed Woz debuted a machine called the Apple I during a meeting.

Although early meetings took place in a garage in Menlo Park (a la Google years later) Homebrew's other staging area, according to a member, was "The Oasis," a bar and grill on El Camino Real.

Today, The Oasis is still going strong as a bar and burger and pizza joint, so you can visit and stand in the gastronomic footsteps of the computing greats.

Geek-vacation must: Eat! The BBQ chicken pizza is popular now, but the classic "O" experience calls for a burger.

10. 232 Santa Margarita Avenue, Menlo Park, CA 94025

In 1998, in an inauspicious garage in Menlo Park, Larry Page and Sergey Brin created what is now one of the most valuable companies in the world.

Page and Brin rented the "Google garage" from Anne Wojcicki -- a future Google employee -- for $1,700 a month, helping Wojcicki pay her mortgage and giving Google its first ever official premises (the search engine had previously been run from the Stanford website.)

Google bought the house and garage in 2006, claiming the purchase was "to preserve part of our legacy."

While we'd fully expect the garage to be given the HP treatment (see above) in years to come, right now you can view it in its unassuming natural habitat by moseying down Santa Margarita.

Geek-vacation must: Rollerblade past the garage for the true Page/Brin experience.

Best Adventure Travel Ideas

If you’re after an outdoor adventure, look no further. In this excerpt from Lonely Planet’s 1000 Ultimate Experiences, we bring you the white-knuckle tour of six continents.

1. Ski touring the Haute Route, France and Switzerland

Strap on the skins for one of the world’s great ski experiences as you tour between the famed Alpine resorts of Chamonix and Zermatt. Most skiers take around a week to complete the 140km, hut-to-hut route, crossing 20 glaciers and savouring views of many of the Alps’ highest and finest peaks. Expect more than a leisurely jaunt: the terrain is challenging, and climbs along the route total more than 10,000m. If you prefer feet to skis, you can always wait for summer and hike the Walkers’ Haute Route. Guided tours depart from Chamonix; expect to pay in excess of US$2250 depending on group size. Basic mountaineering skills and the ability to ski off piste are essential.

2. Cycling the Icefields Parkway, Canada

Stretching 230km between Jasper and Lake Louise and following a lake-lined valley between two chains of the Rocky Mountains, the Icefields Parkway is considered one of the world’s most scenic roads. Cyclists also know it as one of the great mountain-biking tours. The impatient can ride it in two days, but well-spaced camping grounds and hostels mean it can also be lingered over for four or five days. Expect mountains, lakes and a menagerie of mammals – goats, bighorn sheep, elk, moose and perhaps even black and grizzly bears. Check the route map at www.icefieldsparkway.ca; you can hire bicycles at shops in Banff , Alberta, for around C$40 a day.

3. Bungee jumping at Verzasca Dam, Switzerland

They call it the Golden Eye jump, as it was on this Ticino dam that Pierce Brosnan, aka James Bond, fell so far that in order to recreate the stunt you must submit yourself to the world’s highest commercial bungee jump, a leap of 220m. Make the classic swan dive or leap backwards, then endure a 7½-second fall that will border on eternity. Only later will you appreciate the fact that you’ve just relived the stunt once voted the best in movie history. Jumps are conducted between Easter and October. The Golden Eye jump costs €170 the first time and is half price if you do it again on the same day. You know what Bond would do.

4. Mountain biking in Moab, USA

Moab is the mother of all mountain biking destinations, its fame riding on the slickrock (smooth, wind-polished rock) that makes mountain biking in this Utah town unique. Top of the pops in Moab is the Slickrock Bike Trail, arguably the most famous mountain-biking route in the world. This 20km loop crosses sandstone ridges above the town, a roller-coaster route of supersteep climbs and plunging descents. If you’re nervous about whether you’re slick enough for the Slickrock Bike Trail, you can always pluck up courage on the 3km practice loop. One-day or multi-day tour options are available. Bring your own bike or rent one and go for broke; for sample rentals check out www.poisonspiderbicycles.com.

5. Rock climbing at Krabi, Thailand

Fancy a tropical beach that’s more about cams than tans, and where the closest thing to a thong is your harness? Then you should come to Krabi. This city on Thailand’s Andaman coast is blessed with spectacular karst formations, even in the middle of Krabi River, making it one of the world’s great climbing destinations. If you’re serious about scaling a cliff, you’ll want to head for Railay, west of the city. This peninsula’s steep, pocketed limestone cliff s offer a liquorice allsorts of climbing features, including good overhangs and the occasional hanging stalactite. You’ll find accommodation, guides and gear for hire at Ao Nang and Railay East Beach; over 650 routes have been pioneered in the area since the 1980s.

6. Kayaking on Glacier Bay, USA

The name alone ought be enough to tempt any sea-kayaker, but the reality goes beyond even the moniker. In Alaska’s Glacier Bay, 10 glaciers flow down from the mountains, filling the sea with an assortment of icebergs. The tour boat MV Spirit of Adventure can drop kayakers at various points in the bay, so you can pretty much paddle where you please. The truly hardy eschew the boat and paddle from Bartlett Cove to the glaciers of Muir Inlet (allow about two weeks). The blockbuster ‘bergs are in the West Arm, though camping there is limited. Beach camping on the Beardslee Islands allows you to extend your time with nature; kayaks and guides can be booked at www.glacierbayseakayaks.com.

