~ Here’s a shout-out for all you travel writers, bloggers, and in deed, anyone with a good travel story to relate.
The deadline for this year's Solas Awards for Best Travel Story of the Year is just a few days away (September 21, 2009). To enter this year's competition, go to BestTravelWriting.com and follow the instructions.
As of today, competition is light in the following categories: Animal Encounter, Cruise Story, Doing Good or the Kindness of Strangers, Elder Travel, Love Story, Men's Travel, Travel and Healing, Travel and Shopping, Travel and Sports, and Young Traveler. All entries submitted before midnight, September 21 will be eligible. Entries submitted after that will be entered in next year's competition.
The Solas Awards are an annual competition to find the best writing being done about the world today. The Travelers' Tales editors will choose winners in 21 categories ranging from adventure to humour, from destination to memoir, and everything in between. The grand prize category has cash awards of $1,000, $750, and $500; all other category winners receive a certificate and a copy of the most recent edition of The Best Travel Writing or The Best Women's Travel Writing. Plus, winners may be published in Travelers' Tales books.
I have a number of these collections on my bookshelf that I’m hoping to review for upcoming blog posts, so the thought that someone reading this might end up in a future collection of published tales is very exciting.
Travelers’ Tales. Award-winning publisher Travelers’ Tales is the sponsor of The Solas Awards.
Extraordinary stories about travel and the human spirit have been the cornerstones of their books since 1993. With the Solas Awards they say they want to honour writers whose work inspires others to explore. To that end, they are looking for the best stories about travel and the world—funny, illuminating, adventurous, uplifting, scary, inspiring, poignant—stories that reflect the unique alchemy that occurs when you enter unfamiliar territory and begin to see the world differently as a result. Their ultimate hope is that these awards will be a catalyst for those who love to leave home and tell others about it.
Third Annual Solas Awards Winners Winners of the Third Annual Solas Awards for Best Travel Story of the Year were announced February 28, 2009 by the editors of Travelers’ Tales. Grand Prize winner David Torrey Peters collected $1,000 for “The Bamenda Syndrome,” his compelling story about madness in a Cameroon village. Bruce Berger won the silver award and $750 for “Discalced,” his charming tale of the life of shoes in Spain and Baja California. Kathleen Spivack took the bronze and $500 for “The Empty Rocker,” her poignant memory of a friendship in Paris and Amsterdam. Read these stories on the Great Stories page.
So get to it. If you think you have a compelling story to tell, read through the submission guidelines on the Best Travel Writing website and submit your best travel story.
~ In 2002, three young Germans, Stefan Kluge, Mathias Eimann, and Gerald Menzel set off on their Great American Adventure, hoping to drive the length of Route 66. Their transportation of choice is a massive 2.3 ton, 1974, red Eldorado Cadillac convertible.
The resulting film: Route 66: An American (Bad) Dream, is a salutary lesson on what not to do on your American road trip – or any road trip for that matter. Clearly, these travellers where under prepared for their journey, since it would appear they had no insurance, no AAA cover, and no idea that the car they had paid $2,500 for was barely roadworthy.
The Caddie either breaks down constantly, runs out of fuel, or suffers a litany of other mechanical problems throughout the journey (broken gear box, flat battery, worn brakes, oil leaks, blown tyre and an exhaust pipe that needs to be replaced en route). In fact, the car breaks down before the journey even begins, which surely must have been a portent of the problems to come.
However, the three travellers are saved by their naivety; the assistance offered to them by complete strangers; the friendliness of the people they meet along the way; and the little mechanical knowledge they do share between them.
As you would expect, they meet an assortment of characters, and offer wry observations, such as this gem: “Americans live in their cars, and they eat there. For that, you need cup holders. Nowadays, new cars will be judged by the number of cup holders they have. If you watch advertisements, you will find that the number of cup holders seems to be as important as the number of cylinders or the vehicle load capacity. Modern minivans like the Chevy Venture have up to 17 cup holders. Above all, that could be the reason why our car [is] no longer been seen on the American highways. A missing cup holder! In 1974, even Cadillac wasn’t thinking about cup holders.”
Intriguingly, the credits note that the film is “Based on the book, Route 66 in einem 74er Cadillac”, (Route 66 in a ’74 Cadillac), written by Stefan Kluge and co-authored by Mathias Eimann. Stefan Kluge has also added the following brief plot summary to the film’s entry on the Internet Movie Database, where the film is given the title: Route 66: An American (Bad) Dream.
“Route 66: Ein amerikanischer Albtraum (2004) Three German provincials are searching for Hollywood. So they take the most American values they can picture: an absurdly vast car, full of fast food, bottles of oil and camera equipment on the way to California via Route 66. That they never find Hollywood is not the only surprise - on their quest for the American clichés they face unplanned incidents. A documentary drama somewhere between Jackass and Michael Moore, between gloating and satire.”
As Germany’s first Open Source film, you can download and view the film for free from the VEB Film website. You also get a good idea of how technology is being used to today. The creators of Route 66 filmed, edited and produced the film themselves. They are using the internet to ‘distribute’ the film around the world, and on top of that, they include a Creative Commons License which allows you to add to, or reedit the film in any way you choose.
As for the film itself, as already noted, is provides a good lesson in how not to organise and conduct a long road trip. Preparation is the key to a safe, successful journey, and while it is impossible to guard against every eventuality or potential problem, a little planning – as the saying goes – goes a long way.
Along the way we get to see vast stretches of open highway, interspersed with our intrepid travellers eating fast food (McDonald’s seems to be their main diet); repairing the vehicles brakes; visiting the famous Cadillac Ranch with its series of Caddie’s buried ‘nose first’ in the open prairie near Amarillo, Texas; doing the laundry; replacing a flat tyre; get brief glimpses of Washington, DC., New York City, and Las Vegas; more breakdowns; etc, etc.
