Photo: greg westfall.

THE PEAK FOR ME came around day 22.

We were on the road again after a week of structured living in San Francisco. We’d made our original destination but were still going. There were no plans for when to stop, when to turn around. The state highways of northern California are bordered by old-growth redwoods so tall we had to throw open the moon roof to see where they ended.

For a few days there, it was freedom — the trip had hit that space between destinations, between itineraries, when it feels like it could keep on forever, just a car and a tent and a road.

But that never lasts.

Seattle became the end point, August 14 the home date, and from there all that was left was to trace a route home and fill it with as much Western landscape as we could. Mt. Rainier National Park, eastern Washington wine country, the forested Idaho panhandle, Yellowstone and the Tetons, a tire shop in Laramie, WY (our first and only maintenance stop), friends in Denver and Breckenridge, down into the mountains of northern New Mexico, and a retrace back to Austin to complete the 7,100-mile trip.

So — season finale — here’s my takeaway for any of you who happen to pass this way:

Photo: grenade

Good Camping

Clearwater National Forest, Idaho

Highway 12 is gorgeous from Kooskia east the 60+ miles into Montana, mirroring the Lochsa River as it does for most of the ride. We stayed at Wilderness Gateway campground — the forest’s largest — but there are others along 12 and elsewhere. $8 per site, flush toilet facilities available.

Yellowstone Vacation Campground, Corwin Springs, MT

There was nothing pretty about this RV pullout. What made is special for us was that it was the only thing near Gardiner with space available. And we snagged the last tent spot ($20+tax). If you’re stupid like us and show up to Gardiner in peak season w/o reservations, head north on Highway 89 seven miles to Corwin Springs. And don’t blink.

Cooper’s El Vado Ranch, Tierra Amarilla, NM

Cooper’s is off the trail a bit, used mostly by fishermen and paddlers putting in on the Rio Chama (why we were there — my parents launched their cata-raft the next day).

Turn off Highway 84 onto the skinny 112 and follow it for about 10 miles till you see the El Vado Reservoir dam. Cooper’s is on your left. Tent camping ($10) is at the end of the road on a little spit of land surrounded on two sides by river and covered with tall trees. Unfortunately, bathrooms and drinking water are back at the entrance, and no-fire signs are posted (though not heeded).

Photo: GeordieMac Pics

Good Coffeeshops

Northtown Coffeehouse, Yakima, WA

Two levels of seating in a historic downtown storefront on First Street. The only menu item I can speak to is the iced coffee — delicious.

Break Espresso, Missoula, MT

Wow, can’t believe this place doesn’t have it’s own website! Don’t let that turn you away.

Break Espresso is the size of a warehouse and clearly benefits from the college town vibe — vegan pastries are a thing of beauty when done well. We only stopped in for breakfast but would’ve loved to have stayed all day on the laptops.

Kathy’s Koffee, Dubois, WY

The decor is wicked military-heavy, but, you know, it’s Wyoming.

Bean Cycle, Ft. Collins, CO

One of our favorites of the whole trip. Vegan food options, bicycle-part art on the walls, and they share the space with the Matter Bookstore (which, in turn, is run by the nonprofit Wolverine Farm Publishing — check ‘em out!).

Good Miscellany

Horse Heaven Hills Brewery, Prosser, WA

The building is small, hidden behind an Auto Zone, and the opaque shades on its windows make it a gentlemen’s club suspect from the outside, but what’s going on in is all good.

Our bartendress was wearing a kilt and broadsword (she’d just returned from a clan festival or something), and they’ve got signs declaring “Live long in Prosser.” The IPA was memorable.

Photo: gregw66

Boiling River, north Yellowstone

This is hardly an “insider’s secret” (it’s gotten so popular that the park’s had to throw up several signs warning people to stay on the path), but it felt like one at 8AM.

The place where the steaming waters of the Boiling River exit the earth and meet with the larger, frigid Gardiner River is a popular spot to strip down and jump in.

It’s a weird sensation, with alternating jets of freezing and boiling hitting you from upstream. A great way to start the day in Yellowstone, though.

The unmarked turnoff is 2+ miles south of Gardiner on Highway 89 (just before the MT-WY border). From the parking lot, it’s a half-mile walk to the pools.

Community Connection

Are you going to any of the places I visited on this trip (see #1, #2, and #3 for the full route)? Hit me up with questions about anything I didn’t cover: hal[at]matadornetwork[dot]com.

Photo: kevindooley

BACK IN 2008, Brave New Traveler editor Ian MacKenzie went on a Matador road trip of his own, driving down from Vancouver to “headquarters” in San Francisco.

Despite the reason for our trip (my wife’s cousin’s wedding in SF) having come and gone, we decided to take a page from the Matador annals and follow Ian’s route in reverse. We didn’t make it across the border, but we saw and learned a lot about the forests, vineyards, and vegan leanings of the Pacific Northwest.

Here’s the takeaway:

Wine Country

We got a taste for wine — and particularly wine tastings — in Mendoza, Argentina, last year. So Napa made its way onto the itinerary.