7. Walking in Kruger National Park, South Africa

What better way to mingle with a hungry horde of lions, cheetahs, rhinos, elephants and giraffes in South Africa’s most famous park than on foot? Kruger has seven wilderness walking trails, along which you can take guided overnight walks with armed guides. Of the trails, the Napi Trail is noted as the best for spotting the big five (black rhino, Cape buffalo, elephant, leopard and lion). Most of the walks last for two days and three nights, covering around 20km each day at a leisurely pace… unless, of course, you notice a lion behind you. A four-day walking safari costs between US$800–1000 for groups of no more than eight. For more details visit www.krugersafari.com.

8. Hiking the Larapinta Trail, Australia

For 223km of desert delights, set aside a fortnight to walk the Larapinta Trail through central Australia’s West MacDonnell Ranges, one of the oldest mountain chains in the world. Stretching between Alice Springs and Mt Sonder, the Larapinta winds through oasis-like gorges, over sharp quartzite ridge tops and across desert plains. Regular camp sites and water tanks mute the desert’s ferocity but not its beauty – this is the Red Centre at its finest. Food drops can also be arranged to ease the load on your back. The full expedition costs AU$3960; book at www.treklarapinta.com.au.

9. Trek the Torres Del Paine, Chile

Like a fistful of broken fingers, Chile’s Torres del Paine rise more than 2000m from the Patagonian Steppes. For ‘real’ trekkers these ‘Towers of Pain’ are one of the most instantly recognisable features on the planet. The classic walk here is the so-called ‘W’ trek, which takes about five days. Beginning at Laguna Amarga, the W climbs to the spectacular Torres del Paine Lookout, immediately below the towers, and continues via Los Cuernos and Lago Pehoé to Lago Grey, famed for its flotillas of icebergs – some as big as houses. Trails are well marked; trek in autumn or spring to avoid crowds. The ‘W’ trek can be completed in six days, including the return bus trip from Puerto Natales. Sunrise illuminates the Torres del Paine one by one, transforming them into slabs of gold.

10. Swimming with killer whales, Norway

Close your eyes and think of friendly dolphins and you might find it easier to roll overboard and into Norway’s Tysfjord. For three months each year, orcas settle into this fjord, chasing a feed of herring. Hard behind them are the whale-watching boats and the few hardy snorkellers prepared to brave both the Arctic waters and their visiting killer whales. For something marginally warmer, you may prefer to hire a kayak for a paddle among the cetaceans. To play with the orcas check out www.orcasafari.co.uk; tours depart from the UK.

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Where to go in July

Have some free time this July but don’t know what to do with it? Check out these top destinations from Lonely Planet Magazine’s ‘Perfect Trips for 2010′ (January 2010 issue):

Indonesia

The wet season long gone, July is the best time to explore Indonesia. Start at Borobudur in Java, a lush region of paddy fields, swaying palms and the country’s most remarkable Buddhist monument (indonesiatourism.com).

Rwanda

When even David Attenborough wells up at the memory, you can be sure that the experience of coming face to face with a gorilla is pretty mind-blowing. July is the midpoint of Rwanda’s dry season, and so the ideal time to search the rainforests that veil the defunct volcanoes of the Parc National des Volcans for traces of our hairy-backed cousins (rwandatourism.com).

Norway

After a winter of near constant darkness, Norway really begins to see the light in July. Clamber up to the northernmost point of continental Europe, Knivskjellodden, to enjoy the midnight sun at what feels like the world’s end, or head for the energetic cultural hotspot of Tromsø for a social scene that lasts all night (visitnorway.com).

Canada

The depth of Canada’s big freeze in winter is matched by its agreeability come summer. Vancouver in July is at its best, with pleasant temperatures. Check out the sea-to-sky vistas of Stanley Park and kayak along the city’s shoreline (tourismvancouver.com).

Where to Avoid: Mali

Rain measured in feet, not inches. Crashing thunderstorms. Miles of thick, sludgy mud. It’s Africa, Jim, but not as we know it. Or at least not like it looked in the brochures. To avoid disappointment, it’s worth steering clear of a soggy Mali this month.

10 ways to kill time at the airport

Your bags have been checked, your boarding pass issued… and now you’ve got hours to wait before getting on your plane. What can you do with an airport layover?

Plenty, as it turns out. Here are some of Lonely Planet's suggestions:

Exercise

Feeling your muscles atrophy from all those flight delays? Hit the gym! Many airport hotels have fitness centres in them with day passes available for the public; some are even open 24 hours. Don’t have a spare set of workout clothes? Get on your feet and take a brisk walk around the terminal, mall-walking-style – but avoid running if you don’t want to risk getting tackled by security.

