I usually start this column by swinging by the Forum and point you towards the hot issues there and the pleas for help from travellers about to head off into the wild unknown. But this week, I’m going to do this a little differently. This week I’m going to start at Just Back From.
Just Back From is a relatively new section on the website. We created it because we thought it would be a quick and easy way for myWanderlusters to share up-to-the-minute tips and advice on destinations they’d just returned from.
It’s been hugely popular, but there has been one unintended side-effect. Reading it sends me into a spiraling fit of depression.
Let me explain. Contrary to popular belief, none of us here at the Towers are flitting off around the world, filing copy via satellite phones as we share a local brew with a previously undiscovered tribe. Instead, we’re chained to our desks, sometimes literally, getting excited about the fact that a Morrisons Local has opened a couple of doors down for us.
So, as you can imagine, reading that Layhe has fulfilled a lifelong dream by visiting Machu Picchu and the Galapagos or that Amandaj immersed herself deeply into the Aboriginal culture of Australia’s remote Kimberley Coast, does nothing for our fragile states of mind. Then there’s Julia69 buzzing about in helicopters and light planes and landing on glaciers in New Zealand (not to mention her close encounters with volcanoes and earthquakes on Tanna in Vanuatu.) And Rosbod chilling out in the Curonian Spit National Park in Lithuania. Really, it’s just too much.
More galling is how much fun everyone is having even closer to home. I’m sure Marcpj was deliberately taunting me with his report of sipping a 15-year-old malt whisky listening to a fiddle player in Edinburgh. And satkinson knocking back wonderful beers only a Eurostar ride away was just too much. I would say that it’s got to stop but I know none of you will listen anyway.
There’s no escaping it over at Experiences either. Trishd has been hanging out with apprentice Geisha, picking up a few makeup tips. Faraway Vision gets Makkin and Yakkin in the Shetlands. And Steve48 reports on the food of the Faroes. Most compelling title of the week goes to Denssa.Mate with Sobbing beauty of Bali. I bet no-one has been able to resist clicking on that one.
Our photography section has been commandeered by caeccles this week, with galleries of photos from the Ukraine, Norway, Czech Republic and Gibraltar. Massive border queues not shown, but there is a picture of a monkey driving a car, which is always worth a look. You’ll also find some more Maasai photos from chandaala. And some close up shots of hungry looking polar bears from Svalbard by HPerryP2. Check them all out here.
Finally, as we swing by the Forum, you might want to help will out with his visit to Kaliningrad and Dew with her journey to Ifaty Beach in Madagascar. Will has also opened a can of worms with a call for the return of the old points system on myWanderlust. Before my time, but if you want to have your say, pop over here.
Anyway, I’m off to gently rock backwards and forwards in a corner of the office. Until next week…
