Feature photo & photo above: modenadude

After a recent appointment with my midwife, I stopped by a neighborhood bookstore to browse baby books. Though it’s currently in a box in my mother’s garage, I cherish my baby book, with its pages of my mom’s neat script documenting our family history and the months leading up to my adoption.

As a writer, it’s important to me that my husband and I do the same for our daughter.

I expected to find a handful of baby books, but times have changed since I toddled around in cloth diapers. Today, there are baby books for moms and dads, grandmothers and grandfathers, adoptive parents, and blended families. There are baby books organized around religious or ethnic identities, scrapbook kits, and books in multiple languages.

I bought my book (and one for my mother, Granny-to-be). Though I’ve been filling it out dutifully, I’ve come up with four other projects to welcome our baby to the world– ideas that any parent can appropriate and modify for their own family.

1. Make a time capsule.

Though many modern baby books include lots of room for photos, clippings, and other flat, paper-based ephemera, you may have objects you’d like to include that won’t fit between the pages of a baby book. A time capsule is one way to store those three-dimensional objects that have become important props in your family’s story.

Photo: MQuimayousie

Choose an appropriate container for these special items and start filling it. You can even start early in your pregnancy, collecting objects throughout the nine months you’re waiting to meet your baby.

You don’t actually have to bury the time capsule– just find some way to seal it and decide when you’ll be sharing it with your child.

What do you put in it? That depends on you, but some ideas might include your favorite music, a newspaper from the day of your child’s birth, your favorite piece of maternity wear, or a book you enjoyed reading during pregnancy.

You may also want to invite friends and family members to contribute to the time capsule.

2. Make a video of your partner.

My husband was born and raised in Cuba and came to the U.S. as a refugee on a boat. His entire family remains in Cuba. He fought in the war in Angola, he co-owned a hair salon (?!) in Boston, he had some sort of stake in a night club where Celia Cruz once performed… you get the idea: the guy has lots of interesting stories.

They’re stories that I could retell our daughter, but I’d rather she hear them from him. To get them on video and keep them as one record of our family story is a project I’m working on.

If you’re a single mom expecting a child, forget the partner bit. Make a video of your parents, grandparents, or other relatives. Ask questions for which you’ve always wanted to know the answers.

And no matter what your circumstances, make sure you shoot some footage of the places that are important to you, too.

Not too handy with the video camera? Matador contributing editor Josh Johnson offers plenty of tips to get you started.

3. Sign up for Upromise.

I promised myself I’d get rid of paper and electronic clutter by cutting out programs and memberships, but Upromise seems too good to pass up.

Upromise is a program that lets you sock away money for your baby’s future college tuition with minimal effort. By installing a Upromise toolbar on your computer, Upromise lets you know when you’re visiting a website or making a purchase from a retailer that participates in their service. When that’s the case, you’ll get 1-25% of the purchase cost diverted into an electronic savings account.

If you’re already buying airplane tickets from Expedia or making other online purchases, then you’re likely to be able to save up a bit without much extra effort. You can also invite friends and family to install the Upromise toolbar and designate their purchase percentages to be directed to your baby’s account.

The cost of college isn’t going to get any cheaper, folks. Every little bit might help.

4. Have an alternative shower.

Someone needs a bib. It’s just not you. Photo: madenadude

Say you’re on your second (or third, or…) baby. You’ve got plenty of clothes, bottles, toys, and baby gear from your first child and the thought of a shower just makes you crazy: Where will you put all these new gifts and will you even use them?

There are lots of parents and babies who could use that stuff, though. Some of them are far, far away and some of them are in your own community.

Let your friends know that you’d welcome a shower, on the condition that all gifts be bought for a baby in greater need than your own. The celebration for your baby will be all the sweeter knowing that you’ve made a difference in someone else’s life.

Let the hostess of the shower know where you’d like to donate the gifts so guests can select presents appropriately. Some recipient ideas include domestic violence shelters, local social service organizations, or international NGOs, such as Matador member Misty Tosh’s 4th World Love.

Community Connection:

Share your family ideas with us in the comments below!

Photo: jordanfischer

Family vacation is supposed to be fun. For parents, though, worries about money may eclipse the joy of seeing their kids experience new places.

It’s easy to go over budget on vacation. If you’re headed to DisneyWorld, you’ve probably already budgeted tickets for your family of four (two parents and two kids over age 10): $300.00 for one day admission. But did you figure in the refreshments, souvenirs, and photos your kids will beg you to buy while you’re in the Magic Kingdom?

Saving money takes some creative planning, but it doesn’t have to be complicated and it definitely doesn’t have to take away from the fun.

