Alex Lightman: How to Do Cool Things Around the World

A practical talk that on how to do enjoyable things that will take you around the world, while making the world a better place; 

how to finance your projects and events and make a living without a formal employer is also included.

http://alexlightman.com/

Video source file : 

http://blip.tv/file/4288582?filename=Alexlightman-AlexLightmanAtBIL2009201.mp4

Biking Around the World for $2 and a Few Magic Tricks

Keiichi Iwasaki left home on a bicycle with 160 yen ($2) in his pocket, planning to bike the length of Japan. Tired of working in his father's air-conditioning factory, he wanted to do something memorable: continuing the trip through South Korea by ferry he has been robbed by pirates, arrested in India, nearly died after a rabid dog attack in Tibet, and barely avoided marriage several times.

He doesn't fly because, “I wanted to see and feel everything with my own skin." 

National Geographic's Intelligent Travel blog interviewed Keiichi two years ago, and caught up with him again last week to see how things were going. Full story at National Geographic's Intelligent Travel blog:

http://intelligenttravel.nationalgeographic.com/2011/09/08/update-man-bikes-around-the-world-with-2-in-pocket/

James Gurney talks about painting watercolor portraits of people he met in Malta and Morocco. Also check out Sketchcrawl, worldwide drawing marathons held every few months, started by Pixar Story artist Enrico Casarosa. 

Isolated Community in Turkey Speaks Dialect of 'Ancient Greek'

"Traveling is almost like talking with men of other centuries." René Descartes

An isolated Greek speaking community along the Black Sea coast of Turkey speaks a dialect more similar to Ancient Greek than any known ... idioms, vocabulary, even musical tones exist like an enchanted time-capsule in the minds of 5,000 persons.

I wish an adventure tourist familiar with YouTube would visit carrying a microphone and videocam…it would be a neat project fto pitch to the National Geographic or Discovery Channels.

Actually, it would be cool if Nile Guide were to sponsor trips to document such endangered cultures, sites, and such, similar to their 'Travel like a Pirate' contest. A professional videographer could accompany 'Nile Guide Explorers' (winners even cooperating as a 'reality TV' team) to create hour long documentaries set in destinations which would benefit from increased tourism -- like the Turkish community mentioned above -- and, which are well reconnoitered by Nile Guide Experts.

"Backpacker Planning To Shatter Europeans' Preconceptions Of Americans"

CHICAGO—Recent college graduate Tyler Hill announced Monday his plans to single-handedly shatter European ideas about American travelers during his upcoming three-week trip to France and Belgium. "I'm not one of those arrogant, Lonely Planet–toting backpackers who thinks he's entitled to everything and can't walk 10 feet without snapping photos of funny-looking street signs," said Hill, noting that he had already decided to eat at a café the Rough Guide To Paris warns is "a little off the beaten path, but popular with locals." "They're going to meet me and think, 'Wow, it really means a lot to me that he took the time to learn a couple of useful phrases in our language.'" Hill added that over the course of the trip, he hopes to meet some Europeans who aren't just a bunch of effeminate, chain-smoking elitists. http://www.theonion.com/articles/backpacker-planning-to-shatter-europeans-preconcep,17783/

"Gringo Trails" Catastrophic Affects of Mass Backpacking

"I was tired of following the backpacking trail, it was to a certain extent a bit of a herd mentality. There had been a German couple who I had met in -- this was in'79 -- and I told them about this beach.  This incredible beach, unspoiled -- you know -- that nobody knew about. And I would take them there, but, you know, I would ask, "whatever you do don't tell people about this place because...what will happen is, backpackers will end up going there...." Costas Christ, Global Travel Editor, National Geographic Adventure"

Thumbs Up David Choe!

David Choe is one of the most talented visual artists of our generation. He has documented travels hitch-hiking across the world with an engaging light-hearted humor and an easy friendly manner.  As David heads off not necessarily to reach a specific destination so much as to meet everyday people along the way, his travelog makes for great background listening while sketching and painting.

I hope you find inspiration for travels of your own in his videos

http://www.vbs.tv/watch/thumbs-up/thumbs-up-season-1-1-of-5

Online Hitch-hiking Community (don't do this by yourself...jumping even slow moving freight-trains is extraordinarily dangerous; pros get on at the back, they never climb aboard even gradually moving walking-pace trains. What happens is: when you begin to lift yourself into a boxcar your legs swing under the carriage, leaving half of your body hanging over the tracks with nothing to push your feet off of...you hang there for maybe even several hours before dropping to be cut in half across the rails. Don't jump on slow moving trains; only get on stopped trains, travel with friends.)

http://www.digihitch.com/road-culture/hitchhikers-modern/1757