· you may ever have. mount kilimanjaro, located in tanzania, east africa, is one of the major...
TRANSCRIPT
S u m m e r I s s u e
2010
An unconventional magazine for unconventional travelers.
the
Glob
etro
tter
Journey to the Rooftop of Africa
pg. 03
iPad: revolution-izing the travel-ing experience
pg. 06
A pilgrimage to the Holy Land
pg. 09
Has airport security finally gone too far?
pg. 13
About the EditorWorld-renowned Saffron Sahara began traveling before she was even out of diapers as her parents were adventurous people themselves. She has continued to live up to the family name and has traveled to places all over the globe, including the Gobi Desert, the Himalayan Mountains, the Australian Gold Coast, the Seychelle Islands, and many others. She has been editor-in-chief of The Globetrotter for five years running and has written a series of travel books known by the title of Trekking our Planet.
From the Editor’s desk (or plane seat!)Konnichiha to all you avid travelers out there who are looking through this magazine in hopes of discovering some unconventional adventures. In case you were wondering, konnichiha is the greeting they use in Japan, which is where I am coming from after a week of travels through the land of sushi and cherry blossom trees. Get ready because this edition of The Globetrotter is jam-packed full of the latest stories and pictures from ex-otic trips that our specialized team of travelers has put together especially for you. It will give you the inside scoop on where all of the top places are located if you're looking for the best experiences and lowest prices. Take caution before you continue reading this magazine though, because the daredevil inside of you will not be able to remain caged after the con-tents of these pages have unleashed their contagious and invigorating passion for exploration. I look forward to seeing you in the nooks and crannies of the world!
Bon Voyage,
Saffron Sahara, Editor-in-Chief
C o n t e n t s
pg. 03Journey to the
rooftop of Africa The top tips on planning your
next trip to Kili
pg. 06iPad:: Revolutioniz-ing the traveling experienceModifying the journey one piece of technology at a time
pg. 09A pilgrimage to the
Holy LandA sneak peak into Israel with
Sarah Lillo
pg. 13Privacy or protection?Has airport security gone too far this time?
pg. 11Tourism gone
wrong?What you miss out on when you go the commercial way
T h e G l o b e t r o t t e rThe Globetrotter offers adventurous travelers information about various expe-riences that can be found throughout the world that are out-of-the-box and some-times even reckless. It is a breath of fresh air for those who desire to experience travel in a way that is counter-culture to commercial tourism.
To stand atop the highest point in all of Africa is, some say, one of the greatest experiences you may ever have. Mount Kilimanjaro, located in Tanzania, East Africa, is one of the major attractions of the region and is a popular destination for avid trav-elers and hikers. The peak itself is capped with snow as the mountain stretches a whopping 19, 336 feet above sea level. Kilimanjaro is known as the world’s tallest
“walkable” mountain because it is able to be climbed by people who are, let’s say, not the most experienced hikers in the world. While this may come off sound-ing easy, be forewarned because you do have to pass through 5 different climate zones before reaching the top of the mountain. There are a few guide-lines that those wishing to reach the peak in a fashionable manner are recommended to follow. The first is finding a good tour opera-
tor as it is only possible to climb Kilimanjaro through an organ-ized trip because there are certain routes you have to take. While there are many good operators, there are also several inexperi-enced and sketchy ones out there so it is crucial to choose wisely when planning your trip. Michael Mellinger, an experienced hiker who recently visited the “roof of Africa”, con-tacted Paul Robert Shayos, a reputable tour operator, online
Journey to the rooftop of Africa The who, what, when, where, and why of Kilimanjaro
Photo by Peter Oussoren
and was able to organize a trip through him. Shayos’s job is to find out what his customer wants to do and then contact a company that could do it for a good price. “He organized every-thing; all I had to do was arrive there!” stated Mellinger when reflecting on his trip. There are many other people like Shayos out there whose job is to organize such hiking trips and whose serv-ices are readily available through contact online. It is important that you book your trip in advance though, as the best weather con-ditions are during the high sea-son, which is from January to March and September to Octo-ber. The high season is usually much busier and if you desire to hike in the best conditions, it is wise to plan ahead and book your trip early through the tour opera-tor you have selected. Another tip to take into consideration when planning your trip is to get in shape ahead of time. Although the hike doesn’t require intense training, it is recommended that you exer-cise and do a lot of walking be-fore embarking on your trek. This is to ensure your stamina is built up to a level that will enable you to reach the summit in a healthy way. Mellinger had this to say about the climb: “Mt. Kiliman-jaro for the most part was a bit easier than other mountains I have climbed in the past. The first 2 days were fairly gradual and weren't too hard. The last day of the climb, though, was probably one of the harder
climbs I've done as I didn't have enough time to acclimatize to the altitude. So while I was climbing I had a bit of a headache and was really, really tired. All together, I would rank it near the middle in terms of difficulty.”
