Travel Linkspiration: August 2013

This has not been a traveling summer.

Other than quick visits to my mom’s house in Rhode Island, and E’s folks’ house in New Hampshire, I’ve just been at home in Revere. It looks like September is going to be more of the same, but, October? Oh man, is October going to be different!

I’ll be visiting a new-to-me continent (number 5), and a country I’ve been hoping to visit ever since I represented it at my high school’s Model UN. I’m currently making visa preparations and reading about the food and, in particular, the tea!

So, stay tuned for that announcement, and, in the meantime, check out what you may have missed around the internet in August:

On An Opportune Moment

I added a new page to my blog titled Writing, where you can see what I’m up to when I’m not writing here. Notable links include:

A feature article I wrote for Viator’s travel blog about Weekends Away in New England, which you should check out if you want to learn more about my favorite region of the United States.

A guest post I wrote for Art of Adventuring about Turning Loss into Opportunity. Click the link if you want to hear more about my father and how his death two years ago made me a world traveler.

And a guest post I wrote for LL World Tour about my home state of Rhode Island, which provides a little insight into how important the place I’m from is to the person I’ve become.

Elsewhere on the internet

Tara Isabella Burton‘s personal essay for Salon, Dangers of Traveling While Female is the best thing I read in August. Its title does it a disservice because this piece is about so much more than how the author sometimes fears sexual assault when she travels. It’s about adventure and privilege and gender roles and you NEED to read it.

When you’re done with that thoughtful, introspective piece, and you want to read something a little easier, here’s a top ten list from The Sydney Morning Herald: Ten “awful” cities you should still visit.

Flora Baker of Flora the Explorer wrote about the magic and madness of Medellin, creating an intriguing portrait of Colombia’s “most dangerous city.”

Kay Rodriguez of The Kay Days also wrote a post this August questioning the Western understanding of South America’s dangers. She visited Rio de Janeiro’s favelas and thinks maybe you should, too.

If you’re still feeling skeptical, check out this post about 5 unconventional safety tips for travelers from Audrey Scott of Uncornered Market. With six years of travel under her belt, you know she’s good for it.

Jill Schneider wrote for National Geographic’s Intelligent Travel blog about her time in India learning yoga and teaching English to monks. The piece is heartfelt, nuanced, and lacking the magical, mystical (read: racist) view of Indians one expects from a post about learning yoga and chilling with monks.

We’ve all read blog posts about how great solo travel is, but Amanda Williams of A Dangerous Business is keeping it real and sharing 5 Reasons Why Solo Travel Sucks.

Megan Smith of meganotravels wrote about how she quit her job to travel after nine years as a cubicle dweller, and I could not be more excited for her!

If you’re wondering how people can afford to quit their jobs and travel the world, Kim Dinan of So Many Places wrote an excellent, illuminating post on how she and her husband afford to travel. It’s easier (and harder) than you might think.

Meanwhile, Christine Gilbert from Almost Fearless wrote about how she and her husband are actually looking to stop traveling full time so their children can have some stability. Her post about their search for a home is sweet, and makes you ponder the requirements for your own perfect place to call home.

And now, (for a little bit of nepotism) here’s a post by my brother, Ian, about driving the entirety of the United States’ longest highway, which he wrote for his blog, Ian Does Projects.

In other road trip news, Alouise Dittrick of Traveler Ahoy shared her tips for surviving a Canadian road trip alone., which include such gems as “Talk to yourself… Okay maybe you shouldn’t have full fledged conversations with yourself.”

And Sherry Ott of OttsWorld had her mother write a post about the road trip they took together around Nova Scotia. The result is a charming reflection on travel and technology.

Finally, here’s a super cool timelapse video of European landmarks by Luke Shepard, which he funded through Kickstarter!

What did you read and love this month, travel-related or otherwise? Share in the comments, please!