Jump in feet first / Photo: JoshuaDavisPhotography.COM

Many of my articles revolve around the same idea: activity isn’t the same as experience. Travel is more about how, not where you go – it’s the technique and the attitude you cultivate which makes all the difference.

Improvisational theater (improv for short) relies on the same approach. Though on the surface they seem unrelated, improv and inner travel are fundamentally the same.

Most of us can accept that going to a party is no promise of having a good time. Yet, not so obvious to many, is that simply going somewhere exotic is no guarantee of enjoyment. Likewise, most people don’t realize improv isn’t about going out on stage without a script and “being funny.”

In each case, it’s not just a matter of showing up. How you go about the activity is key to the experience. Improv, in particular, offers a remarkable insight into developing your how.

Something Wonderful, Right Away

A word of preparation: literalists will hate this.

Stepping into the world of improv philosophy will make you feel like Alice taking a tumble into Wonderland. Much of it seems counter-intuitive, even nonsensical. But paradoxically, there’s no faster way to arrive at Experience than by abandoning Destination.

Photo: HamburgerJung

Improv is generally associated with comedy, though it doesn’t have to be – which often leads to comedy. In fact, one of the guiding principles is “don’t go for the joke.” Instead, you let the humor – the discovery – rise from the situation of being human, allowing ideas to play off one another.

Going for the joke dehumanizes your fellow actors, turning them into objects. Real wit is about taking the moment as a gift, to find the “pop” of a wall breaking down.

Similarly, travel is also about breaking down barriers, internally as well as externally. By learning how to work with the moment to make greater discoveries, travel takes on a greater depth than simply being somewhere far from home.

Improv isn’t just an art – it’s the art of making art. There are no “rules” to it; if a label is needed, “strategies” is perhaps a better fit. The following strategies, or ideas, are adapted from Jonathan Pitts’ list, Improv Wisdom:

No saying no. Don’t deny. Saying “Yes, and…” is always better than saying “No” or “Yes, but…”

Improv is about building a mutual reality together. Imagine someone tosses out an idea: “Look! A stampede of cattle!” Replying “no, it’s not” collapses the moment into conflict, letting the gift thrown to you sail over your shoulder. Saying “yes, but I’d rather watch TV” is like catching the ball and dropping it.

But responding with “Yes, and they’re coming this way!” accepts the other’s reality and allows you to expand on it, rather than blocking it.

Show, don’t tell.

Participate – don’t be a “talking head.” Act, and don’t focus the dialogue on your actions. Take an active choice rather than a passive one.

Photo: HamburgerJung

The past is gone and the future can’t be demanded: the present moment is what we have, all we ever will have. Use it. Step out of meek compliance – make the moment bigger and brighter. Get off your ass and DO.

The other actor is the most important person on stage.

Imagine the world if everyone else thought this way. We wouldn’t dwell on the absent, but on the person we were with. We’d listen to them more closely. Give-and-take would be easier, dropping our insistence on “what we have to say” as if it were just another seashell on a beach full of them.

Give information to your partner, then listen to them, then respond to them.

A space can be anything you want it to be.

Make it yours – but once it’s there, it’s there. Take responsibility for your actions, and own the space (share it, of course).

If you make a mistake, make it work for you. Adapt and improve it. Provide more detail, and avoid pre-conceived ideas. Be comfortable that you can create something good and spontaneous without approval from your inner judge.

It’s disposable.

If it doesn’t work, so what? Start something else. If you want serious, focus on characters, relationships, and feelings. If you want comedy, focus on objects and actions, or take something to the Nth degree.

Surprise yourself by making unexpected choices. A scene is a comment and a response. Find the game in the scene and play it, or start a new scene.

The Finger Pointing to the Moon

If any of this sounds familiar to you, from the times when you went outside your zone of comfort and learned about new possibilities, then you’ve experienced inner travel. Everybody has, and yet we also avoid it, because we fear what’s unknown.

