listastic

10 Things One San Franciscan Likes About Los Angeles

by Ekua on November 28, 2011 · 7 comments in California,listastic,why i travel

In the vast and varied country of the United States, fellow residents tend to misunderstand each other as much as they have a tendency to misunderstand the world beyond. It’s disconcerting to see how many people form concrete opinions of other places based on very little knowledge of and experience in those places.

I discovered my own habit of doing this during my travels to the South. I’ve had enlightening experiences there where found that I liked that part of the country more than I imagined I would. I realized that my negative opinions on it were based on stereotypes, politics, and history rather than personal experiences with the current people and places.

Recently, I’ve also eased up on Los Angeles. In California, there is a little tiff between SoCal and NorCal, and more specifically between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It’s a microcosm of larger issues in the country and in the world and while it’s not detrimental, it can be petty and counterproductive.

While there are still stereotypical and true characteristics of Los Angeles that I don’t like, I’ve found many other things to appreciate about it. I’ve accepted the city for what it is and opened myself up to discovering its more awesome aspects, and that has been a good thing.

Here’s a collection of things that have made me happy on my recent visits to Los Angeles:

» Warm Weather

I love San Francisco, but its weather is not the jam. It has its hotter times, but it tends to hover around highs of 60 degrees Fahrenheit year round, give or take about 10 degrees. I actually prefer to be in warmer climates and I’m not a fan of bundling up. LA is more capable of making these partialities feasible. When I go there, I can pack light and give myself a break from restrictive outerwear.

» The Diverse Array of Cultures

Los Angeles goes far beyond the typical subsections of American cities. There is Koreatown, Thai Town, Little Ethiopia, a sizable population of Hasidic Jews, and areas that make me feel like I’m in Mexico. As a fan of traveling, I really appreciate this cultural mix up all in one location.

» Food

The awesome weather combined with people from all over the world make for an excellent food culture in Los Angeles. There are year round farmers markets everywhere and an abundance of international restaurants and food trucks. There is often an emphasis on food that’s produced locally with respect for the environment and the people who will consume it.

» The Laid Back Atmosphere

Something I noticed on a trip to LA last year is that people there give off an air of being on vacation in their own town. I really enjoy the very city-like energy and feel of San Francisco, but I appreciate the more relaxed nature of LA as well. It’s a nice break from my typical surroundings.

» Hiking to the Hollywood Sign at Sunset

This was the highlight of my most recent trip to Los Angeles. The day after Thanksgiving, we got off to a late start on this hike, but it turned out to be great timing. The lighting was gorgeous on the way up, and when we reached the top, we had a 360 degree view of the Los Angeles and beyond, all aglow in sunset light.

» LACMA

Last summer, I had an afternoon to myself where I happened to be within walking distance of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and it happened to be a free entrance day. I decided to take advantage of that. LACMA is impressive before you even walk in; there is a wonderful light sculpture at the entrance. Once you’re inside, there is an amazing collection of art from around the world. The exhibits are presented in a way that really enhances the art and gives you a sense of the periods and places they come from. The curation at LACMA is artistic excellence in itself.

» Day Trips to Santa Monica

Santa Monica is such an interesting place. With the beach, the boardwalk, the Third Street Promenade, and surf city atmosphere, it’s the California of a lot of people’s dreams. But there is also a very apparent desperate and gritty side to it. These aspects combined make for a truthful dose of Americana.

» Secondhand Shopping

When I’ve gone secondhand shopping in LA, I’ve found some good stuff, I think partly because styles change so quickly and people often get rid of barely worn items. If you’re not caught up in following trends closely, there is good stuff to be found. Beyond the shops, last summer I came across the Melrose Trading Post, a hipstery weekly flea market that has all kinds of little treasures that reflect many different periods of LA. I saw wacky furniture, vintage travel and movie posters, tons of antique knickknacks, and some great jewelry.

» Strange and Passionate People

Venice Beach has its fair share of the LA counterculture, but there are a lot of unique individuals throughout the city. It’s a city that attracts people from all over the country, a lot of them with personalities that were probably too large for Small Town, USA. While there are a lot of people in Los Angeles chasing vacuous and vague dreams of stardom, there are plenty more who may still be enticed by stardom, but have a true love and passion for their art. Los Angeles and San Francisco seem to be equally full of people who are endearingly odd and steadfast about expressing themselves.

