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