My friend, Lauren, recently alerted me to the disappearance of Aubrey Sacco who was on a solo trip through South Asia and was last seen part way through the Langtang trek in Nepal. Aubrey went missing sometime around the 3rd week in April. She was to check in with her family on April 29, but never did.

Aubrey seemingly did everything right. Though on her own, she was connected – keeping up a blog as well as posting photos and touching base with her family on a regular basis. Definitely not a wallflower, Aubrey was making friends with the locals and she wasn’t traveling to places necessarily deemed as “dangerous”. Though the U.S. State Department listed Nepal on its travel warning pages back in November, 2009, nothing has been updated about the region since.

A dozen things could have happened to Aubrey including the possibility that she was simply hurt along the way and is recovering in a remote village.

But this news, and the recent arrest of Dutch citizen Joran van der Sloot (the main suspect in the Natalie Holloway killing in Aruba) for the murder of a Peruvian woman, has me really sad and concerned about the safety of women travelers.

Though I’m a huge advocate of solo travel and believe that taking certain precautions can alleviate much of the inherent dangers that come with walking out your front door or hopping on an international flight, the truth is that there’s never a guarantee that your travels are going to be 100% safe.

We obviously don’t have all the details, but Aubrey’s circumstances are particularly haunting to me as she doesn’t appear to have done anything differently than I might have done myself. If I had had the access to the technology available today, no doubt I would have been posting stories and images from my travels through India and Nepal (I, too, trekked Langtang) 20 years ago.

One of my best friends in high school was killed in a freak accident in his early 20′s when he was traveling in England on what was to be his life’s dream trip. While walking on a sidewalk, he was hit by a car whose driver had an epileptic seizure and veered off the road. Shit happens and sometimes the stars line up to hand us a bag of it.

No magic bullets today or tips on how to be safer. Just a simple alert about Aubrey Sacco as every woman traveler should know her story. Her dad is now in Nepal with an organized search party. You can keep up with their progress on the Aubrey Sacco Facebook page. And I’ll be sure to keep you posted when I hear more when details emerge.

Travel Well!

Beth

Related links:
What Constitutes a Dangerous Destination?
Getting Over Reverse Culture Shock
A Monk Walks onto a Plane
One Way Ticket to Ride
American Travel Ethos

Photo Credit: Langtang National Park by TheDreamSky

In December, Google discovered a cyber attack against their site and about 20 others. The Google attack involved the Gmail accounts of human rights activists in China. As a result, Google is now “discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all.” In other words, they are willing to entertain the possibility of shutting down Google.cn and their offices there if the government doesn’t play nice.

This is Google’s attempt at ethical business practices (after all, their policy is “Don’t Be Evil”). This has made me think about ethics in travel and whether by traveling to (and ultimately supporting) countries with very bad leaders, this ultimately hurts or helps the people.

Let’s take Burma as an example.

On the one hand, there’s the belief that by traveling to a country like Burma, you are exposing the local people to a world beyond their limited access. It provides them with information and some hope that they can one day have a better life. Perhaps you hire a guide for a day. He might make $5 that he wouldn’t normally be able to earn. He can now buy food for his family. All good.

On the other hand, many tour operators and popular sites are run by the government including the temples and palaces. This makes it nearly impossible to avoid putting money in the pockets of Burma’s repressive regime. Little, if any, of that money directly helps the people who need it most. Instead, it’s used to further the cause of the government and make the politicians richer. All bad.

At one point, political activist, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest in Burma for 14 of the last 20 years, requested that travelers not visit Burma. She recently reversed her decision on that – proving that this is a conundrum even for those closest to the situation.

Let’s get back to Google.

They’re a huge company. But China’s bigger. Even if they were to pull out of China (and I personally hope that they do), will it actually help the great people of this country? Probably not. But it is a symbolic, if not a truly helpful gesture to China that they can’t get away with this S*^&. Neither the suppression nor any involvement (if indeed they were involved) in hacking sites for the purpose of tracking down those opposed to their government.

I haven’t been to China and have no immediate plans to visit. I’m sickened by the treatment of the Tibetan people and while I’m eager as anything to get to Tibet, I can’t bring myself to do it. I think I’d be too sad. Right or wrong thinking, I don’t know. I do know that for now, I’m content visiting countries where the human rights records are a bit stronger. No country is perfect, but with China I have strong enough feelings about it that it’s kept the country low on my priority list.

And you?

Travel Well!

Beth

Related links:
Knock Knock. Who’s there? The Feds.

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Photo Credit: China Protest – tibchris

Despite my desire to upgrade, there was something that really bothered me about the whole Cash for Clunkers program. This niggling in the back of my mind arose from what I’ve seen over the last 22 years during my travels to developing countries. Specifically, I have seen just how ingenious a person can be when it comes to repairs (of cars, electronics, phones, bicycles, motorcycles, you name it) when they don’t have the money to buy (or have access to) new parts.

I’ve seen barrels filled with water, hoses connected to the engine, sitting atop buses in Vietnam, a sort of cooling system when the original one fails. I’ve seen bicycles held together with wires. I’ve had my own motorcycle dismantled and fixed in Mexico in a remote area without the use of a lift or proper tools. And in Kolkata, I had my broken camera repaired at the “camera hospital”, a tiny room filled with unsophisticated equipment. It was returned in perfect condition.

