My fourth major backpacking trip will be my first major solo trip in my own country. 2½ weeks in persuit of tranquility in Arizona & Utah, home of some of the most famous parks in the world: The Grand Canyon, Arches National Park, Glen Canyon/Lake Powell, Zion, & Coyote Buttes. Since this road trip won't require the purchase of an airline ticket, I'll be using that money to purchase my first professional-level camera, a Canon EOS 20D! I'll be returning home with a day to relax before leading a Star Wars expedition through Death Valley.
  This is my first major trip since creating a blog, so I hope to post updates frequently on my travel-planning process. For the next couple weeks, I'll be soaking up as much information I can about the area, laying out a general itinerary, and calculating a budget. I'll post information here, figuring someone planning a similar trip might find it useful. If you have any advice or have a trip report/blog about the area I can read, please send me an email!

Link of the Day: My Trip Planning Page ~ For planning and organizing all of my trips, I create a page to keep track of links, weather, notes, ect. Unlike my other trips, this is the first time I've made the page public. I'll probably be updating this more than any other page on my site as my trip approaches.

 »»» Single-Serving Friends?    July 27th, 2005:
  One of the great unexpected outcomes of solo travel is the friends that are made while on the road. If not becoming life-long friends, their names and faces seem to be around in my memories for the long run. In fact, I can recall the people I've met and traveled with more easily than I can remember the names of the kids I hung out with everyday as a kid. The reason for why otherwise inconsequential meetings, some of which spanned just hours between the introductions and good-bye's, came to become important and memorable is as mysterious to me as to why I enjoy travel so much. Luckily, I still keep in touch with many of them, thanks to the magical powers of the internet and email.
  When you don't have your backpack strapped to your back and you're working some crap 9-5 job, it's enjoyable to travel vicariously through those who are living the care-free lifestyle as a backpacker by reading the reports they post. Below are some of these friends and the adventures they are leading:

   Bob is currently trekking around South America. He has an excellent website & a well-written blog which is updated frequently. This American had been living in Santiago, Chile since December 2004, but now that classes have ended, he's been exploring the region extensively. Currently, he's about to embark on the Inca Trail trek to Machu Picchu.

   Mike is in the planning stages for his first major trip to Europe this September. The REM daydreaming of his upcoming adventures can be seen in full-effect on his website. Check it out for a well-written, and very witty, point of view of college life at UCLA. And maybe, just maybe, we'll get to read about his trip to Europe (from September 1st-21st).

   Meredith first started traveling solo after high school. Since then, she says that she "hasn't considered staying home since." She's taken that to heart, traveling the world like a international spy on the run. Right now, she is teaching English in Japan and has a detailed blog on her experiences. She made an appearance on my website in 2003 when I hosted her South American blog.

   Tracy just arrived back to her home in Cali from a nine-week trip to Egypt. Living with Egyptians for most of her journey, her blog isn't like most tourist's banter, but rather a fascinating insight into everyday life in that region.

   Brian & Dana, avid travelers extraordinaire, returned from an amazing Eastern European Odyssey a few months ago. Their trip report is a wonderful example of how journeys can still be full of wondrous moments of happenstance and accomplished quests (Brian found his Slovakian roots). Although they upgraded from backpacks to suitcases and from hostels to nice hotels, they still strongly resonate a backpacker's spirit on this trip. You should also check out the rest of their website.

   Seth recently backpacked for two months through nine European countries this spring. Although his emails aren't public at this time, his excellent photographs are available here. Maybe I can convince him to allow me to publish his great email journals on my site...

  I'll post some more blogs here in the future. If you plan on going on a trip soon, let me know by shooting me over an email. I'd love to hear about it!

Link of the Day: TheFatManWalking.com ~ What do you do when you're overweight and love to travel? Easy! Do what Steve Vaught is doing and start walking across the country with a crap load of stuff strapped to your back! Steve keeps constant updates and posts photos from his journey, which will take him from Southern California to New York City (he's currently in Arizona). From one big guy to another, I wish you the best of luck, Steve!! (and buy a roll of Moleskin - it looks like you need it!)

 »»» Hiking Report    July 24th, 2005:
  Just came back from a killer hike. My friend Scott and I took in a moderately difficult hike in the San Bernardino National Forest near Idyllwild, CA. We were 2½ miles up Devils Slide Trail when the sky opened up, releasing enough rain to soak us to the bone in just a few minutes. Lightning strikes could be seen on the nearby San Jacinto Mountain, Taquitz peak, and Lily Rock. Without rain gear and with an uncomfortable amount of metal objects, we high-tailed it down the trail-turned-stream, and made it back to the car slopping wet and caked with dirt up to the knees.

