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Wisconsin Public Radio

I was on the Joy Cardin Show> on Wisconsin Public Radio, Wednesday, July 21 at 8am. We talked about travel, took calls and I answered questions.

You can download an mp3 of the show, or listen

      

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Sobrino de Botín: The World’s Oldest Restaurant

Entrance to Sobrino de Botin, the worlds oldest restaurant
Entrance to Sobrino de Botin, the worlds oldest restaurant
Last month, 47 year old pitcher Jamie Moyer set a record by giving up his 506th home run. For those of you who live outside of baseball playing countries, giving up a home run in a bad thing. You’d think that by setting the all time record for giving up home runs would make Jamie Moyer a bad pitcher. He is not. In fact, the record he broke was held by Robin Roberts who is in the baseball Hall of Fame. A truly bad pitcher might give up home runs, but they never wouldn’t be given a chance to give up so many. To set a negative record, you have to be a good player, because only good players are given the opportunity to play long enough to set those sort of records.

It sounds like a paradox, but it stems from the fact that longevity is signal of quality. Jamie Moyer set the home run record because he has been playing major league baseball for 25 years, and you can’t play baseball for 25 years if you suck.

…which brings me to the Restaurante Sobrino de Botín in Madrid, certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as being the oldest restaurant in the world. Continue reading “Sobrino de Botín: The World’s Oldest Restaurant”

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Project Pringles – Update #2

Paprika flavored Pringles from Holland
Paprika flavored Pringles from Holland
In the last week, I’ve had 34 people send me photos of Pringles cans from around the world. Instead of just dumping everything I get, I’ll just be posting just a few each week.

If I didn’t post your submission it is for one of the following reasons: 1) It was already listed, 2) someone else sent in a better photo, 3) I’ll post it in a future update.

If you wish to send in a photo, please check the Project Pringles page to make sure if the flavor you’ve found has been listed already.

One housekeeping note: I’ve noticed that there are some flavors which might be the same but have different names. In particular, anything dealing with cheese. I’ve seen cheese, cheesy cheese, cheddar cheese, queso, etc. For the purposes of this project, anything with a unique name will be considered a unique flavor.

Also, there are rice and whole grain Pringles. Those are considered unique flavors as well. So cheese, multigrain cheese, and rice infused cheese would each be separate. Continue reading “Project Pringles – Update #2”

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Learning To Dive in Fiji

This post was written by Matt Kepnes. All photos used were taken by me.

I’ve always wanted to learn how to scuba dive. When I started traveling, I promised myself I’d learn to dive. It had always been a life long desire of mine- to explore the world under the sea. All the beautiful pictures I saw of life underwater, the stories from other travelers, the bonds they seemed to share after a dive trip- all of it made me excited to learn to dive. But then trips to Australia passed. Visits to islands in Thailand turned into snorkeling trips. I always found an excuse to not to dive. I didn’t have the time, the money, I had other things to do, or I didn’t have anyone to go with. There was always an excuse!

And why? Continue reading “Learning To Dive in Fiji”

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2010 State of the Travel Blogosphere

NOTE: I don’t usually dive into issues of blogging, but occasionally I do. This is pretty inside baseball sort of stuff, so if it doesn’t interest you, feel free to skip it.

Overview

We are in the second inning of a nine inning game in the creation of a new form of travel media. If anyone, myself included, thinks they know how this is all going to end up, they are lying. (not that it will stop me from offering my opinion)

Old institutions are falling apart faster than new institutions are being created. Ask 10 different bloggers how they are trying to make money and you will get 10 different answers.

Freelance writers and seasoned pros are trying to figure out social media and what it is good for, while at the same time new travel blogs are sprouting every day, all trying to vie for limited attention.

Laste year at TBEX I expected about 20 people to show up. 120 actually did. This year the size of the conference tripled and next year it will probably double in size again.

We are in the early phase of a transition period in travel media which is going to probably last the better part of this decade. Continue reading “2010 State of the Travel Blogosphere”