Spoil yourself

Airport day spas and massage shops have become ubiquitous at international airports. Have a fear of flying? Melt away your jitters with a muscle-tingling back or foot massage, or treat yourself to a facial treatment and a mani-pedi. Just don’t get so relaxed that you forget your boarding time.

Lounge around

Once reserved for the hotshots in First Class, deluxe lounges can now be your home away from home – for a few hours, anyway – for a small fee. At minimum they usually have comfy seating, newspapers and magazines, a food buffet and free wi-fi (a real boon in those benighted airports that still charge for wi-fi access).

Some higher-end ones, such as the Plaza Premium Lounge in Kuala Lumpur International Airport, feature showers, free draught beer, movies and even a putting green. Fore!

People-watch

If there’s anything airports are rarely short of, it’s people. Take an interest in your fellow travellers: play detective and see how much you can figure out about them through your powers of observation (or play fashion police and judge their bad taste in clothing instead). If you enjoyed the film Love, Actually, reenact the opening scene by watching the emotional reunions at the international arrivals gate. Bring your own tissues.

Window-shop

Some airports these days almost seem like glorified shopping malls that just happen to have planes landing, and prices are high since there’s nowhere else to go. But you can have plenty of free fun playing with the travel gadgets and massage chairs at Brookstone, sampling moisturiser and testing fragrances at L’Occitane, browsing books in WH Smith and goggling at the price tags in Prada. Have some extra currency to get rid of? Spend it on some locally made souvenirs or sweets to bring home.

Get back to nature

If you’re flying through Southeast Asia, you can find a lovely green respite from the normal concrete-and-glass airport experience. Kuala Lumpur International Airport has transplanted a section of Malaysian rainforest inside the airport for visitors to explore, and Singapore’s Changi Airport has half a dozen different gardens throughout the complex, including an orchid garden with koi pond and a tropical habitat filled with butterflies, carnivorous plants and a waterfall grotto.

Take a day-trip

If you’ve got an extra long layover between flights, consider skipping the airport experience altogether and play tourist for a half a day. Many city airports have direct train service downtown, such as Chicago, Sydney and Hong Kong – where you can even check your bags and get a boarding pass at the station. Singapore’s Changi Airport offers free two-hour tours of town to passengers who have a layover of at least five hours.

Chow down

If you can’t bear the thought of tucking into a tray of single-serving generica on your flight, treat yourself to a good meal before you board. But forget a plastic-tray meal at the food court: airports these days have started featuring nice restaurants, often with celebrity-chef pedigrees. It can also be a good way to sample a bit of regional cuisine: if you’re a meat-lover transferring through Memphis, for example, try one of their four in-terminal BBQ restaurants.

Enjoy some quiet time

Most airports have chapels and ‘quiet rooms’ that are good for a little bit of solitary introspection, whether you want to pray, meditate or just contemplate your belly button in silence for a while. For those who feel like they need some pastoral guidance, London’s Heathrow Airport even has Anglican and Catholic chaplains and Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Sikh ‘faith representatives’ on call.

Play

Singapore’s superstar Changi Airport pulls out all the stops in providing boredom-killers for its passengers. Besides a children’s playground, arts and crafts workshop, three screening rooms with free movies and an entertainment area with free video games and music-listening pods, they’ve recently installed a four-storey-high slide so you can relive your playground salad days, as well as a half-size version for anyone afraid of heights.

And of course if you have one of those new-fangled iPads handy, you’ll be able to while away your layover reading e-books, playing i-games or surfing the w-web on the airport wi-fi. (You could even check out our new 1000 Ultimate Experiences iPad app for some – well, a thousand – travel ideas.)

10 essential stops for Europe first-timers

LONDON

Two days isn’t a huge amount of time in a city with so much to do but you should still be able to see highlights like the Tower, Tate Modern, Big Ben and Buckingham Palace as well as attend a West End theatre show and enjoy the ethnic eateries of the East End.

BARCELONA

An overnight ride of the rails and you’re at your next stop, colourful Barcelona, where the organic Modernista architecture and Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia will wow you. Don’t miss the Catalan cooking. Your first flight of the trip moves you along to…

PARIS

A high-speed Channel Tunnel train takes you to the sights in Paris. Overlooking the avenues from the Arc de Triomphe, seeing the Louvre or Versailles and a beautiful church or two is the least you can do. Try lively Montmartre for dinner.

ROME

The Eternal City; they say a lifetime isn’t enough to know it. During two days sightseeing in Rome, choose from among the monumental attractions of the Colosseum, Vatican City, Pantheon, Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. Evenings you’ll be eating out in the centro storico and Trastevere.

VIENNA

Overnight on the train to the imperial city of Vienna (which ‘waits for you’ according to Billy Joel), where you’ll linger in a coffee house, watch the Lipizzaner stallions, wander the pedestrian shopping streets and see a performance at the Staatsoper.

BUDAPEST

Just three hours away, Budapest also has a lively cafe culture, plus a vibrant mix of old and new. Be sure to visit Castle Hill and take a soak in one of the city’s thermal baths.