As the three travellers cross the country, we learn almost nothing about the towns, cities, and country they pass through. If it wasn’t for their encounters with helpful strangers along the way – strangers who essentially save the travellers from themselves; from their own disorganisation and incompetence – we might not have even got to ‘meet’ some of the 300 million people who inhabit the United States today.
At 103 minutes the film is over long, and could easily be edited down to a workable 90 minute version without losing any flow or drama. In fact, apart from a brief encounter with a police patrol car, and watching them deal with constant mechanical problems, nothing particularly dramatic happens. The first 20 minutes of the film is spent waiting for the Cadillac to be fixed, and when the journey proper finally begins they head for New York and the ‘start’ of their road trip.
Because the three travellers presumably talked to each other in their native German, we learn about the details of the trip via a voiceover which, despite the strong German accent is quiet and unobtrusive, and never gets in the way of the unfolding journey. The commentary is filled with wry observations and explanations such as the one already quoted above, as well as others in which we learn about the ‘joys’ of cheap motel accommodations. Where “…every motel has its own individual characteristic, and while you are driving in the dusk, you are already wondering…if the indoor aerial will fall off during the NBA playoffs”; or this, “…the distance between your bed and your car won’t be more than three metres...”
Where the three are filmed talking to each other, subtitles allow us to listen in on their conversations as we ride with them inside the Cadillac.
Finally, excellent atmospheric music is provided throughout by the German electronic group, Valley Forge(note: the website is entirely in German). The group consists of Thomas Bechholds (synths, organ, piano, vocoder), with Michael Seitz (drums, percussion, synths) and Jürgen Winter (guitars).
To sum up, if you are planning your own road trip across America (or anywhere), Route 66: An American (Bad) Dream, is worth viewing for the many lessons to be gleaned from our hapless adventurers.
By the way, the ‘bad’ dream alluded to in the title, is entirely the result of the film makers own lack of care and forethought. As I’ve said throughout this review, and repeat once again, the film is a great lesson in what not to do when embarking on a long road trip, and if viewing Route 66 encourages you to put more thought and care into planning your own travels, it will have been worth the 103 minutes you invest in it.
~ Call it what you will: bathroom; toilet; lavatory; loo; restroom; latrine; bog; John; thunder box; the heads; privy; dunny; W.C.; khazi; outhouse; or finally, just the Crapper (after Thomas Crapper, the man who is supposed to have invented the modern toilet). Yes folks, if there is one thing that every traveller has in common, it will be the need to eventually go in search of a public convenience.
And nine times out of ten, you can never find one when you need it most!
Well, rest easy dear reader, relief is at hand. In my relentless quest to help you answer the call of nature, I have tracked down a couple of online resources that can help relieve the pressure when the need is most pressing.
If you are travelling anywhere in Australia, give thanks to the very helpful people at the Australian Department of Health and Ageing, who have produced the National Public Toilet Map, which, believe it or not, is a “Project of the National Continence Management Strategy”.
I feel better already.
The home page for the National Public Toilet Map indicates the site provides locations for over 15,300 public toilets right around Australia, which you can search by post code, suburb, or by entering the name of the town or city you happen to be in.
On a much grander scale is the Sit or Squat website. Yes, that really is its name. Still in development, this site eventually aims to list every public toilet in theworld. In the world,people. You need never be caught short again, now that those friendly folks over at Charmin Toilet Paper have teamed up with Sit or Squat to guide you to the nearest relief station.
In fact, as of this writing, the site lists 64,959 public toilets around the world. That represents an awful lot of relief for a lot of potentially desperate travellers, but I’m sure there are tens of thousands more public conveniences that are waiting to be added to the site – so get cracking. Visit the site and see if the public loos in your neighbourhood are listed, and if they are not, add them today.
However, given that technology is involved here, don’t be surprised if it doesn’t work as intended.
On a whim, I decided to look at the Sit or Squat toilet suggestions for New York City. Now there’s a town that really knows how to test your limits for bladder control! If it wasn’t for the thousands of cafés, restaurants, Starbucks and McDonald’s outlets, New York’s streets would be awash with… well, never mind... I think you get the idea.
If you walk down 42nd Street towards the Hudson River, you will find yourself between Pier 81 and Pier 83, near where the Intrepid is moored. This area has been extensively redeveloped, and there is a large public toilet block where the Circle Line Ferries tie up. To my surprise, nay, amazement, Sit or Squatdid not have this building pinpointed on their site.
Not to worry, the website allows visitors to sign up and add public toilets to the database. So being the good citizen that I am, I signed in and completed the online form with details about the missing loo. To my chagrin, Sit or Squat rejected my entry with a message stating that “the address you entered belongs to an existing toilet.”
“Oh, really?” said I, shouting at the computer, “Then why isn’t pinpointed on your map?”
According to Sit or Squat, the nearest toilets are at the New York Ferry Terminal at 39th Street - four blocks away! A man could get into a whole lot of trouble trying to run four New York City blocks with a full bladder, let me tell you!
Well, at least I tried. To update the information, that is - not run four NYC blocks with a... Oh, never mind!
Undeterred, I entered details for missing toilets on the Esplanade at Semaphore, a short 10 minute walk from home. This time I was successful. So the next time you are in desperate need of a public toilet while relaxing on Semaphore beach, and consult SoS for the nearest WC, you will have me to thank for showing you where it is.
~ Here’s a shout-out for all you travel writers, bloggers, and in deed, anyone with a good travel story to relate.