Photo: House Of Sims

The art of improv may sound mystical, if not completely flaky – and it should. Creativity is not about following rules, it’s about challenging them, playing with them, to find something undiscovered.

Is this not the same as the art of travel? If we’re always led by the hand to the next stage, how do we ever grow? If we don’t question the truth of our lives, how do we ever understand them?

The strategies described above are only a few of hundreds that compose the art of improv, whether in music, theater or other realms. When applied to the art of travel – and personal relationship – they take on a greater meaning. They become a method for adaptation and exploration, for meeting what’s outside what we know. They become part of a logic that cannot be taught or explained fully, but only lived.

How have you experienced the art of improv, inner or outer, travel? Share your thoughts below.

Photo: laihiu

Mashable recently named their top 7 places to watch great minds in action.

The list included the well-known conference TED, and a bunch of other ones based on the TED model (ok, we can easily deduce who is the leader of the great minds in action).

It got me thinking, where could you watch great travelers in action? Sure, there are plenty of great travel blogs out there, such as Nomadic Matt and Everything Everywhere, but what if you actually want to rub elbows with some of the top in the field? A place where you can get to know their secrets, and also find out what is happening in the world of health, sustainability, and cultural tourism?

I searched the internet, and found the top travel conferences that blend these important issues, gives you a chance to schmooze with some of the greats, and offers the opportunity to put your travel writing skills to good use. Here’s what I came up with:

Health/Industry

1. The World Medical Health Tourism Conference

Location: Phuket, Thailand (2009)
What they have to say: “The conference philosophy is designed to further improve the capabilities of healthcare institutions and tour operators who are key players in the medical tourism industry and to provide each individual patient to be well-informed on the standards of medical information worldwide.” Attendees include MDs, Spa & Massage Clinic Operators, travel agents, airline companies, tour operators, and anyone in the hospitality industry.

2. Adventures in Travel Expo

Location(s): New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle.
What they have to say: Marketplace for travelers, offering “unique” vacation options and travel information. Also includes travel seminars, hands-on activities, and cultural performances.

Sustainable and Cultural Tourism

3. Sustainable Tourism: Issues, Debates & Challenges

Photo: swimparallel

Location: Crete (2010)
What they have to say: “The aim of the conference is to provide a forum for academics, emerging researchers, policy-makers, industry practitioners, and destination management and marketing professionals to discuss and debate key issues in the development and management of sustainable tourism in an era of climate change.”
Writing opportunity: Themes include alternative tourism development, sustainability and economic restructuring, and eco tourism as a possible viable route to rural development. They are also accepting paper abstracts with an October 1, 2009 deadline. If chosen, there is an opportunity for possible post conference publication in either the Journal of Sustainable Tourism or the Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management.

4. Sustainable Tourism 2010

Location: New Forest, UK (2010)
What they have to say: “Sustainable Tourism 2010 aims to find ways to protect the natural and cultural landscape through the development of new solutions which minimize the adverse effects of tourism. This can be achieved through the development of new strategies involving the active collaboration of society as a whole. Such solutions ought to cope with the continuous growth of tourism impacts on the country including culture and society.”
Writing opportunity: You can also submit an abstract for a paper here. Papers chosen for the conference will be considered for publication in the International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning.

5. World Cultural Tourism Association

Location: Bangkok, Thailand (2009)

What they have to say: “The aim of this conference is to provide a forum for international educators, scholars, researchers, industry professionals, policy-makers and graduate students with opportunity to explore and discuss issues in the topics on cultural tourism.”
Writing opportunity: They currently have a call for papers for the November 2009 conference due today, July 31st, that are relevant to culture and tourism.

Travel Writing

Photo: ExperienceLA

6. Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference

Location: Corte Madera, California
What they have to say: “The Conference offers an array of workshops, panels, and evening activities. There are many hours of informal interaction between faculty and students during lunch and in discussions that often last late into the evening. Alumni have published books, articles, and photos — many as the direct result of lessons learned and contacts made at the conference.”

