What do you get when you drop a few dozen backpackers into a hostel, soak with beer and mix in a healthy dose of liberation from social norms?

A tidal wave of hormones…and one major problem: where to go to get it on?

Unless you’re a flamboyant exhibitionist, nothing puts a damper on romantic relations like company. Dorms are almost never empty, and even when they are, the likelihood of someone barging in makes anything more than surreptitious groping an impossibility.

If you’re hankering to slide the key into the ignition and get your motor firing on all cylinders, you need to get creative, and get out of the dorms.

First of all, let’s consider the options in and around the hostel.

Every hostel has hidden nooks and crannies that offer enough space and privacy for at least a hasty knee-trembler. You can be sure the hostel staff know about these spots, but unless you’re hooking up with one of them, asking for directions is bad form.

The trick is to know where to look, and to scout locations in advance if you’re feeling lucky. Here are some possibilities:

The Laundry Room

Most hostels have a laundry room that is abandoned at night. If you’re feeling naughty, the stacks of fresh-smelling sheets and towels make an ideal love-nest.

The more considerate and hygienic option is to make use of the sturdy appliances, with the woman sitting on top of the washer / dryer. (Extra points for spin cycle).

The Roof

When checking into your next hostel, take a look around and see if there’s any way to access the roof. Overhanging trees are one possibility, as are upstairs windows with broad sills from which you can pull yourself up to the rooftop.

Of course safety is important, and you shouldn’t take unnecessary risks, but you’d be surprised at how many hostel roofs are accessible with a little ingenuity.

And once you’re up there – well, the sky is the limit.

The Bathroom

OK, maybe it’s not the most romantic location, but most hostels have bathrooms that lock. As long as the floor and toilet are reasonably clean, you can shut yourselves inside and bump uglies to your heart’s content.

Even open bathrooms with several stalls offer the possibility of a quickie – just ask Senator Larry Craig.

The best position is for the guy to sit on the toilet while the girl sits in his lap – this way she can lift her legs off the floor if someone comes in, so that from the outside it looks like just one person is in the stall.

The Broom Closet

If the laundry room is locked, the roof is inaccessible and the thought of sex in a bathroom stall makes you queasy, the hostel broom closet is a classic option.

The main problems with the broom closet are that nothing more than a standing position is possible, mop handles have a way of whacking you in the head at inopportune moments and the smell of high-test floor cleaner can make you pass out.

The key is to be quick (if you’re screwing in a broom closet I doubt this will be a problem).

The Kitchen

Don’t have sex in the hostel kitchen. Just don’t. People cook food in the kitchen. No one wants traces of mystery juice in their stir-fry.

Plus, hostel kitchens aren’t as private as you might think. Even at 4 am you can bet that someone will be looking for a midnight snack, and nothing ruins an appetite like the sight of bare asses bouncing on the counter.

Seriously, don’t have sex in the kitchen.

The Great Outdoors

If your hostel has a backyard, look for a shadowy spot behind a tree.

Better yet, if you’re in a semi-rural area, get out of the hostel grounds entirely. A copse of trees can provide all the privacy you need, and a lonesome beach is even more enticing.

Just remember to snag a towel or a bed-sheet from the hostel before running naked down the sand.

Get A Room Already!

Look, I know you’re on a tight budget. But I guarantee that a few years down the road, when you’re married and have a mortgage, you won’t regret having dropped a couple extra bills for a night of passion.

In many countries, like Japan and Taiwan, there is the ‘love-hotel’ option, where you can rent a fantasy-themed room by the hour. Otherwise, just jump in a cab and ask the driver to take you to a guesthouse or motel.

As usual, Mark Twain sums it up best, “10 years from now you will be more disappointed by the people you haven’t done than by the ones you have, so cast off the panties, sail away from the hostel dorm – explore, dream, get laid!”

Where’s the most creative place your “friend” has ever had sex? Shock and titillate us by leaving a comment below!