I won’t pretend to know which of the 400+ of the valley’s wineries are worth a go. But I’ve got a great tip for budgeters: Skyline Wilderness Park.

Photo: *~Dawn~*

At $15/night for tent sites, this has gotta be the cheapest place to sleep in the town of Napa. It’s only a mile off the main road (Highway 221), southeast of town, but it’s beyond the suburban sprawl.

There’s access to miles of hiking/running trails, and the Mexican grocery and taqueria nearby on Imola Ave. are great keep-it-real alternatives to the 5-star restaurants downtown.

Another sweet resource is the Oxbow Public Market on First St. It has an upscale food court vibe, with lots of local produce and wine. Easy to get a meal there for cheap. Plus they have wifi.

Mendocino

Of course, there’s more to California wine than Napa. We missed the main wine road in Mendocino (Anderson Valley, Highway 128), but I have to include here the one we did hit: Pacific Star Winery.

Right on the coast, a mellow host, and more reasonable tasting fees than in the valley. There’s also a geologic fault running through the property (the Pacific Star Fault).

Redwood Country

Several months ago, Matador co-founder Ross Borden encouraged me to research and write Guide to the Redwood Groves: Where to Find the Tallest Trees on Earth. That led me to read The Wild Trees, and ever since I’ve had big trees on the brain.

Photo: Author

Using my piece, and the excellent RedwoodHikes.com, I put together a route to visit the best-preserved parks and hike the most-recommended trails.

Of those, here are the two I liked best:

Homestead/Big Tree loop, Humboldt Redwoods SP

This is in Humboldt’s Bull Creek area, which is far from the traffic noise of 101 and the Avenue of the Giants. The relative isolation made this one stand out.

Plus I got to see the Tall Tree — at 363 feet, it’s one of the tallest whose location isn’t a carefully guarded secret.

Find more info on the hike here.

Stout Grove, Jedediah Smith Redwoods SP

This is just a half-mile loop trail, easily accessible from a parking lot, but the grove was my favorite. Something about the flood-basin soil prevents other trees from growing, so it’s just ferns, redwood sorrel, and some of the widest redwoods in the world.

It was busy when we were there, but within the loop trail are dozens of duff-covered paths, partially obscured, that run through the sorrel. These offered a chance for quieter reflection among the titans.

Find more info on the grove here.

Campgrounds I Liked

Photo: Ben B Miller

Apart from Skyline Wilderness Park mentioned above, there weren’t many standouts. The best of our lot in redwood country was the Richardson Grove RV Park.

If you can get past the spinning cross on their website, tent sites are $22 (good value for the area), and the bathrooms smell like Christmas.

I could see the church pavilion in the center of camp getting a bit rambunctious on Sunday mornings.

Quality Coffeeshops

We racked up plenty more coffeehouse visits on this leg of the journey. It might not be the most “authentic” method for getting to know a place, but the modern freelance travel writer has few options.

Mishka’s Cafe, Davis, CA – Good use of seating space, tons of outlets, all organic. Just don’t sit with your laptop at the front 6 tables — they’re reserved for “traditional” coffeehouse use.

Napa Valley Coffee Roasting, St. Helena, CA – St. Helena is chiller than Napa in all respects. This was a nice place to work.

Photo: Christian González Verón

Di Lusso, Bend, OR – Lots of space and light in this downtown joint. According to the barista, their sandwiches are “rowdy.”

Three Friends Coffeehouse, Portland, OR – We couldn’t go wrong for coffee during our two days in PDX. But this was our favorite.

Victrola Coffee, Seattle, WA – Gourmet beans and a modern, concrete-and-glass aesthetic that fits well downtown. I had trouble with their wifi, though.

Miscellaneous Mention

As aspiring vegans, we were obscenely excited by Portland’s Voodoo Doughnuts. It’s worth the wait in line. Thanks to Lauren Quinn for the tip.

Community Connection

Have a great roadtrip story you’d like to tell? Share it in the comments!

Photo: SF Brit

I COVERED A LOT of ground during the first leg of this trip — Austin to San Francisco takes in tremendous diversity of the American landscape.

This week+ was a total gear shift. The reason my wife and I struck out in the first place was to attend the wedding of her cousin in SF. It went down July 17 at the swanky City Club, which features a stairwell Rivera fresco. It’s the first he created in the U.S. and depicts the people, history, and industry of California. Beautiful.

Before and after was tourist time, exploring the Bay Area with family. Nothing really “off the beaten” enough to report here. My general impressions: heat in the valley / fog on the bay, jackets in July, 20% grades, homelessness, a dude smoking a joint on City Hall lawn. And these 2 lessons:

1. Muir Woods is only 45 minutes from downtown, but the psychic distance is immense. This is a real city escape. The boardwalk paths are busy, but get there early and hike up the longer hill trails and you’re alone with thousand-year-old trees. The English-pub-style restaurant at Pelican Inn, in Muir Beach, kept the mellow mood going for us.