7. Travel Classics International

Location: Quebec City, Canada (2010)
What they have to say: “Conference includes: low writer/editor ratio, editor presentations and panel discussions, scheduled one-on-one meetings with 4 or more editors, writer bios and clips sent to editors in advance, off site dinners and after hours networking, Writers contest judged by conference editors, pre and post conference trips, work showcased on TravelClassics.com.”

Any other great travel conferences we missed? Share your links below.

Community Connection

Want a foundation in travel writing before you venture to a conference? Check out Matador’s Travel Writing school, Matador U, to learn everything you need to know to become a successful travel writer.

Photo above by Nuuttipukki

What A Year for Travel!

In 2008, I climbed North America’s highest mountains, rolled down powder puff snow like a bear cub, swam in pristine lakes, sunbathed on the best beaches, met some of my heroes, encountered some wonderful animals, and socialised with Sasquatches.

That last one might have alerted you to the fact that it was no ordinary travel; in fact, my body never left the UK.

The travelling was all in my mind: virtual travel, that was nevertheless enjoyable.

With the world in the grip of a global recession and growing worries about human impact on the environment, there has never been a better time to travel virtually.

Mount Wilson, Nahanni National Park.
Photo above by Althewebmaster

Virtual travel is attractive for other reasons, too. On my virtual journeys, I could access any part of extraordinarily beautiful parks that I’d never even heard of before, such as the Nahanni National Park in Canada’s Northwest Territories. Cold lakes weren’t off limits, and traveling vast distances could be accomplished with a little shape-shifting.

I didn’t need a visa, and I didn’t worry about losing my stuff or running out of money.

I could relax while mentally climbing the highest mountains, running through cool forests, swimming in the most pristine lakes and seas, meeting strange animals and mythical creatures.

I also wrote blogs about some of my trips, and it felt good to be paying homage to them.

Emerald Lake in British Columbia, Canada
Photo above by panduh

The Idea

The idea of virtual travel came to me after I learnt to remember the six big provinces of Canada from west to east as BASMOQ (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec).

I thought that if I virtually travelled across North America forming such acronyms over the course of a year, then I should be able to remember the locations of all the provinces, territories and states by year’s end.

Moreover, I would learn about the places through a little research. I’d have fun reading along the way and writing about my journeys afterwards.

Five Reasons to Try Virtual Travel

Why should you make the effort to travel virtually across a continent or countries of your choice? Five good reasons are:

• Visiting virtually is better than no visit at all.
• If you know you are going to go somewhere, then virtual travelling is a good way to start planning and imagining more about that place.
• As you research, you find yourself immersed in the place, and the mind enjoys finding out about the region.
• Sometimes the information you find affects your emotions, making you happy or sad, and pleased or angry, just like the knowledge you gain while travelling.
• You can encounter animals that you would not otherwise meet, even mythical creatures still a part of local folklore. You can interact with fictional characters, meet celebrities, or time-travel to find those from the past. This escapism is both entertaining and invigorating.

Bigelow Mountain, Appalachian Trail, Maine
Photo above by plfy

You might be thinking that it would be easier to just look at a map and a guidebook whenever you’re about to actually go somewhere. It might well be, but would it be as much fun, and would you remember as much about the places?

Moreover, are you sure you’re going to go there, or return to see the places you missed when you last travelled there?

I travelled across North America in 1993, but I didn’t get everywhere, and am unlikely to return to all the places I’d like to visit. I’ve flown over Newfoundland and Labrador, Maine and the Appalachians, but I’m unlikely to ever travel there on land.

Virtual travelling took me back, in mind at least. I put names to the places, found out about local industries, local celebrities, about their history and environment, and what animals can be seen.

The Means

I use Wikipedia to research each region. I also use Wiki maps and Google maps. Then I search for interesting places, events, people and animals in each province, territory and state and then set out the journey around them in my daily blog.

