THE SUNDAY QUOTE - ANTHONY BOURDAIN

Anthony Bourdain on Travel

HOLIDAY READING

"I've always been blessed, or cursed, some might say, with an insatiable curiosity, a desire to find something out about a people and a place. That's where it all begins."
                                                                                              - Michael Palin




Travelers tend to be readers. It's an aspect of the logistics of most trips that at some point you're going to have some time to curl up with a good book, whether it's aboard an A380 at 35,000 feet, inside a pup tent at 5000 feet, at sea level next to an ocean, or trapped in a transportation terminal with a delayed departure. Chances are at some point you're going to read.

And that's a good thing.

For my part I alternate between fiction and non-fiction with regularity, and between new volumes and the classics. But a particular reading passion of mine, and a rather predictable one at that, are books that deal with travel exploits from people who spend much of their own time on the road. Travelers with a capital T.

And since we're in the middle of gift-giving season, here are a few of my favorites both of recent discovery and of a more long-term appreciation. All are available in your local bookstore and on Amazon. I recommend the local bookstore, who can order it or you if they don't have it in stock. I'd use Amazon if the Kindle is your current library-of-choice. I'm including links to the Amazon site for more information on each of the five selections below.


MICHAEL PALIN, FULL CIRCLE

Best known for his participation in the British comedy group Monty Python, Palin has been on the road for literally decades, developing a second career of sorts as a modern-day explorer and adventurer very much in the classic 18th century British tradition. He's circled the globe multiple times and is a member in good standing with the Royal Geographic Society, having served as its President from 2009 through 2012.

My favorite of his books is FULL CIRCLE. In it he details a voyage circumnavigating the Pacific Ocean, along with a film crew and a variety of locals he meets along the way. The adventure was filmed for television, but the book goes into a lot of the backstory and behind the scenes misadventures which didn't necessarily make the series.

Starting in Alaska, heading down the coast of Asia, crossing the Pacific to transit the coasts of the Americas he travels through a variety of places ranging from the highly urbanized through some truly hair-raising experiences a little further off the beaten path.

Fascinating read and well worth the time as you work on your Saint Barthelemy tan.

Palin's travel website, a font of information and insanity, can be found here.



ROBERT HEINLEIN, TRAMP ROYALE

Although well-known as a science fiction writer, Heinlein was also of a more adventurous nature. His book, Tramp Royale, gives us a glimpse into "how it used to be" to plan and execute travel before the advent of the internet.

Heinlein and his wife embark on a travel around the world, braving much less predictable situations as they explored a world much different from our interconnected and wired one. It's not necessarily an easy read and Heinlein's politics play into some of the commentary -- positions which the intervening decades will shed a less approving eye upon. (At one point he is startled not everyone in the world approved of Senator Joseph McCarthy. Whoudda' thunk?)

But it does provide a fascinating overview and exploration of the world of the 1950s entirely separate and somehow new from what we've all seen from videos of that era.



MARK TWAIN, INNOCENTS ABROAD

Continuing our journey backwards through time to previous travel eras, I have to admit this book really intrigued and motivated me as a young boy. It's still a pleasure to read Twain at the peak of his literary powers.

In Twain's time there were no globe-girdling chains of American food or culture, and Twain's observations of the differences in people and cultures is amusing, allowing us to turn a jaundiced eye towards ourselves and our relationship to the rest of the world.

It's an amusing read even now, and certainly gives us a glimpse back to a more adventurous and less complicated time.





ANTHONY BOURDAIN, NO RESERVATIONS - AROUND THE WORLD ON AN EMPTY STOMACH

Bourdain is an irascible no-conformist and so is this book. Unlike the rest on this list Around the World... is as much a visual feast as it is a literary one. Bourdain can write. I've enjoyed each of his books from the very first, Kitchen Confidential. But his stories of travel and food are well served by the photographs in this book, where we can see those things otherwise probably best left to the imagination but nonetheless fun to see. Bourdain uses the photography to pull us further into his adventures, adding an additional perspective to his narrative.

Bourdain is perhaps the most popular and readily identifiable host of a travel/adventure show on the air these days, and part of it is his brand of being a sarcastic and at-time cynical explorer, pausing every now and again to experience he true and natural around a destination. Openly disdaining popular culture, he strongly advocates getting our hands dirty and our feet wet in our travels, preferring to eat at an open street market in Vietnam over, perhaps, the finest restaurant in London. And I cannot blame him. I've railed for years regarding getting yourself immersed in the local culture. My favorite target, The Olive Garden in Times Square, is only one of tens of thousands of examples Bourdain has noted over the years. In this book he accentuates the positive and provides the visuals to back him up.

