Traveller's Tales

What is it about blokes and sport? You can sit us down in front of the tele and show us a sport we’ve never seen before and within minutes we’re experts, criticising the technique of someone who has just spent the last two years getting up at dawn to train.

It happened to me yesterday watching the Men’s Ski Cross finals. After observing a few of the finals in the BBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics, I can tell you exactly where Aussie Scotty Kneller blew it in his semi-final – back in Oz when he turned down the offer at his local Maccas to go large. Weight and height are the keys to success in ski cross – as well as a skull painted on the top of your helmet – and Scott was lacking in all three.

Of course, I’d have problems shoving myself out of the gates fast enough to get up the first hump. And I’d clatter into the barriers on the first bend. But that’s the fun of being an armchair expert. You don’t need to be any good to spout forth uninformed nonsense.

Like most critics, I guess.

I recently got an email from a woman who suffers from a diagnosed case of social phobia and is worried that this might compromise her travels.

“I am afraid that my introverted personality is going to effect the way I travel, and I won’t be as opportunistic when it comes to the social aspect of traveling,” the woman wrote. “Do you have any advice? Will solo travel help me better experience my host culture and meet locals? Besides going to therapy, do you have any suggestions that may help me be a bit more outgoing when it comes to social situations abroad?”

This is what I told her:

I have always been a bit introverted, and solo travel has helped make me into a more social person. I don’t know much about formally diagnosed “social phobia” and what it entails, but I can tell you that traveling alone can really force you to break out of your shell and engage your surroundings. It’s not always easy, and there are times where you’ll be lonely and frustrated — but it’s worth it when you make connections. It is, in short, an interesting learning process, and it’s rewarding when you make breakthroughs.

My best strategy for being more of an extrovert when you travel is to go to the developing world instead of the industrialized world. In Europe and North America people might not always have time for you — but in places like Asia (which is nice and cheap) or Africa (which is not as cheap, but amazing just the same) and the Middle East, people are more likely to take note of you as an outsider and make friends. I did some of my earliest vagabonding in Asia, and it’s amazing how many people I met just by being the only white guy in a little village. There is a language barrier to overcome, of course, but that process can actually be fun, as even introverts can tackle the art of speaking simple English, utilizing a phrasebook, and/or using improvised sign language to get a point across.

Another option would be to join a formal study or volunteer program (the Peace Corps being a good example) that will give you a structured community of people you can be with, and a “business” oriented pretext to meet local people. For more info on working or studying or volunteering overseas, check out the resources at Transitions Abroad.

In addition to this advice, introverted vagabonders might want to check out Sophia Dembling’s World Hum article “Confessions of an Introverted Traveler,” including her tip sheet, “Six Tips for Introverted Travelers.”

One of the things we love best at BootsnAll is talking to other travelers about their travel experiences. That was the driving force behind the formation of the company back in 1998 – Sean and Chris wanted to replicate the engaging atmosphere they found in hostel pubs and common rooms in an online setting to tide them over until the next chance they had to get on the road again.

It’s this fascination we all have with the way other people look at and approach traveling that makes us so excited about a new series of profiles we launched on BootsnAll in January called “How I Travel.” Each Tuesday, we’ll be publishing a new profile of one traveler, letting them talk about their travel style, tricks they use to make travel easier or better, and what they love about getting out and seeing the world.

We started with Vagablogging’s own Rolf Potts, who runs the gamut in his profile from travel encouragement (“I didn’t have a passport until I was 25. I always tell people it doesn’t matter when you start traveling”) to good old-fashioned practical travel advice (“Always wash your hands before you eat”). He sent in some fun photos, too, including one of him playing the bagpipes in Cuba. Yes, really.

Since the debut of that first profile, we’ve been adding to the “How I Travel” series with another article each week. We’ve featured Holly Beck, professional surfer, and Don Wildman, the host of The History Channel’s “Cities of the Underworld.” We look forward to every new “How I Travel” profile as it comes in, and we’re already hearing great feedback from travelers who do as well.

You can catch up on all the profiles we’ve published so far on the “How I Travel” page, and if you’re on Twitter you can make sure not to miss any of them by following the @HowITravel account. And we’d like to hear from you, too – who do you want us to feature? If you’ve always wanted to hear how Warren Buffett – or Jimmy Buffett, for that matter – travels, let us know.

It's clear that the Spring Season in the Himalaya is looming closer, as there are now more reports coming in on expedition plans and climbers are preparing to set out to Kathmandu in just a few weeks time. For those heading to those mountains, that time will go by way too quickly, and before you know it, we'll be getting all kinds of progress reports from the region itself.

A few weeks back we received a report on the outlook for climbing the North Side of Everest this year courtesy of Alan Arnette who was interviewing Jamie McGuiness, who operates a trekking and climbing guide service on that side of the mountain. The North Side has been difficult, at best, to access the past few years, but Jaime seems to think that it'll be open to business as usual this year.

Now, Alan is back with another new interview, this time looking at the outlook for the South Side of the mountain in an interview with Eric Simonson of International Mountain Guides. IMG is one of the big players on the Nepali side of Everest and they are in a good position to weigh in on what is to be expected there this spring. Eric says that the IMG team is essentially full, and that everything is on track for the season ahead. He also talks a bit about working with Discovery Channel, touches on a few improvements to climbing the mountain (new bolts in the Yellow Band), and gives his thoughts on the season ahead.

Judging from Eric's comments, it seems that having Russell Brice's HiMex team on the South Side has been a good thing. He mentions that Russell was the one who helped organize a "a consortium of outfitters" last year that saw the bigger teams working more cooperatively with each other. Those efforts benefited everyone on the mountain, and it seems that that attitude will continue this year, and all-in-all, that's a very positive step to keeping things safe there.

Speaking of safety, there is another good Everest article today, this time from Stephanie Pearson who is part of the Climb WIth Us Team this spring. Stephanie has put together a good story about how things have changed on the world's highest mountain over the past 14 years since the tragic events that killed nine climbers back in 1996. The article takes a look at some of the circumstances that led to that disaster, and the way things have changed now to help avoid a repeat. Several of the guides interviewed by Stephanie point to improved coordination and communication on the mountain as the key to making the climb safer, although Dave Hahn ominously notes early on that "Yeah it could still happen. You bet. It will happen again,”

Lets hope that he's wrong about that.