Photo: briandrum

2. Rain isn’t the only way to get soaked. We camped at the Pan Toll area of Mt. Tam State Park. A fog bank rolled up the headland during the night, got caught in the big trees, condensed, and fell as a light but continuous “rain.” The tent was soaked by morning, while the ground away from tree cover was still dusty dry.

Local Travel Secrets

Meeting Matador co-founder Ross Borden for tacos in the Mission was a trip. But our last-night dinner with five Matador contributors/staff was even better. Shaking hands with someone you’ve previously only known through blog comment fields is just wild.

Also, it gave me the chance to source some insider travel tips from locals who know what they’re talking about:

My one tip for a trip to the Bay Area is to visit the East Bay…in particular, Berkeley and Oakland! Both are overshadowed pretty heavily by San Francisco, but they’re just as vibrant without the hordes of tourists. You can eat your way through the history of California cuisine in Berkeley’s Goumet Ghetto (home to Alice Water’s Chez Panisse), hang out with hippies and vagabonds on Telegraph Avenue, soak up the art scene in downtown Oakland’s galleries and hipster cafes (check out the Art Murmur street fair every first Friday!), and hike amongst the redwoods in our multitude of regional parks.

– Naomi

Photo: rick

My advice would be to stay away from some of the usual tourist traps like Fishermans Wharf and the cable cars and explore the city’s eclectic neighborhoods, like the Mission, Noe Valley, North Beach, Hayes Valley, the Sunset and the Richmond. Even though I grew up in the area, I’m still discovering new corners of the city and continue to be amazed by how diverse it is.

- Valerie Ng

The best times to visit are mid-spring and late summer to early fall. If you must visit in the midst of the summer fog, bring layers and be prepared for chilly mornings and nights and unexpected temperatures in general.

The city has a great food culture, but if you’re on a budget, you may not have access to the good stuff if you stick to downtown or the tourist areas that surround it. For delicious eats that are kinder to your wallet, head over to places like the Mission District or Clement Street in the Richmond District.

- Ekua Impraim

If you’re interested in checking out Chinatown, head over to the one in Oakland. Larger than San Francisco’s, it offers a bigger variety of shopping and eating options and is less of a tourist trap than it’s cousin across the bridge.

- Juliane Huang, on Matador here

For the next installment, I’m gathering info on wines and redwoods. Stay tuned.

Community Connection

Visit the blog links of the folks above to find out more on the area. Or connect with other Matador members based in SF.

Photo: Alaskan Dude

I’m driving into the sun.

Orange light streams onto the straight, flat, black-tar ribbon rolled out in front of me. I’ve got my $5 clip-on shades engaged and the visor down, but I’m blinded to the point that I can’t tell whether the dark mass uplifting the horizon 10-11 o’clock is another butte or the front end of the next thunderstorm blowing in from the southwest.

This is what I came for. The tightness in my stomach as I look side to side at unbroken plain, the grays and dull reds of earth flickering beneath the muted turquoise of desert sage. This is roadtrip.

Leg #1 took me from home and the hot Texas Hill Country, to the mesas and Apache and Navajo reservations of New Mexico, to Monument Valley, Glen Canyon, and Utah’s Zion NP, across Nevada wasteland, into the mountains and giant conifer forests of California, all the way to the Bay.

I camped on the way, discovered wifi-ed coffeeshops where I thought there’d be none, hiked where I could, and gathered a couple pieces of local travel advice. Here’s what I learned:

Photo: Author

Campgrounds I Liked

Bottomless Lakes State Park, Roswell, NM

Just 15 miles outside of town, but completely hidden in a dip in the landscape. Tent sites are $10. Not much hiking, but the chain of little sinkhole lakes and the park’s “secret-feeling” location beneath the southern New Mexico plain are novel.

Riana Campground, Abiquiu Lake, NM

This is a private joint used mainly by boaters/fishers, but its spot on a bluff overlooking the reservoir and surrounded by buttes and cliffs is very cool.

Caveats: July and August are “monsoon season,” according to the camp host. Make sure your tent fly is sealed. Also, the campground has a strict no-alcohol policy.

Snow Canyon State Park, St. George, UT

Sprawl is butting in from the south and east, but I definitely felt “away” once I got in here. Summer afternoons bake, so it’s good that the dozen or so tent sites ($16) have some shade. Several trails run across the sand dunes and volcanic pumice fields of a very “geologic” landscape.

Photo: xJasonRogersx

Quality Coffeeshops

As a freelancer, I’m only free to travel if there’s wifi. With motels out and camping in, the hunt for coffeeshops with a reliable connection and enough atmosphere to justify a few hours’ stop becomes a daily routine. Here’s what I found:

Baker Street Coffee House, San Angelo, TX – Don’t let the strip-mall location turn you away. Good sandwiches, coffee, and wifi here.

Collected Works Bookstore and Coffeehouse, Santa Fe, NM – Looks a lot like a Borders cafe, but this place is local. Nice folks working the counter. Finding parking can be a pain.