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How to Meet People When You’re Traveling Solo

by Ekua on October 10, 2011 · 2 comments in d.i.y. travel,listastic,solo travel

I tried to play it cool at the beginning of my first big solo trip, but I was pretty nervous about the whole thing.  While I value my alone time, I can also be a very social person. Going into that trip, I was worried that I wouldn’t meet anyone that I would click with and that I could have a lonely month ahead of me. Once I arrived, however, it wasn’t long until I found myself meeting all kinds of new people and forgetting all about how fearful I was at the beginning of it.

A few months ago, I wrote a post entitled 7 Reasons to Work Up the Nerve to Travel Solo. One of the reasons I offered was “To meet people you would never otherwise meet,” one of the aspects of solo travel I enjoy the most. To me, making great connections when I go abroad on my own now seems like a given, but I definitely remember what it felt like to be unaware of the possibilities you can open yourself up to when you travel solo.

In a series that aims to give people the courage to try solo travel, ideas on ways to ensure that you make friends along the way seemed like the best fit for the second post. Here are my suggestions for making your solo trip a very social trip:

» Stay in hostels.

You are undoubtedly going to meet more people if you stay in communal accommodations. When you’re by yourself, hostels provide you with several other people who are doing the same thing and a set up that makes it easier to connect with those people. I prefer smaller hostels rather than larger ones because the atmosphere tends to be more homey and community oriented. You’re likely to meet more people in hostel if you stay in a large room with a lot of bunks, but if you’re not interested in that, quite a few have smaller and single rooms available if you book in advance.

» Travel slowly.

Flitting about from place to place is sometimes necessary, but meeting new people is much easier if you stay in one place for as long as you can. The longer you stay, the more likely locals and expats will want to invest their time in getting to know you because they’ll see that you’re not just passing through. When you establish yourself at wherever you’re sleeping, you’ll begin to feel comfortable and that will lead to easy conversation with other people who are staying there. Traveling slowly also allows for time to do things like taking classes or working on an organic farm which will further enable you to meet new people.

» Become a regular.

When I stay in one city or town for five days or more, I find a spot I like (usually a cafe) and go there regularly. This is a great way to connect with the staff and also to meet locals who stop by daily. I find that eventually (if not immediately), they’ll be curious about you and strike up a conversation with you.

» Network online before you go.

I’ve made some great real life connections through travel blogging. If you read someone’s blog and enjoy it, chances are that the person will make a good tour guide or show you to really cool spots if you end up in their town. Of course, when it comes to meeting up with bloggers, it’s really helpful if you have your own online presence so that the other person feels comfortable with meeting up with you.

And of course, there’s Couchsurfing. I’ve never been active on it, but I know a lot of frequent solo travelers live by it and regularly use it to stay with and/or meet people wherever they go.

» Be open and bold.

There are often times when the people I deem to be unlikely friends at first glance turn out to be some of the most fascinating individuals once I get to know them. So even if there’s a big age gap, cultural difference or other seemingly huge difference, try breaking out of the boundaries that you inadvertently set for yourself at home. The more open you are, the better your chances will be of meeting people you really connect with.

People may approach you, especially if you’re smiling and look happy to be wherever you are, but sometimes you have to begin the conversation. With fellow travelers, the classic coversation starter is, “Where are you from?” It’s super generic, but it gets a conversation going, especially because über-travelers love to chat about places.

» Join a short tour.

Joining up with a tour group for a day or a week is a good way to make insta-friends and take a break from making your own arrangements. Tours often get a bad rap because of those gigantic ones that cart you around constantly and never give you enough time to really experience a location. They’re not all like that; there are plenty of them that arrange your transport and accommodations while leaving you free to do what you wish during the day. There are a lot of places that are really easy to travel independently where I wouldn’t bother with a tour, but I think tours make sense for some destinations and certain experiences are difficult or impossible to do without one (example: exploring the Amazon Basin in Bolivia). Tours can be hit or miss, but if you’re lucky enough to end up with the right tour group, it can be an extremely rewarding feat.

» Keep in touch.

