Flightster
When Things Go Wrong
- by Colin Wright
- on December 15th, 2011
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I’m sitting in my second taxi cab of the day, doing my best not to hit my head on the lower-than-usual interior and trying (with much futility) to unfurrow my brow.
The only thing keeping my head up is a heap of frustration, a dash of anger and a dose of Red Bull. I’ve just been kicked off a train with two friends who are visiting me from overseas, and our travel plans have been abruptly cancelled, leaving us with a double-handful of phone call rain checks to take and about 12,000 rupees less in our pockets.
How They Get Around
- by Colin Wright
- on November 29th, 2011
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In the United States, we place a great deal of significance in the cars we drive. Our sense of independence and focus on standing out as individuals pushes us toward having the freedom and prestige that comes with owning a car, and owning one that says something about the person driving it. Even those who don’t own cars tend to do so in a way that expresses something about them: “I’m riding this bike because I’m such-and-such,” or “I’m walking because I’m a so-and-so.”
This yardstick translates well from country to country.
Don’t Mess with Kolkata
- by Colin Wright
- on November 17th, 2011
- 1 Comment
I had never seen unabashed littering until I moved to Argentina.
Sure, I had seen people throw candy bar wrappers on the ground. Maybe they’d leave their styrofoam cup on the park bench when they left. And smokers, well, smokers just toss their spent butts wherever they like.
But until I landed in Buenos Aires, all the litterers I had seen at least had the conscience to look ashamed for what they were doing. A quick glance around to see if they were being judged by other pedestrians. A slight grimace as they committed their crime, as they got a little pat on on the head from their shoulder devil (while the shoulder angel gently wept over their actions).
Photos with Locals
- by Colin Wright
- on November 5th, 2011
- 1 Comment
You’re walking around your new digs — a relatively-clean hotel, or maybe a flat you’re renting for a few weeks near the center of town — and you see it.
The perfect photo opportunity.
You run up to the group of locals who make up the composition and lean in next to them, stretch out your arm to its full length and snap a photo with them. Or you hand off the camera to a friend or bystander and have them take the photo for you. Either way, you may have just stolen someone’s soul.
My 8 Tips for Better Road Trips
- by Colin Wright
- on August 22nd, 2011
- 1 Comment
It’s been a little while since I talked about road trips, but seeing as how I just returned from a small one around Missouri, it seems like a good time to touch on some things that one should keep in mind before, during and after trekking around those long, unforgiving highways.
Home as a Vacation Destination
- by Colin Wright
- on July 25th, 2011
- 1 Comment
Home Again and Again
When you’re on the road – whether as a lifestyle or just for a few days – all of your senses are on high-alert.
Your ears perk up at every foreign sound, your eyes track all of the unfamiliar colors and faces and styles of hat, and your brain stores it in neat little neuron-boxes, ready for quick-and-accurate retrieval. You know why? Because this – THIS – is important. This is travel. This is another country or city or planet (soon enough). You’re going to want to remember this.
Travel as a Project
- by Colin Wright
- on July 5th, 2011
- 1 Comment
No matter where you go or why, travel can be a lot of fun.
You’re putting yourself in a new context, and that allows you to remove yourself from established habits and routines. You also will usually find more novelty to take in, as the place you’re visiting is not your day-to-day environment, and there’s so much more that’s unfamiliar.
The Things We Leave Behind
- by Colin Wright
- on June 13th, 2011
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It’s impossible to travel without leaving a trace.
Sometimes it’s trash, sometimes it’s gifts, sometimes it’s just a memory or a photograph on a wall, but we all leave evidence of our passing through, whether in the physical environment or the memory of locals. You were there, and someone knows it and remembers.
That’s not a particularly easy thing to change. What you can control, however, is what you leave behind.
Coping with Volcanoes and Uncertainty on the Road
- by Colin Wright
- on May 23rd, 2011
- 2 Comments
As I write this, I’m sitting in a living room in London, eating sweet biscuits and checking up on alternative modes of travel between the UK and Iceland.
I arrived in England a week ago, and since then I’ve had the chance to catch up with old friends from my days in Argentina, enjoy a South African brai in Oxford, watch a hip-hop dance troupe rile up an audience full of teeny bopper fans, and meet up with a handful of people that I’ve been speaking to online, but never before had the chance to chat with in person.
What’s Your Ideal Seasonal Travel Plan?
- by Colin Wright
- on May 2nd, 2011
- 3 Comments
Since I arrived in Iceland, people have been telling me ‘just wait until June, you will be surprised by how bright it is at night.’
Turns out I don’t have to wait until June to take in an Arctic Circle Summer. Although it’s not sunny 24/7 as of yet, it is bright most of the day and night, with the sun peaking up along the horizon at about 4am and not descending into anything that you would think of as ‘night’ until after 10pm.
