The Everywhere blog

Everywhere Issue 03 has arrived! Yay! In this issue, we celebrate the idea that the journey is as important as the destination, profiling unique slow travel trips by river, road, and rail. We also join Everywhere members on a global quest to find the best destinations for art lovers. Plus, we check in with cool, casual Copenhagen, enjoy the hot nights and warm breezes of Miami, sample the best and worst of Asian Airline Meals, and select the ten ingredients that make a perfect city. All this and more!

Wanna check it out? You can flip through Issue 03 online here. Then, we're sure you'll want to either subscribe to Everywhere or sign up for a free trial issue to get a copy of the beeeautiful printed magazine delivered to your home.

The whole magazine online for free? Yep, we think once you see it on the computer screen, you'll want to get your hands on the real thing! So check it out, and if you like what you see, subscribe and get all best places, trips, travel photos, and stories delivered to you.

Here at Team Everywhere Headquarters, we're working like crazy to get Issue 04 ready for the printer. In the meantime, we're so happy to announce two new themes for Issue 05! Yippee! Here are the two regions that will be featured in Everywhere 05:

Vietnam:
Prosperous at last after decades of conflict, Vietnam is open for exploration. Seamlessly combining its own ancient traditions with French colonial influences, Vietnam's cities are rapidly modernizing even as its lush villages feel untouched by the passage of time. Come see the Vietnam region page.

San Francisco:
In San Francisco, America's most lifestyle-obsessed city, the quirky and chic are celebrated in equal measure. Home to stunning natural beauty, great food, and friendly people, the Bay Area is a place where almost anything goes. Just don't call it "'Frisco" or "San Fran." Come see the San Francisco region page.

Want to submit your travel stories and photos? It's easy! If you've got a great article or photo from San Francisco or Vietnam, here's how to submit it:

1. Either write your article or upload your travel photo (psst... don't forget to write a description!).
2. Add a tag that says "Vietnam" or "San Francisco." You can add tags at the right of any article of photo page! Our intrepid editors will find every photo or article tagged this way for consideration for our upcoming issue.

That's it! If your photo is from a particular place within Vietnam or San Francisco, you can also add the photo to that location so people can find it easier. Here's how:

1. Find the Place first and then add the photo.
(For example, if you'd like to submit a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge, you'd find the Gold Gate Bridge Page and click on the link that says "Add a photo of Golden Gate Bridge" Then you can select the picture from your uploaded photos.)
2. Can't find the place? You can be the first to discover it! Then add the photo to your newly discovered location.

We can't wait to hear and see all of your amazing travel stories. And, of course, let us know if you have any questions!

Howdy! Everywhere has a new feature -- Activity Notification Emails. Now, you can get summary emails sent that will let you know whenever you have new activity on the site.

Did somebody mark your photo as their favorite? Has a fellow travel enthusiast commented on your article? Does another Everywhere Member want to be your contact?

All this information will be included in an email, sent only if you have any new activity, that looks something like this:

Aww, thanks Devin, I love you too! We'll still send out alerts about new messages on the site as they come in, but the rest of this activity will now be included in the summary emails.

Want to check out or change your preferences for your email alerts? Easy! Click on Profile at the top of the screen, and then click the Email tab. Here you can set your preferences for these notification emails, along with your preference for our fancy and beautiful EW newsletter.

What do you think? We'd love to hear your feedback, so drop us a note if you have any comments.

Everywhere 03 has been landing on newsstands and in subscribers' mailboxes this month, and we've just released a preview of the issue here on the site. Come take a look at just a few of the amazing stories and photos from the themes Slow Travel, Art Tourism, Miami, and Copenhagen. Once you've taken a peek at the issue, sign up for a free trial issue to get a copy of the beeeautiful printed magazine delivered to your home.

Plus, we've got some news about resolution requirements! We are now accepting photos with minimum size of 1500 pixels in length or width (down from our old minimum of 2000 pixels). Our size requirements have always been in place to make sure your photos look great in print. But now that we've gotten the first few issues under our belt, we've realized that some of the photos we publish in Everywhere Magazine work well as smaller images within a larger feature story.