BNT contributing editor Tim Patterson travels with a sleeping bag and pup tent strapped to the back of his folding bicycle. His articles and travel guides have appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, Get Lost Magazine, Tales Of Asia and Traverse Magazine. Check out his Matador profile.

Announced today over at Matador Travel, is the acquisition of BNT into their fold.

The word “acquisition” sounds very official, but as you know from reading our mandate, we’re not about being too official. We’re about having fun and publishing authentic content you rarely read anywhere else.

Basically what happened is Matador’s founder Ross Borden, approached me with a vision that made sense – join forces to complement each community and build something out of the collaboration that is ultimately better than what we could do alone.

Co-editor Tim Patterson, who is also an active member at Matador, eloquently put it as:

Matador and BNT are not just a motley collection of articles, travel stories, destination guides, internet forums and social networks. They are communities of passionate travelers – thousands of us, brought together from the far corners of the world into one space, one global campfire where we are able to have a conversation.

So what does that mean in concrete terms over here at BNT?

On the surface, not much will change. I will remain as the Editor-in-Chief and Tim Patterson will stay on as Co-Editor. BNT’s design will stay relatively the same – with some exciting new additions to the look and layout.

As for content, the new partnership means we can split article topics among the other blog in Matador’s network, The Traveler’s Notebook. BNT will focus more on what it does best – spiritual travel, politics, relationships on the road, and more.

But like any grand endeavor, we must leave room for organic evolution. This is an exciting time for BNT and Matador, and we’re just getting started.

If you haven’t yet, grab our RSS feed or subscribe via Email.

As I wrote way back in our very first post, I promise, it will be a ride. Thanks for hopping on board thus far.

Ian MacKenzie is editor of Brave New Traveler. Aside from writing, he spends his time exploring the fundamental nature of existence and wishing he did more backpacking.

“Tourist.”

It hung heavy on the air, swollen with contempt. It wasn’t a bad word, at least as far as I knew. Yet here it was, shoved against the scene just occurred.

My buddy Joshua and I were standing in a slight line at a kiosk. The man in front of us was trying to buy a pack of batteries with a crisp twenty-dollar bill. Normally there’d be nothing to forgive in this. The problem was that we were in Rome.

“I’m sorry, signore,” said the woman behind the counter, “I cannot take this money. Only lire.”

Sir was not used to hearing no for an answer. “What’s wrong with my money?”

“The money is good, but only lire, signore.”

Checkmate. Quivering with fury, he slammed the batteries down on the counter. “Well… you… can take those batteries… and shove them up your ass!” Spinning on his loafered heel, he stormed away to another kiosk, his white shorts blazing in resentment.

The woman said nothing, sighing in disgust; it was Joshua who labeled him a tourist. A Melbourne native studying art in Florence, he spoke enough Italian to capture our regret for the man’s behavior.

She replied that it was common and she was used to it. All three of us wanted to put it behind, but it was most difficult for Joshua and me.

Aren’t We All Tourists?

I wish I knew enough Italian to say something as elegantly as my friend – something to erase the embarrassment of being unconsciously tied to such a lame display. The last thing I wanted was to be associated with such ignorance as we’d just seen.

Joshua and I were travelers – not like him. Not tourists.

Funny, though. I’d always thought of myself as a tourist, but it was only then I began to see differences between tourists. I knew of the Ugly American (being an American), but surely novices from any country run equal risk of looking stupid.

“Stay in Europe long enough,” said Joshua later, “you’ll come back with a Dumb Tourist story. Everyone has one. It’s just a matter of time.”

“What’s yours?” I asked.

“If I had to pick…” he mused for a moment, “it might be the college students who told me my English was very good, ‘even though I’m Australian.’” The last few words he delivered with a heavier bush accent.

I winced. “Wow. Where were they from?”

“Don’t ask.”

I wondered if Joshua commented on my mistakes when I wasn’t around. Granted, some people seem to wallow in their ignorance abroad, but when do you make the jump to the other side of the continuum?

What Is a Tourist?

