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Monthly Archives May 2009

How to be a non-jerk to non-travelers

When I was 20, I had my first (and really, only) longish term boyfriend. He was a pretty nice guy, decent looking and smart.
I got annoyed with him a lot.
One of the things that annoyed me the most was that he hadn’t traveled.
That’s right, I got annoyed about stuff that he didn’t [...]

Posted 10 May 2009 † Caitlin § Misc. § Travel ‡ Comments (3) °

On guidebooks

I have a complicated relationship with guidebooks.
While I’m in Canada and daydreaming about my next trip, guidebooks are like crack to me. Before leaving for West Africa last summer, I read Rough Guide and Lonely Planet’s West Africa books and Bradt’s Burkina Faso guide front to cover at least four or five times each. [...]

Posted 06 May 2009 † Caitlin § Travel § What to pack ‡ Comments (4) °

Cultural relativism… revisited yet again

My second last day in Ouagadougou in 2008, I learn from a neighbor that a good Burkinabe friend of mine has been sustaining a big lie for the past two years.
In 2006, he was the best bud to me and the two other Canadians in my project team. On our first night in the [...]

Posted 04 May 2009 † Caitlin § Burkina Faso ‡ Comments (1) °

Risk and travel

Some people have told me that I should not fly through Mexico City in June if the swine flu epidemic is still going on. I have an eight hour stopover there on my way to Guatemala. As it stands, the tiny risk will not stop me. (Although, to make my mother happy I will bring [...]

Posted 01 May 2009 † Caitlin § Misc. § Travel Safety ‡ Comments (2) °