Add new friends you meet on the road on Facebook or exchange e-mail addresses. Even if you part ways with new travel friends, you have a greater chance of linking up with them again in another city later on your trip if you have a way to contact them. Also, you can end up with great contacts all over the world who you can meet up with on your next solo trip. Maintaining friendships with fellow wanderlusters I’ve met abroad has been one of the most rewarding aspects of travel for me.

» Be patient.

It can take time to gain the confidence required to meet people on the road. Even with following all these tips, you may find yourself hiding out in your room, wondering why you decided to go on your trip alone. But it gets easier with time and soon enough, you’ll find that starting conversations with strangers has become easier and making lifelong friendships with people you didn’t know the previous week feels natural. You will be intrigued by the possibilities.

July 2009 - Making new Aussie friends on my first night in Cusco, Peru, not long after I decided to stop hiding in my hostel room and put myself out there.

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7 Reasons to Work Up the Nerve to Travel Solo

by Ekua on May 29, 2011 · 23 comments in d.i.y. travel,listastic,solo travel

For the last few weeks, I’ve been fielding a lot of questions about my potential summer travel plans. Many of these discussions end with an incredulous look in my direction and comment about my ability to travel solo. I get a lot of, “I can’t believe you just go on your own!” or, “I could never travel solo!”

What amazes me is how much most people I’ve talked with do want to travel but don’t. Aside from the average American job’s lack of vacation time or choices about where to spend money, one of the biggest travel deterrents seems to be not having anyone to go with.

This may sound weird, but it pains me a little when people let something like that prevent them from doing the things they want to do. So I decided to write a solo travel for beginners series, starting off with seven reasons why it’s worth it to take a solo trip:

» To connect with places more deeply and foster your creativity

When I travel with people I know, I value the ability to interact with them in a different setting and the closer relationships that can come with that. At other times, I want to feel my way through a place. When I am alone in the middle of somewhere new, I’m much more able to tune into the nuances of a culture or the scenery. Solo travel’s built in need to sense and observe feeds my creativity.

» To meet people you would never otherwise meet

This seems like a given, but most people I come across who are unfamiliar with traveling solo often assume it means that you will constantly be alone. If I look back to my first solo trip, this was a fear of mine as well. But it turns out that that fear was unfounded. On the road, I mostly befriend 20- and 30- somethings with similar views on life and travel, but I’ve also made friends with local people, people significantly older or younger, and a few eccentric people. Solo travel has enabled me to make life enhancing connections with the people who everyday life probably wouldn’t have led me to connect with. When you’re away from home alone, you’re more likely to do away with the ridiculous criteria for friendship that you often inadvertently establish at home.

» To experience life at high speed

Life seems to move faster when you’re traveling solo. The surface-skirting small talk portion of friendship is usually bypassed and you might find yourself in deep discussions with people you’ve met just hours before. When you’re alone in a strange place, things that are everyday experiences for the people who live there might send you back to feeling like a child when everything seemed so new and exciting. You have to start from scratch in so many ways and in a very short period of time, adjust to unfamiliar people and places. For me, somehow this sped up life seems to stick, and things that happened in just a few days on the road can be as a significant part of my life as things that happened over the course of much more time at home.

» To challenge yourself

When I visited India, I was terrified every time I set foot in a train station or bus terminal. In fact, on every trip I’ve ever been on, I have unreasonable fears about not being able to catch the right bus or train at the right time. Airports are set up to be internationally understandable, but local transport is often a lot more esoteric. So when I take the bus or the train, I typically wish I had a travel partner to alleviate my worries. But there’s something about successfully getting from place to place on my own that thrills me. On trips where I have quite a bit of stops to make, when I get to my last destination, I want to shout, “I did it!” For me, transportation is often my biggest challenge, but there are plenty of other challenges to tackle on a solo trip like cultural immersion or simply learning to sit comfortably with your own thoughts.

» To have the freedom to experience your obscure interests

Are you an American who’s down to go to Cuba? Are you more inclined to discover gritty alleys full of street art than check out established museums? Are you anthropologically driven to explore cultures in remote parts of the world? Sometimes you’re pumped up about something that doesn’t appeal to everyone. Sometimes it’s more fun to take just your enthusiasm and to explore your interest on your own and find people who have similar interests once you get there.

