If you have ever traveled outside of the West you’ve probably been approached by someone asking for help immigrating to The U.S., or every once in a while, Canada. I got a lot of this in Asia and Africa. Sometimes it would be a checkout girl in a supermarket in Nairobi, other times it was a kid on a bus asking about college scholarships. I’m surprised that they think a complete stranger would lie for them. I saw a lot of men in suits in Africa sitting in internet cafes looking for “jobs in America” or “expedited work visas.” It was sad, really, because all of these people were going to lose a lot of money and come out without a visa.

In Rwanda a man in an internet cafe asked me to translate something from English to French. I don’t speak French but I saw what he was looking at and tried to warn him. He had received an email from the “U.S. Department of Labour” about a job opportunity. There were so many red flags that it was nearly impossible to fathom anyone would fall for this. The email was sent from a Yahoo address, the logo was badly photoshopped, the body text was brown and many words were misspelled. Apparently this man had already wired the contact a large sum of money (hundred of dollars, which was probably his life savings) and received a request for more money. I explained that this was not the U.S. government and that at this point it was best to give up and accept the lost money. I can’t imagine how anyone would think the U.S. government would ask an applicant to wire money to a bank in The Congo.

This man was from The D.R.C. (Congo) and was somewhat educated but not enough to qualify for a skilled laborer visa. I suggested he apply for a refugee visa, as it would be the easiest to get but his pride would not allow that despite telling me he was “going to die in The Congo.” He kept glancing back at the screen with the fake email and I insisted not to pursue it. I even showed him the real U.S. government’s immigration website. We looked at the requirements and there was no way he could fulfill them. The amount of money needed to immigrate is substantial for someone from Africa and I understand why. If someone shows up with little money and no family how will they assimilate and support themselves? He had thought about getting the money together for a plane ticket but nothing else. I felt bad breaking the news to him but can only hope he listened to me and didn’t waste his savings on an email scam.

I was reminded of this encounter when I came across this interesting chart depicting the immigration process to the U.S. To read the conditions you can go directly to the large version here. Apparently even if you qualify the wait is anywhere from six to twenty eight years. Maybe I need to print this chart out and carry it around with me on my next trip to help explain just how hopeless the reality is for most people.

Me-go Mix: Track 9
“Analakely” — Lola
To download using Windows “right click” and save to disk. Mac users, you know what to do.

The sprawling market at the end of Analakely Street in downtown Antananarivo

Sometimes when you’re traveling in a country you hear a handful of popular songs over and over. Lola’s songs were everywhere in Madagascar. When you don’t speak the language it can be hard to figure out what you’re listening to, but if you’re willing to engage in a little pantomime you can usually figure it out. The song I heard the most in Madagascar was “I Gaskara”, which I’ve already posted. It started playing in a craft shop in Ambostra and, after pointed to my ear and into the air, the woman started singing the song and then wrote the name down on a piece of paper for me.

I didn’t find many music shops until I got back to the capital, where there are stands of CD sellers lining Analakely street, the main thoroughfare in town. The stands had a lot of strange music, including old Billy Joel CDs and Gospel recordings. I was surprised to find no Lola CDs for sale on the street and started to ask around. One man with a bag full of CDs came up with a Lola CD which was obviously pirated and began to sing Lola’s “Manahirana” to me. The serenade attracted a crowd of young men selling a variety of cheap plastic goods who surrounded me and joined in. Buying CDs off street sellers is always a risk because you never know what’s on the disc. In this case I bargained him down to 1/4th his asking price, an amount I didn’t mind losing if the CD was blank.