Writer and inveterate traveler Paul Fussell wrote on the explorer-traveler-tourist distinction in his 1980 book Abroad: British Literary Traveling between the Wars.

Since exploration is a significantly rare and deeper investment than casual travel, the emphasis today is placed on travel and tourism – in other words, the difference between inner and outer-directed experience.

In essence, tourism is an experience that’s catered to, the exotic locale witnessed from a safe distance.

On arrival, the tourist is guided to the most obvious spectacles as the sole object of the journey. Because the stereotyped experience is deemed the primary importance, the “foreign” culture is considered an oddity, a nuisance at worst.

The tourist is seen as making little or no attempt to delve into anything beyond their guide book.

Fussell lamented the disappearance of “true” travel, which he saw as being increasingly absorbed by tourism. To him, travel was in all aspects a matter of direct contact with transformative experience.

In his day, the mystery of distant places was preserved by the simple fact that they were still remote. In the early 1900s, travel was shaped by scarcity of air flight (not to mention landing strips), a lack of formalities between countries, and the absence of information needed to span cultures.

Today, thanks to television, movies, color photos and other sources, everyone has an idea of what a mountain looks like: the awe of Kilimanjaro is bled away, the Grand Canyon demystified by the saturated media.

To Fussell, travel is a pursuit steadily drained by excess comfort and modern amenities.

Travel Today

As the human frontier expands, the outlandish is harder to come by.

Travel in the Age of Communication has evolved into an adventure of interpersonal discovery. Yet because tourists and traveler now bump elbows in the same settings, the distinction between the two turns into a question of how the journey is pursued.

As a result, the depth of the experience is judged less by its own merits but by other criteria.

The irony is that “travelers” begin to define themselves against the habits of “tourists” – by external indicators rather than internal. Travel is judged by “how meager the lodgings” or “how low the budget,” rather than a personal navigation of the transformative experience.

Many backpackers feel travel is only about “keeping it real” – if you’re paying for clean clothes, three meals and a roof, you’re somehow missing the point.

Likewise, some consider travel a luxury of wealth. While the tourist only lacks insight, this class disparages the budget traveler who’s excluded from “the finer things.”

Travel becomes an arrogant show of financial success over the peasant backpacker – and again, the point is lost.

The Fallacy of the Anti-Tourist

Fussell commented on the anti-tourist, one whose angst of being “just another tourist” propels a forced consciousness.

Anti-tourists wear the garb and eat the food, but fall well short of “going native” because they’re so fixated on their appearance as tourists. They’re culture chameleons – adopting the trendier fashions of their hosts and shedding them on leaving.

But can this definition not extend to the anti-travelers, who consciously avoid the dialogue around them to be of the “experiential elite”?

Travel becomes tourism when focus shifts from the experience itself to the vehicle of experience. In this sense, the snob becomes as much a tourist as the novice, because both are shut off from the wider sense of the dialogue.

Neither privation nor unlimited funds guarantee the Moment, any more than simply going abroad versus staying home. Frequent fliers may be more familiar with a place, but thumbing their noses at the newbies speaks more to their own insecurities – and, paradoxically, how poorly-traveled they are.

What grants authentic discovery is opening your awareness.

Travel Tomorrow

The whole point of travel is to pursue the meaning behind the milieu: to discover oneself in the mirror of the Other.

Travel isn’t dictated by fad or tradition, but by curiosity. It is internally directed. Fixation on the role or material affairs only distracts from issues of real importance.

We are all tourists. We learn by doing. Our knowledge comes by the fine art of making our screw-ups something beautiful. And unless you’re willing to go down roads unfamiliar to the cowards and cynics, the art never arrives.

It is upon these roads where we are made travelers.

As the Global Village becomes more neighborly, the future will belong to the fluent – the ones able to accept the unknown and welcome it.

The test of that fluency will rest in our patience: not how well we speak, but how well we listen.

Outside the limits of preference and convention await new possibilities, the “undiscovered country” of our potential. Only by asking questions do we encounter anything new; only by challenging our assumptions of the world will reveal our place within it – as one voice in a chorus.