Here are 8 ideas for saving money on your family vacation:

Photo: dMap Travel Guide

1. Bring the fun with you.

If your family loves outdoor activities, gear rentals can tack on hundreds of extra dollars over the course of a seven day vacation.

Skip that expense altogether by bringing your own gear: bikes, snorkels, rollerblades, surfboards, and sand pails and shovels.

Plan your vacation around activities you already love; you won’t need gear or instruction. The adventure is experiencing it all in a new place.

2. Choose family friendly destinations.

They don’t get much better than Washington, D.C., where you could easily plan seven full days worth of activities that wouldn’t cost a dime. And the cool factor of the Smithsonian and surrounding museums has been amplified by their appearance in recent films, including “National Treasure.”

Photo: lepiaf.geo

Beyond the US capital, however, there are other cities that are often overlooked on family vacations. New Orleans is one. Generally seen as a stop for Spring Breakers, New Orleans has even more to offer families, including the Louisiana Children’s Museum and the Audobon Insectarium, which is just one year old.

3. Play in the city; sleep outside of the city.

Cities provide fantastic opportunities for families to have lots of different experiences in a single, compact place: new foods, museums, performances, and historic sites among them.

They’re also budget-killers when it comes time to lay your head down for the night. A recent Expedia search for hotels in New York City (2 adults/2 kids) for July 21-25 retrieved results averaging $195 per night, before taxes.

By comparison, hotels in Yonkers, just 30 minutes north of the city, were at least $30 cheaper on average. In Paramus, New Jersey, a search on Econo Lodge® and Rodeway Inn® hotels retrieved averages that could save you even more.

Sleeping outside of the city or in the suburbs can save a significant chunk of cash.

4. Don’t take your car to the city.

If you do choose to stay in the suburbs or outside of the city, consider leaving your car at the hotel and taking a bus or other public transportation option into the city.

Even with a family of four, public transportation is likely to be cheaper than the combined costs of tolls and parking fees. In large metropolitan cities, you can easily run up a parking tab that exceeds $100 for 8 hours, and that’s before you add the attendant’s tip.

5. Reserve in advance and always ask about family discounts.

Once you’ve selected your destination, do some advance planning.

Photo: hectorir

Do your kids really want to see a Broadway show? Find out when the cheapest seats are available (generally Tuesday and Thursday nights and Wednesday matinees).

No matter where you’re going or what you’re doing, always ask about family discounts. Many attractions offer such discounts but don’t advertise them.

It never hurts for you to ask.

6. Build your vacation around a family volunteer experience.

With the increasing popularity of voluntourism, there are more opportunities than ever for you to have a vacation that’s equal parts fun and meaningful. Try rescuing loggerhead turtles on Pritchard’s Island, South Carolina or building houses for families in need on the Gulf Coast. Whatever your interests are or whatever values you’d like to teach your kids, there’s a volunteer project to match them.

Often, voluntourism opportunities come with other cost-savings built in. Some include accommodations that are either free or deeply discounted. Some many even include food. Be sure to check the specific terms of the option you choose before you arrive.

7. Skip souvenirs.

Before you leave home, let your kids know you won’t be buying dust collectors they’ll forget about five minutes after the cashier has handed you a receipt.

Instead, give your kids a journal, a glue stick, and some colored pencils before the trip—maybe even a disposable camera—and encourage them to collect items along the way they can add to their trip journal. Menus and admissions tickets are just two items that are tangible memories of a fun family trip. Try to build in time and opportunities each day for them to add to their journal.

Photo: theritters

If you just can’t bring yourself to cut out souvenirs, look for items with special and lasting significance.

If you’re visiting any of the 400 National Parks sites in the United States, the Passport to Your National Parks is a perfect souvenir that kids can keep for years.

8. Start saving for next year now.

Help your kids learn about what goes into getting ready for a trip—including budgeting—by making the vacation planning process a family project.

Call a family meeting and decide where you want to go next year. Depending on your kids’ ages, have them research destinations, activities, and costs. And involve them in saving money for the trip. Set up a spare change jar, where family members can contribute their pocket change to next year’s vacation. As the jar fills up, let them count the change and keep track of the growing funds.

Community Connection:

Need some inspiration on where to take your family trip? Check out Photo Essay: Readers’ Favorite Family Vacation Destinations.

And all you kids out there will definitely want to read up on 10 Reasons to Travel with Your Parents as an Adult.

Photo: notsogoodphotography

I was on a press trip in St. Kitts when the thought that I might be pregnant occurred to me.

I got home, took a pregnancy test, confirmed my hunch, and began remapping my life as a traveler and travel writer.

The travel wouldn’t–couldn’t–stop, that much I knew. I’d been traveling forever and had never viewed pregnancy as a show-stopper in any aspect of my life.

By month two, I was in Brazil (during Carnaval, no less). After that, it was off to Mexico, Puerto Rico, and home to New York City.

