I’ve been thinking about boats lately, what with our day of sailing in Bar Harbor, our friend Julian’s wild adventure of sailing that same boat from Florida to Maine with his older brother this past spring and coming across cool images like this (one of the world’s largest container ships):
I’ve always loved the idea of being a stowaway on a big ol’ container ship. It sounds like such a romantic thing to do. Not to mention a great metaphor. When I was younger, I did a lot of research about how I could make it happen. Turns out, if you’re not working on the ship, you’ll have to pay. No stowaways these days(?).
But really, it’s not a bad idea to travel by ship. Check out this How To article from the Travelers Notebook. It does sound like fun! Slow travel, FTW.
This is often how round the world routes work: book your freighter ticket and then plan in a few weeks in every major port. With freighters, the possibilities for your adventure are almost endless. Just think: anywhere global commodities are shipped are places that you can disembark and spend time soaking up the local culture before re-boarding.
I (Audrey) recently took a trip down to Hot Springs, Arkansas to begin researching a documentary film I am making. I met my mother (whom the film is partially about) down there and we spent 5 days digging up the past, eating fried catfish and barbecue, bathing in hot springs and soaking up the vibe of this little town, and I have to say- I am in love with the history and old Americana feel of Hot Springs. Here are a couple of photos from the trip, the rest are on Mark’s Flickr page. I will be posting more about this project in the months (and years?) to come, I may even create a separate blog for the film, but I will keep everyone POSTED. Ha ha. Pun intended.
Audrey and I drove all the way up to Bar Harbor (a 12-hour drive) with our friends Nancy, Will and Adam for a long weekend of BBQing, sailing, hiking and general funtimes with our buddy Julian who is living up there. It was the absolutely quintessential American 4th of July. And we had picture perfect weather to boot. Here’s the whole set of photos of the trip, and a couple choice shots:
One of my new almost heros (almost, since I have not yet, in fact, read his famous book The 4-Hour Work Week), Tim Ferris just posted an interview to his blog with Slovenian marathon swimmer Martin Strel who became the first man to swim the entire length of the Amazon river. Yeah, that’s 3,274 miles, folks.
Choice scary quote:
Q: What were the biggest challenges you faced on the Amazon swim?
A: …Piranhas, snakes, spiders, candirú, bull shark or other animals which make unpredictable attack; you have to be ready all the time if any piranha attack you. We had some buckets of blood ready in case of emergency, to distract the piranha and get them away from me if necessary…
…Peeing; I didn’t pee into the water straight as this attracts a very dangerous fish called the candirú, which lodges up human orifices with a razor-like spike and then sucks your blood. I was peeing all the time through the wetsuit…
An expedition is 95 percent misery and 5 percent ecstasy. After three weeks of constant motion in a land far way from home, something strange occurs in the sould of a man. He gets broken. The first symptom is a tired or sick feeling, maybe even some fear and a little helplessness. Loneliness. Then something slowly changes within. The old attachments start to fade and he becomes completely present. He forgets about all the crap that keeps him up at night back home. None of it matters anymore.
It was taken by Sloan Shang for this excellent new project called Everywhere Magazine, a travel mag made by people’s contributions online. I dig the project, do check it out.
What’s most interesting to me, though, and why the photo caught my eye is that it was taken in Balmorhea State Park - the very place that Audrey agreed to marry me on the day of my 30th birthday while we were on a cross-country road trip. Also, completely randomly, my best friend Norm has that exact same bus. And it’s for sale (in case anyone’s looking for one).
I had the great pleasure of heading to the mountains again this holiday weekend for a heaping serving of films that celebrate the ‘indomitable spirit‘ in adventure, culture, sports and environment. MountainFilm was celebrating it’s 30th year and it was my seventh. As always, it was excellent to spend time in Telluride, my old stomping grounds. Audrey got her first taste of the high and mighty San Juan Mountains, and I’m sure it won’t be her last. We had a great time.
I took a plethora of photos on the trip. You can see the whole set on Flickr here. Here are a few choice picks:
(my gorgeous wife)
(my sister-in-law Becca, her husband Brian and Audrey on top of the Jud Weibe Trail, ~10,000ft elevation)
(me, Justyn and Greg - my co-projectionists at The Palm Theater)
Also, I should mention that the good people at National Geographic Adventure were major sponsors of the event and I would be bereft if I didn’t send my buddies at their sister blog Intelligent Travel a proper shout-out! They’re frequent commenters on The Poverty Jet Set, and I love ‘em for it. You guys rule, keep up the awesome work! And thanks for supporting such a fantastic festival.
My friend Scott is trying his hand at indie film distribution and Train on the Brain is the first film he’s putting out (it’s available for purchase on DVD on the site). Scott’s all about alternative living. We’re kindred spirits in that regard. This film probably won’t disappoint on that front. Women filming themselves hopping trains around America. Excellent. Gritty.
Filmmaker Alison Murray drops out of the rat race, grabs a camera, and hits the rails with some other punk kids on a trans-continental freight train hopping epic. On their odyssey they encounter a cast of hobos and runaways, scallywags and castaways, finding adventure at every turn. Amidst run-ins with the law, and surviving the perils of the elements, Alison weaves an epic narration over beautifully shot film and video with an old-time soundtrack by Beck (think Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly). Train On The Brain was originally produced for Channel 4 UK by MJW Productions, and was Alison Murray’s first documentary film before directing Mouth to Mouth starring Ellen Page. Train On The Brain is hollywoodcansuckit.com’s first film release.
A family band piles in a van and spends their life surfing and traveling, documents it all on sexy 8- and 16mm film. Can’t get much better than that, folks. The film comes out in a limited release over the course of the summer. It’ll be here in Philly starting June 20th at the Ritz at the Bourse. I’m so there.
Also, here’s the website, but beware: nasty browser resizing, ugh! Surfwise