Andrea Kristina’s Bookstore and Kafe, Farmington, NM – This is really the only place I’d want to stop in Farmington. Gets busy at lunch. Menu is decent.

Oscar’s Cafe, Springdale, UT – Right outside of Zion, this is a restaurant, not a coffeeshop. But they don’t mind you hanging out, sipping local brews and getting some work done. Just remember to be considerate and pack it up during peak meal times.

Stellar Brew, Mammoth Lakes, CA – One of probably many places in town, this is where I happened to land. They open at 5:30am(!). Coffee is supercharged and the music grooves.

Photo: Paraflyer

Local Travel Secrets

Glen Canyon, Page, AZ

After seeing my itinerary, a reader named Audrey commented on my personal blog, WayWorded:

…if you happen to drive thru Page, AZ I recommend to cliff jump at “the chains” and order a “rainbow” at RD’s Drive Thru! Have Fun!

I was actually in Page when I saw the comment, and went to follow up on her tip the next day. “Chains” is a park area accessed off Highway 89 just east of the Glen Canyon Dam.

Despite it being a hot as hell Saturday noon, only a few locals were enjoying the water. There are cliffs from 5 to around 30 feet, just a five-minute walk from the parking area. Confirm the safety of the higher ones with someone in the know, as water levels fluctuate. Watch out for boats.

Gas station gourmet, Lee Vining, CA

Meeting up with Trips intern Sarah Park was a bonus on this leg of the trip. She mandates a stop at the Mobil Mart at the eastern terminus of Tioga Pass Rd., where it hits 395. It’s no ordinary gas station restaurant:

Photo: wilbanks

So, maybe it’s true that the Mobil Mart’s Whoa Nellie Deli exists in a gaping culinary black hole. I could pull up to a gas station, buy a corndog and probably be pretty excited about the experience considering how sparse the options are for real, fresh, actual delicious food. And yes, maybe when I say that this is the best meal I have ever eaten inside a gas station, it doesn’t sound like much of an endorsement.

But while the Mobil Mart could still rake it in by peddling over-priced gasoline and 96-day-old Lunchables, instead they serve lobster taquitos to burly fishermen in flannel. It’s the best food you’ll eat within a 300-mile radius, plus a view of Mono Lake, a full schedule of live outdoor concerts all summer, and mango margaritas by the pitcher.

The lobster taquitos are LEGENDARY, the fish tacos are also a favorite, and if you feel like eating man-food, try the buffalo meatloaf.

Stay tuned for update #2, which is going to be packed with insider travel tips for enjoying the Bay Area.

Community Connection

Hal’s not the only Matador staffer fond of the roadtrip. Check out Joshywashington in Montana Road Trip: Yellowstone and Ian MacKenzie in The Great Matador Roadtrip: Vancouver to San Francisco.

Photo: Hal’s

FOR THE FIRST TIME in a long time, I’ve got no international travel to look forward to. I mean, there’s always a return trip to Korea, a stint abroad in northern Europe — maybe Germany — a bike tour down Central America… But these are all daydreams. My inbox is empty of booking confirmations.

But it’s cool. Travel isn’t international by definition. I’ve already roadtripped half the U.S. this year. And now I’m ready to knock off the other.

On July 7 (or 8, depending what’s happening in the World Cup), my wife and I are throwing the tent in the car, buttoning up the house here in Austin, and hitting the road for San Francisco. We have a week to get there.

Last time, we experimented with an interstate-less route. It was fun, so we’re doing it again. The plan looks something like this:

Texas: San Angelo, Big Spring, Brownfield
New Mexico: Roswell, Corona, Albuquerque, Cuba, Farmington
Arizona: Kayenta, Page
Utah: Kanab, Cedar City
Nevada: Caliente, Tonopah
California: Yosemite, Stockton, San Francisco

Photo: Hal’s

After SF, we’ll head north — probably to redwood country, maybe even as far as Vancouver — before turning for home via Yellowstone and friends in Colorado.

I’m not packing a guidebook. Instead, I want the Matador community to lead me. My hope is to meet up with members along the way and collect their “local travel secrets” — underrated state parks, wacky roadside attractions, hidden swimming holes.

While I may not have time to follow up on each one, I’ll compile them for weekly “Roadtrip Updates” here at TRIPS.

Do you live on or near my route? Want to share your local travel secret with me (and the world)? Send me a private message via my Matador profile and we can go from there.

Community Connection

Have you spent time on the new Matadortravel.com? Check it out, and shoot me a message while you’re at it.

Photo: squob.com

SO THERE’S THIS travel trend that I’ve been trying to ignore. However, it seems to keep rearing it’s ugly head everywhere I turn, so I thought to myself, “Self, let’s just confront it and get it off our chest.” So, here goes.

In case you aren’t privy, glamping — or, glamorous camping — is one of the latest portmanteaus to come out of the “brain” of some marketing “genius.” Other well-known portmanteaus: smog (smoke + fog), spork (spoon + fork), wikipedia (wiki + encyclopedia), and Bennifer and Brangelina (if you don’t know where those came from, I applaud you, and am quite envious).