When I popped it into my laptop back at the hotel I discovered it wasn’t blank, but it was a VCD disc with various artists including Lola, but not the Lola song I was looking for. The next day I tracked down a brick and mortar record store carrying real Lola CDs on Analakely Street near the market (a photo of the store is in this post). I was shocked at the price of CDs, which were cheaper than the U.S. but too expensive for a local to afford. Two Mormon missionaries dressed in black suits and ties came in and we discussed the price of CDs. In my travels I often run across missionaries, but the ones from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints always lend a bit of surrealness to my surroundings. Young men dressed in suits, pasty white and always in pairs, they tend to stick out even in the United States so you can imagine how strange they would look in a record shop in Madagascar on a 90 degree day. I ended up getting a full Lola CD (not VCD!), and having the opportunity to listen to it before I handed over my money. “Analakely” is the third, and last, Lola song on my mix. Enjoy!

The co-author of “100 Things to Do Before You Die,” Dave Freeman, died two weeks ago at the age of 47. Here’s a short article. Perhaps this will help to persuade those of you putting off a RTW until you have more money, more time or fewer commitments that life is short.

One of the questions I often get from people starting to plan an around-the-world trip is “where should I go?” There are many ways to start to put together a trip:

1. Get idea from your picture books in the library
2. Paste a route together from the “classic routes” in the front of Lonely Planet Guides
3. Think back to the “far away, exotic lands” you read about or the stunning articles you saw in National Geographic as a child
4. Plan a route based on a theme (museums, tallest buildings, festivals)
5. Grab inspiration from historic explorers

If you’re interested in in #5 this site (flash) might be of some help. It has potential to be much more than it is but it does give an overview of historic explorers’ routes like The Silk Road and Marco Polo’s route from Europe to Asia (two that I briefly followed). I wish more information was listed on the individual route pages but this is something to start with.

The email just came… my photo of a lemur in Isialo National Park in Madagascar will definitely be in Issue #4 of Everywhere Magazine! I haven’t seen a publication date for the issue yet (I’m guessing August/September) but you can catch a sneak peek or click through the whole issue here. My photo is toward the end of the National Parks stories on a spread with a bunch of wildlife shots. Despite the fact that, as a graphic designer, I’ve had the opportunity to have my photos and illustrations in numerous books and even photoshop my face into a spread or two this is still very exciting.

Hi loyal readers, long time no see! I have been incredibly busy the last few months and my intended posts are piling up. I did receive an email yesterday that should be of interest to the travelers reading this. Everywhere Magazine has been put on “hold.” Although my article on the national parks of Madagascar didn’t make it in what will be the last issue, I was asked to write a caption of one of my photos and was told it was already placed in the layout. I am not sure if it will still be appearing in issue #4, I’ll let you know once I hear anything. It’s unfortunate that this magazine, which let regular travelers participate in the publishing industry, couldn’t make it.

Below is the email I received from Everywhere yesterday:

To the Everywhere Community,

Launching a travel magazine was always an ambitious undertaking, but 8020 Publishing is committed to the idea of creating beautiful publications that combine the vitality of the Web with the richness of print. You made it possible for us to produce four terrific issues of Everywhere, but sadly we must now suspend publication of the magazine.

Why? At the end of the day, we just aren’t where we need to be, business-wise, with the website or magazine. Suspending publication of Everywhere will enable 8020 Publishing to focus on improving the community platform behind JPG Magazine, 8020’s other title. That, in turn, will benefit all the future titles 8020 plans to produce.

In the meantime, the Everywhere website at www.everywheremag.com will remain online so you can continue to share your travel stories and photos. If you subscribed to Everywhere, you will be contacted in the upcoming weeks with information about refund options. Selected contributors for our upcoming issue, Issue 04, will be contacted later this week with their payment information.

It goes without saying that this is a disappointing turn of events. Most of all, though, I can’t tell you how much we enjoyed having the opportunity to collaborate with so many intrepid travelers, wonderful writers, and talented photographers. It’s been a privilege working with you all, and we had a ton of fun along the way. You’ve inspired us, entertained us, awed us, and given us an incurable case of wanderlust. Thank you.