And only by honoring differences of those around us will shed light upon the ignorance that keeps us as tourists in our own lives.

F. Daniel Harbecke (just call him Daniel, the F’s a family thing) is currently working on “A Philosophy of Travel,” which envisions travel as a metaphor for the meaningful experience of life. Daniel has lived in Europe, South America and Asia and is trying to fund his tony lifestyle in Sweet Home Chicago.

We’re in week three of a nation-wide civil uprising in response to the fraudulent December 27th Presidential elections in Kenya, and among the areas most affected are the slums of Nairobi.

The massive civil unrest began upon the announcement of the incumbent President Mwai Kibaki’s electoral victory, despite numerous local and international observers claiming widespread fraud.

During the President’s immediate inauguration, the people of Kenya took to the streets to fight for justice.

They’re fighting for Raila Odinga, leader of the opposition Orange Democratic Movement, who has successfully won the hearts and minds of the popular masses of Kenya, especially the most marginalised factions of society.

The poor, the unemployed, the landless, the homeless and the youth of Kenya participated whole-heartedly in the elections for the first time in Kenyan history, placing their faith in the democratic process. They believed that if they voted for Raila Odinga, their interests would finally be represented in politics.

But when the election was perceived as stolen, it was the last straw for many, and the protests began.

Tribal Politics

To make things even more complicated, President Kibaki is a member of the historically dominant and now much-resented Kikuyu tribe, while Raila is a member of the Luo tribe, a tribe that has never had a President in power since Kenyan independence in 1963.

Evidence of vote rigging was found in virtually every district, on both the government and opposition sides.

Ballot boxes were stuffed with more votes than voters in certain constituencies; names beginning with A-E were removed from voter’s lists in areas dominated by Luo tribe members, such as the slum of Kibera, as most Luo names begin with such letters.

Incredibly, the opposition leader Raila himself was not even on the registrar.

After the election, it was only a matter of days before the entire country was up in arms. Neighbours who had lived together harmoniously began attacking one another. Members of the Kikuyu tribe have been the most affected. Many Kikuya houses and shops have been looted and burned to the ground, leaving roughly 300,000 people, mostly women and children, displaced in transit refugee camps across the country.

Entire villages have been pillaged, 1500 women have been reported raped and recent counts put the death toll at 700, though it’s known to be swelling higher as each day passes.

And yet despite all the violence and suffering, the opposition movement continues to call for nationwide protests, saying they will not stop until Kibaki steps down.

Fighting For Justice

Is this what democracy looks like?

While the poorest of the poor are out in the streets fighting for “justice,” up against heavily armed Kenyan police officers who are notorious for excessive use of force, the political leaders give orders while they sit comfortably behind walled compounds, seemingly unfazed by the bloodshed committed in their names.

Negotiations are failing. South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the African Union and Ghanaian President Kuffuor have both come to help mediate a dialogue between Kibaki and Raila, yet both sides seem unwilling to budge from their positions.

Kibaki will not step down and Raila has said that he will continue to call nationwide protests and encourage actions that cripple Kenya’s economy until Kibaki relinquishes power.

How many lives must be lost, how many people displaced and how many livelihoods ruined before our political leaders step aside from their egos and think about how much their selfish decisions impact the people of Kenya?

Estimates say there will be 500,000 more people unemployed as a result of this post-election violence. In a country with 40% unemployment, you tell me how that’s just.

Everyday Kenya loses 33 million dollars in investments and already 14 countries have halted their development aid.

Fighting For Change

If the people of Kenya are fighting for change, for a just leader who will help alleviate their poverty, then why are the actions taken to achieve justice exacerbating the suffering and poverty of the very same people who are fighting?

People can’t go to work and price inflation is rampant. Children in the slums of Kibera, Mathare and Dandora eat tear gas instead of food and can’t go to school; the death toll is rising by the minute with police brutality at its most vicious – officers shooting at random, breaking down innocent slum dwellers’ homes and killing them for no reason other than their geographical location.