Bourdain's CNN series Parts Unknown website can be found here.

and not so lastly, a new discovery....


JOSH GATES, DESTINATION TRUTH; MEMOIRS OF A MONSTER HUNTER

Yeah. I encountered Josh Gates a little later than many people have. This last Summer I was back in Annapolis. My sister asked me if I liked a tv show called Destination Truth. Now, obviously, I had heard of it. It runs on the SyFy Channel, and undoubtedly I had seen hundred of ads for DT and its ilk for years. Personally I had lumped all of the "Ghost Hunter" shows into a single basket, and considered them good for a Saturday afternoon viewing when nothing else was available on TV. As long as it was October and our Halloween decorations were up.

(I love Halloween and ghost stories. But having watched a handful of these shows I had grown weary of the "investigators" entering the same building ten other shows had done, and being scared by any little noise or breeze that crossed their senses. I would love to believe in the supernatural, and have in fact had a few weird experiences, but the shows all began to run together.. which is unfortunate, because Destination Truth and in particular its follow-up Expedition Unknown are relatively different.)

Gates' book is a crisp and easy read, with lots of personal comments and anecdotes detailing behind the scenes adventures which don't necessarily make it on the show. My favorite chapter, however is, Chapter 14, THE TOURIST EMPIRE is an essay I could easily have penned -- and in fact have done several similar columns here on the blog. He discusses the difference between being a Tourist and being a Traveler:

"Being a traveler means being an enthusiast, a vessel eager to be filled with the exotic. Being a tourist means checking off a prescribed itinerary, behaving like a sheep, and generally resisting the influences of the unknown in favor of familiar comforts. Citizens, this is a plea for sanity—nay, a call to arms! It’s time for a revolution against the imperial forces of tacky travel. I submit to you that there is a better way."

The rest of the book is fun and informative, but for the remainder of Chapter 14 I was nodding enthusiastically in agreement with his comments.  Being a Traveler versus being a Tourist -- and we all have done both, not matter who we are or credentials we trot out -- is a key differentiator in the reason we travel. Gates' website is here.

On the road...

People with a passion for travel often voice the same things,and it pretty much comes down to the drive forward and the adventure to be found there.

It's message that resonates through all five of the above books. Each of them come at the topic from a different angle and yet all coincide with each other when promoting the idea that for us to truly travel and be Travelers, we need to put aside our biases and simply experience the unknown with an open eye and an open heart. (The quote on the photo below is mine. It sums up my desire to explore nicely, I think.)

A five of these books is a worthy and good read. If you elect to buy one of these as a present, you might consider two and hold one for your own consumption. They won't let you down.

Cheers.

NO SINGLE WAY TO TRAVEL BEST

"To thine own self be true"

                        -- Hamlet, act 1, scene 3

As I write this, I've just completed reading Michael Palin's excellent account of his circum-Pacific trek in 1996 entitled FULL CIRCLE. Coincidentally over the last couple of nights I've caught episodes of British adventurist Bear Grylls' Man vs Wild TV series. At the moment I am high over the Midwest somewhere on a transcontinental flight from Baltimore to Phoenix, sitting in coach directly abutting the First Class bulkhead.

Palin, familiar to you as one of the original six Monty Python comedy troop members -- he was, and will forever be, "The Lumberjack" and "Parrot Salesman" -- has had a second life as a well-known Traveler and travel documentarian. His road-trip exploits began with a recreation of Jules Verne's AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, and continued over a multitude of years and other paths and pathways. (You can find more information and copies of his books at Palin's travel sites here and here.)

Grylls is an adventurer in the strictest of senses. I get the impression that the more physically uncomfortable and rugged the terrain, the more at home he is as a human being. He genuinely thrives under conditions which would make the common person wilt...or cringe with disgust. From eating bugs for protein to sleeping in a makeshift (sheep's wool) sleeping bag made from the just-skinned flesh of a dead sheep, Grylls immerses himself into a full-sensory, no-frills exploration of the world around him.