DUBROVNIK

You’ll have to board a plane in order to be dazzled by the marble streets and red roofs of Dubrovnik, Croatia. By all means, first walk the city walls; the views over the town and sea are great. Explore the rest of the old town and take a seat at a cafe or along one of the beaches.

BERLIN

A full day riding the rails brings you to the sights of Berlin, Europe’s most rapidly changing (and exciting) city; must-sees include all the Berlin Wall galleries, memorials and museums, plus new city sights like the Sony Centre and Filmmuseum. At night Kreuzberg is the alternative nightlife hub, while Prenzlauer Berg is more grown up.

ATHENS

The Greek capital is a treasure trove of ancient ruins with the magnificent buildings of the hill-top Acropolis heading the list. Below it stand more impressive remains, plus bustling flea markets and lively tavernas giving you a taste of more modern Athenian life.

ISTANBUL

Once you’ve touched down you’ve reached the edge of Europe, where east meets west. In Old İstanbul explore the Blue Mosque, Topkapı Palace and Aya Sofya. Then shop and dine in modern Beyoğlu, centre of the city’s nightlife. A boat ride on the Bosphorus gives you the chance to step foot in Asia, looking back at the Europe you’ve just explored.

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Translate the real world with Google Goggles

Traveling to another country can be an amazing experience. The opportunity to immerse yourself in a different culture can give you a new perspective. However, it can be hard to fully enjoy the experience if you do not understand the local language. For example, ordering food from a menu you can not read can be an adventure. Today we are introducing a new feature of Google Goggles that will prove useful to travelers and monoglots everywhere: Goggles translation.

Here’s how it works:
1. Point your phone at a word or phrase. Use the region of interest button to draw a box around specific words
2. Press the shutter button
3. If Goggles recognizes the text, it will give you the option to translate
4. Press the translate button to select the source and destination languages.

The first Goggles translation prototype was unveiled earlier this year at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and could only recognize German text. Today Goggles can read English, French, Italian, German and Spanish and can translate to many more languages. We are hard at work extending our recognition capabilities to other Latin-based languages. Our goal is to eventually read non-Latin languages (such as Chinese, Hindi and Arabic) as well.

Every new release of Google Goggles contains at least one new feature and a large number of improvements to our existing functionality. In addition to translation, Goggles v1.1 features improved barcode recognition, a larger corpus of artwork, recognition of many more products and logos, an improved user interface, and the ability to initiate visual searches using images in your phone’s photo gallery.

Computer vision is a hard problem. While we are excited about Goggles v1.1, we know that there are many images that we cannot yet recognize. The Google Goggles team is working on solving the technical challenges required to make computers see. We hope you are as excited as we are about the possibilities of visual search. Google Goggles v1.1 is available on devices running Android 1.6 and higher.

Coming soon on iPhone and other platforms!

50 handy hints for the first time traveller

Planning and Packing

1. If you’re not sure if you need it, you don’t.
2. If you’re pretty sure you need it, you don’t.
3. If you’re absolutely certain you need it, you probably still don’t.
4. Take more money.
5. Take more pairs of underwear.
6. Take fewer pairs of shoes.
7. If it can’t be worn for 3 days then washed and dried in a hostel laundry room, don’t bring it.
8. Your airline’s baggage allowance is a limit, not a challenge.
9. Shampoo, conditioner, shower gel. Pick one.
10. If you can’t carry your luggage up a flight of stairs easily by yourself, it’s too heavy. See hints 1,2 & 3
11. Make sure your passport has enough pages and validity (> 6 months) to last your entire trip.
12. A little planning is good. Accommodation in Europe can be hard to find in peak season, for example.
13. A lot of planning is not. The best experiences are often spontaneous – detailed itineraries don’t allow that.
14. Aspirin, Band-Aids and Imodium. The traveller’s trifecta.
15. Contraceptives are not the stupidest idea in the world either.
16. Take another memory card for your camera. You’ll need it.

In Transit

17. Arrive early. Airports suck, but missing your flight sucks a lot more.
18. Jokes about security are hilarious. Spending time in jail is less so.
19. The only thing worse than the taste of airport food is the price. Eat beforehand.
20. Getting drunk on the plane is fun. Being hungover on the plane is horrific. Your call.
21. Earplugs are your friend.
22. So is an eye mask, even if it makes you look like a dork.
23. Sleeping pills complete the arsenal, for when the people beside you really just won’t shut up.
24. Learning to eat using plastic utensils, with your elbows tucked in and your knees bumping the table is an essential flying skill. Start practicing now by sitting in a cardboard box during your next meal.
25. Take something that can entertain you for several hours. A novel. Playing cards. An ipod. A ball of twine. Whatever. Just take something.
26. Set your watch to your destination timezone as soon as you get on the plane, and use that time when deciding when to sleep. It’ll help with the jetlag. Maybe.
27. Get up and go for a walk now and again when you’re in the air. It’s good for the circulation and helps relieve the crushing boredom of a long haul flight, even if only slightly.
28. After 20 hours in planes and airports, toothpaste will change your life.
29. When it comes to conversations with border officials, less is more. Answer questions truthfully but don’t volunteer too much.
30. Distinctive luggage is a good thing. Surprising as it might seem, yours will not be the only black suitcase on the conveyer belt.
31. Having a change of underwear in your carry-on will be the smartest move you’ve ever made when the airline loses your bags.