Now, just to be clear: Bigger is always better when it comes to digital photos, so please submit the largest size you have whenever contributing photos to Everywhere. But we also realize that many people take smaller images when traveling in order to preserve space on their memory cards and hard drives. We can still publish smaller images -- although photos at 1500 pixels cannot be used for full-page spreads or on the cover of the magazine. Still, we want to make it as easy as possible for you to contribute to Everywhere, so we hope this is a step in that direction.

Howdy everyone!

Last week, Everywhere had some technical problems with our support email box. Everything's fixed now but there is a chance that we missed out on a few of your emails or notes.

We've now responded to all support questions we received last week and this past weekend. Sooo, if you emailed us or filled in the contact form and haven't heard back, could you drop us another line? We'd appreciate it and we'll get back to you with an answer lickity-split. Thanks again!

Today we've added some new features on Everywhere designed to make it easier to get around and find great stuff. Allow me to give you a little tour of some of the new stuff you'll find here on the site:

1. Sharing tools! If you like to share your web discoveries on Digg, StumbleUpon, or Facebook, it just got easier. Now, below the comment box on each Everywhere photo and article, you'll find some buttons to easily share your discoveries. One click and you're off!

2. New navigation up top! We've updated the bar found at the top of the Everywhere site. Now you can access your profile editor and travelogue more easily, and we've added "Photos" to our main navigation bar. Plus there's a quick link up there if you haven't signed up for your free trial issue yet...

3. New ways to find more articles and photos! We've added a bunch of new tools for finding more great Everywhere content. Now, when you're looking at a photo or article on the site, you'll see some new navigation links on the right-side of your screen. These links will help you find more articles and photos within a theme, more submissions by the same member, and will let you know if the photo you're browsing is part of a larger article.

We're continuing to work on new features to make Everywhere even better. We'd love to hear your feedback and comments on the site as well, so feel free to let us know what you think!

One of the best sources for snappy commentary on world travel has to be Everywhere Member Sloan Schang (on the right, getting better acquainted with a fellow traveler). Sloan is currently sharing his travel photos and stories from Mongolia, Miami, Ireland, Graceland and beyond. I'm particularly fond of Sloan's tongue-in-cheek photo captions.

See for yourself! A great place to start is the articles section of Sloan's travelogue for stories on his adventures from eating tamales in Oaxaca to traveling cross-country in a 1977 Volkswagen . Sloan also took a few minutes off from his rambling ways to share a bit more:

What's the favorite travel story or place you've shared?

I'm pretty proud of being the first person on Everywhere to "discover" Pie Town, New Mexico, but I'm also fond of the "How to Get an Indian Haircut" story that was included in Issue 2. I like to use barber shops as an immersion into local culture when I travel, both in the U.S. and abroad. My first haircut in India was so shockingly exotic that it may forever be my favorite travel experience.

Do you have any previous travel writing experience?

I write for a living, about travel and everything else, but it's a fairly recent pursuit. Everywhere has been a great help in gaining exposure.

What is the one dream place you would like to write about?

Calcutta (Kolkata), India

Anything else you'd like to share?

I'm really looking forward to this presidential election. Also, I think Everywhere is pretty neat. I hope it lives a long and happy life.

Thanks! Here's a sampling from Sloan's travelogue:

"Go Barefoot: It doesn’t take a zen master to realize that the big, stinky pile of loafers outside the temple means you should take yours off too."- (from the story Don’t Be A Devadatta: How To Behave Yourself In A Buddhist Temple)

"Mao Zedong's cult of personality has long outlasted his reign as one of China's most notorious rulers. As a result, his legacy is greater than just questionable national social policies - it also includes a nearly bottomless treasure chest of tacky and hilarious souvenirs."

"Mongolian driver, Balaara, diagnoses trouble with his van. Surviving the wilderness roads of Mongolia requires patience, luck and a very large box of spare parts."

"It's almost 2 acres in size, 25 feet deep, filled with catfish and turtles and ringed by views of the Davis mountains. And the water temperature is always 74 degrees, just right for swimming on this sunny (and delightfully deserted) February day." (on swimming at Balmorhea State Park, New Mexico, USA)

Everywhere member Christopher Boffoli is a Seattle-area photographer, writer, foodie & filmmaker. Fortunately for us, he's also a world traveler happy to share his many adventures. From eating reindeer in the Arctic Circle to appreciating the fine and famous toilets of Tokyo, Christopher's travelogue is packed with some great travel tales.