And then there are some explorers who would prefer to revel in the pristine isolation of a high-end resort hotel, completely removed from even a whiff of hardship or, frankly, their surrounding environment. They don't want to explore. They don't want to be challenged. They simply want to relax and "escape" from the world by hiding behind insulated walls. I won't mention any particular explorers who match this description, but their ilk can be found on several Travel Channel programs and perhaps the pages of a luxury magazine or two.

This is not to say you cannot have a luxuriously immersive cultural experience, but it's up to the seeker to make that count. The South African travel program Top Travel (also seen on the AWE American television network) does this sort of thing well, with the two hosts -- Jeannie D and Janez Vermeiren -- each of whom experiences any particular destination in their own way. She is thrilled by ultra-luxury, while he wants the down and dirty physical challenges. And both find joint experiences which give them a flavor for a place, which is what I like about this particular program. Opulence doesn't always translate to experience, and this program works to ensure that "lux" doesn't trump "life" but enhances it.

Likewise, without a little hardship you miss those things which can be the most self-satisfying. You can't, for example, trek across a glacier with first enduring some cold (and probably a strenuous hike to get to the top). A visit to a reef would be spectacularly sad if all you did was remain high and dry aboard the boat -- you have to get a little wet and likely choke down some seawater in order to see the really good stuff. And unless you're a famous celebrity or person with excellent connections, it's a really long line to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Myself, I fall somewhere in the middle of these two extremes...as I believe Michael Palin must. There is room at times for pure relaxation and enjoyment, but as Palin comments in FULL CIRCLE, the people in luxury class don't always get that true experience of a place. Only by getting your hands and face a little bit dirty -- getting uncomfortable in an invigorating way -- can you emerge from a destination with a whiff, a soupçon, of local color and flavor. 

(For purists seeking references, he discusses this in the section marked Day 189 - Cuzco to Machu Picchu. His comments regarding the difference in passenger experiences on the northbound train from Cuzco, Peru is telling. The people in First Class see the world from behind sterile smoked glass windows in air conditioned comfort, while the people in coach get the true, full-on and memorable experience of the Peruvian culture. And if you're on an Italian train, even the First Class customers can sometimes experience the Coach class experience.)

Some of my most memorable travel experiences came from moments of discomfort. Of challenge. Or simply of exploration -- getting away from the hotel, away from the cruise ship, away from the spa -- hunting/doing things on my own. I dislike feeling rushed, feeling obligated to move on simply because an itinerary demands it...or worse, my group is moving on and growing impatient at my delays. (Or, conversely, a dallying group when I'm already on to the next point of interest.)

My wife and I are well suited to each other in this regard. She usually wants to delve more deeply into the experiences I do, and is equally willing to keep it moving when the surroundings need to be updated. We're attracted (mostly) to the same sorts of shops and experiences. It's only when we get others than the usual pushme-pullyou group dynamic takes hold. Which is only fair, given that there are times I might delay a group who wants to keep moving while I want to explore something in a bit more detail.

It's a compromise of style and objective when you're traveling with more than one person. Each of us comes with our own agenda and interests and the balance must be struck somewhere between Bear Grylls' mud-and-blood-soaked Scottish Highlands endurance test and Jeannie D's palm-oil slathered bikram yoga retreat. Both are culturally valid experiences, and it's up to the participant to find which best suits their wants and needs -- while giving them something of a destination.

We've become, it is said, much more of a culturally homogenized, cookie-cutter world. The McDonald's in Rio de Janeiro differs from the one in Chicago pretty much only when it comes to the menu. A few local items may be thrown in the mix, but the Big Mac is the Big Mac pretty much universally. The Sheraton in New Orleans and the Sheraton in New Delhi (is there one?) may have slightly different decor, but they're Sheratons nonetheless. Some people like that sameness, that reliability. That's fine for them, but it doesn't mean they've really been somewhere. Just "been" there.

But even if the hotels are the same, the true difference in a destination is what you find outside the revolving door and taxi queue: it's on the street or in the great outdoors, not behind the walls of your hotel room or the luxury restaurant in the lobby even if they ARE the best in town.

And whether you're Bear Grylls, Michael Palin, Janez Vermeiren -- or Todd Carmichael, Andrew Zimmern, Anthony Bourdain, Phil Keoghan or dozens of other "travel personalities" -- the point of travel is to experience something new, different and personally enriching.

Something you can tell friends about and share with strangers.