“The experience of climbing Kilimanjaro is one that won’t leave you.” This brings us to a final tip to remember when climbing Kilimanjaro: pace yourself so you have time to become accus-tomed to the altitude. As men-tioned earlier, you will pass through 5 different climate zones before reaching the summit and so it is important that you take it slow and steady.
On a final note, this trek is one you will want to experi-ence amongst your travels as it is an amazing opportunity, particu-larly as the glaciers of Kiliman-jaro are said to be melting. In the words of Mellinger, “The experi-ence of climbing Kilimanjaro is one that won't leave you. To know that you are on the highest spot of the continent of Africa and to know that you are near the equator and yet there are glaciers all around you is something eve-ryone should experience once in their lives.”
Michael Mellinger’s hobby of
hiking has led him to climb
some of the most famous
mountains of the world. He has
made treks in Nepal, Sweden,
Pakistan, Korea, and various
places in South America.
Kilimanjaro is also known as Kilima Njaro (Swahili) and Oldoinyo Oibor (Masai).
Zijlma, Anouk. "How to Climb Mount Kilimanjaro." About.com. The New York Times Company, 2010. Web. 9 May 2010. <http://goafrica.about.com/od/tanzania/ht/htkilimanjaro.htm>.
Nikon Coolpix S220.For more information, visit www.nikonusa.com.
See the faces of the ones you love light up with photography.
The recently re-leased iPad has the poten-tial to revolutionize travel-ing for avid readers and frequent globetrotters. More than 150,000 apps are available for download through this piece of technology, in-cluding iBooks, which translates into easy access to tens of thousands of books. iBooks means that travelers who own an iPad no longer have to carry hardcopies of books with them on their adventures. This includes novels and other books for pleasure as well travel as guides. This may prove to be extremely practical for those who are traveling for extended periods of time and who have limited luggage space. While some may argue that reading a book through this application just isn’t the same as holding a hardcopy book in your hands, iBooks has been specially modified for the iPad so that us-ers can format books on the screen to fit their personal pref-erences. This includes the ability to turn the screen so the book can be viewed both horizontally and vertically. Users can also enlarge text size. According to several us-ers of this product, reading a
book on the iPad is very similar to reading a hardcopy book be-cause the iPad has been format-ted so that you hold the screen as if you were holding a book and even turn the pages like you were reading an actual book.
“The iPad is so small and mobile that it is the per-fect gear to serve the traveler.”
Jonathan Tam, a new iPad owner, said the iBook feature is wonderful and easy to use. His opinion regarding the selec-tion of books available through the app, though, is that it is mostly limited to books for leisure reading at the present moment. Tam had this to say about iBooks, “Overall, I think it is a great feature once they modify things a bit more, such as getting an advanced search function or allowing people to search with ISBN numbers.” The iPad also of-fers users the opportunity to download and store photos
in the gadget, which can be very useful for people who like to take pictures as they travel. It solves the
issue of not having enough memory space in your camera and gives users the option of backing up photos to prevent any disastrous mishaps with memory cards. Another aspect of the iPad which has received good reviews is the internet feature. The iPad is similar to the iPhone in this way, as it provides users with extended internet access that is available all over the place as they travel. According to Jona-than Tam, “Surfing the internet [on the iPad] is awesome because
iPad: revolutionizing the traveling experience
An average of 1 million iPads were sold in the first month.