We asked Christopher if he would share a bit more about his writing, photography, and life for the Everywhere blog, and he shared some of his best travel advice and stories.

What's the favorite place you've ever visited?

Picking just one favorite is like trying to pick a favorite movie. There are just so many. The south island of New Zealand was definitely a place that exceeded my expectations. But if I had to pick absolutely one place I’d have to say Morocco. Foreign places often look and feel too American or Western. Everything about Morocco just felt different, right down to the color palates and the quality of the light. It was a marvelous place.

(Photo: Marrakech, Morocco)

Any places you’ve visited where all you wanted to do was leave?

Vanuatu in Melanesia. I’d like to think that I could tough it out and survive anywhere. But everything about that place seemed backwards, tired and dirty. It seemed impossible to get away from all of the bugs and mold. The only redeeming part of that trip was the chance to photograph some of the interesting Melee people. Otherwise, I couldn’t wait to leave. I’m sure there are worse off places in the developing world. But no other trip has made me more grateful for the comforts of home.

What's the one dream place you'd like to travel to?

Again, it is so hard to pick just one place. Iceland, India, Nepal, Afghanistan and Myanmar are right up on the list. But if I had to choose just one I’d say I’d love to see the Torres Del Paine National Park in Patagonia.

Do you have any regrets about a place you’ve visited or something you might do differently?

I was at the most remarkable fish market on the docks at Pusan, South Korea and the variety and freshness of the seafood they had there was astounding. I’m a pretty adventurous eater and a sushi lover but I felt like so much of what I saw in that market was completely alien to me. At one point I encountered a woman who offered me a bite of her lunch. It was a plate of tiny octopus tentacles sprinkled with sesame seeds and they were still moving, wriggling all over the plate. I wasn’t brave enough but if I had the chance again I would have gone for it.

(Photo: Pusan, South Korea>

Any additional advice?

There’s a great line in Karen von Blixen’s book “Out of Africa” that has always resonated with me. She wrote, “The world was made round on purpose so that we can never see too far ahead.” I think this is a great philosophy by which to approach travel and also even life. There is something to be said about being organized and planning carefully. But you should also endeavor to be open to new experiences and savor surprises.

Thanks Christopher! Be sure to see all of Christopher's travelogue for more great travel stories. Here's just a sample of his work:

"Whereas other modes of fast transportation tend to accelerate quickly and then level off, Shanghai’s mag-lev train never seems to stop accelerating. The sensation was somewhat like a smoother, quieter jet take-off. (on On the Mag-Lev Train, China)"

"If I have any qualms about eating reindeer meat while live reindeer are standing nearby looking on, I forget it the instant I taste the lunch they have made for our visit." (on Reindeer Tagging with the Sami people, Sweden)

"The French-born and trained vintner Christophe Barron decided to plant his grapes on plots of land that were packed with baseball-sized rocks so dense that it almost appears there is more rock than dirt. The rumor was that the quality of the land reminded Barron of similar vineyards in France and that he thought the presence of the rocks would greatly challenge his vines to produce grapes of greater complexity and character."- (on the wineries of Walla Walla, Washington, USA)

Want to get the goods on New Jersey? Come check out the travelogue of Everywhere member Chris Piazza.

Chris Piazza lives on the New Jersey Shore with his wife and children and has been sharing his photographic skills and insider knowledge of this area. Even if you've never visited Jersey, it's easy to get a great sense of the feeling of the Jersey Shore through his shots and descriptions.

I particularly love Chris' photos of classic, nostalgic Jersey sites awaiting renewal:

Like all of us here, Chris is also a true travel enthusiast with some wonderful stories from his trips. We recently asked him to share a bit more about his travel history and aspirations, so here are his tales of destroyed negatives and broken bones:

What makes your home region a good, or bad, place to travel to? Spring Lake, New Jersey has been my home for the last twelve years. I have grown to love this retreat on the shore that had previously been a summer destination for me. After my wife and I were married, we decided to live in this year round community. Being four blocks from the Atlantic Ocean is spectacular, especially when there is a good sea breeze and you can smell that salt air.