A flavor, an experience, a vista, a serenity or a sense-numbing chaos, the important thing is to Travel with a capital T.

Otherwise, honestly, why are you even leaving home?

Seek Out the Adventure

"We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls."   - Anais Nin 


Fun day today. Off to the Travel and Adventure Show at the Long Beach Convention Center. 


I'll blog in more detail about the show and its ilk at a later date, but this is the sort of thing we can do on a regular basis that gets the same Raman juices flowing. No, no, no. Not the noodle we all consumed in mass quantities during the lean college years, but the Hindu God who wandered in exile for fourteen years. Kind of like Anthony Bourdain without a camera crew.

Planes...

The fun of the Travel and Adventure Show is to wander the aisles thinking and dreaming and, at times, planning. And picking up lit. Lots of lit -- which ought to be loads of joy today since I have a spasming lower back. (A different story, filled with irony, but not really a topic for a travel page. Rest assured, it hurts.) Last year I met and have subsequently continued to be in contact with ace travel photographer and blogger Ralph Velasco -- a man who lives the life I'd like to. (If he turns up missing one day, don't blame me. I'm sure to have an ironclad alibi.) He is giving his most-excellent presentation "Developing Your Photographic Vision: The Importance of Looking vs. Seeing" -- which got my attention last year because of the content and approach it calls for in travel photography. (He has published an excellent book on the topic -- "101 Tips for Developing Your Photographic Eye & More" -- with an accompanying application for your tablet. Well worth checking out -- there is a link to his website below.)

...trains...

Anyway. 

Typically it's my wife and I who peruse the show, but this year our friends Mary and Evelyn announced they'd like to go with us. They're planning a cruise later in the year and want to gather as much info on possible itineraries as they can. This is a marvelous opportunity for them to go to a single place and get direct and useful feedback from the professionals in the booths. It's not necessarily a "sales-y" situation -- yes, some of the vendors view it as such -- but the majority are there to help you out and describe the best parts of whatever destination they are representing. (Hint: Hit the booths of travel bureaus and destinations themselves such as cruise lines or resorts. Packagers are excellent options, but they tend to be more aggressive in these sorts of shows.)

I'll fill you in on all the details, but check your local convention center to see if they have similar shows during the year. For lovers of travel -- and why would you be here if you're not -- it's like being a kid in a candy store searching for just the right Wonka Bar. The one with the golden ticket.

...and automobiles.

Ralph Velasco's website: http://www.ralphvelasco.com

A Matter of Influence

"That’s the thing about travel. When you start, the world doesn’t get smaller, it increases in size." - Samantha Brown

Like almost everyone in the United States, I watch my fair share of television. And, as you might surmise, a good portion of my viewing has to do with travel and all of its myriad sub-subjects. On television you can find nearly every possible permutation of travel program -- from the opulently opulent to the down and dirty dirt. And everything in between.

A truly good travel television show has got to do a handful of things, and the majority do them fairly well without seeming like a shill for the destination , wherever it may be (though Disney has such a glossy style of production that virtually any show that has visited the Disney resorts, cruised on the Disney cruise one or done something Disneyesque, they appear to be cut from the same editing machine). The best shows are those that stand out from the crowd in some way -- they have a style or approach that makes them somewhat superior to a travel documentary about *fill in the blank*. 

Disneylandia

(This is where most Disney products tip their hat: they all smack of marketing rather than travel. The visuals, the interviews, the carefully trained Disney representatives, are all just a bit too clean and produced. Not that Disney is wrong for presenting this image, but every program I've watched has the same, very identifiable visual style.  They each use a bright, over-saturated look, with carefully lined up angles and "visitors" who have clearly emerged from Central Casting. The camera movements are generally beyond most of the lower-budget single camera travel shows, and the lighting is just a bit to pristine, as if the camera crew arrived at the park/ship/resort precisely at the best time of day for an optimal shot. For me it's an easy to spot video, and while I may watch it -- in the spirit of full disclosure, I'm a big Disney fan -- I tend to dismiss it as a marketing film instead of an honest review of a possible destination.)

But this column isn't intended to be about Disney.

It's about the best shows and hosts of programs which truly bite into the Travel Apple and tells us what flavor it is. If it's a particularly succulent fruit, or if there are a few worms under the skin. The best shows are those which add local flavor and texture to their show, and clearly convey what is good, what is bad, and what is downright ugly about a particular locale. Those are the shows I like to watch, and those are the shows most likely to give me the real feel for a place before I've gone. 