The author goofing off at airport, 6.5 months pregnant

I’ve just crossed the seven month mark. Later this week, I’m headed to South Carolina and back to Puerto Rico, where I’ll be working on a guidebook assignment.

Along the way, I’ve learned that among the many lessons of pregnancy there’s a whole chapter on travel. It’s not something your doctor or midwife is likely to discuss with you unless you bring up your travel plans and questions.

What follows is not intended to replace medical advice, but to serve as a guide for you to get the care you need by learning how to ask the right questions and plan for certain changes.

1. Let your provider know that travel is important to you.

You’ll have lots of questions at the beginning of your pregnancy, especially if this is your first child. Among the many issues you should address with your doctor or midwife are any travel plans you already have or any you’re likely to make. Your provider will be able to tell you whether you can travel, when, and up to what point during your pregnancy.

Don’t rely upon friends who have been pregnant to counsel you: whether you can travel and when is largely dependent upon the specific circumstances of your pregnancy. Some women are considered to have high risk pregnancies and will have medically indicated reasons why they can’t travel. Your provider will monitor you throughout your pregnancy to assess your risk; if you plan to travel extensively or frequently, be sure to ask your provider to keep you abreast of any changes in your risk profile.

2. Respect your body’s changes.

Pregnancy is a physically powerful experience from beginning to end, and each trimester offers you the chance to get to know your body in a new way.

In my first trimester, I was frequently sick and was more inclined to nest at home than to go out exploring. I already had a few trips planned, though, and I was reluctant to cancel them. Instead, I learned to respect my new pace. I didn’t force myself to take advantage of every experience as I might under other circumstances.

Photo: dizznbonn

During my second trimester, I was blissed out– feeling energetic, healthy, and adventurous. Toward the end of month six, though, I began noticing that my feet and ankles swelled after lots of walking; it was time to intersperse activity with periods of feet-up resting.

Your body’s changes will be unique to you, but will certainly affect your travels, from what you eat to what you need to pack and how you’ll travel (you won’t, for instance, be hauling around a heavy pack). You may notice, as I did, that your beloved pair of tennis shoes or hiking boots no longer fit, and your feet take up residence in sandals for three months. Don’t resist the physical changes; adjust to them accordingly.

3. Realize that an emergency plan is more important than ever.

It’s always a good idea to have an emergency plan in place when you travel, but it’s even more important when you’re pregnant.

Does your insurance cover you abroad or do you have adequate travel insurance? Where is the nearest provider or hospital, what are the services available, and in what kind of setting are they performed? Where can you get medicine if you need it, and how much will it cost? How would you get home quickly in the event of an emergency? And–critically–can you communicate in the local language?

Now is not the time to take that remote Himalayan trek or to climb the pyramids in Mexico.

4. Recognize that the rules change.

I’m headed to Puerto Rico next week; I’ve already bought my ticket. Imagine my surprise when a nurse friend said, “Are you sure the airline will let you travel?” After a moment of full-on flip out, I did a quick Internet search to review the airline’s policy for pregnant travelers.

Yes, there is such a thing.

Policies vary from one airline to another, though the general rule on flights originating in the United States is that no woman within seven days of her due date is allowed to travel by air. Some airlines restrict third trimester travel and require a letter of authorization from the woman’s health care provider before she’ll be cleared to board. Be prepared, though- these travel authorizations generally need to be signed within 72 hours (no earlier!) of your departure day.

It’s a good idea to have multiple copies of the letter (one for the return trip, at least, just in case the airline lost your original), as well as a printed copy of the airline’s policy for pregnant travelers. Don’t wait until you get to the airport to cry foul with an agent who is telling you something different from what you read on the airline’s website.

5. Prepare for your little traveler.

Photo: jessicafm

During the last couple months of pregnancy, you may find yourself itching to be on the road. But when it’s time for you to hunker down until your due date (and in the last two months of pregnancy, you’ll likely have medical appointments every two weeks), use the time to research infant travel regulations, passport application requirements for babies, or to put your creativity to work on a journal of all the places you’ve been while you were pregnant.

Community Connection:

Once your baby’s born and you’ve settled into a new routine, be sure to consult Deanna Niles McConnell’s article, “Backpacking After Baby” for some practical travel tips.

Photo: ktylerconk

That conventional wisdom may be true if you’re thinking about traditional stocks, but now is the perfect time to start thinking about building other assets: like an art collection.

For the most part, art prices are at an all-time low. After a boom period that gained momentum in the late 1990s, the art market went bust last year. Auction houses like Sotheby’s and Christie’s began to worry about their own assets as even artists who traditionally fetched high prices failed to seal deals with cautious buyers.

