Looking backward.

The blog is being retrofitted, updated in reverse.

Briefly; I am deconstructing an old blog from another provider and filling in about two years worth of posts from other travels. The process is selective, though, and this space will only house "the best of" the old. Tuesday, September 4th's post is the original "first" here.

Readers will note a definitive change from the imported (pre-September 2007) vs. the new posts. The old were based largely on my experiences in traveling; be it across the country, as an expat in the Middle East, or evaluating how I arrived at the decision to get up and visit the next map dot.

The new will be less about travel, but more about experience. The focus will shift from internal to external, though that process will be an admittedly more difficult transition. (It's far easier to write from the inside looking out than vice versa.)

But the migration is important in the development of any soul, much less any writer. There will still be a great deal of traveling, but not as much moving from coast to coast or country to country. And, in either event, it won't be the reason for the article or photograph. It will be intrinsic to the subject. Seek the adrenalin. Find the new fringe. Step out on the last ledge and look over the side, or find those who have and capture their insights and stories.

In that way, the development of the nearly three years this blog are analogous to the self-development of an ordinary twentysomething in America thirsting for more than the standard issue post-collegiate experience: enormous debt and too little vacation time.

Where we've been and what we've done in the past only matters when it bears on where we plan to go next.

What gets us there, what people we meet, what experiences await. The random, the crazy, the odd.

Life is all about the "go".

And so is this blog.

Outside Magazine, October 07

This month's edition of Outside arrived in the mailbox Saturday. I excitedly and dutifully unfurled the pages between my thumbs with the bag I was otherwise carrying in my teeth as I walked the steps to my door. (I love mail, and I love the glossy de rigeur adventuresome pages of this particular magazine).

As this is the 30th Anniversary edition, there is an expanded cover adorned by nine "icons" or greats of their sports. The requisite appearance by Lance Armstrong, of course, along with Kelly Slater (surfing) and Amanda Beard (swimming) makes for pretty photographs with athletes nearly everyone knows.

The surprise member of the cast, for me, was the inclusion of one Lynn Hill. She is a rock climber- the first rock climber, ever, to free ascent El Capitan's nose (way back in 1993). After reading the brief one page interview inside, the looming question became- why hadn't I ever heard of her before?

Now, for those of us who aren't rock climbers- let's put her most famous accomplishment in perspective.

What is a free ascent?
Free ascent, or free climbing as it is otherwise known, is rock scaled without any artificial aids to make upward progress. E.g., the climber uses only his or her hands or feet, but no mechanical devices of any kind. Unlike free soloing, however, they do use straps and harnesses to ensure that if they fall (and most had on El Capitan prior to Lynn Hill), that they will not plummet to the ground below.

That said, being strapped by a rope to a bunch of rock hardly ensures your health or well-being. It merely means that when you fall, you'll crash just five to ten feet below into the wall of rock you had just surmounted, not the potentially hundreds of feet below into the ground. It's just choosing the frying pan over the fire.

Now consider doing this 5.13c route under the power of your hands and feet alone.

Falling has been all but the inevitable fate of those who've gone before you.

And failure means, at minimum, slamming into the most famous granite wall of Yosemite National Park.

Bloodied, bruised, battered.

Now, this is in no way meant to detract from the noteworthy accomplishments of Lance, Amanda, Kelly or Laird Hamilton, all of whom adorn this cover with the diminuitive Hill. But they race against competition, outflash or style one another on waves and, at the end of the day, if they do not win - means only that they have come in second place. At worst- they've wiped out.

If you fail in rock climbing, especially free ascents, you can only hope to survive the slam or fall.

In the interview, when asked why she had undertaken so difficult a route that many good climbers before her had attempted and failed, she offered only that she felt "it was my fate. Even if it's not rational, if you believe in yourself enough, that desire can make you rise to the level of whatever you've imagined." (pp. 116)

Kudos to you, Lynn Hill.

Outside magazine's October 2007 / 30th Anniversary edition is available at newstands now.

Travel Website Compendium

I have posted this before on previous blogs. Since travel remains not only the agent, but the aim, of quenching my thirst for experience, I like to keep this updated and close at hand. The list is US-based, but should also be applicable to others, especially EU nations. These websites make travel easier and cheaper.

