Following the Equator

Mark Twain needs help

"The holy passion of Friendship is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole lifetime, if not asked to lend money."    — Twain

Perhaps an exception to Mark Twain's adage about money and friends can be granted on behalf of the master himself.

Imagine our disappointment yesterday when, shortly after writing about Twain's travel literature, we learned that his former house in Hartford, Connecticut, is in danger of being closed to the public because it's running out of money.

Unfortunately, as yesterday's New York Times' headline puts it,
"This Time, Rumors of Demise May Be True."

The Mark Twain House & Museum is where Twain reached the pinnacle of his success, holing up in the third-floor billiard room to pen by hand, among other masterpieces, Huckleberry Finn.

New book on Twain's travel literature

Our blog's inspirational hero, Mark Twain, has always been the premier champion of travel.

Few writers have expressed the essence and importance of traveling as clearly and as compellingly as Twain. And few people have had the perspective to observe the world with such keen insight.

Now, a new book turns the tables on Twain's travels, examining his own writing. The book— titled Mark Twain's Travel Literature: The Odyssey of a Mind
by English professor Harold H. Hellwig—provides an analysis of the travel themes that Twain used in his classic works, including Following the Equator.

One man's odyssey through "The Odyssey"

When National Public Radio contributor Scott Huler announced on-air that he will never, ever read Ulysses, the famous tome by James Joyce, he sparked a chain of events over which only Fate could chuckle.

From book club analyses of the renounced 800-page book to a six-month cross-cultural trek in the name of Odysseus (the original Ulysses), Huler uncovers the many layers of himself, The Odyssey and the world.

With its conversational tone, honesty and refreshing insight, Huler's new book, No-Man's Lands: One Man's Odyssey Through The Odyssey, reminds us all that in this adventure called life, sometimes returning home is the best adventure of them all.

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Scott Huler about his experience and the importance of world travel. Here’s what he said:

The Bard's Birthday

Today is William Shakespeare's 444th birthday. There's an insightful article in today's Melbourne Herald Sun about the timelessness of the Bard and why we should celebrate today:

"Shakespeare has more than any other figure in literature influenced how we see the world."

Writer Christopher Bantick illustrates some of the lasting lessons that Shakespeare taught us in his enduring plays.

Speaking of plays, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London opens its 2008 season today with King Lear—his "most profound tragedy"—which is running until October 5. The theater also commemorated his birthday with a giant celebration Sunday.

Vagabonding's inspiration

Speaking of Mark Twain, our favorite travel writer gets his due from author Rolf Potts in the April issue of National Geographic Traveler.

Potts is the champion of vagabonding, or extended traveling without a set itinerary. He has written a book, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel, and maintains a Web site, vagabonding.net, devoted to his passion.

There's a Q&A with Potts in the April National Geographic Traveler, and editor Keith Bellows asked him, "Which storytellers have had the most influence on you?" Potts' response:

"Certainly Mark Twain. He was someone who could travel the world and find delightful details. I recall Twain said he'd seen enough bones of St. Stephen in European cathedrals to replicate him several times over."

We love a good Twain reference. Our friends at Intelligent Travel also posted a video excerpt of the interview:

Travel Tidbits: Shakespeare marathon

Are you ready for some Shakespeare?

If you're like my father (a high school English teacher and devoted student of Shakespeare), you can't get enough of William Shakespeare. So here's an unprecedented opportunity: The esteemed Royal Shakespeare Company is performing the Bard's entire, eight-play History Cycle in order.

The Histories cover 100 years of English history and nearly 1,400 minutes of viewing time. That's more than 23 hours to you and me. The RSC is performing all eight plays in the order that Shakespeare wrote them (and his audiences would have seen them): Henry VI Parts I, II & III, followed by Richard III, Richard II, Henry IV Parts I & II and finishing with Henry V.

The epic undertaking is believed to be the first time one theater company has staged the entire History Cycle. It has taken more than two-and-a-half years to produce.

There's a lot of good information at the Royal Shakespeare Company site. But  Globespotters has some impressive figures: 34 actors play 264 parts, each part is understudied, which means a total of 528 parts have been rehearsed. The production also includes 210,000 spoken words, 800 costumes, 40 wigs and hairpieces and—get this—more than 15 liters of stage blood.

The Histories are running through Sunday at the RSC's Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, and then the performances will run from April 1 to May 25 at The Roundhouse in London.

Adams on Europe

If the president of the United States goes on record to praise a tour destination as beautiful or amazing, I would be inclined to mention it on tour.

So as the EF Tour Director for a group of fellow North Americans, it was from that angle that I introduced our imminent visit to the Alhambra—the 13th-century Moorish palace built into the hills overlooking Granada, Spain. 

Microphone in hand, I readied an excerpt from Bill Clinton’s My Life (my group was Canadian, so I felt relatively assured that a mention of Mr. Clinton wouldn’t spark a partisan flare-up on the bus) and unleashed the following quote on them:

"I never got over the romantic pull of Spain, the raw pulse of the land, the expansive, rugged spirit of the people, the haunting memories of the lost civil war, the Prado, the beauty of the Alhambra. When I was President, Hillary and I became friends with King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia. (On my last trip to Spain, President Juan Carlos had remembered my telling him of my nostalgia about Granada and took Hillary and me back there.  After thirty years I walked through the Alhambra again, in a Spain now democratic and free of Francoism, thanks in no small part to him.)" [Clinton, My Life, 172]

The group perked up, either owing to the content of the message or the fact that I delivered it in my best Bill Clinton voice.

In the words of Sir Francis Bacon

We love historic, world-traveling authors here. One of the most famous is Sir Francis Bacon, the English philosopher, statesman and author who penned the essay "Of Travel" in 1597.

World Hum writer Rolf Potts just reworked the essay in the form of a modern-day magazine feature (complete with magazine cover). It's a brilliant combination of 16th-century substance and 21st-century style—and it's a great read.

You can read the full text of Bacon's original essay below.

Travel Tidbits: A conquering hero

One of the 20th century's greatest explorers, Sir Edmund Hillary, died January 10. He and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were the first known people to reach the top of Mount Everest.

Hillary and Norgay literally stood on top of the world on May 29, 1953, when they reached the summit of Mount Everest, 29,035 feet above sea level, the highest point on Earth. Of reaching the pinnacle moment, Hillary wrote:

"Another few weary steps and there was nothing above us but the sky. There was no false cornice, no final pinnacle. We were standing together on the summit. There was enough space for about six people. We had conquered Everest. … Awe, wonder, humility, pride, exaltation—these surely ought to be the confused emotions of the first men to stand on the highest peak on Earth, after so many others had failed."

Since then, more than 3,000 people have ascended Mount Everest, but Hillary—like Roald Amundsen reaching the South Pole in 1911, Charles Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic in 1927 and Neil Armstrong setting foot on the moon in 1969—was the first. He devoted much of the rest of his life to assisting the mountain people of Nepal.

World Hum and Gadling both paid tribute to the man whom New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark called "a colossus." You also can read obituaries from the Associated Press and The New York Times. The New Zealand native was 88.

It's been awhile, so we have several other Travel Tidbits to catch up on:

Twain inspiration

We're not the only blog drawing inspiration from Mark Twain these days.

In his blog, Global Neighbourhoods, Shel Israel just tipped us off to Leo Babauta. Leo just resigned from his job to write his blog, Zen Habits, full-time. Leo's announcement began with this favorite Twain quote:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Good advice. And good luck, Leo!

Speaking of inspiration, Shel (and Robert Scoble) wrote the blog book Naked Conversations, which encouraged us to begin this blog in the first place. Thanks, Shel!