So why have I been trying to avoid it? Let’s see. Glamorous; Camping. Luxury; Outhouse. 1200-thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets; $15 sleeping bags from K-Mart. Bliss; Miserableness. You see? The two are clearly not compatible.

Photo: spookyamd

Despite that though, there apparently is a market out there for people who are willing to shill out big dough for the appearance of “becoming one with nature.” Now, to be fair, I think glamping has been around for ages. It just used to be called “rustic lodging.”

Take goglamping.net for example (which is the first site Google comes up with when you search the term). They highlight an eco-lodge in the Algarve where you can sleep in a converted yurt, caravan, or firetruck. All fully equipped of course.

Or how about this ecopod boutique retreat in Scotland? What does this even have to do with camping? Looks great, yes. But for £995 per week definitely should not be in the same conversation as camping.

Is there “authentic” glamping?

That is probably not even a valid question. It’s such a new term that there doesn’t appear to be any sort of standard for exactly what the hell it is. Where are the lines drawn? What are the rules?

SpotCoolStuff Travel posted a list of their top 5 “earthy” glamping sites:

1. Ecocamp in Torres del Paine National Park, Chile
2. Teniqua Treetops in South Africa
3. Eco retreats in Wales
4. Forest huts at Lake Skärsjön in Sweden
5. Safari camp at Ningaloo Reef in Australia

In my opinion (which essentially means nothing, I know), glamping — if the term needs to be used (which it doesn’t) — should essentially be the traditional idea of camping, just with a few more amenities for comfort. The sleeping structure should still be readily portable. The bed should not be more comfortable than the one I have at home. Bathtubs and sinks — in fact all plumbing — should still not be allowed inside the tent.

So, most of these fail. Do they look cool? Definitely. Toss a free press trip my way and I’m there in a heartbeat. (Seriously, PR people. You can reach me at carlo[at]matadornetwork[dot]com. I’ll be waiting.)

Glamping? To some / Photo: OctopusHat

What bothers me is the condescension that is involved when marketers come up with ideas like this. Perhaps what gets me even more is that consumers are actually tricked by it. Boutique hostels? C’mon. They’re just slightly nicer hostels (or slightly worse hotels, depending on your perspective).

And the usage of the word “urban.” Toss that before any other word and you’ve got yourself a ready-made trend that yuppies the world over will flock to. Urban Market — where they sell the exact same things as the regular market down the block, but for much much more. Urban Burger — you guessed it. It’s a ground beef patty in a bun! Except this one costs $18.95.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

OK. Your turn. Sound off below!

Photos by author

I FIRST READ about the attempted car bombing in New York’s Times Square late Sunday morning. It was one of those “wow, I was just there the other day” moments. And it was my first and closest brush with terrorism (or whatever it’s classified as). For three months I’m living in New York. As far as I’m concerned, it’s as close to home as anything else at the moment.

Maybe it’s testament to how resilient New Yorkers have become in the aftermath of 9/11, but I didn’t hear one peep about this until a good 16 hours after the event. And we were out Saturday night amongst “the people”. Or, it could just be testament at how little attention we pay to the news.

Regardless, since then I haven’t heard much about it other than when I made the bad decision to flip on the tube for some morning telly. Some New York politician was on, talking about how Obama needs to send more money this way to increase security. The message I came away from watching him was, we should be afraid. We should be VERY afraid.

Which is pretty much why I don’t like watching the news. Especially American news.

Seriously. What are the odds of getting caught in the middle of a terrorist attack? Less than two months ago, an airplane crashed in Georgia killing a guy who was just out for a bit of a jog. How’s that for odds?

The other night, my wife and I took a wrong turn down Flushing Ave and ended up in a dodgy industrial area, devoid mostly of people, except a few sketchy looking folks — one who said “watch your back” as we passed by, me carrying a $2500 camera slung across my shoulder.

Death by smoking, or by terrorism?

I know I should be more wary of those situations than of potential terrorist attacks.

Driving, cycling, and walking in New York are potentially very dangerous activities, yet it’s done mindlessly on a daily basis.

How much more likely am I to be injured or killed cycling through an intersection where some impatient moron waiting to turn left decides to pass the person in front of them who’s also waiting to turn left (this actually happened to me here) than from gasoline, a few fireworks, and nonexplosive fertilizer stored in a car?

Getting “doored” has shown good promise here as inconsiderate drivers swing open their car doors into cycling lanes without looking. Walking across a crosswalk even with a walk signal is dangerous as drivers who are obviously in life-and-death emergencies speed around corners, trying to beat the pedestrians.

We’ll be here in New York for another couple of months. I’ll be more scared of being sideswiped by a passing bus than I will be of bombs.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

How does news like this affect you?

What do you do on a daily basis that’s more likely to cause you harm than terrorism?

Carlo, in the deep end

Carlo says:

When I got “the call” from Managing Editor Julie Schwietert asking if I was interested in joining the team as a Contributing Editor at Trips, my first reaction was, “Holy shit!” Then that subsided and I started to think about what that meant. In truth, I had no idea what that meant. I had no idea what an editor did. For that matter, I had little idea what a writer did.