You're welcome.

www.travelzoo.com
If you are a last-minute traveler, this could really be worth your while. They hand-pick the best deals from Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, Cheap Tickets, et al. and update them daily on this compilation website.

www.lastminute.com
Another site whose niche is the last-minute weekend getaway: Bookings can be made up to three hours before departure.

www.kayak.com
Great alternative site to Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity et al. Nearly always less expensive. It also features flight listings from budget air carriers, e.g. Jet Blue, Spirit Airlines and AirTran.

www.Gridskipper.com
The "urban travel guide." User supported, it often highlights what major forums miss- e.g. the raunchier aspects of life in big cities around the world.

www.FlyerTalk.com
Users exchange information on how to get the most out of their frequent flier miles, credit card points and hotel points. Bonus: separate discussion forums for every major commercial airline and live chat for last-minute queries.

www.sidestep.com
Instead of going onto Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity individually, searching on sidestep queries your search into all of them at once, finding the best bargains from multiple travel sites with one search. Can save you an infinite amount of time.

www.statravel.com
If you are under 26 (or a student regardless of age), this will almost always be the cheapest method of travel. Flights from JFK - CDG (Paris) for as little as $160 are one example. They also have a host of student/ youth discounts on rail passes and hotels, though it tends to be Eurocentric.

www.seat61.com
A rail-centered travel website for the Eurasian continent. It explains, in excrutiating detail, how to travel from say, London to Tehran, entirely by rail. Great resource for difficult-to-find information.

www.biddingfortravel.com
Input done by other travelers, lets you know how much they were charged for "bid pay" routes on Priceline.com or similar auction services. Could save you hundreds of dollars if you use these websites for travel.

www.tripadvisor.com
Comparison website for hotels, attractions and restaurants globally) includes unaltered and unbiased reviews from other travelers contrasting their experiences with the relative "star" rating system.

www.mobissimo.com
Like Sidestep above, this website is a search engine that runs your query on multiple websites. Unlike Sidestep, though, it employs sites external or little known to the U.S. and can often be the fastest and cheapest method to find international travel airfares, as well as alternative routes.

First comes espresso.

283 days stand between riding into the heart of Center City Philadelphia on a blacked out fixie (God Bless the SE Draft - $250 out the door!) to and fro from another standing-still period of office work and chasing the next gig: Commercial salmon fishing in Bristol Bay, Alaska.

Again. (There aren't many places I bother returning.)

Bristol Bay is neither the alpha nor the omega. It is not an end or a means. It is a window. Though I have ventured north once before, for a brief 6 week respite in June-July of 2006, I had only scratched the surface of possibility before the season was up. I worked as a deckhand (being the smallest on the boat- the deck monkey- constantly hopping in and out of holds and engine compartments) with no intention of return, but left knowing that my future career decisions would hinge on finding a job that provided at least the freedom to return for six weeks every summer. The place is the last fringe parcel of America way out on the edge of the world left utterly to it's own devices. It's the Wild West and Cannery Row meets The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Commercial Fishermen in Alaska, at least those that I had an opportunity to hang out with, are one third urban bike messenger, one third gypsy, and the last third cowboy. They are independent, give-a-shit characters with great stories, much empathy and volumes of world experience. Their muses are varied, their travels unchronicled, and the sheer volume of creativity and exuberance burn brighter than any of the sky-shattering 3 a.m. sunsets I had a chance to witness out there in the Bering Sea.

One wave sets thousands in motion. And so it is that I have to get back there to better understand how to harness my own muse... to lay the first brick into crafting a life outside the conventional halogen cubicle 9 to 5. I need to peer into the window and see my own vision. Chris McCandless said, "I think careers are a 20th century invention."

The man was on to something.

But enough of this hagiography.

Much has transpired in the last four seasons and it creates an illusion of light years having come and gone since.

Between now and then is an unknown- a beginning- that this space will chronicle. Within the limits of the law and physics, I'm going to try to slam as much into this chasm of time as my bones and bank account will allow. Chasing down the taggers throwing up great new pieces on the northwest tracks (or at least photographing their work), trying not to be hit by SEPTA busses in Center City, getting out to see the local art scene with events like First Friday in Old City, rocking away with the Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly on the pier next week, learning how to gas and arc weld, creating new and different canvases/ interactive & found art pieces, and reading as many books as this downtime will allow. Other anecdotes will probably include landing my first real "piece" (a semi professional camera and lens, probably Nikon), getting my first (and maybe second, third?) tattoo, and the myriad adventures of eating cleanly, exploring voluntary simplicity, and making a workout out of everything. BBQ, bearing the responsibility as a new local to find the definitive best Cheesesteak (not a part of 'eating cleanly', but an infrequent undertaking), NaNoWriMo, the Gibson L-00, Robert Johnson, Led Belly, Nina Simone, BJJ, Parkour, CrossFit, Ultramarathons, Fixie Bike Races, al logha al-aribee, Hunter S. Thompson, Joseph Conrad, Ayn Rand, Howard Zinn, Epictetus, Voltaire, Salinger, Kerouac, Bill Bryson, Jack London and even Edward Said will probably get mentions. Stay tuned for more desultriness and incongruency.

...
Must prepare for aforementioned bike ride to work. First comes espresso.

Mumkin andee double macchiato min fadlik?