For about $20 U.S., I had my camera repaired in Kolkata. This same repair would have been prohibitively expensive in Seattle. I would have tossed the camera and purchased a new one.

I understand the relationship between cheap labor in a developing country and affordable repairs, but in the U.S., we think nothing of buying a new item and tossing the old into the junk heap. This forces us into our disposable mindset. And hence the frenzy to trade in a car that runs perfectly well for a car that gets a bit better gas mileage. Not a bad idea, really, until you consider what happened to all those cars.

Described by the U.S. government as “wildly successful”, more than 700,000 “clunkers” were taken off the road. Liberated. Replaced by a car that’s more environmentally friendly.

Liquid glass was added to the engines so as to render them useless. Then these now undriveable cars were crushed or dismantled for their parts.

In a 2005 story from the Cambodia Daily, cars considered scrap in the U.S. are shipped to Cambodia and other developing countries en masse. They’re sold at affordable prices to these countries and give the cars a new life. What happens now? In a recent article on Vox, the Cash for Clunkers program “is likely to displace international trade in used vehicles”.

We’ve just buried nearly 3/4 million cars. Cars that could have been shipped to other countries. To people whose governments will not provide them with a rebate to purchase a car – new or used. People who cannot afford anything but what we might consider a clunker. These people will now have to go without or continue to maintain older vehicles that could very well add even more carbon emissions into the environment than if they had traded up to one of our clunkers.

If we’re truly a global society, who’s thinking about the rest of the world?

Travel Well,

Beth

Photo cars: Kodiax2

Related links:
The American Travel Ethos
Flight Booking Engines – What Works?
What Makes a Travel Hotspot?
Unplugging While Traveling
Airport Safety = Security Theater?
Pretty Young Thang
How Not to be a Trashy Tourist

I’ve experienced this myself in the world of travel. I moved to Seattle nearly 20 years ago because I liked it’s vibe. I was a traveler at heart and even then I could tell that this region would be more accepting of my wayward lifestyle than the east coast, where I grew up. Seattle is home to the first and now oldest travel bookstore in the U.S (Wide World Books & Maps). North of Seattle lives Rick Steves and his travel empire. The area has attracted the likes of some of the best climbers in the world (Ed Viesturs, Eric Simonson) as well as travel and nature photographers (Art Wolfe, Michele Westmorland). More recently, we’ve gained a bit of attention as the hub of some of the most interesting, active and generous travel bloggers (Pam Mandel, Debbie Dubrow, Michelle Duffy, Harriet Baskas, Peter Carey, Kelly and Austin, Anne Taylor, Annika Hipple to name just a few). Matt Harding? He’s here, too (and in a class by himself, I might add). Oh, and don’t forget we’re home to Expedia and Yapta.

I wouldn’t be anywhere without the support and group think that I’ve learned from every one of these people, either personally or peripherally.

Who could resist Seattle by moonlight as seen from Alki?

It’s my belief that Seattle has attracted a traveling community for several reasons. For one, our weather plain sucks in the winter – so we just want to leave. We love the city most months which keeps us coming back, but we just gotta get away when the January blues hit. When we return, we congregate to share our experiences. I also have to believe that like attracts like and when you have institutions like Wide World Books and Rick Steves, these just continue to bring more travelers to the area.

This whole line of thinking got me wondering what makes a great travel destination…

Just as Seattle has become a hub for travel and innovation related to travel, popular destinations must draw people for specific reasons, too. Why is it that a whole community of expat Americans now live in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico? Why does one off-the-beaten-path village capture the hearts of some tourists (who then tell their friends) while another doesn’t seem to have the same magic?

I’m not so certain that there is ever one single thing that makes a destination perfectly attractive to travelers. Just as many wheels have to be set in motion for any given incident (good or bad), I believe that many things have to line up in order for a beach to catch on as “the” next best haven or an area starts to attract a particular type of traveler (whether it’s backpackers, beachbums or artists).

Sunset in Santa Fe

There’s only one destination that comes to mind that has a magical pull for me. It’s Santa Fe, New Mexico. From the very first time I visited, I can remember feeling like I was at home – with the adobe architecture and chili peppers hanging from porches. I’m drawn back there time again to the Mexican-influenced food, language and lifestyle and to the dramatic landscapes. I know others for which the region has the same effect.

I’ve spent a little time in the village of Mt. Shasta, where the mountain looms not far away. Many people claim that this area literally has pulled them there. It didn’t have the same effect on me but I heard it from enough people that I can’t doubt it.

What destinations have pulled or repelled you and why?

Travel Well,

Beth

Related links:
Unplugging While Traveling
Airport Safety = Security Theater?
Pretty Young Thang
Medical Tourism: Dental Work in Bangkok
Understanding Travel Insurance
How Not to be a Trashy Tourist

Lots of little late night elves have been working fast and furiously at pulling together this beautiful (if I do say so myself) layout.

Yes, pieces of it are “coming soon” but much of the guts are still here.

And, one final note. The Intrepid contest ends tonight. All entries must be recieved by 11:59 p.m. PST at intrepid (at) wanderlustandlipstick (dot) com.

Travel well!