The people of Kenya are living in a constant state of fear. For how long can this go on?

While protesters continue chanting “No Raila, No Peace,” it’s very difficult to predict where the future of Kenya lies.

The Road To Reconciliation

Thinking about what it will take for Kenya to return to a state of normalcy is not easy. The violence and fear will not disappear overnight. A return to stability will require a long process of reconciliation.

The aggression, violence and ethnic cleansing the country has witnessed in the past three weeks are symptoms of years of deep-rooted resentment and frustration. In many ways the current violence is revenge against the historically dominant and affluent Kikuyu people, yet some of the poorest Kenyans are Kikuyu and many of those worst affected by the violence are members of the other 41 tribes in Kenya.

At this point, most Kenyans are looking inward, trying to understand what it means to be Ukoo Flani – of a certain tribe, and what it means to be Kenyan in a country of 42 tribes.

Last month a Luo was able to share the traditional maize meal of ugali na sukuma with their Kikuyu neighbour. Today such simple acts of shared humanity may seem impossible.

At the end of the day, we are defined by our actions, by our thoughts and by our words – not by our tribe.

Who we are cannot be classified simply along ethnic lines, because underneath the differences of custom, language, music and geography, all of us are human.

All Kenyans are Kenyan. Kenya is a beautiful country full of talented, energetic people who share a strong sense of brotherhood and sisterhood, whose people have chosen to stand together under the national language of Swahili.

We mustn’t classify this conflict as yet another failed African state immersed in the abyss of tribal conflict. We must look deeper and strive to understand why ethnic, racist and religious conflicts continue to arise.

A Final Prayer

Why does humanity fear difference and struggle for sameness when homogeneity defies everything that is natural? The beauty of our uniqueness and diversity is what makes us human, and our differences must be cherished.

Perhaps one day we will truly understand the meaning of togetherness, tolerance, acceptance and forgiveness, and realize that what hurts our brothers and sisters hurts us all.

I pray for understanding.

What do you think of the situation in Kenya? Please share your thoughts in the comments

Rehana T is a youth poverty and gender activist, currently working with Carolina for Kibera a youth oriented non-governmental organisation in the Kibera slum of Nairobi. A graduate from the University of Ottawa in Political Science, Rehana is focused on alternative means of education and building youth leadership through theatre and sports.

Cuisine is intricately woven into the tapestry of life the world over.

Food is just as much a part of culture as language. Eating local is a big commitment for travelers, but it can serve to make any journey more memorable and unique.

Sadly, traveling can sometimes be an excuse to eat quick and easy food, to walk between those ubiquitous golden arches for just one little cheeseburger. At home, most of us would prefer a delicious, well prepared Chinese or Thai dish to a value meal monstrosity, so why do so many travelers stuff their faces with imitation Western comfort food?

Many of us, in life and especially while traveling, see eating as a chore no different from filling up the gas tank. When traveling, we’re often tired and frustrated, so just about any old crap will do to put some weight in our stomachs.

Additionally, we’re often looking for some semblance of home to soften the bombardment of culture shock, and so we opt for something bland, familiar and safe.

I’m reminded of the time my friend and I were wandering around Hanoi, and two foreigners asked us if we knew where to get “normal food, not this Vietnamese stuff.”

Well, brave new travelers can do better. Avoiding local food is just as egregious as ignoring any other aspect of the culture in which you’re ostensibly trying to immerse yourself.

Let Your Food Be Your Medicine

Staying healthy on the road is important. Dehydration gets most of the spotlight when talking about preventable health problems while traveling, but it’s very easy to load up on carbohydrates and fats while ignoring things like vitamins, protein and even salt.

If you’re only traveling for a short time, eating poorly won’t lead to long-term health problems, but it can make you feel low-energy and miserable.

Eating a wide variety of local cuisine is the best way to make sure that your body gets the nutrients it needs to function at an optimum level.

