The Everywhere blog

With so many great adventurers on Everywhere right now, we thought it would be nice to make a few introductions. Here on the blog we'll be featuring some of our intrepid Everywhere members.

And what better place to start than with the wonderful Frans & Claire van der Lee? These lucky travelers are on a year-long journey, having already visited Thailand, Bali, Laos, & Vietnam.

Frans was nice enough to take a minute to respond to a few of our prying questions, most likely right before a quick jaunt to a New Zealand beach or some other envy-inducing activity:

How did you get involved in the travel-writing scene? I love to travel and am an avid photographer, so I jumped at the chance of being published. I don’t have travel writing or reporting experience, but my wife used to edit an academic journal, so she is a great asset. We are currently on a year-long trip around Asia and my wife takes care of all of the itineraries and planning. We are hoping she has time to contribute some stories as well!

Could you share your favorite article? My favorite posting is the first travel article I ever wrote, Pho(tolicious)!, about a cooking class in Hoi An, Vietnam. Most people just take in a city’s sights and forget about the hands-on experiences. It would be a great feeling if just one reader takes that same cooking class and has as wonderful an experience as I did.

What's your dream trip? The one dream place... is tracing the Silk Road through western China. It is still relatively unvisited and boasts amazing scenery and cultural diversity. It would be a true adventure!

Dream Gadget? One gadget I have been dreaming about since I first read about it a year ago is the soon to be released Zink Polaroid Mobile Printer. It is a pocket-sized printer that works without ink. When I was trekking in Bhutan I met four generations of women who let me take their photographs - I only wish I was able to give them prints on the spot. Don’t know if you can convince Polaroid to give me one so I can write about it!

What has your experience with Everywhere been like? One amazing result of this community of Everywhere is the connections made with fellow travelers. In planning an upcoming trip to New Zealand I searched the site and commented on a contributor’s photo. A few hours later I got an email from the photographer and we have exchanged a series of travel tips as he is planning a trip to Vietnam!

There you have it! Here are a few highlights from Frans & Claire van der Lee's travelogue. Be sure to stop by their profile and say hello. Sounds like you might be able to squeeze some free travel advice out of them too...

"The Taj Exotica Maldives ensures privacy from any passing fish by conveniently mirroring your bathroom window. If you want to intrude on their underwater domain however, you can just slip into the warm water from your dock before returning to your very own over water plunge pool."-On Maldives

"Enjoying the peace of sunset on Halong Bay before the Vietnamese love of Karaoke rocks the once tranquil night! Disclosure...we joined in!." -On the Halong Bay

"One nice thing about the heat of April is that it keeps the tourist numbers unbelievably low and the scourge of travel - the tour bus - is almost non-existent. In fact, we only saw one tour bus the entire time and they were local tourists from the capital. Instead we ran into the same independent travelers we had seen in Mandalay and Yangon, providing dinner companions to exchange our day’s adventures with." -On Bagan