For high end collectors, the current art market may seem just as dismal as the financial markets. But for new entrants, it’s a really exciting time to start building an art collection.

Interested? Here’s how you get started.

1. Circumvent the conventional system.

During the art market boom, a whole industry sprang up around the appraisal and sale of art. This industry grew to include a new group of players: the art adviser, whose job was to charge as much as $200 USD per hour to acclimate clients to the world of high art.

While some new collectors with fat wallets found their services effective, the art adviser is totally unnecessary. There’s nothing you can’t learn about art by using your library card to check out books and read some history or doing some online research about contemporary artists, their training, their trajectory, and their typical price points. One indispensable resource to consult is artnet.

2. Forget about fads.

Jeff Koon’s “Balloon Puppy (Yellow)” Photo: TheGirlsNY

Just as you don’t need an art adviser to tell you how to choose a piece of art, you don’t need to know what’s hot right now. All you need is your own taste and a sense of what you can afford.

While Jeff Koons’ “Puppy” and “Balloon Dog” may be good investments, I personally could never live with them because I find them hideously ugly. Plus, there’s no way I could afford them. While I’m waiting for my investment to mature, I’d like to be able to live with the art I choose in the meantime.

3. Start small.

You’ve collected baseball cards since you were 10. Your archival folder of autographed celebrity photos has been 20 years in the making. Art is like any other collection: You learn what you like and want as you go along; you build the collection over time; and you trade or sell one piece for another you want or need more.

4. Diversify, diversify.

In some ways, collecting art is no different than building a stock portfolio: the key to both is diversifying your holdings and spreading out your risk. In art, though, what’s really fantastic is that you get to enjoy looking at all that diversity as you’re building your collection. Among your choices? Photography, drawings, paintings, sculptures, textiles, ceramics, crafts, jewelry, textiles, posters, lithographs, and the list goes on.

4. Get outside the gallery.

Established collectors tend to stick to galleries, high-end art fairs, and direct transactions with artists or their representatives.

As a new collector, you have lots more options—and more interesting ones, too.

In the past couple years, several art dealers have established online outlets intended to make art more accessible to a wider audience. One of the most interesting online galleries is 20×200.

Each Tuesday and Wednesday, gallery owner Jen Bekman announces the sale of two new pieces of art: one photograph and one work on paper. The works are typically sold in a limited edition run of three sizes, with each size priced at a specific, consistent price point, some as low as $20 USD. The artists featured on 20×200 are diverse, as are the range and style of their work. This site offers an easy, reliable way for new collectors to get in the game.

Online galleries aren’t your only option, though. As a frequent traveler, you have a unique opportunity to build a collection that’s not only diverse in genre, but also in terms of price point and origin.

Most of my art collection has been built by collecting paintings and photographs in Cuba and textiles and ceramics in Mexico. Though it can be harder to establish a value for these pieces, establishing provenance is typically far easier. We’ll talk more about that in a minute.

A recent photo by Matador editor Paul Sullivan

Finally, don’t overlook the option of buying from friends and acquaintances. Thousands of artists around the world are just as talented as marquee-name art auction darlings (if not more so, in my opinion), but just haven’t had the exposure or luck as more established artists. Why not give them a boost?

If you really love someone’s work, inquire about it. Within the Matador community alone, we have hundreds of accomplished photographers whose portfolios are bulging with beautiful work. Two of my favorites are Matador Goods’ editor Lola Akinmade and Matador contributing editor Paul Sullivan.

5. Document everything.

If you’ve ever watched an episode of “Antiques Roadshow,” you know that the value of a piece is determined by a couple of critical factors: the condition of the work and its story. The story of a work–who made it, where it came from, how you got it–is called its “provenance,” and you’ll want to know the provenance of every piece in your collection if you hope to extract an eventual return on your investment.

Textile weaver in Oaxaca. Photo: Francisco Collazo

Before sealing a deal, ask about the work’s provenance and obtain as much tangible evidence as possible. Is the artist able to provide you with a certificate of authenticity? If you’re buying a hand-woven rug on a street corner in Oaxaca, Mexico or a tribal mask in Africa, is it possible for you to get the contact information of the person selling it? The more information you have about the piece and your purchase of it, the more value you’ll be able to claim in the future.

6. Curate your collection.

Again, like any other collection, you’ll want to take good care of your acquired art work. Just as you store your baseball cards in acid-free sleeves, you need to display or store your art work in a manner that’s appropriate to its composite materials. The Canadian Conservation Institute offers how-to guides for practically every type of art work, and is a useful resource to consult once you’ve brought your first pieces home.

Community Connection:

Art fairs are one place where you can learn more about the art world. Here are Matador’s 10 recommendations for the world’s best art fairs.