Eat Where The Locals Eat

Many guesthouses and backpacker restaurants, especially in Southeast Asia, serve local food right alongside omelettes and pizza, and for many travelers, that’s where the exposure ends.

But while the local dishes in backpacker restaurants may be somewhat authentic, they’re often altered to cater to western tastes. The people who actually live in those towns aren’t eating at tourist establishments, so you’re better off hunting down the street-cart or hole-in-the-wall where food is prepared to the local taste.

Follow The Crowd

The same general rule applies everywhere in the world: If there’s a crowd, there’s a reason.

Every town and neighborhood has its famous restaurants, but more than likely they aren’t written about in any English guidebook or magazine. The only way to find them is to cruise the streets around mealtime and ask for recommendations from locals.

Learn The Lingo

Learning a language on the road can be a rather involved proposition, but learning to read a menu only requires memorizing a few words.

Figuring out how to say basic ingredients like ‘pork’, ‘beef’, ‘chicken’ and ‘vegetables’, along with various methods of delivery like ‘barbecued’ and ‘soup’, can allow the hungry traveler to decipher at least a few entries on every menu.

A little menu-lingo can also help when shooting in the dark – if you’re looking for something new but you know you’re in the mood for chicken, you can often just ask for it and prepare to be surprised.

Go Grocery Shopping

Nearly everything you can order in a restaurant can also be found in a grocery store or market. While you might not have access to a decked out kitchen or boast the technical skills to whip up an edible soufflé, that doesn’t mean there aren’t cheap self-catering options available.

In places like Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the prevalence of kitchens in hostels is a huge boon. While this usually ends in chicken soup or canned ravioli, it can also be a great opportunity to try the local beer or wine without splurging at a bar. In France, staples like great bread and cheese are cheap, ubiquitous and require no cooking.

In Asia, a traveler is far less likely to have access to anything more than an electric tea kettle, but there are still opportunities for self-catering. Fruit is a great choice – not only is it likely to have been grown locally and taste much, much better than its western counterpart, but tropical countries tend to produce unfamiliar and delicious fruits. Prepare for a taste sensation!

In addition to fruits – and this is going to sound strange, I know – check out the instant noodle selection. In the West we’re generally used to a plastic wrapper with a flavor packet full of salt, but in Asia instant noodles are serious business. It’s not out of the ordinary for them to come with up to five flavor packets, containing such fantastic things as dehydrated vegetables, freeze-dried shrimp and chili oil to taste.

Don’t Be Afraid To Eat Alone

Markets and grocery stores are cheap, easy and authentic, but relying on them too heavily can be a mistake, because so much of local cooking depends on the preparation. Since we can’t always have the privilege of being invited into a kind local’s home, restaurants are sometimes the only viable alternative.

Many people (myself included) feel embarrassed walking into a restaurant by ourselves and eating a proper meal alone. But even when traveling in a group eating solo in a restaurant can be a necessity, as you may be the only one who is genuinely interested in trying some new sort of food.

Getting over the fear of standing out while eating alone is difficult, but the easiest way to avoid feeling awkward is to bring something to do while waiting for your meal. It’s a great time to read a book, plan your day or fill up that journal you’ve been neglecting for a week.

Try Everything…Once

This is without a doubt the most difficult hurdle when delving into foreign cuisines.

Concepts like “vegan” and even “vegetarian” have yet to catch on in most non-western countries, and even in some more conservative places in the West, so in order to truly sample local cuisine travelers may have to suspend a few of their ideas and preferences about diet.

Oftentimes, the issue that arises is not so much obvious chunks of meat as things like broth and flavoring.

“Vegetarian” soup in many places simply means no meat – not necessarily what it may mean at your local diner. Sometimes, only red meat is considered non-vegetarian, so poultry and fish are fair game.

There are arguments going every which way on this issue, but ultimately whether or not to suspend one’s dietary preferences is a very personal decision that every traveler must make for themselves.