» To choose your travel style and maintain your friendships

When I travel, I typically stay in basic hotels or hostels, eat street food, and take ground transportation as much as possible. While I have my moments of wanting to be more in a traditional vacation mode, this is largely the style of travel I want to stick to for now. Whenever people say to me, “I want to travel with you sometime!” I run this by them. While some people I know could absolutely hang with a budget travel style, I know a lot more people who are not willing to share accommodations with strangers, are squeamish and picky about food, want to fly everywhere, and don’t want to travel for more than a week or two at a time. I’ve seen others jeopardize relationships over vastly different travel styles (as in siblings who drove each other crazy, friends not talking for awhile after returning from a trip, etc.) and I don’t want to go there. Sometimes it’s better to go solo than travel with someone whose style has the potential to be incompatible.

» Because life is too short to wait until everything is “right”

If you’ve been thinking about going somewhere for awhile and the right travel partner with the right schedule hasn’t come along to join you, you might as well just go. If you’re able bodied, a travel partner is not a requirement for traveling the world. In the end, you’ll find that it’s easier to go for it and take the trip rather than to live with the regret of letting the opportunity pass you by.

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Deciding Where to Go Next and How to Take the First Steps Towards Getting There

by Ekua on May 15, 2010 · 6 comments in d.i.y. travel,female travel,general travel,listastic,safe travels

Oh, the places you can go. It can be overwhelming to think about how much world there is to explore.

If you are lucky enough to be in a position where you have time and funds set aside for travel, it can be tricky to figure out how and where you should use them. And then once you’ve decided where to go, beginning the planning process can be a challenge, especially if you’re doing it yourself.

Last summer, having the opportunity to coordinate a month of independent travel helped me figure out how to go about that process in a way that allowed me to keep my anxiety level to a minimum. Here are some tips:

» Deciding Where to Go

Weather

Weather may seem like a no-brainer, but I am amazed at how often people overlook things like seasons being reversed on the other side of the equator. If you have to travel during a set period of time, consider potential natural disasters or the affect weather might have on your ability to move around the country you visit. If a place is likely to get flooded or have roads wash out during heavy rain, you don’t want to travel there during the height of their monsoon/hurricane season. Some weather situations can be tolerable, even if uncomfortable, but it doesn’t make sense to travel to a place at a time when predictable extreme weather can lead to natural disasters.

Find out if there are any serious travel warnings.

New Zealand has one of the more user-friendly and less fear-mongering travel advisory websites. It breaks down the countries in to Extreme Risk, High Risk and Some Risk and has the most recent important news on its front page. For each country, it also provides links to the travel advisory sites of Britain, U.S.A., Canada and Australia.

Figure out your travel style.

Know what kind of activities you want to partake in and the level of comfort you want in order to narrow down your potential destination list. Do you want to do adventure sports? Check out some nature and wildlife? Be a beach bum? Observe a unique culture? Which culture’s food, music, art, religion or history appeal to you the most? Are you willing to rough it or do you have higher travel standards?

How much time do you have?

If you pick a spot you want to visit, think about whether or not there is somewhere nearby you’d really like to visit as well.  If you’re itching to see a lot of places in a relatively small area (South East Asia, for example), you may want to visit when you have a large chunk of time. If you have a short amount of time, you’ll probably want to limit the amount of places to see. No matter what your travel style, jam-packing your trip can make travel stressful and take away from your overall experience.

Watch travel TV and documentaries and read travel memoirs.

I tend to get a lot of ideas about where I want to go this way. Shows and books can take you beyond the limitations of what you learned in school and beyond the well-known destinations to find out about interesting cultures, subcultures and landscapes you’ve probably never heard of.

Remember that pictures only tell part of the story.

It’s easy to look at a wonderful photo of a location and say, “I am dying to go there!” Popular destinations can often be photogenic but are not always as impressive or worth the money and effort when you see them in person. Reading recent travel blogs and articles about someone’s actual experience is great way to go instead of relying solely on pictures.

» Taking the First Steps Towards Planning Your Trip

Buy a guidebook.

I’ve started to buy guidebooks before I book trips because it helps me get acquainted with possible itineraries and get a sense of more specific locations I want to visit. Guidebooks are also great for figuring out how to get from one destination to another and finding out if the route you are planning is feasible. I spend a lot of time flipping through the “how to get there” sections and pay attention to whether or not a bus goes by where I want to go, how long it takes to get from place to place, etc.