"iBooks." iPad. Apple Inc., 2010. Web. 9 May 2010. <http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/ibooks.html>.
you feel you are directly in touch with the interwebs without the mouse acting as a medium.” When asked about the ways in which he thought the iPad would change traveling for those who own one, Tam had this to say, “You can take your media library everywhere, which I guess can be good or bad. Like if you go camping and decide to bring it along and then ignore Mother Nature, then that's just not cool. But if you're stuck in the airport terminal and really have nothing to do, then it is ex-actly what you need.” On the whole, the iPad has many benefits that would be advantageous to a traveler on-the-go. In addition to all of the creative and useful apps, “The iPad is so small and mobile that it is perfect gear to serve the traveler,” said Tam. His overall review of the gadget was that, “It is a luxury and not a necessity at this point in time, but it definitely is a game changer.”
Destination ExplorationAs you look for the hidden country names, remember that they can be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal. Challenge yourself to see how many exotic names you can find in under a minute!
Safari
Photos
Videos
YouTube
iPod
iTunes
App Store
iBooks
Maps
Notes
Calender
Contacts
Home Screen
Accessibility
iWork
Keynote
Pages
Numbers
and more...
iPad Features
Have any suggestions for topics you hope to see featured in the
magazine? For reader input, email [email protected].
"Apple iPad Review." The-eBook-Reader.com. The-eBook-Reader.com, 2010. Web. 9 May 2010. <http://www.the-ebook-reader.com/apple-ipad.html>.
iPhone. anytime. anywhere.
Sarah Lillo, high school teacher and avid traveler, recently took a two-week trip out to Israel where she enjoyed the many aspects of the land and culture there. We heard all about her excursion and decided to share the highlights with you, our amazing readers! Read on to discover more about the interesting and unique country of Israel.
What were your expectations before going on your trip to Israel?
I wasn’t really sure what to expect at first. I knew it was a holy land and I was really interested to see what that looks like. But the only thing I had to base my expecta-tions off of was my friends’ stories and what I had read in the Bible.
How did your experiences in Israel compare with your ex-pectations?
I think because I didn’t have too many expectations I could just ap-preciate the things that I saw there. It was really interesting to see how all the different religious groups kind of came together.
What inspired you to travel to Israel?One of my good friends from high school is living in Israel right now
so I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of having someone who is an insider there.
When you traveled there, did you do more “off-the-beaten-track” activities or more main-stream activities?
I think I had a nice balance of both. I definitely took the time to see a lot of the famous historical sites and the famous religious sites but because I had a friend there, I was able to experience a lot of things that others might not have.
How would you describe your experiences with the food in Israel?
The food was delicious! There was lots of fresh food; lots of fresh vegetables, fresh meats. It was in-teresting as someone who doesn’t think about couture food, though, because everything was couture. You would have to decide at night if you wanted to go to a dairy res-taurant or a meat restaurant. And there would be two sides of the same restaurant and two different doors and two different sets of ta-bleware. Everything was split to be couture so that was something new to think about.
At times, the Western media conveys negative perceptions of Israel in terms of personal security. What is your impres-
A pilgrimage to the Holy Land
In addition to Israel, Sarah Lillo has also traveled to Egypt, Thailand, Australia,
New Zealand, China, Japan, Bali, the Philippines, Turkey, and other countries.
sion of this having been there first hand?
I think it’s easy for us, as Western-ers, to get scared by all the guns we see there but actually I felt safe there, almost safer than other places because they spend so much money and energy making sure things are secure. Every sin-gle public building you go into, there are security checks and so they’re making sure that bad things aren’t coming in. There are a lot more security precautions which probably, in the end, make it a lot safer than most places that don’t take those precautions.
If you were to describe one of the most memorable experi-ences you had in Israel, what would it be?
My friend who’s in Israel is in the process of becoming a rabbi and
so I got to experience quite a few traditional Jewish things that I might not have if I was just travel-ing on my own. I got to experience Shabbat services with her and do a whole Shabbat meal with a big group made up of all rabbis-in-training. To be able to sit at the table with six rabbis and have them explain the meaning behind all the actions they go through every Friday night was a really special experience.
“I was intrigued by people’s devotion to their faith.”
Were there any aspects of the culture in Israel that you found to be a pleasant surprise?
I was intrigued by people’s devo-tion to their faith. I saw people doing things that many Westerners would find inconvenient for the sake of their faith. They were will-ing to put aside the inconven-iences to go through traditional practices and I found that very in-spiring in many ways.
As a single person, what was it like traveling with a friend for the duration of your trip to Israel?
I didn’t find Israel was too diffi-cult to get around as a single. I had a friend with me the entire time so I never felt unsafe or har-assed. Especially in the orthodox Jewish culture, there is a big sepa-ration between unmarried men and women so I never felt like people were hounding me as a single fe-male.