Interested in collecting textiles? Marie Cleland offers a guide with six tips here.

Still not convinced that collecting art is for you? William Moss Wilson offers a guide to traditional investing here.

Photo: lordsutch

I’m writing this article at a desk that’s in a state of barely controlled clutter. There’s a stack of books on my far left, piled nine high; a shorter but more rowdy collection of papers, magazines, and press releases to read on my immediate left; cords for two external hard drives snaking out of the laptop, and more books, notebooks, business cards, article clippings, two pairs of sunglasses, and an empty cup of coffee on my right.

This is no way to start a Monday.

It’s time to put some order to this mess. Streamline and simplify: it’s my project for this week.

If you’re in a similar situation, here are 5 ways you can simplify your life along with me:

1. Organize your finances once and for all.

In that pile of papers on my desk you’ll find bank statements, bills, notes to invoice clients, and brochures from the IRS telling me how I can be more responsible about taxes. I hate all the paper. And I have nowhere to file it all.

Let’s start organizing by getting our finances straight. I’m going electronic: paperless bank statements and bills and auto bill pay, for starters. I’m also going to move all my invoicing from paper to PayPal.

Photo: bandita

Finally, I’m going to take the online financial service Mint for a test drive. Mint is a free budgeting and money management site that lets you link all your accounts and track where and how you’re spending your money. Worried about privacy and safety? Mint is certified secure by VeriSign and TRUSTe.

Once a month, I’ll schedule a day to review all my finances online, making sure that bills paid automatically were correct and ensuring I’ve been paid by clients.

2. Get rid of clutter. No, really.

If there’s paper that’s been sitting on my desk for more than a week, I’ll be ruthless with it: Am I really going to read it? If not, it’s off to the recycle bin.

Once the desk is clear, I’ll tackle a few other trouble spots in my apartment: closets and drawers. If I haven’t worn a piece of clothing in a year, I’ll donate it to a local charity thrift shop. If I have lots of electronics I no longer use (and I do–chargers for defunct cell phones, spent batteries, a collection of USB cords), I’ll donate or recycle those, too.

3. Practice saying no, thanks.

One of the most valuable pieces of advice I ever received was from a taskmaster of a boss, who continually piled new projects on my plate (not surprisingly, these were never coupled with a pay raise). One day, after asking me to take on yet another new project, I hesitated. “You don’t have to say yes, you know,” she told me. “The only reason I keep asking you is because you’re organized, you’re professional, and you always say yes. But really, you should practice saying ‘No, thanks.’”

Maybe she was sorry she ever told me that, but it was a powerful lesson. And it’s just as useful in one’s social life as it is in one’s professional life. I’m going to practice saying “No, thanks” to requests of my time when the offer really doesn’t interest me.

4. Plan less.

Photo: Florian

Lots of simplify your life advice involves making lists about goals and priorities or designating blocks of time for scheduling activities that are important to you.

Personally, I think it’s a bunch of bunk.

When my schedule is packed tight with meetings, plans, and obligations, I feel pressured. I also feel guilty if I fail to uphold them. Do I have to go to the gym every day at 6 AM? Nope. I’ll get there when I get there, and I’ll feel a whole lot better about it.

5. Say good-bye to gimmicks.

My wallet and my organizer are thick with all types of “saver” cards, peddled to me by stores where I hardly, if ever, shop. It’s time to shred them and say good-bye. Even if I do shop at these stores, it’s not with enough frequency to accumulate their supposed benefits.

Community Connection:

What are your tips for simplifying life? Share your strategies in the comments below!
For more ideas about what do with all the clutter you’ve accumulated, be sure to check out “Random Things You Didn’t Know You Can Recycle,” one of the thousands of articles from Matador’s archives!

All photos courtesy of Lynette Chiang

I “met” Lynette Chiang after snagging The Handsomest Man in Cuba from a New York Public Library bookshelf.

I approach narratives about travels in Cuba with one part interest, one part dread. So many of them sound alike– careful notations of the author’s observations about old cars, rum, music, and the famed congeniality of Cubans. And somehow, almost all of them fail to capture the ineffable moments and experiences that make Cuba Cuba.

But Chiang, a self-described Chinese Australian “adventurette,” managed to do what most chroniclers of Cuban journeys don’t, and perhaps that’s because her journey around the island was not like most people’s.

Chiang, who globe trots on a folding bike, tackled Cuba on two wheels. Between punishing heat and potholed roads, she managed to keep notes about her experiences, and while rum, music, and old cars aren’t absent from her travelogue, they’re certainly not the dominant images.

Chiang and I spoke over e-mail about ditching her job, traveling the world by folding bike, and our mutual love: Cuba.