Discoveries and creations make the mental journey all the more rewarding, just as finding hidden gems in nooks and crannies of places you’d never even heard of does on real journeys.

At the start of the year, I rushed through my journeys. As I found myself enjoying the trips more and more, though, and taking time to find more and better information, I found myself learning more about the regions.

This discovery parallels real journeys, where you begin to slow down and appreciate things more after the initial excitement that comes with being free and independent.

Virtual travel isn’t meant to be a replacement for travelling, but it can be a useful mental stop-gap until your next journey, and you’ll have fun and learn a lot along the way. For the writers amongst you, I think it’s good practise for travel writing and fictional character development too.

Happy Trails!

Photo by Big Ben

In many countries, you simply don’t have access to all the websites you use on a daily basis.

Sites like the BBC, Lonely Planet,YouTube, popular blogging platforms, and many social networks are blocked by pervasive censorship programs in China, Saudi Arabia, and other parts of the Middle East and Asia.

In addition to the large scale blocking campaigns present in these countries, smaller, more targeted forms of internet censorship exist in most places in the world.

Fortunately, there are a few things travelers can do to access the internet anywhere, regardless of restrictions.

1. Assess your access

The first step to circumventing internet censorship is to plan ahead. By conducting a little research in advance, you can find out if the internet is restricted in the areas you will be traveling.

More importantly, you can figure out what types of site, or even if one specific site, is banned. This is important because, if at all possible, it is best to avoid bypassing restrictions. A great source for information on internet censorship in the world is the OpenNet Initiative.

2. Bring a few tools

The easiest way to ensure your anonymity is to carry your own browser, like portable Firefox, on a portable USB flash drive.

When you step into an internet cafe, simply plug in the USB drive and open your browser from the portable drive. This is also an important step to ensuring your online security as well.

The next thing you need is the PortableTor client. Simply download the client and install it to your USB drive just like you did with Firefox. Then add the TorButton and User Agent Switcher add-ons to Firefox.

Now, whenever you open Firefox, open PortableTor along with it. You will be able to enable the Tor network with a button located at the bottom of the browser, which allows you to connect to the internet anonymously.

3. Use an online proxy

Photo by Zela

If you don’t have a USB drive, there are some internet sites that accomplish the same thing. A quick internet search for “proxy” or “anonymizer” will turn up many options, all equally suitable and insecure.

Instead of trusting an unknown site, I like to use one of the more popular online translation services like Google Translate or AltaVista Babel Fish. Simply enter your URL in the “translate site” dialog and select an option that translates into English.

4. Take An In-Direct Route

This system enables what is called “proxy browsing.” If you imagine the internet as a subway network, proxy browsing would be like taking an indirect route, changing train lines at several different stations, rather than taking the direct line.

In this analogy each station represents a different remote computer connected to the internet. It works because internet censors have trouble blocking your route once you connect through another computer.

5. Prepare To Go Slow

Just like taking the indirect route on the subway, browsing the internet in this way will be slower. Because you are connecting through several different computers, you are at the mercy of each one’s connection speed.

Another reason to be careful when proxy browsing is that the connection is not secure. Every time you connect through another computer there is a chance that the information you are transmitting could be intercepted. For this reason, proxy browsing is not for very sensitive private information like banking.

Finally, you must ask yourself if it is ethical or safe for you to access something that is baned in the country you are visiting.

While your intentions may be innocent, they may not be interpreted as such by those around you.

Anonymous internet browsing can be slow, insecure, and not totally ethical but there may be times you have no other choice. In these cases, the techniques outlined above can help you access your important data anywhere in the world.

What are your thoughts on bypassing internet censorship? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Photo by Mark Shandro

Whether sending email, uploading photos, booking flights and hotels, paying the bills back home, and checking the status of a bank account, travelers use the internet for a huge variety of tasks.

The ubiquity of internet cafes around the world has made this convenience possible.

Sitting down at an internet cafe has become so common in the life of travelers that few stop to consider the security of these very public computers.