At your destination

32. Being polite goes a very long way.
33. A smile goes even further.
34. If somebody doesn’t speak your language, that’s your problem, not theirs.
35. Lack of a common language does not equate to deafness. Speaking more loudly will not help.
36. Be alert for scams and danger, but don’t let that dictate your trip. Most people are not out to harm you.
37. Opening your heart and mind does not have to mean opening your wallet.
38. Get out of your comfort zone. Eat, drink and do things that you wouldn’t go near in your normal life.
39. Bum bags / fanny packs are the stupidest travel accessory ever, for more reasons than I can even list.
40. Money belts aren’t much better, but if you must use one, don’t keep diving into it every five minutes. Hiding your valuables isn’t much use if they don’t stay … y’know … hidden.
41. Things will be different to how they are at home. That’s kinda the point.
42. Public transport can be awesome. It can also be the bane of your life. You will experience both.
43. Meet the locals. If you’d wanted to hang out with people just like yourself, it would have been much cheaper just to stay home and go to the mall.
44. Have an emergency source of funds hidden away somewhere, and treat your passport as if it were made of gold. It’s not quite the end of the world if you lose it, but it’ll feel like it at the time.
45. Don’t be afraid to screw up. It’s ok. We learn a lot more from our failures than we do our successes.
46. Having flip flops for the hostel shower can be a really good idea.
47. Don’t be the one who comes back to the hostel smashed after a big night out, turns on the light and wakes up the rest of the dorm. No really, don’t. Payback’s a bitch in the morning.
48. If your friends back home haven’t seen an updated Facebook status from you in the last hour, it’s ok.
49. When looking for somewhere to eat, find the one where there’s nobody that looks like you inside it. Bonus points if it’s not in the guidebook, and extra bonus points if the menu isn’t in your language (or there’s no menu at all). The food will be better and cheaper, and the experience more memorable. Trust me.
50. There will be times when it’s all too hard. Tough it out. You won’t remember the bad times in a couple of months, but the good times will stay with you forever.

whatsdavedoing.com/blogs/travel

Awe-inspiring ancient sites

Pyramids of Giza, Egypt

Egypt’s a country rich in both World Heritage sites and tourist clichés, and at the Pyramids of Giza you hit pay dirt on both. The sole survivor of the ancient Seven Wonders of the World, these pyramids still live up to more than 4000 years of hype. Their extraordinary shape, geometry and age render them somehow alien and their construction remains almost unfathomable. Visit at sunrise and be dumbstruck.

Terracotta Warriors of Xi’an, China

This subterranean life-size army of thousands of terracotta warriors has silently stood guard over the soul of China’s first emperor for over two millennia. Either Qin Shi Huang was terrified of the vanquished spirits awaiting him in the afterlife, or, as most archaeologists believe, he expected his rule to continue in death as it had in life (and needed terracotta muscle). Visit the aircraft hangar-sized Pit 1: it contains 6000 warriors and horses, all facing east and ready for battle.

Petra, Jordan

Feel the anticipation as you walk the Siq, the long, dramatic chasm that links the ancient city of Petra with the outside world. Your magical introduction to the site comes with a glimpse of the Treasury, and it’s here that most visitors fall in love with the Rose-red City. As the sun makes its daily passage over the site, the colours glow from the facades of Petra’s great temples and tombs, carved out of rose-coloured rock. If you have the time, don’t miss the candle-lit night tour.

Ancient Rome, Italy

If the past is indeed a foreign country, please let its capital be Rome. Merely the name Rome conjures up 2700 years of Western civilisation, iconic from the perfect dome topping the Pantheon to the crumbling might of the bloodstained Colosseum, by way of the ruinous Roman Forum or the catacombs of Via Appia Antica. And we can’t heap enough praise on a city that gives us la dolce vita to revel in after bringing such history lessons to life.

Hadrian’s Wall, England

Named in honour of the Roman emperor who ordered it built, Hadrian’s Wall was constructed over 117km of northern England to keep the Romans (ie, subdued Brits) in, and the hairy Pictish barbarian louts from Scotland out. Close to 2000 years after the first stone was laid (in AD 122), the still-standing sections are a testament to the Roman knack for building things that last. If you fancy an epic walk in the footsteps of the legions, the weeklong Hadrian’s Wall Walk offers enough ramparts, towers and fortlets to wear your sandals out.

Stonehenge, England

People arrive at Stonehenge hoping to tap into the site’s spooky mysticism and/or marvel at the ancient engineering system that brought these huge, 4-ton blocks from a Welsh quarry up to 5000 years ago. Who built this compelling ring of rock, how, and above all, why? Theories abound – the huge upright slabs and dramatic triliths (two vertical stones topped by a horizontal one) could constitute an ancient celestial timepiece or place of sacrificial worship. Despite the noisy nearby traffic and hordes of would-be druids, it retains its monolithic power.