(MT): You “fled a decent job, three-bedroom house, fast car, and a nice bloke in Sydney” for some Lycra bike shorts, a folding bike, and the open road. Lots of people dream of doing something similar (well, maybe not the Lycra shorts part), but are afraid to make the break from what they perceive to be the security and safety of a steady paycheck and benefits.

Two questions: First, what was your “Aha” moment when you made the decision to exit your predictable, stable life, and second, what advice do you have for people who say, “Great for you, but I’ll be slaving away in this cubicle until I pay off my debt or die?”

Two things happened:

Someone showed me a map of Great Britain – admittedly a small one – printed off the then-fairly new “internet.” That was around 1995, when it was still a novelty…. The map had a little dotted line going from the bottom to the top. The classic Land’s End to John O’Groats journey. My first reaction was, “I’m going to do that.” It was the first time in a long time I had such a decisive thought in my life…. I guess it was the decisiveness of the thought, rather than the trip itself, that was the turning point.

Second, I was getting more and more stressed in a job where I never felt I had any control – I was at the whim of a pyramid of people above me ready to squash my work for all kinds of spurious and reasonable/unreasonable reasons. That’s not uncommon in working life, but I always thought the ideal state where you can do your best is when you are “comfortably challenged….” Maybe psychologists would disagree with me, but that’s how I feel.

And all I can say is I have managed to pay off my condo in Sydney so my mother has somewhere to live for the rest of her life without fear, yet the highest I’ve earned is probably 40K a year or so since getting on the bike. Makes me think it’s actually cheaper to be on the road. You can’t accumulate STUFF – only the stuff you really need.

(MT): When you left Sydney, you headed for Latin America. Was there a reason you felt drawn to this region and what did you anticipate you’d experience in Cuba?

Actually, I headed for Latin America only after meeting a Costa Rican woman and her English husband in Windsor Station, near where I was paused after riding from end to end Britain and round and about Ireland. The three of us missed the train when it pulled away early, and shared outrage as the driver mockingly waved to us.

She said I should visit her family in San Jose, Costa Rica, as is the natural, embracing offer of many cultures excluding our WASPish kind. So I went to a bookstore, looked for a Lonely Planet to see where Costa Rica was and got a plane fare there. It was only when I got to Costa Rica did I start looking at maps of the area and noticed Cuba. I think that’s why we are naturally geocentric to where we happen to be. Far away is, well, just too damn far away.

(MT): Your primary mode of transportation is a folding bike. What have you learned about the world from the vantage point of a bike saddle? And what have you learned about yourself?

Things look a lot more interesting, because you notice more. Anyone who has ridden a bike for any distance will tell you that. I definitely had a higher level of internal frustration when I commuted 20 minutes to work each day in a Honda Accord as a cubicle dweller.

And I gained a lot more respect for my body after it hauled the pile of inanimate tubes and rubber from one end of Britain to the other. We celebrate superficial beauty and athletic prowess, really, there’s a lot to be admired in covering distance under your own power. A folding bike has the added cache of being strange. As one of our Bike Friday customers says, “When I don’t want anyone to talk to me, I ride my regular bike.”

(MT): When did you decide to write a travel memoir of your bike trip around Cuba?

I had no real intention at first. I just made bullet points each day in a Hyatt Regency Hotel diary…. After the trip I worked up a single story called “La Casa de Lolita” which was printed in the Tico Times, a Costa Rican English newspaper. I think it’s the only story I ever submitted to a print publication– I was always far more interested in the potential of the web….

It got read by a Latinophile and former bureau chief of the NYT Argentina, Barney Collier. He flew down from NY to locate me in the mountains of Costa Rica, where I was working as a cook and manager of Avalon Reserve, loaned me his “lucky Toshiba” Satellite brick of a laptop, and said “finish the story.” It meandered its way to where it is today, published by Random House Australia, me, Globe-Pequot USA and Piper-Verlag in Germany.

(MT): Every time I return from Cuba, I’m more confused than ever by its complexity and contradictions, many of which you convey so well in The Handsomest Man in Cuba. When you recall your experiences in Cuba, what remains most difficult for you to understand?

I feel there is nothing I did not “understand,” probably because I stopped trying to do do that a while ago. For me, “it is what it is….” If I tried to make sense of everything, like I did in my naive twenties, I’d go nuts. I remember railing at strip malls and manicured lawns when I first came to America and realized it was fruitless. I’m a failed hippie, hovering between being capitalist and socialist, seeking to integrate the best of both worlds but it’s impossible, because they just don’t mesh.

(MT): Could you share a bit with us about your process of pitching the book for publication?

I guess I never really pitched. Barney wrote an eloquent letter to a then-editorial head at Random House Australia and they asked to see it. A very successful Australian author, Brad Grieve, suggested I could have just picked up the phone and gotten the same result in a small place like Australia, but I’ve always honored people who try to help me along the way.

