Travel Resources
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Hit the road, Jack: 5 epic literary road trips that are not by Kerouac
Hit the road, Jack: 5 epic literary road trips that are not by Kerouac Unsplash/Juan Di Nella, CC BY Jessica Gildersleeve, University of Southern Queensland Summer is the time for holidays and travel. But as we weakly wave goodbye (we hope) to the horrors of 2020, international travel is off the table and even domestic travel is still restricted. A book is still your most faithful companion on summer journeys, even if that trip is limited to the journey between the kitchen and a sun lounge in the backyard. Curated here is a mix tape of great literary road trips. There is one oldie but goodie, some 21st-century hits and…
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From Abidjan to Jakarta, how the city is reinventing what we eat
From Abidjan to Jakarta, how the city is reinventing what we eat Anthony Bourdain and Barack Obama in a canteen in Hanoi, Vietnam (May 23, 2016). Pete Souza/Wikimedia, CC BY Audrey Soula, Université de Montpellier; Nicolas Bricas, Cirad, and Olivier Lepiller, Cirad From junk food to McDonaldization of society, the most derogatory remarks about what we eat are often linked with the urban space. For better or worse, cities are seen as the ultimate crossroads of food, nutritional and epidemiological transitions. Be it in the global north or global south, the ultra-processed products and empty calories found in many diets can for trigger obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension and diet-related…
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Ah, memories of 2020. Why it’s important to remember our COVID holidays, good or bad
Ah, memories of 2020. Why it’s important to remember our COVID holidays, good or bad Shutterstock Amanda Barnier, Macquarie University In Charles Dickens’ famous 1843 ghost story, A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Yet to Come. However, we do not need supernatural powers or a ghostly escort to travel in time to holidays past, present and future, at least not in our minds. The ability to remember our past and imagine our future relies on the uniquely human gifts psychologists call retrospective and prospective memory. What memories are we thinking of as we head towards a holiday season unlike…
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HAPPY NEW YEAR 2021
May this New Year take to places you’ve never been before. Happy holidays everyone…
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Vaccines may soon make travel possible again. But how quickly will it return — and will it be forever changed?
Vaccines may soon make travel possible again. But how quickly will it return — and will it be forever changed? RUNGROJ YONGRIT/EPA Joseph M. Cheer, Wakayama University; Colin Michael Hall, University of Canterbury, and Jarkko Saarinen, University of Oulu The COVID-19 pandemic brought the global tourism industry to a screeching halt in 2020. With vaccines starting to be rolled out, there is hope international travel can resume soon, but exactly when — and how — is the million-dollar question. Before COVID-19, there was much concern about whether tourism had grown too big for our planet. There were calls to scale back tourism, make it more environmentally sustainable and help over-touristed…
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COVID19: India extend the temporary suspension of flights to & from the UK till 7 January 2021
India on Wednesday extended the temporary ban on flights to and from UK to January 7, 2021 after cases of the new strain of coronavirus were detected in the country. The development came after testing 20 people who had returned to India from the UK had positive for the new Covid-19 variant, which is 20% more contagious. It was reported on Tuesday that six British returnees tested positive for the new Covid-19 strain. Decision has been taken to extend the temporary suspension of flights to & from the UK till 7 January 2021. Thereafter strictly regulated resumption will take place for which details will be announced shortly. — Hardeep…
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Kasol -A quaint little village in Himachal Pradesh
हिमाचल के घाटियों में कुल्लू और मनाली के अलावा कई ऐसे गांव बसे हैं जिनकी ख़ूबसूरती के बारे में लोगों को शायद नहीं मालूम। उनमें से ही एक खूबसूरत गांव है ” कसोल ” (Kasol) कुल्लू से लगभग 40 किलोमीटर की दूरी पर पर्वती नदी के किनारे बसा कसोल एडवेंचर प्रेमियों और ट्रेकिंग करने वाली लोगों के लिए काफी खास जगह है। चारों तरफ से घने लम्बे पेड़ और पहाड़ों के बीच से बहती पार्वती नदी अपनी खूबसूरती के लिए विदेशी पर्यटकों के बीच भी काफी मशहूर है। कसोल में ट्रेकिंग के अलावा इसके आस पास घूमने के लिए पार्वती वैली, खीर गंगा, तोष गांव,मलाना, मणिकर्ण जैसी कई और मशहूर…
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Fewer tourists meant less money for wildlife during the pandemic – but there’s an alternative
Fewer tourists meant less money for wildlife during the pandemic – but there’s an alternative Joseph Hamm, University of Leeds “Nature is healing” read social media posts at the outset of the pandemic, as birdsong replaced the drone of traffic during lockdown. But for wildlife conservation in Africa, the reality was very different. Anti-poaching operations in protected areas were paused or restricted to limit the spread of the virus, leaving populations of threatened species like the African lion vulnerable. Now these areas are confronting COVID-19’s economic fallout, and research suggests that illegal hunting, mining, deforestation, and bushmeat consumption all tend to increase during downturns. Safari tours and other forms of…
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Sun, sand and survival: a short history of the beach in Australia
Sun, sand and survival: a short history of the beach in Australia Shutterstock Anna Clark, University of Technology Sydney Summer’s here again. After months of lockdowns, travel bans and uncertainty, that first crunch of warm sand between the toes brings a sigh of relief that, all being well, lasts at least until the end of January. Walking by the waves finally feels like a bookend to what’s been a testing year. If you’re like me, days at the beach mean watching the tides, walking the clifftops and poking in the dunes. I love shimmying my feet in the wet sand to catch a feed of pipis and gather bait for…
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Can virtual tourism save local businesses in tourist destinations?
Can virtual tourism save local businesses in tourist destinations? Virtual reality goggles. taboer-roeder/flickr, CC BY-ND Muhammad Muhajir Aminy, Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN) Mataram Imagine you can visit the beautiful tropical island of Lombok in eastern Indonesia from the comfort of your couch through your laptop or smartphone. Tourists can stay at home while listening to travel agents’ voices explaining localities and looking at places they visit virtually through gadgets. With the COVID-19 pandemic severely affecting the global tourism industry, virtual tourism – the use of virtual reality for tourism activities – has helped travel agents survive the crisis but, unfortunately, not so much for local businesses in tourism destinations. A…