Some of you may be wondering why I've left Rick Steves off the list below and it's a valid question. Rick Steves is a consummate traveler and reporter, with tons of credentials and hundreds of thousands of miles to his credit, and he's someone who has earned a great deal of respect for authoritative work. The omission is strictly mine. While many people like his style and his company has thousands of travelers every year, I personally regard his programs as most post-cardlike than a real dig into the dirt taste of a region. To me that's the essential key to a good program: do I have a solid feel for a country or region or place -- not just what it looks like, or where the best shopping is -- I want to have a real talk with the locals, at a local level. It doesn't have to be an interview or even a major discussion, but give me an interaction that shows me I'm not watching a marketing film. Rick's program, like the Disney shows, has that feel to it. If I can assign a word, it's more of an advertisement than travelogue, and by that harsh word I mean that the show is a bit too polished towards showing you a destination than taking an honest bite out of it. It's like watching one of the omnipresent Best Of… countdown programs. Each segment is a highlights reel -- or sizzle reel in the current parlance -- instead of a visit. To me both Disney and Rick Steves are highlights shows for tourists instead of reality programs for travelers.

And, in a line from the old Seinfeld show: "Not that there's anything wrong with that". I attach the shows, you watch the shows, and they're popular in general. It's good, and it serves a purpose -- but neither of those categories (and yes, they're major enough to warrant "categories as a description) satisfies me enough to be labeled A Truly Good Travel Show.

(I can hear the "but, but, but…" of some of you when you glance below and see Samantha Brown's name. "Doesn't she do the very same thing?" you'll cry. Well, yes. For the most part she does, but I'll explain her inclusion in a moment. Relax. I'm here. It will be all right.)

It's a matter of individual choice, and that's the beauty of it. You may have a dramatically different list -- but this is my blog, so I get to pick my own list. It's one of the few perks of writing this sort of thing: no money, no prestige, no reward, but it's my world, my toys and my rules. So...

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Anthony Bourdain -- (Where I learned "GET LOCAL") 

Bourdain is a literate, literary and gritty teller of truths. His first book, KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL proved he has a unique voice and style of communicating that is both sardonic and captivating. There is something about the way he describes a place, the way in which he approaches it, that pulls the viewer along -- not just as an audience member, an observer, but in a way, as Bourdain's friendly and personal confidant sharing in some of the less printable observations as well as those things that make a given itinerary more than merely an antiseptic jaunt from airport to hotel and back. 

Bourdain makes each destination live for the viewer, even if it's not always in the most flattering light. He's not afraid to get his hands dirty, jumping bare-ass naked into an Icelandic mud bath or South American river. His vocal style is unique, but if forced to define it I'd need to describe him as the illicit expositional child of Ernest Hemingway with more than a dash of Hunter S Thompson. And after some of the very rough nights of alcohol-infused cultural bonding, Bourdain resembles nothing so much as one of Thompson's spiritual and artistic companion Ralph Steadman's gonzo caricatures. But yeah, utterly brilliant and someone I deeply like.

Alton Brown -- (Who showed we should 'GET AWAY FROM THE MAIN ROADS") 

"What?" you ask, "Alton Brown, the cooking guy? What's he got to do with travel?" Good question. Typically we see Alton in a kitchen, be it small and houselike or huge and stadium-sized -- he's the main presenter in such Food Network fare as THE NEXT FOOD NETWORK STAR and the American version of IRON CHEF. When he's not presenting those programs, he's Thomas Dolby's spiritual Blinded Me With (Kitchen) Science as he explains how yeast makes bread rise, or the lifecycle of grapes that make their way into your refrigerator. 

So what the heck am I thinking by putting him in my list of favorite travel program hosts? Simple. A few years ago he toured American backroads and diners, riding a BMW motorcycle as he made his way across the United States during two seasons of FEASTING ON ASPHALT (a third series this changed to FEASTING ON WAVES, as Alton traded his Beemer for a boat). Alton's series was a wonderful and earthy dig into the heart of American comfort cuisine. The highway diners and waystations true travelers might encounter should they find themselves on a bike trip across the continent.

