In time-honoured fashion, here is our
collection of useful and less useful links, references,
information sources, etc.
Country-specific references
Click on the entries below to go to the Books, Films, Music
and Links section
for the corresponding country (except for the US and Europe sections
which we haven't bothered with).
There is a huge number of shops and manufacturers
of "gear". How to distinguish between what you actually need
and clever marketing to make you think you do? Stefan is
particularly prone to the marketer's tricks, Ness less so. We were
bewildered by the variety of stuff on offer. A jacket? Ah, but what
kind of jacket? What kind of material? Water-proof? Wind-proof?
Breathable? Heavy duty? Lightweight? Foldaway hood? Gore-Tex?
Gore-Tex XCR? PacLite? Aquafoil? And so on... Some things we had
never heard of and we soon fell into the trap of wondering how we
ever could have contemplated travelling without a
this-that-or-the-other. Here are a few of the companies we rate
highly (and, where relevant, what we have bought from them) and some
related links. One shop we would certainly recommend AGAINST is
Ellis Brigham due to their snooty arrogant staff.
Eagle Creek:
www.eaglecreek.com. Nothing, but we like the name. They do a
whole range of packing equipment, Pack-It Cubes and so on. Naturally
we latched on to these and thought "we must buy these Essential
Useful Items" until one of the guys at Itchy Feet suggested normal
zip-lock bags from Sainsbury's instead and we saw sense (sort of).
•
Itchy Feet:
www.itchyfeet.com.
Shoes (Ness) and general stuff (mosquito net, universal
plug, etc.) The staff are travel enthusiasts first and sales
persons second. You can rely on them for good advice, more
than at any other shop we have been to.
•
MacPac:
www.macpac.co.nz. Backpacks. MacPac
are a New Zealand-based company. Cotswold, Snow+Rock and
Itchy Feet stock their stuff.
•
Mephisto:
www.mephisto.com.
Shoes and sandals (Stefan) The London shop, "The Mephisto
Concept Shop", is on Denman Street, London W1D 7HT,
www.mephistoshoes.co.uk.
•
One Bag:
www.onebag.com The Art
and Science of Travelling Light.
•
Rohan:
www.rohan.co.uk. Clothes (trousers, shirts, fleeces)
Excellent "normal" travel clothes, not the "extreme
climbers" stuff you tend to find at other shops. Only
available at their Covent Garden shop.
•
Vuitton:
www.vuitton.com Have a go at The Art of Packing. Don't
forget to put insert some tissue paper when folding that
casual crew-neck cashmere jumper now... Hilarious.
•
North Face: (link) Having
decided he didn't like the Rohan trousers after all, Stef
was pleasantly surprised by the more comfortable North Face
gear and now has divided loyalties...
Forums
Forums containing travel stories, travel advice and so on.
Whilst they have lots of links to travelogues they aren't
travelogues in their own right.
Travellers
Point:
www.travellerspoint.com A worldwide travel community. Lots of
forums, info and personal sites.
•
Reisverhalen, NL:
www.reisverhalen.net Has
hundreds of links to travel stories. In Dutch.
•
Reis om de Wereld, NL:
www.reisomdewereld.nl
Another excellent Dutch travel site with lots of travel stories and
information for independent travellers.
Travelogues
There
are a lot of personal travellers sites around. Some good, some
not so good, some are real labours of love with fantastic
photographs and stories. Here are a few of the ones we have
looked at.
•
Palin's
Travels:
www.palinstravels.co.uk"I always wanted to be an explorer,
but until September 25, 1988, it seemed I was doomed to be nothing
more than a very silly person. On that day I set out on a journey
which was to change my life."
Mike & Corina Yeaton, US:
www.yeaton.net We met Mike & Corina in Quito and shared travel
tales. I think we probably would have wanted to spend a bit more
time together but our paths only crossed briefly.
•
Duncan & Jen, UK:
www.roughguidesintouch.com/duncanjen. We met Duncan & Jen on a
bus out of Lima. Later we bumped into them again in Nazca and had an
excellent night.
•
Thowra:
www.thowra.com A rarity in that
it has a first-hand account of travelling and living in Asunción.
Her short description of Asunción's grubby streets really
jumps off the page.
Stefan
De Vogel & Maria Versleijen, NL:
www.devogel.net Excellent pictures. I also like the
OnlineUserAtlas feature which displays a world map showing who is
online.
•
TravelPig:
www.travelpig.co.uk
Included especially for Frank. A "travelling pig exchange". Toy pigs
are exchanged by travellers and their (the pig's) travels are
updated on the site. In the same vein as Spud's Travels.
Books
For books that don't relate to any specific
country on our lists but to travel in a general sense or to
other countries, or just good reads
that somehow relate to travel. Also see the books listed
under the country-specific headings.
World Religions, by Michael Keene. A quick
overview of the main world religions.
•
Islam for Dummies, by Malcolm Clark. As the cover
says, "your easy-to-understand guide to Muslim beliefs, rituals and
history".
•
The Sheltering Sky, by Paul Bowles.
Situated in north-west Africa, which was one of the many places on
our original wishlist.
•
The Oxford Book of Latin American Short
Stories, edited by Roberto González Echevarría.
•
Among the Russians, by Colin Thubron. One
of my mum's discoveries, before Thubron became a household name.
•
Sailing Alone Around the World, by Captain
Joshua Slocum. 1,160 days as opposed to Ellen's 70-odd, but it makes
for a much better story. I read it cover to cover with my ears red
from excitement. Real boy's own stuff.
Music
A selection of
music on the theme of travel.
Not a reflection of our musical tastes! Also see the
country-specific references for more.
•
You're my home and Travellin'
prayer, and others by Billy Joel (and lots of other Billy Joel songs)
www.billyjoel.com has
more.
•
Always take the weather
with you, Crowded House
•
Leaving on a jet plane,
John Denver
•
Around the world, Red Hot
Chili Peppers
•
Come fly with
me (the whole album), Frank Sinatra
•
I'm gonna be (500 miles),
Proclaimers
•
Road to nowhere,
Talking Heads
•
Sail away with me,
David Gray
•
Sleeping in my car,
Roxette
•
Go West, Pet Shop
Boys
•
Around the world,
Nat "King" Cole
•
Homeward Bound,
Simon and Garfunkel
•
Rolling Home (to Dear
Old England), on a CD we bought in Estonia: (ref here)
Other
Not necessarily travel-related, but just some links to interesting
sites or sites somehow connected with us, our interests and hobbies,
family and friends.
The (Kids) Art Zone at the National Gallery of
Art, Washington:
www.nga.gov/kids/zone This has some brilliant on-line
time-wasting toys. Try the 3D Twirler.
•
GeoHive:
www.geohive.com Geopolitical data and human
population stats. How many?!?
•
The World's Smallest Web Site:
www.guimp.com Time-wasting
toys.