It sold OK downunder, maybe 7K copies; a Bill Bryson I’m certainly not, although I’ve been compared to him! Perhaps Cuba isn’t as top of mind downunder as other places, like India or Europe or Asia. Cuba out of earshot, out of buckshot.

In the USA, I made some halfhearted attempts to attract publishers. [I] went to the Willamette Writers Conference and soaked up all the encouragement which was probably more well-meaning than a means to an end, and decided to publish it myself. By that, I mean I learned Adobe Indesign Book, laid it all out, sent it to a printer and got a box of books back.

Because I was working for Bike Friday, the make of my folding bicycle, I saw that I had a bit of a market there. I figured I should at least be able to offload 1500 books. Despite 20,000 customers and an email every three days from someone who said they enjoyed it, it took almost three years to do that! So you can imagine what a massive achievement it is for a Grisham or a JK Rowling to sell half a million books in a matter of hours.

I mounted my own book tour, worked 24/7 making the collateral, calls, and PR – I think I had a nervous breakdown doing all the prep but didn’t notice.

I could do every part except get a lot of press and publicity. That’s why people pay PR agencies the big bucks. I had no real connections here. It’s all connections. Or a brilliant product, say, a Benjamin Button elixir in a bottle with no contraindications.

(MT): Do you have any plans to write another book?

I have penned a few chapters about my life in Costa Rica, my two years there working at a Saatchi & Saatchi office, and then at the hotel. It’s not about cloud forests or romantic walks along the beach. It has my trademark, ever so slightly ‘jaundiced’ eye, and is of course personal, like the Cuba book. It’ll never sell. But those who enjoyed the subtext of The Handsomest Man will like it.

(MT): In addition to your traveling and writing, you also make films. Can you tell us a bit about your “handlebar documentaries”?

I use a simple digital camera in movie mode, strung around my neck using a lanyard, shooting one-handedly. It’s really no different from taking a swig from your water bottle, except you’re talking to it and turning it on yourself. I download it to my 12″ Mac Powerbook and use iMovie, Quicktime Pro, or Garageband to put it all together.

What people don’t realize is that the resolution of most cameras is 640×480, same as a standard TV screen. So they blow up great and make excellent DVD movies – especially now they have image stabilization. “16,000 Feet on a Friday”, a movie about biking the world’s highest paved road, got the Boston Bike Film Festival Audience Choice gong one year– that was pre-image stabilization. I shot that on two 256 Mb cards at 320×240 on an old Canon Digital Elph 3.2 mpix and it still came out decent enough to be appreciated.

In 2006 I shot “Route 66 by Bicycle: Pedaling the Mother Road….” In addition, I am constantly uploading to the bikefriday and galfromdownunder YouTube accounts to illustrate my blogs. I’m not ever striving to be a Scorsese– I’m just interested in capturing the entertaining nuances of fact rather than fiction – it’s happening all around us.

(MT): Where are you cycling and filming these days, and what trips do you have coming up?

I’ve just come back from Colorado and Arizona. My title, Customer Evangelist at large, puts me all over the country, homestaying with customers. Right now I am in NYC filming the interesting city biking life there.

(MT): What’s your dream trip itinerary?

I actually don’t have dreams. I’ve lived almost every reality I never dreamed of after quitting my cubicle dwelling life some 12 years ago.

The trip to the corner store can be a microadventure, if you are open to whoever might approach you, or notice something you’ve not seen before. And oh how sustainable! Plenty of bang for your buck. If you press me about it, I might say the Eastern Bloc countries intrigue me now– Romania, Lithuania– and Japan. What a fascinating culture that is.

(MT): Those of us who travel and write are often asked how we fund our travels. So pardon the bluntness, but, how do you fund your travels?

Unless you live in a kibbutz or a monastery, you need a bit of money if you want to live life fully on or off the road. I used my background to get stints in two areas of work– my formerly professional life as an advertising copywriter, and a life I had an unprofessional interest in, food,– these two things funded my travels.

I’ve earned everything from $2 to $2K a month, for a week to six months work, at a time. There’s always something that pops up. You’re not in your usual situation at home, boxed in by well-meaning friends who say “What happens if xyz happens?” You are a beacon to these offers and for the first time you can avail yourself to them.

(MT): Back to the bike: What’s the gear that’s essential for you on a bike trip of any length?

…Pump. Spare tube. My traffic cone bag to stay alive.
And lights. If you’re out and about, your best laid plans can change if you meet someone or something interesting and end up shooting the breeze over an impromptu meal. You need to get home in the dark. It makes me really angry when I see a cyclist riding in the dark sans lights. Your life isn’t worth a $20 light?

