CBS’s David Price is on an interesting seven day adventure across America with only $50 and an arsenal of hand-held technology to connect to every form of social media which he’ll use to find rides and lodging as he goes. I should make for an interesting week, and of course because mainstream media loves social media – hours of television.
Call me old fashioned though, but it seems like it would be a much cooler challenge to do that trip without the social media help and the notoriety of being on TV. Just hitching and couchsurfing your way across the country. Not that the social media way of doing it isn’t cool, It’d be a great trip and a cool way to involve other people in the journey. But perhaps a bit selfishly, I think it would a cooler trip just talking to folks along the way and seeing how far you can get.
To follow along with David’s trip, you can check out his page on CBS, Twitter, or Qik.
When I’ve got an hour to veg out in a hotel room I like to flick over to the Travel Channel. Today though, I was sadly disappointed with what was on: National Parks: Extreme Maintenance. Really? If you get rid of the ‘Extreme’ you’re admitting that it’s a show about cleaning national parks. The segment I saw was about cleaning up bird droppings and feathers on Alcatraz. Ew.
My ideas on travel might be a bit different from most, but this doesn’t strike me as winning travel show. In fact, it doesn’t appear that it really was a winner as I couldn’t find any mention of the show on the Travel Channel website, and only found the most obscure of references on any Discovery Channel websites. Obviously they aren’t super proud of that one. Maybe I should put together a pitch for a show.
While I was in Viet Nam, I spent a couple of months staying just around the corner from a delicious restaurant – Com Nieu Sai Gon. It felt like our little local discovery, so imagine my shock and horror when I turned on the Travel channel in my hotel room this evening only to see Anthony Bourdain talking about Com Nieu Sai Gon. Yes, the place was absolutely fantastic and certainly deserving of major attention. But it is a bit sad to find that place around the world that felt like my little secret aren’t secret at all. I guess all we travelers have to share all the same magnificent little hide away spots.