But if we do stop to think about it, internet cafe computers (and any information you send or access from them) are clearly vulnerable. Fortunately, protecting yourself is not very difficult.

Here are some things you can do to keep your data safe:

1. Get Portable Firefox

The first step to securing your internet connection, is securing your browser. The best way to do this is to install Portable Firefox on a USB thumb drive.

When you sit down at the computer, plug in the thumb drive and start your own version of Firefox from there. As you will see, this small piece of gear is really a necessity for any traveler planning to use public computers.

2. Connect Securely

Once you have your own version of Firefox up and running on the cafe’s computer, it is time to connect to the internet. To ensure your online safety, it is imperative that you use a secure connection when accessing sensitive sites.

In most cases, when Firefox makes a secure connection a closed padlock appears in the right hand side of the address bar.

If you don’t see this icon, try retyping the address using “https” instead of “http.” In this case “s” means that you are using a special, secure, encrypted connection to the site.

If you always forget to include the “s” try bookmarking the secure site and using that link instead of typing in an address. If you are using a USB drive with your own Firefox browser, these bookmarks will be available anywhere you go.

Alternately, try using this special script with Firefox, which automatically inserts the “s” into preselected site addresses.

3. Confuse the Keyloggers

Once you have established a secure connection, it is time to log in. Thanks to the use of “https” it is significantly more difficult, if not impossible, for people ‘looking in’ on the connection from other computers to steal your data.

Photo by KingJeng.net

That said, the secure connection does not prevent a program on the computer you are using from recording everything you type. These programs, called “keyloggers” are especially dangerous when typing things like login names, passwords, and passport and credit card numbers.

Fortunately, there are a few things you can do.

First, by using bookmarks saved in your portable Firefox browser to connect to sensitive sites, instead of manually typing in the addresses, you eliminate the common method keyloggers use to index data. This makes it much more difficult to assign, for example, a password with a specific email site.

A simple trick that will fool most keyloggers is to disguise your password in a sea of “dummy characters.”

To do this click the password box and type the first character of your password. Next click anywhere else on the page to deselect the password box, and type some random characters before reselecting the password box and entering the second character.

Repeat this process for each character of your password.

This works because most keylogging programs cannot distinguish random typing from typing in a specific field on a web page. For a more complete explanation of this technique, read the short PDF report of a study testing it conducted by Microsoft, and this discussion that followed.

If you frequent some really questionable internet cafes and you want the best defense against keyloggers, than PasswordMaker is the answer. This program produces passwords that are very difficult to crack and is available as a add-on for your Firefox browser.

4. Use Encryption

No matter how well you have planned your trip, sometimes there is business that cannot be done remotely. When this happens, travelers are often forced to send sensitive private information to a trusted friend or family member.

If you are in a situation where you must email credit card, pin, social security, or passport numbers, using encrypted email is a very good idea.

Email encryption codes your message so that it is indecipherable. A special key is created that can be used to unlock the coded message. The easiest way to send encrypted email is via Gmail Encryption a script that is, obviously, specific to Google’s free email service.

If you don’t like Gmail, the Encrypt This! add-on for Firefox will easily encrypt any text in your browser.

5. Don’t Get Caught by a Phisher

Phishing scams involve decoy websites or emails that mimic an official one. When you enter your information into the fraudulent site, it is sent to a third party. Carefully checking the address of websites you visit is the best defense against these scams.

Firefox also comes with some built in protection. To enable it, go to the Tools menu and select Options. Under the Security tab, check the box next to “Tell me if the site I’m visiting is a suspected forgery” and select the option to “ask Google.”

For a little extra protection, there are several add-ons for Firefox that will make you even safer against phishers.

The Internet, especially when accessed from a public computer or internet cafe, is a dangerous place for your private data.

Fortunately, with a little preparation and care we can surf along without a problem. With precautions in place, you can worry less about your time online, and focus on enjoying your travels.

What tips do you have for traveler’s internet security? Share your own tips in the comments!