From other Travel Blogs...

TRAVEL NARRATIVES:
I've been following a blog called Travis on Tour that I found on TravelBlogs. Travis is in South Korea, teaching ESL and blogging about his experience. He has a fun sense of humor and his stories make me smile.

Ryan Van Duzer is going on another bike trip. In 2005, he rode from Honduras to Boulder, Colorado. His new plan is to bike the east coast of the United States from Maine to Florida. He is blogging about his experiences on Life at 15MPH.


TRAVEL TIPS:
Rob at Go Budget Travel has a great article on 14 Ways to Use Duct Tape In Your Travels.

Avoid miscommunication while you are away from home with The Guardian's Top 10 travel faux pas.

Viator's travel blog has more tips with 5 Pretty Good Reasons to Take a Hop-On Hop-Off Tour.


TRAVEL DESTINATIONS:
The New York Times visits Nicaragua and gives recommendations on places to see and things to do.

Viator goes to Egypt and shares impressions of the Giza Pyraminds and the Sphinx.

For more travel articles, check out the section marked From Other Blogs in my sidebar.

Books I've Been Reading

The Dream Maker by Monica Hannan is an incredible story about one man's determination and dedication to helping poor children around the world, especially in Guatemala. The book shares the stories of children whose lives have been changed by Patrick Atkinson, the founder of God's Child Project. Several of the stories are about orphans from the civil war. At turns joyful and heartbreaking, reading this book made me so thankful for people like Patrick, and made me question the best way I can help them.

Spanish Lessons: Beginning a New Life in Spain by Derek Lambert is an entertaining story about the author moving to Spain with his wife and son. It is filled with vivid and humorous descriptions of the people they meet and the adventures they share as they restore a house and learn about the "real" Spain, the country they've decided to call home. I smiled through most of the book, and I was sorry to see it end.

Living in a Foreign Language by Michael Tucker shares the experiences of the author and his wife Jill Eikenberry as they purchase and renovate a 350 year old cottage in Umbria. Like Derek Lambert, Michael Tucker has a talent for describing the people he meets in Italy. I still smile when I think of the butchers, or Giancarlo, the proprietor of a restaurant in Spoleto. My favorite parts of the book are the descriptions of the meals they prepare at home or eat elsewhere. This book made me laugh, and made me hungry (for food and for Italy). I couldn't put it down.

All three books are great stories that I highly recommend.

From other Travel Blogs...

Ruins at Ephesus in Turkey

It was another good week for interesting travel articles. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Timen at in my All Stars has launched the Trusted Travel Blog Network. Check it out, and be sure to nominate your favorite travel blogs.

2. Gadling had several good travel articles, including Do It Yourself Volunteering and Spanish Immersion in Guatemala by Jamie Rhein, and Talking Travel With Matthew Polly by Justin Glow.

3. Conor Grennan from How Conor is Spending All His Money shares another great story about his orphanage in Nepal with Sock Puppet Photos.

4. Ian at Brave New Traveler started a Flickr Photography Pool and invites you to share your travel pictures.

5. Ubertramp has more travel tips with How to Choose a Backpack.

6. Learn about Nicaraguan Communications at Our Man in Granada.

7. Smarter Travel has an interesting article on Taking the kids to the Galapagos Islands.

8. National Parks Traveler has some good advice for visiting Arches National Park near Moab, Utah and Acadia National Park in Maine.

9. Pia Taylor at Backpackers.com writes about keeping your valuables safe when traveling.

10. Last, but not least, This non-American Life made me laugh with a post on Nudity Season.

For more great travel articles, check out the section labeled "From other blogs..." in my sidebar.

*The above picture was taken at the ruins of Ephesus in Turkey.

Our Man in Granada

Photo by ourmanwhere on flickr

I've been reading a lot the past two days. Through a comment left on in my All Stars, I found a blog that I haven't seen before, and it is really good. It's actually two blogs, both written by Steve, also known as "Ourman"

The first is Our Man in Hanoi, about his experience as a VSO volunteer with KOTO in Hanoi, Vietnam. KOTO is a restaurant and vocational training program for street and disadvantaged youth. Several of his posts also describe traveling in Vietnam. The archives go back to July 2004, and I started reading them at the beginning.

If you skip the archives, you will miss posts like this and this. I've read several posts on other blogs with tips for backpackers in Southeast Asia, so I thought this post about backpackers was interesting.

Luckily, I found out about his second blog, Our Man in Granada, as he arrived in Nicaragua, so there were only a few archived posts to read. In Granada, Steve is volunteering for Building New Hope at Café Chavalos. I can't wait to hear all about it.