Best wishes,

Everywhere Magazine

I came across a few fun travel links today for everyone. First off, a t-shirt for those of you looking to pretend to blend in (or just be ironic): The I am a local photographer (I am not a tourist) t-shirt. This is a limited edition so order before the end of June.

Finally, here’s a fun little video from Lonely Planet TV about Bolivia’s volunteer zebra crossing guards:

I was searching for an email address last night and came across this appropriate email from my dad, who passed away almost three years ago.

Megan,
It is over. Kerry conceded this afternoon. He couldn’t win Ohio even with the provisional ballots yet to be counted. Bush gave his triumphant winning speech.

The stock market went up dramatically today. The really big winners were the oil and drug company stocks. They will benefit greatly from the Bush victory. I guess that Bush subscribes to the trickle down theory that if these industries do well it will somehow benefit everyone.

At least Crane is out and we will have a great new senator from Illinois (Obama).

Love,
Dad

At the time of the 2004 U.S. election I was traveling by bus on dirt roads from Jinghong, China to the Vietnamese border. Besides a horrible Danielle Steel novel, the only thing that helped pass the time was the anticipation of election results once I got back to civilization. Email and TV access in SaPa, Vietnam was scarce and my dad sent me updates on the whole vote counting mess. I knew about Obama from his campaigning before I left for phase I of my trip and I was just as excited to see him elected as I was the see my long-time nemesis Phil Crane defeated.

More recently, I had some long conversations with locals in Africa who were incredibly excited about Obama. A 15 year-old Kenyan boy asked me about the odds of him winning the Democratic nomination and we talked about racism vs sexism in the U.S. The conversation was one of the few highlights of my overland trip in a cage from the Ethiopian border to Nairobi. All of Kenya must be going nuts right now (in a good, non-riot way) with the news that Obama is the presumptive nominee. When entering Kenya from Uganda the border guard noticed my place of birth on my passport (Illinois) and with a big grin asked me to tell Barack she said hello.

My dad would have loved this election and I’m sorry he won’t be able to cast a vote in November. He always supported my interest in politics and never discouraged me from setting out a democratic-themed pumpkin on Halloween in my heavily Republican town. I was only 15 in the picture below, and wasn’t old enough to vote for either candidate on my pumpkin but today I feel the same sense of excitement and hope for the future of U.S. politics that I felt back then.

One thing I hear all the time is “when are you going to write a book?” I’m sure most RTW travelers hear similar requests and reply with the same ambivalence as I do. Every once in a while I ask what kind of book they suggest I write and I’ve been surprised by the answer.

One would assume that they mean a book about my travels, maybe an anthology of short stories or possibly a memoir but that’s not the case. Although some people suggest a typical travel memoir, most suggest something entirely different. A number of people seem to think I should write a “how-to” travel advice book or even compile a book of photographs or drawings.

For my own curiosity I wonder what you, my readers, would have me write. I’m putting a poll in the sidebar, but feel free to leave any brilliant suggestions in the comments.

After returning home last fall I spotted a new travel magazine at my local bookstore, Everywhere Magazine. It’s an interesting idea, using a website to gather content rather than relying on professional travel writers. It also gives regular travelers a chance to be published. I’ve been waiting for the perfect “theme” to come up and issue #4’s National Park theme seemed like a great opportunity to write about one of the more exotic places I traveled to.

Madagascar is one of the places I haven’t finished writing much about on this blog, much to some reader’s dismay. Although this article doesn’t contain a lot of personal anecdotes (they don’t encourage anything over 1,000 words) it’s a solid overview of the features of the four parks I visited. In addition to the text, the accompanying pictures may be new or slightly different shots than you’ve seen on this site. Head on over to Everywhere to check out my story and the others submitted for issue#4: My story, titled “Nature’s Experiment”

This makes me wonder, what magazines is the traveler reading these days? Most magazines I see are aimed at the high end market, stuffed with resort ads. Leave your awesome travel magazine recommendations in the comments.