But I threw myself in the deep end anyway and was buoyed by the support of the senior editors and the entire Matador team. And now, one year later, I’m sitting here trying to find a way to thank everyone — the staff (editors, interns, ninjas…yes, we have ninjas), you (the readers), and the rest of the Matador and Internet community in general — without sounding cheesy.

Everything I come up with sounds like an Oscar speech, so I’ll just leave it at that. Keep the inspiration coming through the comments, we really do value it.

Hal says:

I second everything Carlo said, which now gives me the opportunity to go all top-10-list on y’all. Here are 10 things I’ve learned in my first year “working” for Matador:

10. There are people out there who will give you money for doing something you enjoy. Thank god.
9. Being an editor is as hard as being a writer…probably more.
8. Print is dead or dying, and I don’t really care.
7. People have a thing for nude beaches, Amsterdam, and photos from crazy places.
6. Julie was bitten by a radioactive worker bee as a child and now is able to spend 23 hours a day gettin’ shit done.
5. I have been subconsciously conditioned to write in non-transparent marketing speak. Unconditioning is not easy.
4. I need to meet more virtual peeps in person, because the ones I have are very cool.
3. No matter what the hour, there is always someone from the Matador staff awake and on the computer. Oh, and interns rock.
2. I now know how to say “cheers!” in 50 languages, where to go to grad school abroad, which tattoo cliches to avoid, where not to surf, which travel laptops are best, how to develop a personal manifesto, where to volunteer for free, whether American football or rugby is tougher, which Matador members to watch, how to travel the world for free, and where to find the best travel video on the web.
1. Ross Borden has a plan. It’s called world domination. It’s working.

Hal, hard at “work”

Community Connection

What have you learned from Matador, and in particular Matador Trips, over the past year? What have you liked/disliked? Where would you like to see Trips go in 2010-11? Join the community and share your voice.

IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE it’s already been almost two months since I left Australia. Herein lies the trick. When you’re traveling, how do you make time slow down? I would reckon by not moving too much, and this is exactly what Yvonne and I are trying to do. Of course, this is easier said than done when you’ve got itchy feet.

I’m currently in my hometown of Vancouver, Canada for one month. I just witnessed Canada bring home the most gold medals of any country in the history of the Winter Olympic Games. Wait, I guess there’s no “bringing home” necessary, it all happened right here in my backyard.

Yes, Ian’s beer is much bigger than mine.

The best part was watching Canada beat the US in men’s hockey with fellow Matadorian and BraveNewTraveler editor, Ian Mackenzie.

The day before the big win I took the opportunity to hook up with Matadorian and WorldHum Senior Editor, Eva Holland, for a quick cuppa.

This li’l trip of ours is turning into one big Matador meet ‘n’ greet. If all goes to plan I’ll be meeting Sarah Menkedick, editor at Abroad, in her hometown of Oaxaca, Mexico later this month.

And then we’ll be bumming around New York City after that for 30 days, where our Senior Editor, Julie Schwietert, happens to live.

And there are many more of you lying in my path that I hope to run into. This is why I’m so passionate about this Community. Not only are Matadorians so welcoming and engaging in cyberspace, but they extend this to the real world, where it really counts.

We’ve recently been hammering home the point about the importance of transparency, and you can’t get much more transparent than that.

Until we meet!

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

I’ve begun documenting my Cuban excursions. Check out my Photo Essay: Cycling Cuba and By the Numbers: Cuba by Bicycle.

Me and my Bike Friday in Albert Park, Melbourne

After spending the entirety of my Matador tenure stationary in Melbourne, it’s finally time for me to hit the road and do some traveling of my own. I’ve been inspired by the submissions we received from daring adventurers and wide-eyed wanderers over the past year. I hope I can tap into the energy, even a little.

My wife and I are changing tack a bit on our life and travel philosophy. Whereas before we were happy with the work-save-travel-work cycle, we’re going to try something different. This time around it’s open-ended. We have no idea when we’ll stop, and we have no idea where we’ll stop. We will attempt to be — and excuse the phrase — more organic.

We want to move with the flow, take opportunities as they arise, and experience places more than just moving through them.

We will sit still in some of our destinations. We will pick up work where and when we can. And we will just, well, live life. Not try to only “see” or “do” things. Just…live. Because this is it. This is life.

Hiking in the Pyranees

The gist

We do, however, have a few things planned (it’s just good sense). We depart Australia on January 10 and arrive a few days later in Cuba with our Bike Fridays. We don’t necessarily plan to “tour Cuba” by bicycle, but we will use our bikes to transport us around, as we see fit.

I’m especially looking forward to visiting my hometown of Vancouver, Canada in February. We’ll take in the Olympic Winter Games vibe and catch up with friends and family. It will be almost three years to the date since we left, so this will be a brand new experience for me. I’m anxious about it.