Warm clothes to cover legs and arms are also essential. A bit of food, even a bar stashed away. I put an Emergen-C in my water bottle each day and a Rooibos tea-bag.

(MT): Do you think you’ll ever go back to corporate life? Do you think travel is a sustainable lifestyle?

I have always been in corporate life to a degree. Right now I am the Customer Evangelist for Bike Friday. It’s the culmination of everything I’ve done in the past– computing, advertising, food service (I cook for my homestay hosts!), networking. I’m just doing it in a way that is organic to the job.

I think many jobs could be done more effectively if they were really designed for people when they can be their best. Stuck in an office might not be the answer for all jobs, nor doing the same thing day in, day out. I actually think the ideal thing is to have two or three very different part time jobs, that give you physical and mental variety. That’s what travel does, and why many of us crave it. But do that all the time and it too becomes tiring….

Travel is not that sustainable. It does promote “I’m here I want to be there.” I have not owned a car for 20 years and have always always combined my folding bike with available transportation modes (bus, train, car, plane, banana truck), but I am not a martyr. I fly, but when I do, it’s one-way and I stay a while. Fossil fueled transport is not evil. It’s all how appropriately and sustainably you use it – it’s to be used, not abused.

Feature photo by BEAT NIK. Photo above by ibcbulk.

It’s nearing the end of the year and you’re either out of dough or out of vacation days.

Glossy travel catalogs are showing up in your mailbox, taunting you with images of destinations you can’t even think about visiting right now, leaving you in a fall funk.

If you happen to be in New York, Santa Fe, San Francisco, Tucson, Gibara, Cuba, or La Paz, Mexico though, don’t despair. These five film festivals—all focused on travel or place-based films– will transport you around the world at a price far lower than that of a transcontinental plane ticket.

Photo by Photochiel.

NEW YORK, New York, USA

The Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival: November 14-16, 2008

2008 marks the 32nd anniversary of this film festival, which will present 26 international documentaries over the course of two days at the American Museum of Natural History. This festival was started to showcase anthropological films from the field.

This year’s selections include topics as diverse as “African thumb-piano players, Laotian bomb technicians, primate scientists in Abkhazia, prostitutes in Phnom Penh, and Manhattan pre-schoolers”—topics and places obscure enough to satisfy your desire for a sense of the “exotic.”

Photo by Leto A.

SANTA FE, New Mexico, USA

National Geographic All Roads Film Festival: December 3-7, 2008

This is the fifth year of the All Roads Film Festival; the final stop in the itinerant festival’s 2008 season is Santa Fe. Like the Margaret Mead festival, the majority of the 29 films in the All Roads Festival tend towards ponderous themes; however, you can’t beat this festival for cultural and geographic diversity: films are from 20 cultures and 15 countries, and the majority feature communities described as “indigenous and underrepresented minorities.”

Photo by fangleman.

SAN FRANCISCO, California, USA

South Asian Film Festival: November 13-16, 2008

Unlike a few of the other film fests on this list, the flicks in the South Asian Film Festival aren’t limited to documentaries. The offerings at the SAFF range “from Indian art house classics to documentary films and from innovative and experimental visions to next-level Bollywood.”

Buy tickets online before the 12th and you’ll get a cheaper rate than you’ll be charged at the door. And while the Mead and All Roads Film Festivals are likely to be followed by esoteric anthropological conversations, the SAFF offers some serious post-film partying at an accessible cost for any budget: $5 will get you into an opening night party at a local café-bar.

Photo by Roger Smith.

TUCSON, Arizona; USA

Tucson Slow Food & Film Festival: January 8-11, 2009

Just as the chill of North American winter is settling into your bones, Tucson offers a film festival to fill you up with images of warmth. Slow food + film= winning combination. Features, short films, animated films, and documentaries—all focused on food—will be shown at this festival.

Although this film fest is just four years old, it has a history of showing films featuring food from around the world; past movies have included “Like Water for Chocolate” (which is sure to send you off in search of some Mexican mole after viewing), “Chocolat” (which will make you want to open your own boutique chocolate shop), and “Tortilla Soup” (which will send you home to Google this recipe).

Photo by Néstor.

GIBARA, Cuba; LA PAZ, Mexico

Cine Pobre Film Festival: Dates vary in Spring 2009

Described as one of the world’s most “charming and authentic” film festivals, this low-budget film festival was conceived by Cuban film director Humberto Solas about eight years ago. The concept has since spread to other countries, including Mexico, which hosts its own Cine Pobre Film Festival each spring.

The 2009 Cine Pobre festival will kick off on May 5, 2009; if you’ll be in Cuba, their Cine Pobre festival is a few weeks earlier. Next year’s selections have not yet been announced, but past features have tended to represent selections from every continent.