So go, eat and be merry! Humorist Steve Almost calls good food “one of life’s most consistently attainable pleasures,” and I tend to agree.

Your trip will undoubtedly be improved by eating adventurously and often. The world is a buffet, and those who do not travel eat only one dish.

Ross Tabak is a student in Washington, DC and is continuously looking for excuses to return to Asia. When not studying, he enjoys playing guitar, riding motorcycles and making sandwiches with more than one kind of meat. After graduation, he plans to flee to the far-reaches of the globe and support himself as either a writer or traveling organ grinder.

It’s that time again, when we round up our favourite travel related links from around the web.

Lea Woodward has launched the “Leave it Better” initiative, as a way of giving back to the communities we visit.

A pretty cool video showcasing Evolution in 5 Minutes.

Travel isn’t related to the younger crowd these days – seems Baby Boomers are increasingly hitting the open road.

Travelhappy tells us how to be a Lonely Planet travel writer in an interview with Simon Sellars.

Get smarter. Here’s 200 Free Online Courses to Learn Anything.

Gaze into the future, with Elliot’s 8 Things Travelers Should Expect in 2008.

Enjoy the weekend!

Ian MacKenzie is editor of Brave New Traveler. Aside from writing, he spends his time exploring the fundamental nature of existence and wishing he did more backpacking.

Thanks. Thank you Ian. Thank you Laura. Thank you Mom. Thank you Cedric, Eva, Cam, Ekaterina and Jacob. Thank you Marilyn, Emily, Daniel and Guylaine.

Thanks to all of you – our wonderful, curious, loyal Brave New Travelers.

You encourage us with your comments and enlighten us with your contributions. As of yesterday, you answered our challenge and have lifted Brave New Traveler up over the magic mark of ONE THOUSAND RSS subscribers. Your enthusiasm and support makes editing and publishing this scrappy online magazine a joy.

This is just the beginning. We’ve got big plans. A few months ago Ian was doing a shot of vodka at 7 am to celebrate 100 subscribers. The video for the 1,000 mark ups the ante to include beer, whiskey, horrible singing and my (blacked out) jiggly bits.

10,000 can’t be far off. (Imagine what we’ll come up with for that celebratory video).

Keep spreading the word, Brave New Travelers! Let’s not stop here. We’re counting on you to tell your friends about this wicked cool little independent travel magazine that publishes such provocative, timely and funny articles.

• Grab the RSS Feed
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Still not sure what RSS even means? Read this.

So, wherever you are in this tragic, lovely, fascinating world – keep in touch. Keep reading. Keep adding your voice to the community.

We’re building something beautiful, and it’s good to have you along for the ride.

Thanks to the following bloggers for posting about our RSS push

• Eyeflare
• The Carey Adventures
• Start Backpacking

And I’m positive there were a couple more that did as well. If we missed you, send us an email and we’ll add you to this list.

BNT contributing editor Tim Patterson travels with a sleeping bag and pup tent strapped to the back of his folding bicycle. His articles and travel guides have appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, Get Lost Magazine, Tales Of Asia and Traverse Magazine. Check out his personal site Rucksack Wanderer.

Travel writers are a weird bunch of people who tend to think too much.

They travel and write to make a living (or a vague approximation of one), but sometimes it seems as if they don’t enjoy either activity.

They write fact, they write fiction and sometimes they write both in the same paragraph. They consistently come up with the most creative and original excuses for missed deadlines in the entire publishing industry.

What types of people are drawn to travel writing? What types of people succeed? As I contemplate an extended foray into the profession and look for role models, I wonder – who are these people?

I’ve come up with 6 possible types of travel writers:

The Intrepid Monk

Many of the truly great travel writers are loners, monastic personalities who speak softly and carry a very big notebook. Pico Iyer is a classic example. One of the very best active travel writers, Iyer is a teetotaler who lives simply and anonymously in a Japanese suburb and does much of his writing in an actual monastery.

Iyer’s writing is precise, lyrical and permeated with heartfelt personal emotion, but as a person, he is most comfortable blending into the crowd.