Talk to people who have been to where you’re going.

Talking to people who know the destination has been the most helpful thing I’ve done before booking a trip. It’s even better if it’s a person who knows you well and/or someone who has a similar travel style to you. Talking to these people can be the best way to get a sense of which places to go, which places to skip, and how much time you should stay in a certain place. And both parties benefit because people are happy to help like-minded people discover the places they’ve enjoyed and they love having a chance to relive some of the moments they had there.

Keep in mind that you can’t see it all.

When I start to get a sense of all of the places I can visit in a destination, my first instinct is to start cramming my schedule. But that is not a fun way to travel, and trying to stick to a concrete schedule with limited time can drive you crazy when you’re abroad. I recommend coming up with a list of the places you’re super pumped to see and the places that you’ll logistically need to visit for flights or stopovers. Organize your schedule accordingly, leaving room for error and for visiting other places that sound interesting to you. Then leave the rest to the wind…

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8 Shows Travelers Don’t Have to Feel Guilty About Watching

by Ekua on March 23, 2010 · 4 comments in general travel,listastic,movies with movement

I was pretty excited to catch the new show, Life, on the Discovery Channel on Sunday night. Two episodes in, I don’t think it attains the splendor of Planet Earth quite yet, but it’s one more show that demonstrates the informative and positive side of television.

With all of the educational potential it has, I wish television didn’t have such a bad reputation. Junky and exploitative shows seem to hog the attention but TV is not (yet) completely full of gibberish. So I want to illuminate some thought-provoking series I’ve come across. I realize that I live in an area with several PBS stations and many of the documentary series I’ve listed below may not be available everywhere. But if you click on the links, you’ll find that some of the shows can be watched online or are available on DVD.

Globe Trekker

Globe Trekker was the first travel show I ever got hooked on back in the day when it was called “Lonely Planet”. (I was that strange kid who hated Dawson’s Creek and preferred to watch the Travel Channel.) Globe Trekker concentrates on a down to earth travel style and is more purely about travel than any other travel show I’ve seen. It’s not shown on the Travel Channel anymore, but can be found on PBS stations.

AfroPop

AfroPop is a PBS documentary series that focuses on contemporary Africa and the African Diaspora. Labeling itself as the “ultimate cultural exchange,” many documentaries in this series present reflections on interactions between clashing cultures or viewpoints.

Voces

Voces is another documentary series aired on PBS stations and it focuses on Latino culture. While the documentaries series often have undertones of social justice, this series tends to be less abstract and more historical than those of the AfroPop series.

Story of India

This is a six part documentary that examines the history and current events of the fascinating country of India. The wonderful cinematography and the enthusiastic host, Michael Wood, are equally engaging. Because the series covers a lot of history in a relatively short amount of time, it doesn’t go into the smaller details of certain events. But for those of us who have never studied India, it is an enlightening overview of the country.

Roadtrip Nation

In this documentary series, young people who are figuring out what they want to do in life are sent on a road trip through another country. The participants drive a van or RV and visit people who have achieved success in unique and/or creative fields. They interview these people about how they got to where they are and try to see where the advice can fit into their own lives.

No Reservations

This show is pretty much a given on this list. I’ve written about my passion for No Reservations before. I don’t always love Anthony’s take on each country, but I like how he tries to approach his destinations from a unique angle. And I know I will be entertained by each episode. And beyond Anthony’s apparent passion for travel, I love that he gives voice to the often misunderstood area between cynicism and awe of life’s hope and wonder.

Sound Tracks: Music Without Borders

So far only a pilot episode of this show has aired, but I hear that a six part series will be developed and aired next year. There are many documentaries out there that cover a music of a specific region, but I haven’t seen a series like this that focuses solely on music around the world. And as I world music lover, I am stoked to see more of this series.

Planet Earth/Life

I know these are two “different” series, but I haven’t seen enough of the show Life yet. What I find more appealing about Planet Earth (so far) is that it covers a broader range of species and their interactions. Life seems to focus more on animals which can become a bit stagnant. But in that stagnancy is a nice reminder that animals really are all the same. And because it showcases some animals not covered in Planet Earth, I will continue to watch it as much as possible.

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