Teotihuacán, Mexico

The best retreat into the ancient past from the nearby modern urban jungle of Mexico City is the stunning complex of Teotihuacán. This site, set amid what was once the greatest metropolis in Mesoamerica, is known for its two vast pyramids: Pirámide del Sol (the world’s third largest pyramid, built around AD 100 and painted bright red in its heyday) and Pirámide de la Luna (smaller and more gracefully proportioned than its sunny counterpart). Urban planners, take note: the city’s grid plan was plotted in the early parts of the 1st century AD.

Pompeii, Italy

Although former residents might not think so, the Mt Vesuvius explosion in AD 79 was one of the best things that ever happened to Roman archaeology. On 24 August, the world’s most famous volcano erupted, leaving behind fascinating ruins that provide insight into the daily life of ancient Romans, perfectly preserved under 6m of ash. On Pompeii’s ancient streets, the excavated ruins are a profound and pitiful mix of the monumental and the mundane.

Ubirr, Australia

At the extraordinary Kakadu National Park, in Australia’s Top End, you can explore thundering waterfalls and crocodile-filled billabongs, but don’t overdose on natural highs before you stop by some of the country’s most significant rock-art sites. At Ubirr, a spectacular escarpment perfect for sunset-watching, you can admire ancient Aboriginal art, some of it 20,000 years old. In the main galleries formed out of the natural rock, check out the X-ray-style wallabies, possums, goannas, tortoises and fish on the walls, and the culture-defining Rainbow Serpent painting.

Acropolis, Athens, Greece

Athens exists because of the Acropolis, perhaps the most important ancient monument in the Western world. Still standing sentinel over Athens, it’s visible from almost everywhere in the city. Its crown jewel, the Parthenon is unsurpassed in grace and harmony. From near or far, the rows of columns gleam white in the midday sun, softening to a honey hue as the sun sinks, then becoming floodlit at night, centre stage and shining in the spotlight of a city fuelled by history.

lonelyplanet.com

Top 10 countries for 2010

A couple of weeks ago, we published our list of hot destinations for 2010.

You sure had a lot to say! From heartfelt agreement to outrage, your comments were insightful and savvy.

Some people were furious that we had recommended such ‘mainstream’ destinations as Germany and the USA, noting that they were looking for more off-the-beaten-track places. (To that we’ll respond by saying that it wasn’t our intention to discover ‘new’ countries for next year – it’s a list of destinations we believe will be particularly popular in 2010.)

Others were disappointed not to see such perennially popular nations as Italy and Vietnam.

We thought that the responses were so good that they warranted their own list. So we’re proud to reflect back to you the destinations YOU thought would be hot next year.

1. South Africa – our most glaring omission, according to several respondents, as it will host the football/soccer World Cup in 2010.

2. India – an ever-popular destination, vast and diverse.

3. Colombia – a still-undiscovered jewel of South America, according to a few.

4. Jordan – friendly, accessible and lots of fun.

5. Italy – lots of folks love this travel mainstay. (One of my favorite destination for now)

6. Panama – a rising star of Central America.

7. China – for the people, the geography, the beauty and the diversity.

8. Cuba – still an ‘alternative’ destination, partly because of the American embargo.

9. Costa Rica – an environmental paradise in the Americas.

10. Kyrgyzstan – the most underrated of the Central Asian nations.

lonelyplanet.com

Countries that can still be travelled on the cheap

Cash-flow issues? Global recession getting you down? No budget, no problem – in this extract from Lonely Planet’s 1000 Ultimate Experiences, we bring you the destinations that will blow your mind without blowing your budget.

India

India has been known as a cheap destination for ages. But what you might not realise is that there is a lot more to India than just Bollywood films, elephant rides and crazy traffic. Forget just checking out the Taj – what about a trip to the north? Go climbing in Ladakh, where the peaks are huge and the air is cool. Or what about surfing in Port Blair – it’s in the middle of the Bay of Bengal and still cheap as chips. This classic shoestring destination is still ripe for adventure.

Nepal

The home of Mt Everest and the Sherpa people has long been on the radar of the budget traveller. After decades in the limelight Nepal still remains one of the best budget destinations around. The trekking is awesome and the fractional cost of being in the country means that the treks can go on and on. Many a seasoned traveller has Nepal at the top of their best-of list – and the best part is, it won’t cost a fortune to add it to yours.

Indonesia

Indonesia has had a bad run of terrible press over the past few years. Between bombings and other strife it’s fallen off the to-do lists of many tourists. Their loss is our gain: the pristine beaches are still the drawcard and you can experience the same dirt-cheap living that has always been on offer. If you’re keen to surf or lie on the beach you’re all set to have an adventure for peanuts. As long as you steer clear of tourist trap resorts, you’ll struggle to spend more than US$20 a day. Nourish your inner cheapskate and buy souvenirs away from the tourist areas; head to the central market in Denpasar or Ubud’s Pasar Sukowati.