The intrepid monks of travel writing don’t spend all their time scribbling quietly at the back table of tea shops. They are, after all, intrepid. They take risks.

They venture far from the guidebook page. They are unconventional and unassuming, and though they write from a personal perspective, their personality is unobtrusive enough to never get in the way of the story, and the deeper themes of place, culture and interconnection that give weight and meaning to their prose.

The Epic Adventurer

These guys (and ladies) always up the ante. They may be good writers, but their writing is always secondary to the sheer audacity and creativity of their next adventure. The covers of their books often feature themselves – clinging to the edge of a cliff, or gripping an oar in the face of an Arctic storm, lips locked in an expression of grim determination and masochistic delight.

The unique angle, or hook, of their stories often involves some sort of stunt, an added layer of difficulty that has nothing to do with the territory they traverse. Across The Yukon, a title might read…By Tricycle!

If Epic Adventurers also happen to be excellent writers, like Mark Jenkins or Rory Stewart, their work can easily become a classic of the genre. Otherwise, no matter how far they push the limit, their literary careers rarely last longer than the initial rush of adrenaline.

The Naked Introvert

Naked introverts spend an inordinate amount of time fretting about their constipation, and then write about it in excruciating detail. They are funny, honest and extremely self-deprecating.

Naked introverts are especially well-suited to writing about travel because travelers are bumbling fools, and naked introverts are most entertaining when they find themselves in awkward and uncertain situations.

David Sedaris is the archetypal naked introvert, and I can’t think of another writer whose byline I’m more excited to find.

The Walking Party

Walking parties don’t query editors – they invite them out for beer, which turns into Tropical Karaoke Night, which turns into shots of tequila to greet the dawn. The next week the walking party e-mails the editor a story with “Cheers!” in the subject line.

The editor, having gotten over her hangover, can only remember that she had a great time and figures she must have signed off on the story. When the story is published the walking party invites the editor out to celebrate, and the cycle repeats itself.

Walking parties are fun to hang out with. They network naturally, and like to leave inside jokes on editors’ facebook walls. David Farley is one walking party I’ve been lucky enough to meet.

He’s writing a book about his quest to find the missing foreskin of Jesus Christ. See – you just laughed, didn’t you. That’s how walking parties work.

The Public Relations Professional

The PR Pro is seldom a good writer. She doesn’t need to know how to write. She has contacts with half the tourism professionals in the state of Florida. She knows how to play the publicity game.

She has a stock of exactly 8 adjectives with which to describe a new beach resort, but rarely bothers to use more than 3 of them. She is highly organized, has never heard of Alexandra David-Neel, and probably makes more money than any other category of travel writer.

The Guidebook Writer

Guidebook writers actually fall into two categories: the expert and the fool. The expert knows the territory he covers like the back of his hand. He may even be writing the entire guidebook, and he’s capable of doing a great job.

After a few editions though, jaded by a lack of royalties and the monotony of the work, the expert gets lazy. He doesn’t bother to fact check or visit properties he reviewed five years ago. Finally, he stops returning his editor’s e-mails, at which point the editor hands the ball off to…the fool.

The fool is young, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. He or she is probably intelligent, especially if working for Let’s Go Guides, and is absolutely thrilled to be on assignment as a professional travel writer.

The thrill lasts until the eager young writer gets off the plane and realizes he doesn’t speak the language, doesn’t have a clue about the culture and needs to turn in an exhaustively researched compendium by the end of the month.

At which point the fool checks into a youth hostel, crawls into the top bunk, pulls the sheets over his head and emerges only to throw himself on the mercy of the unfortunate English speaker at the Tourism Information Office.

Which type of travel writer do you enjoy reading? Which one is most like you?

BNT contributing editor Tim Patterson travels with a sleeping bag and pup tent strapped to the back of his folding bicycle. His articles and travel guides have appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, Get Lost Magazine, Tales Of Asia and Traverse Magazine. Check out his personal site Rucksack Wanderer.