What were your observations of religion in Israel, particu-larly as you were there over the Christmas holidays?
I was a bit surprised by how much tension you could feel between the different [religious] groups. There were very clear divides between different sections of the city, even within, for example, the old Jeru-salem. There would be very dis-tinct, like ‘here is the line that separates the Jewish quarter from the Arab quarter’. You can feel when it shifts and when you fall into one category or another, you don’t cross over.
The last poll in Israel revealed the following religious statistics: Jewish 76.4%, Muslim
16%, Arab Christians 1.7%, other Christian 0.4%, Druze 1.6%, unspecified 3.9%
Commercial tourism. Those are two words that I have an absolute loathing towards be-cause so much of the traveling ex-perience today has been corrupted by the commercial tourism indus-try. As a result of this, so many people miss out on what traveling is supposed to be and are fooled into thinking that they are experi-encing another culture while in actual fact they are just living their same lifestyles in a different loca-tion. According to the World Tourism Organization, a tourist is someone who “travels to and stays in places outside their usual envi-ronment for more than twenty-four hours”. But this is not the part of tourism that I lament. The thing about tourism I lament is the fact that it has evolved over the years
into an industry that separates the authentic cultural experiences from the experience of the tourist. I am from a family who values the genuine cultural experi-ences that are found in foreign countries. That means that I grew up with a view towards traveling that was drastically different than the one advertised in commercial tourism.
“So much of the traveling experience has been corrupted by the commercial tourism industry.” I remember one year, though, when my parents were planning a trip to Beijing, China,
and decided to book the whole tour through a travel company. From the moment we set foot in the Beijing airport to the moment we boarded the plane to go home, our entire experience was, shall we say, not what we were used to in the least. Of course, I’m mean-ing this in a very negative way. For starters, we were ac-companied by a tour guide the en-tire time and had to stick to a strict schedule the company had laid out for us. This meant we couldn’t pick which restaurants we went to, which often ended up being unau-thentic western-Chinese restau-rants. We also had to stop fre-quently at stores that our tour company was aligned with, in the hope that we would actually buy some of the overpriced imitation souvenirs.
Tourism gone wrong?
According to the National Tourism Administration of the People’s Republic Of China, there was a total of 130, 027, 393 tourists in 2008.
These are just a few of the things we endured during this tour, but I think you get my point when I say that we felt like we were missing out on real Chinese cul-ture during the trip. Now I think back to an-other trip that my family took in recent years to the cities of Bang-kok and Chiang Mai in Thailand. We had learned our lesson on our trip to China and made the firm decision to do everything apart from the commercial tourism in-dustry. Let me tell you, I experi-enced some of the most amazing things of my life on that trip.
We visited an authentic hill tribe in the mountains, rode ele-phants in the thick Thai forests, stayed at a hole-in-the-wall bed and breakfast, and ate amazing
bona fide Thai food like there was no tomorrow. All in all, it was a trip that was radically different from our trip to China and all be-cause we steered clear of commer-
cial tourism. These kinds of experiences can be yours, too, if you take a step away from this industry. Genuine experiences are still available and all it takes is a will-ing attitude to be adventurous. So let’s work together to change the travel industry by going out there and experiencing different cultures in the way they should be: authen-tically!
The Bahn baht are the last family
in Thailand who hand-hammer
metal bowls for Buddhist monks in
a time-honoring fashion. (see
above photo)
Local Thai people celebrate the
New Year by lighting lanterns as
seen in the photo to the left.
