When I was at the Adventures in Travel Expo in DC a couple of months ago, I had dinner with a group of folks affiliated with National Geographic. Included in that fascinating group were Deia Schlosberg and Gregg Treinish. Deia and Gregg were named 2008 Nat Geo Adventurers of the Year for having spent 2 years walking 7,800 miles Across the Andes along South America’s West Coast.
In addition to meeting them at dinner, I also saw their presentation at the ATE. They do a great job of incorporating video, photos and some fascinating stories about their travels into their programs. If you get a chance to see them, DO.
(Oh and as a side note, they got engaged at the end of their journey after arriving at the tip of South America!)
Until they pop into your neighborhood to tell their story, you can hear an audio interview on Wend Magazine.
Which is a nice lead-in to this adventure magazine.
Even though these folks are based just down the road in Portland, I had actually never heard of Wend before receiving a nice little note from Anna, the magazine’s Senior Editor. What caught my attention is the fact that they make a special effort to highlight adventurous women. A couple of examples are their Wend Ambassadors, including Heidi Swift who writes Cycling Diaries and Liz Clark who writes about sailing.
Take a look at most travel magazines and you’ll see that the majority of articles are written by men. So it’s encouraging for me to find a publisher that has about 40% of their content written by WanderGals (and as Anna told me, they are always looking for more!).
As a travel writer, I admit I’m a sucker for printed glossy travel magazines. And Wend IS available at news stands. But for just $5 (and that really is a steal), you can have access to their online magazine for a full year.
At a time when magazines are folder like crazy, I hope you’ll take the time to help support these folks!
Travel Well,
Beth
Photo Across the Andes: Deia Schlosberg and Gregg Treinish
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Meg Noble Peterson says
I thoroughly enjoyed this entry, Beth, and will keep my eye open for this amazing couple. More and more people are making these journeys, like the French couple, the Poussins, who walked 14,000 kilometers from the southern tip of Africa to the Sea of Galilea. Inspiring!
I finally was able to upload my short video clip of the porters singing on Mt. Kilimanjaro. The fidelity is far less once you hit YouTube, but the spirit remains. Think you’ll enjoy it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGrBKpMFrUU
I always look forward to your blogs. They are truly interesting and full of information I find nowhere else. Thanks, Meg