Samantha Brown -- (Who taught me "IT'S OKAY TO INDULGE") 

"Okay," I can hear your voice in my head, "you're full of shit. Samantha Brown? Really?" Um. 

Yes. Really. I know, I know. Endlessly perky and indulgent, Samantha Brown is indeed the poster child for the pre-digested Disneyesque light travel fare that is the antithesis of the more rugged, grittier Bourdain, Carmichael and Alton. But I figure this is my version of a guilty pleasure -- Samantha Brown makes travel fun. Yes, there's a degree of cotton candy in the way her shows present things. Samantha is not about muddy hikes through the mountains in a downpour, hunkering coldly in a two-person tent with wet shoes and stringy hair. Samantha is all about the luxury -- and she does it in a way where it doesn't feel as much like an obligatory snooty indulgence so much as a well-deserved dip in a world the majority of us cannot afford. She's our surrogate, as if we're sharing a secret and whimsical confetti-check weekend before returning to the real world we both wink-wink recognize awaits us outside the door. And in that, she's on my list for letting us dream right along with her. She's kind of my travel BFF, but the girl-next-door variety who won't incur a jealous wrath from our significant other.

Todd Carmichael -- (Who is teaching me "BE PASSIONATE") 

The new kid on the block. If you're not familiar with Todd Carmichael it's not a huge surprise -- his program, DANGEROUS GROUNDS, is a recent addition to the Travel Channel schedule. Todd is the kind of guy you'd want in your corner when walking through dark alley downtown some night. He's a down to earth, genuine guy who clearly enjoys the adventure, and does a terrific job of explaining why certain things are worth the effort. A coffee guy -- the pun in the title, get it? -- who travels to some of the most unstable and dangerous parts of the world seeking exclusive deals on rare and tasty coffee beans. 

It sounds odd, and for the most part you have to view his passion through his own lens -- the risks and challenges he endures seem out of proportion to the single cup of coffee he inevitably enjoys at the end of each show. But the show is direct and honest, and the danger appears to be quite real. When he whispers to his cameraman to hide the camera as they approach a police checkpoint the fear is real, the danger palpable. With Bourdain leaving The Travel Channel for -- presumably -- more profitable digs, the channel has done a commendable job of giving us a traveler even more honest and gritty. While you might not mind joining Anthony for a few drinks in a dive bar somewhere in Vietnam, Todd isn't someone you'd want to travel with as much as share a drink with him in a perfectly safe bar in Philadelphia listening to his latest gut-wrenching adventure.

And then we come to this.

Phil Keoghan - (Who told us there's "NO OPPORTUNITY TO BE WASTED")

Arguably the best and most traveled of all of the individuals listed above, Keoghan has had a positive impact on the world through his No Opportunity Wasted brand of business. In many ways I have to attribute my love of travel and emergence as a travel photographer and blogger to Phil's philosophy. 

But, in the spirit of full honesty, "ethics" is a fundamental aspect of anyone who I endorse or respect. 

A few weeks ago I published a column detailing my issue with the complete lapse of integrity on the part of two of the teams in the current season of THE AMAZING RACE. In the subsequent weeks the Producers have publicly ignored the issue, and Keoghan went so far as to tweet that it was not "against the rules" for one team to steal money from another. And there we are -- there is the rub. Had Phil or the Producers made public comment and condemned the move that would be one thing, but it is clear to me -- and evidently to thousands of others -- that they do not intend to act. Worse, they themselves may have committed a crime in enabling the thieves -- when there is ample video evidence of the crime -- to leave the country.

That, friends, is unforgivable.

I am looking forward to the remainder of episodes -- two to go -- in the hopes that the silence is because the issue is handled, and to make a public comment spoils the impact -- but I really don't expect that to be the case. In fact, since there are four teams left, and two of them were involved in the crime and, in fact, had an unfair advantage due to the stolen funds, it appears the eventual winner may have a good chance to be tainted. And that would be truly sad for the show and the integrity of everyone involved. I would like to think it's simply a misunderstanding, but the silence is deafening. But I continue to hope and would be absolutely thrilled if I'm wrong.

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So, there you are. The list of travel-show people who have had an impact on my own life and approach to travel. And since the objective of THE THUMBNAIL TRAVELER is to SHARE THE ADVENTURE, it's fitting to mention those who, by their own sharing, have encouraged me to do the same.

They're the ones who have helped me discover just how big the world is and how little of it I have seen so far.