A recent event has revealed the truth that full-body scanning machines in airports reveal more than is desired of the people who are required to pass through them. So much so, that privacy rights have finally been brought into question. According to Marnie Hunter, CNN journalist, an inci-dent occurred at the Miami Inter-national Airport that involved two Transportation Security Adminis-trators (TSA). Rolando Negrin had been repeatedly teased by a co-worker about the size of his geni-tals after an x-ray, taken using one of the full-body scanning ma-chines, had been viewed. This pushed Negrin to the point of ac-tually striking his co-worker with a police baton because he “could not take the jokes anymore and lost his mind”. While this aspect of airport security is usually not a topic of controversy, the recent event at the Miami International Airport has finally shed some light on just how invasive these methods are. While it is understood that secu-
rity is a necessary requirement in airport security, full-body scan-ning machines obviously violate an individual’s rights. John Verdi, senior council member of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, had this to say about the Miami incident, “As far as I'm concerned, this really dem-onstrates exactly how detailed the images are, exactly how invasive the search is.” Marnie Hunter discovered that the incident in the Miami In-ternational Airport was not the only case in which such events have occurred. In London’s Heath-row Airport, a security worker had allegedly made rude remarks to-wards a female co-worker after seeing a scan from one of the ma-chines. The UK’s Press Associa-tion stated that the worker re-ceived a warning from the police for harassment. According to Hunter, TSA officials did make it clear that the episode in the Miami airport was entirely internal, meaning that it did not involve any travelers in the airport. They said that the way the
screening process works is that the passengers pass through the ma-chine and the images are then viewed by a worker in a different location. The fact that anybody would be viewing such a personal image, though, is very disconcert-ing. Of course no one is going to publicly oppose such security in an airport because that would sug-gest that they were hiding some-thing illicit. Now that awareness has been raised because of the in-cident in Miami, though, those who agree that such methods are an invasion of personal privacy can band together and protest. As such, the staff of The Globetrotter is ready to take a stand and call these security measures a trespass on personal privacy. We believe that such full-body scanning machines should be banned from use in airports as they infringe individual rights. It is a travesty of our frequent flyer status to have to submit to such oppression.
By Cloud Freespirit
Privacy vs. protection:H a s a i r p o r t s e c u r i t y g o n e t o o f a r ?
Murphy’s Travel Laws1. No flight ever leaves on time unless you are running late and need time to make the flight. 2. If you are running late for a flight, it will depart from the farthest gate within the terminal. 3. If you arrive very early for a flight, it inevitably will be delayed. 4. Flights never leave from Gate #1 at any terminal in the world. 5. If you must work on your flight, you will experience turbulence as soon as you touch pen to
paper. 6. If you are assigned a middle seat, you can determine who has the seats on the aisle and the
window while you are still in the boarding area. Just look for the two loudest passengers. 7. Only passengers seated in window seats ever have to get up to go to the lavatory. 8. The crying baby on board your flight is always seated next to you. 9. The best-looking woman/man on your flight is never seated next to you. 10.The less carry-on luggage space available on an aircraft, the more carry-on luggage passen-
gers will bring aboard.
A l e t t e r t o t h e e d i t o r . . . Re: "The Incredible Streets of India"
Dear editor,
I thought that your piece about India really shed light on the topic of places to go when traveling there. After reading the article, I was inspired to travel there and experience the things you mentioned myself. I found that there was some very helpful information in the piece that led me to have exotic experiences that I probably wouldn't have had without the aid of your article. I look forward to reading about more foreign places that your team has traveled to.
Sincerely,
Gloria Tesh
A photographer for National Geographic.
T r a v e l T o m f o o l e r y
iPhone. anytime. anywhere.
Zijlma, Anouk. "How to Climb Mount Kilimanjaro." About.com. The New York Times Company, 2010. Web. 9 May 2010. <http://goafrica.about.com/od/tanzania/ht/htkilimanjaro.htm>.
"iBooks." iPad. Apple Inc., 2010. Web. 9 May 2010. <http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/ibooks.html>.
"Apple iPad Review." The-eBook-Reader.com. The-eBook-Reader.com, 2010. Web. 9 May 2010. <http://www.the-ebook-reader.com/apple-ipad.html>.
"Tourism." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. , 10 May 2010. Web. 17 May 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism>.
Hunter, Marnie. "Anatomical ridicule raises body-scanning concerns." CNN (2010): n. pag. Web. 17 May 2010. <http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/05/06/tsa.scanner.assault/index.html>.
"Murphy." Aha! Jokes. Aha! Jokes LLC. , 2010. Web. 16 May 2010. <http://www.ahajokes.com/tra40.html>.
"Major Statistics of China Tourism." National Tourism Administration of the People's Republic of China. China National Tourism Administration, Dec 2008. Web. 17 May 2010. <http://en.cnta.gov.cn/>.
In addition to Israel, Sarah Lillo has also traveled to Egypt, Thailand, Australia,
New Zealand, China, Japan, Bali, the Philippines, Turkey, and other countries.