Travel Newsletter: 24 May 2024
Backpacking through Africa, travel psychologist, new Italy-Slovenia-Croatia train, and more travel reads.
Welcome to the Nomadic Notes Travel Newsletter, where I curate the best travel reads of the week.
Hello from Chiang Mai. I was worried about coming back before knowing the rainy season had started. It was another bad burning season, but the rainy season has begun.
One of the most welcome sites when returning to Chiang Mai is seeing the mountain (Doi Suthep) near the airport. There have been days when the mountain is lost to sight in the haze, so being buried in a rain cloud was an acceptable sight
Chiang Mai is one of my designated home-away-from-homes. It was either here or Saigon, but I was going to wait until the HCMC Metro opens in July (which is delayed again).
I’m currently reading A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit. She mentions that she travels a few times a year between the same places “as something of a nomad”. She says that “nomads, contrary to current popular imagination, have fixed circuits and stable relationships to places; they are far from being the drifters and dharma bums that the word nomad often connotes nowadays”.
I don’t think there is a good modern definition of a nomad, and I have pondered before if there is a better phrase than digital nomad. I’ve added this thought to what it means to be a nomad.
I’m here for two months (unless I get tempted to go to Laos). I have a pile of writing to do, which I will post here.
Travel reads
• I’ve backpacked through 13 African countries—here’s what I’ve learned
• What in the world is a travel psychologist? We asked one to find out
• Can this Italian town's landmarks be seen behind Mona Lisa?
• Is this the world’s longest walk? 24,262km from South Africa to China – what to see and countries to avoid (archive)
“Volunteering around modern art, Soviet brutalism, and Kumis!”
•'Refuge of the last dreamers': the Laos city suspended in time
• Now one fast train from Tokyo: culture, crafts and hot springs (archive)
“A new high-speed train stop unlocks Kaga, a destination for onsen, nourishing food and traditional crafts, as an easy-to-reach getaway from Japan’s capital.”
• Ross Island - Tracing its dark secrets and why it was abandoned
• The Rick Steves guide to life (archive)
“Travel mogul. Philanthropist. Legal weed champion. The real Rick Steves is so much more complex than who you see on TV.”
The writer of this article also wrote a behind-the-scenes of this feature article.
• Terraced fields reflect nature’s palette in northern Vietnam’s flood season onset
• Australia’s most far-flung and freakishly scenic archipelago (archive)
• A deep-dive into a failed ‘Star Wars’ hotel is going viral
• Why you shouldn’t take pebbles from the beach – here’s the science
• Italy, Slovenia, Croatia: New train line offers ready-made rail adventure for as little as €8
“What happened to Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 and why?”
…
James Clark – Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Planning our first trip to Africa. Definitely need to read that article!
*waves* Just at the tail end of a month here! Such a comfortable place.