To stay in town, you will have the opportunity to choose from a number of bed and breakfasts and small older hotels that give a flavor of the Spring Lake of old. However, gone are the days of the grand hotels that bordered the ocean during a bygone era. The largest of these was the 500-room Monmouth Hotel most recognized for its great red dome. The hotel faced the wrecking ball in 1975.

Today, one of these majestic beauties still stands - the Essex and Sussex Hotel - that was converted to units for those aged 62 and older. The refurbished hotel helps gives the feel of what it must have been like in the glory days during the 1870s when wealthy Irish businessmen from Philadelphia settled here - giving the town the nickname, The Irish Riviera.

(Photo: Essex & Sussex)

Favorite place you've ever visited? Hands down, my favorite place to visit was the Hawaiian Island of Kauai, with Maui being a very close second. As my current hometown would suggest, I love being close to the water. Visiting Hawaii brought being close to the water to a whole new level with the beautiful landscape, incredible hiking and tropical weather.

The pinnacle of the visit to this island was our hike in the Waimea Canyon. Mark Twain had referred to the Waimea Canyon as "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific"; Its beautiful hues were most likely the elements to which Twain was referring when coining the name. The vistas of the canyon remain a vivid memory as we took in the view from one of the many pools near the peaks that towered over the canyon. I would like to say that I have a collection of photos to share from the visit to the canyon, but in our haste to develop our photos on Maui, we brought our film to a one-hour photo shop. When we arrived to pick up the film they informed us that the developer jammed and the negatives were damaged in the processing. It is a sad thought that to this day still stings...

Any places you've visited where you all you wanted to do was leave? There is hardly a place I have ever visited that did not have some qualities that made me want to explore more. However, extreme cold tends to want to make me go in the opposite direction. A two-week stint in St. Paul, Minnesota where the temperature never climbed above 20 below zero was probably the one time I can recall when I wanted to hit the road. But don't get me wrong... I love the Twin Cities and lived there for two years. However, I much prefer the summer months when the land of 10,000 lakes comes alive. But the "allure" of freezing hands and blue lips make me want to avoid the winter months.

What is the one dream place you would like to travel too? At the end of the day, somewhere in the south Pacific tops my list. Based on the legendary beauty of one island in particular, my winner is Bora Bora... Staying for about a month without a Blackberry in an over water bungalow in what some have called the world's most famous island, sounds like my idea of paradise.

What's the strangest thing that's happened to you while traveling? Nearly six years ago I had a running injury and was given crutches to help me get around. My last stop while traveling was Denver in July. I went to dinner at the Denver Chop House and as we were leaving the restaurant, one of my crutches got caught on the top step (no fault of the restaurant). I must have looked a bit like a pole-vaulter flying through the air as I landed flat-footed on the concrete.

The less than skillful landing resulted in a broken hip and an ambulance ride to Rose Medical Center (not a bad place to stay if you break a bone!). The next morning I had what they call an "open reduction and internal fixation" meaning a plate a four "pins" were inserted to hold everything back together. (BTW - "pin" is another way of saying "we are going to put these really large screws in your leg and it's going to hurt...")

It would be an understatement to say this was not what I had in mind for this trip. But, hey, I survived and don't set off too many metal detectors at the airport...

Anything other travel advice or comments? Avoid going to Disneyland the day after Thanksgiving... My sister and brother-in-law, as well as my parents, moved to Orange County many, many years ago. Personally, I enjoy visiting the "Happiest Place on Earth." But the day after Thanksgiving really tests your endurance for lines. At the time, we had our 18 month old daughter. After two rides we left...

And before I forget... Avoid traveling with crutches if you can help it!

Thanks Chris!

Be sure to check out all of Chris Piazza's photos for more great shots and captions from the Jersey shore, the Catskill Mountains, and throughout California.

"Love a great steak & cheese? How about some Italian sausage with onions and peppers? Top it off with an ocean breeze and you've got the Midway Steak House on the Boardwalk in Seaside Heights, New Jersey.... before long the aroma of sizzling steaks cooked to perfection will be wafting through the air. YUM! Summer is almost here"

"Made famous by the song by Brue Springsteen "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy), " Madame Marie still sits on the Boardwalk in Asbury Park off of 4th Avenue."

"Even when a hurricane was brewing off of the coast, it did not deter this angler from surf fishing on the beach in Spring Lake, New Jersey."

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