Iran

Iran? The same Iran that’s in the ‘Axis of Evil’? Forget that propaganda and get stuck into a country that meets all the requirements. For a start it’s cheap: for US$25 a day you can live it up in a midrange hotel and eat your heart out. What you won’t find is a glut of other travellers and the hindrance of mass tourism. You’ll see the wonders of the ancient world without a tour group in sight. In fact this is a country that is crying out for visitors, and is deserving of them – the locals are unbelievably welcoming to travellers. Arrive in January for the ancient Persian midwinter festival of Sadeh, which celebrates the creation of fire.

Poland

Eastern Europe used to be dirt cheap back in the good old days of the Cold War. Now that peace has broken out, costs are on the up. Poland, though, is still at the inexpensive end: a daily budget of US$25 will easily get you around the country. Poland is a nation that’s been run over so many times by invading forces that it’s become bulletproof. Now this EU member is on the rise, so get in quick before the prices go up for good. Rural towns are picturesque and cheap to visit; tiny towns like Krasnystaw in the Lubelskie region are a miser’s wonderland.

Laos

Southeast Asia is the promised land of cheap travel – for years Thailand was the de facto destination for the cash poor but these days travellers are looking beyond the old standards for more intrepid el-cheapo places to check out. Enter Laos. It may not have the beaches of Thailand or the notoriety of Vietnam but it’s got what counts. For just US$15 a day you will get all you need, leaving you free to get out among the untouched river valleys and chilled-out microvillages along the Mekong River. The cheapest way to get there is to enter via boat from Chiang Khong, Thailand. The boat ride costs around US$0.50; the visa, payable in Laos, should be around US$30. The best things in life really are free – such as the utterly gorgeous limestone waterfalls at Tat Sae in Laos.

Sudan

It’s hard to get to, hard to get into and hard to wrap your head around. Sudan is in the news for all the wrong reasons – what people should know about is the locals’ pride in welcoming guests and the amazing things that can be seen around the country. In the north you’ll be treated to pyramids and other marvels of the ancient world, and odds are you’ll have them to yourself. And a falafel will cost less than US$1 and a bed for the night will be less than US$10.

Honduras

If you’re looking for a scuba-diving destination where you can put your entire budget into going under, Honduras is the place to be. With sleeping budgets as low as US$10 a night and meals available for even less you can really stretch out the funds. Sitting pretty next door to the Caribbean Sea, you’ll have plenty of time to count your pennies as you sun yourself on the golden beaches. The developers haven’t invaded quite yet, but you’d better get in quick, before the good old days slip into the past. After snorkelling and kayaking around Roatan’s West Beach, splurge on a visit to the Unesco-listed Archaeological Park of Copán; entry is US$15.

Morocco

‘Want to buy a carpet? Come this way, my brother has a shop.’ Yeah, yeah, Morocco is all about the hard sell. But you won’t need much convincing to check it out. It’s overflowing with a distinctive culture and is a great place to see your dollars stretch – it’ll cost around US$40 a day to get by, but the beach and the markets are free. The more local you get, the cheaper it’ll be. From Europe it’s a short hop, so for many even the flight won’t cost that much. Travel between the main cities by (cheap) train.

Jordan

Most people only know one destination in Jordan – Petra. But what a destination to know. Made famous by the final sequence in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, it’s a Middle Eastern must-do. You don’t have to be an archaeologist to dig up the bargains: a bed for the night will run to a paltry US$5 and a meal will cost half that. It’s a seldom-visited pocket of the Middle East and is easily combined with another cheapie destination, Egypt. Just remember to bring your own fedora and bull whip. The necessary entry visas are issued at the Wadi Araba and Sheikh Hussein Bridge crossings; be aware that visas cannot be issued on arrival at the King Hussein Bridge.

lonelyplanet.com

10 Ways Solo Travelers can Beat Loneliness

1. SET UP ‘COFFEE DATE’ IN ADVANCE. Before you go, beg your friends – via Facebook, email or phone – to hook up with their friends’ friends to set up a coffee or drink date with a local on your first day or two. It sits there like a little life preserver – something to do, someone to see, early on while you’re still getting rooted in a new place. You never know where it’ll lead.

2. EVEN ODDS BY STAYING IN SMALL GUESTHOUSES. Some 85% of the women polled in the LP/Self poll said they want to socialize on vacation. Who do you think stands the better chance of socializing – a lone guest in a 500-room resort, or one in a 10-room B&B or guesthouse with a common dining and TV room? Also those smaller places tend to have more personal staff, sometimes the owners!, who help steer you directly to the places you want to be.

3. YES, GO TO VISITOR’S CENTERS. They have to talk to you. Particularly on a first day, drop by for the free map, and ask about walking tours and cooking classes and cafes with local events.

4. TAKE WALKING TOURS & DAY TRIPS. Best early in a trip, a walking tour gives you the lay of the land you’re in, plus you can talk with the guide and like-minded travelers. It’s also true for bike tours or day trips to nearby wineries or pyramids. In Southeast Asia and parts of South America it’s practically impossible to not make friends as you go.