After that we’ll be moving south down the Pacific coast, and hope to meet some fellow Matadorians along the way, like our inimitable CEO, Ross Borden, in San Francisco. New York is on the radar where we’ll spend a month just hangin’ out. I’m really looking forward to meeting in person someone I consider a mentor of sorts, who’s been with me every step of the way during my foray into the writing universe — Matador’s managing editor Julie Schwietert.

If you’re somewhere along that path, drop me a line. Maybe we can meet up.

GR92 in Costa Brava, Spain

Next?

This is where things start to get hazy for us. We will fly to Europe (and visit my wife’s family in Germany somewhere in there), but that’s about all we know. The only other thing we know is that the road will eventually lead us back to Australia, to drive around in our camperized Delica, S.A.M.

Maybe that’s not so honest. We don’t actually know that. You can never really know anything, can you?

So if you’re wondering where I am over the next couple of months, there you have it. And speaking of that, I have to give a big muchas gracias, merci beaucoup, spaseeba bolshoy, and xie xie to Hal Amen for doing the job of two while I’m incommunicado.

It’s a big undertaking to bring you the best destination-based content on the web, but I also take comfort knowing he’ll have the support of the amazing Matador team.

Enjoy your holidays everyone — of course, responsibly. It’s the start of a new decade. Here’s to the one-ders.

Photo: muha…

Your Matador Trips editors believe a thoughtful photograph can rival a well-crafted travel tale. This was reconfirmed for me recently when I found The Boston Globe’s photo site: The Big Picture. Seriously, check these out:

On the shoreline: A celebration of those narrow lines where water meets earth.
Watching the H1Ni flu pandemic: Surgical masks, syringes, and wet wipes from around the world.
Pushkar Mela: Shots from an annual camel fair in Rajasthan, India (and some of the best photos I’ve ever seen).

We’ve brought you some pretty sweet photo essays ourselves in recent months. In fact, one of them, The Most Alien Landscapes on Earth, just surpassed half a million pageviews. Here are some other classics:

12 Lesser-Known Ruins of the World
GIANT Redwoods, the Tallest Living Things on Our Planet
Berlin 20/20: A Photo Tour of a Reunited City
13 Places to Get Close to the EDGE

Photo: meaduva

We’ve also invited everyone from the Matador Community to join in the photo fun. If you haven’t already, make sure to visit the Matador Photography Flickr group and sign up.

Carlo’s taken the initiative there, putting out calls for shots that we can use for our Wordless Wanderlust series, as well as submissions for an upcoming wildlife photo essay.

But most importantly, Matador Network has been active on this topic from the beginning, publishing some truly valuable content designed to help you step up your photog game. Have you read these?

The A-B-C-D-E of Travel Photography
What makes a photo tell a story?
Studies in Travel Photography: Perspective, Timing, and Themes

It only gets better from here. Just a couple weeks ago the news came out that MatadorU, fired up from the success of its 12-week Travel Writing Program, will be offering a travel photography course in 2010.

Here’s to more photo essays on Matador Trips, and more kick-ass photographers in the Matador tribe.

Hal Amen, Co-editor

Community Connection

Again, you’re invited to join Matador Photography over at Flickr. We’ve already got more than 100 members and hundreds of travel photos.

Your editors, Hal (being ridiculous) and Carlo (saying wtf!?)

As the world’s largest independent travel magazine, Matador holds transparency as one of its core values.

Matador Network brings you dozens of stories each week straight from our own experiences and those of our contributors. They’re written by people who know the places and issues they’re covering, and are motivated to share that knowledge with an audience who appreciates it.

Here at Trips, transparency manifests itself in guides that cut the BS and tell you what you want to know about a destination. In other words, we’re not trying to “sell” you place, just show it to you.

We think it’s an approach that works. So, in the spirit of transparency…

We Want You to Know Who We Are

You can visit the Trips About page to learn about your editors, check out our bylines, scope our Matador profiles.

But the door opens further than that. Our web presence isn’t limited to Trips; we both keep personal blogs where we wax (usually unpoetically) about our travels, our lives, and what it’s like being an editor for Matador.

Hal’s is called WayWorded and is coming up on its two-year anniversary. Carlo maintains two: the eponymous Carlo Alcos and The Long Layover, where he’s chronicling his and his wife’s current lives in Melbourne.

And we’re not the only ones. To find links to the personal sites of everyone on the Matador team, scroll down to the sidebar list titled “Editor Blogs” on any article in the network.

We Want to Know Who You Are

Hal hiking Mt. Snowdon, Wales

That’s us. How about you?

There would be no Trips without its readers, so we want to know who you are and what’s in your head.

What Trips piece is your absolute favorite? Which article opened you up to a destination you’d never heard of or considered before? What made you laugh, sigh, smirk?

How can we improve?

We’ve put ourselves out there — now it’s your turn. Join the discussion by commenting on this or any other post, or email us your take directly at hal[at]matadornetwork[dot]com and carlo[at]matadornetwork[dot]com.

We can’t wait to hear from you.

Photo: Ed Yourdon

As a Canadian living in Melbourne, the recent death of Canadian backpacker Cain Aguiar hit a little too close to home. The rising level of violence in this city, both in frequency and severity, is cause for concern.

It seems standard now to open the Monday newspaper only to read about a big brawl, bottling, or stabbing leading to hospitalized victims and worse, as in this case, ending in death. Last week Cain, while drinking by himself at a local pub, was attacked by three men, allegedly because he was talking to a woman known by the three accused.

As Cain lay in a hospital bed on life support, his sister set up a Facebook group for others to join and offer their support and well wishes. Unfortunately, the group theme had to be changed from “hope” to “rest in peace” when the family made the impossibly difficult decision to turn off the life support.

Remember, you’re not at home

While this sort of thing can easily happen at home too, it’s safe to say that we are more vulnerable on the road. We don’t really know the area we are in, we don’t know the culture, and we let our guard down a little. After all, we are supposed to be relaxed, having a good time and trying new things.

The case of Australian Britt Lapthorne, who was found murdered in Croatia late last year, serves as an example where “toning it down” would probably have led to much different results. Partying it up and getting out of hand is one thing at home, but abroad it’s a whole different ball of wax, where we stand out and can be more easily taken advantage of.

When you’re in a foreign country, be aware of your surroundings and err on the side of caution. We’re not invincible.

Safe travels everyone.

Photo: geoftheref

I gazed out the bus window last Sunday afternoon to see…well, nothing.

No jagged mountains or endless pampas as I’d imagined. Instead, a solid sheet of white hung like TV static out the slowly progressing bus window. Blizzard-like conditions were slamming Patagonia’s Route 40.

This was the first time I saw it snow during my now six months in South America. And I was just as shocked as I had been back in January, flying out of snowy Boston to arrive in the humid, hazy summer of Lima. How amazing that it’s possible to switch seasons in a day simply by hopping a plane.

Photo: lepiaf.geo

However strange it may feel, I’m ready to take advantage of what Patagonia’s throwing at me.

Over the next month or so that I’ll be here in Esquel, Argentina, volunteering with Asociación MAPU (which just so happens to be a Matador member organization), I should have a couple days free to hit the local ski mountain, La Hoya.

And if I were to venture a bit farther north, I could sample a couple of the 5 Best Southern Hemisphere Ski Resorts that Trips profiled earlier this year.

The other three are in Australia/New Zealand.

What about my fellow Southern Hemisphereans? What are your plans for enjoying the winter of 2009 while our cousins up north steam and sweat? Let me know in the comments.

Community Connection

To connect with other Matador members stationed below the belt, search the community destination pages.

Photo above: notsogoodphotography, Feature photo: the trial

It’s a time when many take to the beach to relax or get their sport on, and the Guardian’s travel section recently released a top-10 list of the world’s best stretches of sand.

Who’d they ask? People who know their beaches — marine biologists, surfing instructors, and divers, among others.

Photo: notsogoodphotography

Here’s what they came up with:

1. Kapalua Bay, Maui, Hawaii, U.S.
2. Hossegor, France
3. Hyams Beach, New South Wales, Australia
4. Porthtowan, Cornwall, United Kingdom
5. Bingin Beach, Bali
6. Seven Mile Beach, Grand Cayman Island
7. Sifah beach, Oman
8. Namotu, Fiji
9. Punta Lobos, southern Chile
10. Pease Bay, Scotland

Look at the geographical diversity of this list. You can literally find your favorite anywhere in the world.

They offer different colors and textures of sand, different crowds, different surf breaks…different ways to enjoy the summer.

We at Trips want to know: what are your favorite beaches? Where can you be found come June 21, and what will you be doing there? Let us know in the comments!

Community Connection

Matador has covered a variety of beach-related topics, from the Best Nude Beaches in the World to Simple Beach Yoga for Backpackers.

Need help figuring out your family summer travel plans? Maybe a photo essay of reader-recommended family destinations is what you need.

Carlo rockin’ out

If you’re wondering where you’ve landed, don’t fret. You’re home!

The Matador Network has an all new layout and we’re gearing up to bring you more content.

Each week we’ll be taking you to peaks, rivers, waves, cities and towns around the world, giving you the heads up on places you may not have heard about otherwise.

Your two editors are longtime Matadorians and ex-pats living on opposite sides of the globe. Carlo is a Vancouverite calling Melbourne home for now; Hal grew up deep in the heart of Texas and is currently kicking around the Andes.

We’re both driven by a passion to explore the world, its inhabitants and its beauty.

Hal, about to plummet into a Bolivian canyon

We’ll share what we find along the way but we also hope to learn, so don’t be shy!

If you feel inclined to leave comments on what you see, good or bad, please do. We want to hear your thoughts and experiences even more than we want to hear ourselves (trust us).

But don’t stop there. Become a member of the Matador Community and interact with like-minded travelers. Subscribe to our feeds and have posts delivered to you as they’re written.

And if you have something you’d like to appear on these pages, become a contributor yourself.

These are exiting times at Matador — be a part of them!