5. TAKE COOKING CLASSES. Speaking of which, another classic way to get rooted into a local network is learning to make food. You can find these options all over – Tuscany, Mexico, Vietnam.

6. STUDY FOREIGN LANGUAGES. One of the most underrated trips Americans should take alone is study-abroad trips, particularly to study Spanish in places like Mexico or Guatemala. You can get one-on-one training, live with a family, and even contribute to local communities as a volunteer — and pay under $200 a week including room/board/tuition in places like Antigua, Guatemala (one of the prettiest towns of the Americas). Plus you learn a lot (if you try).

7. VOLUNTEER TO HELP ENGLISH STUDY GROUPS. This is a goldmine for local interaction. In countries speaking other languages, there are usually locals wanting to practice English – offer to meet some over coffee or a drink. It often leads to more meetings, sometimes a home-cooked meal or an invite to some local disco.

8. TAKE BOOKS INTO RESTAURANTS. One of the biggest concerns we saw in the Self/LP poll was eating alone. I hear you. It’s not easy walking into a loud, busy restaurant for dinner filled with happy tipsy couples – and you. Always take a book or journal as a security blanket. Or set up at the bar, possibly by a TV – so you don’t feel too self-conscious. Better yet, opt for sidewalk seats. People-watching is a universally accepted exercise. Just do it like you want nothing more than to sit alone and STARE at people. People respect that. Also choose your books carefully. Some people will even talk to you if the book you set out is something that begs a comment (eg a guidebook or How to Maim Grizzlies in 40 Seconds BY HAND).

9. GO TO SHOWS. At the theater or concerts, not only can a solo traveler grab that last isolated seat on the front row easier than a late-comer couple looking for side-by-side seats, but once the lights dim all the audience everyone’s equal. All focus is on the stage. In intermission chat with neighbors in your row, and see about post-show drinks to discuss that disastrous cello interlude. (’What was Dmitry Dmitrovich thinking?’)

10. ALWAYS SAY ‘YES,’ WELL WITHIN REASON. Invitations will come. Leave your itinerary loose, so you don’t have to pass on that invite from the sweet Bavarian family to picnic in the mountains so you can see a house Mozart may or may not have lived at. Personal interactions like this will always be more memorable.

lonelyplanet.com

The 50 Most Inspiring Travel Quotes Of All Time

1. “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain

2. “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine

3. “There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

4. “The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.” – Samuel Johnson

5. “All the pathos and irony of leaving one’s youth behind is thus implicit in every joyous moment of travel: one knows that the first joy can never be recovered, and the wise traveler learns not to repeat successes but tries new places all the time.” – Paul Fussell

6. “Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” – Jack Kerouac

7. “He who does not travel does not know the value of men.” – Moorish proverb

8. “People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home.” – Dagobert D. Runes

9. “A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.” – John Steinbeck

10. “No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” – Lin Yutang

11. “Your true traveler finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of his liberty-his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when it comes, not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure.” – Aldous Huxley

12. “All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.” – Samuel Johnson

13. “For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

14. “Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” – Cesare Pavese

15. “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller

16″A traveler without observation is a bird without wings.” – Moslih Eddin Saadi

17. “When we get out of the glass bottle of our ego and when we escape like the squirrels in the cage of our personality and get into the forest again, we shall shiver with cold and fright. But things will happen to us so that we don’t know ourselves. Cool, unlying life will rush in.” – D. H. Lawrence

18. “To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” – Freya Stark

19. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

20. “Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” – Miriam Beard

Na Pali Coast21. “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” – Martin Buber

22. “We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” – Jawaharial Nehru

23. “Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.” – Paul Theroux

24. “To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” – Bill Bryson

25. “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

26. “Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by.” – Robert Frost

27. “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” – Lao Tzu

28. “There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it.” – Charles Dudley Warner

29. “A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” – Lao Tzu

30. “If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” – James Michener

31. “The journey not the arrival matters.” – T. S. Eliot

32. “A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” – Tim Cahill

33. “I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” – Mark Twain

34. “Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quiestest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” – Pat Conroy

35. “Not all those who wander are lost.” – J. R. R. Tolkien

36. “Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.” – Benjamin Disraeli

37. “Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” – Maya Angelou

38. “Too often travel, instead of broadening the mind, merely lengthens the conversation.” – Elizabeth Drew

39. “Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe”……Anatole France

40. “Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.” – Seneca

41. “What you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do – especially in other people’s minds. When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.” – William Least Heat Moon

42. “I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within.” – Lillian Smith

43. “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” – Aldous Huxley

44. “Travel does what good novelists also do to the life of everyday, placing it like a picture in a frame or a gem in its setting, so that the intrinsic qualities are made more clear. Travel does this with the very stuff that everyday life is made of, giving to it the sharp contour and meaning of art.” – Freya Stark

45. “The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.” – Rudyard Kipling

46. “Travel is glamorous only in retrospect.” – Paul Theroux

47. “The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – G. K. Chesterton

48. “When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” – Clifton Fadiman

49. “A wise traveler never despises his own country.” – Carlo Goldoni

50. “Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” – Mark Jenkins