  It was excellent!!!

  Click here to see the photos. Stay tuned for more crazy hijinks: Scott and I are planning to summit San Gorgonio Mountain in a couple weeks.

Link of the Day: LocalHikes.com ~ This website provides information on local hiking opportunities near both large and small metropolitan areas in the United States. The hikes on this site were contributed by hikers from around the country.

 »»» Google Earth    July 23rd, 2005:
  Mark my words, the guys at Google are going to rule the world someday. And after they do, we will patriotically build statues in their names, celebrating their amazing successes such as the extermination of spam from all email inboxes with Gmail and the creation of an easy to use IM/photo sharing program called Hello. Children of our villages will sing their names.
  I recently discovered Google Earth, one of their new programs (currently in beta) where users can look at just about any square yard of land on the planet. But it doesn't stop there. Unlike other high-resolution satellite images found on the 'Net, gEarth gives you the power of flight, allowing you to change altitude, direction and tilt. A click of a button suddenly makes mountains look three dimentional. Some parts of the Google Earth database display 3D buildings as well. Here are a few screencaps:

  My favorite option, which arouses wistful dreams of finding Google on the presidential ballot, gives You the ability to add and share placemarks, shapes, and folder data with other people. Know of a great view of Los Angeles, or a cool castle in Bavaria? Mark it and share it! The following are placemarkers that I have created. In order to download and view these, you will need to download Google Earth:

+ My favorite viewing area - Dubrovnik, Croatia
+ 3D view - Kotor, Montenegro
+ The apartment I stayed - Bratislava, Slovakia
+ The Eiffel Tower - Paris, France
+ St. Mark's Square - Venice, Italy
+ Backpack Guesthouse - Buda, Hungary
+ Mount Vesuvius, Italy

  I plan on adding more placemarks and sharing them on my site soon, but right now I'm off to Kinko's to print off some GOOGLE IN '08! campaign posters...

Link of the Day: Google Labs ~ This section of Google showcases a few of their favorite ideas that aren't quite ready for prime time. I reccommend checking out Google Compute, which enables your computer to help solve challenging scientific problems when it would otherwise be idle.

 »»» UNESCO World Heritage Additions    July 15th, 2005:
  The United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has been busy as of late! The 21-member Committee, which is in charge of implementing the 1972 Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, has been meeting in Durban, South Africa all week adjusting their List of World Heritage sites. This week, they have added 24 and extended 7 sites, bringing the total number of protected sites to 812. Apparently, the annual 7-day conference (this year: July 10-17) is when the committee does most of its work.

 » On Wednesday, the committee announced that it has removed a few from the List of World Heritage in Danger due to improvements in their preservation:
+ Ecuador - Sangay National Park
+ Mali - Timbuktu
+ Albania - Butrint

 » The natural sites inscribed on Thursday were:
+ South Africa - Vredefort Dome
+ Egypt - Wadi Al-Hitan Whale Valley
+ Japan - Shiretoko
+ Norway - West Norwegian Fjords Geirangerfjord & Nærøyfjord
+ Mexico - Islands & Protected Areas of the Gulf of California
+ Thailand - Dong Phayayen - Khao Yai Forest Complex
+ Panama - Coiba National Park & its Special Zone of Marine Protection
+ India -Valley of Flowers National Park (extended)
+ UK - St Kilda

 » The cultural sites inscribed today were:
+ Albania - Museum-City of Gjirokastra
+ Bahrain - Qal'at al-Bahrain Archaeological Site
+ Belarus - Complex of the Radziwill Family at Nesvizh
+ Norway to the Black Sea - Struve Geodetic Arc
+ Belgium - Plantin-Moretus House-Workshops-Museum Complex
+ Bosnia & Herzegovina - Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar
+ Chile - Humberstone & Santa Laura Saltpeter Works
+ China - Historic Centre of Macao
+ Cuba - Urban Historic Centre of Cienfuegos
+ France - Le Havre, the City Rebuilt by Auguste Perret
+ Iran - Soltaniyeh
+ Israel - Biblical Tells - Megiddo, Hazor, Beer Sheba
+ Israel - Incense Route /Cities in the Negev
+ Italy - Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica
+ Nigeria - Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove
+ Russian Federation - Historical Centre of the City of Yaroslavl
+ Turkmenistan - Kunya-Urgench
+ France and Belgium - Belfries (extended)
+ Germany & The UK - Frontiers of the Roman Empire (extended)
+ India - Mountain Railways of India (extended) + South Africa - Fossil Hominid Sites of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai and Environs (extended)
+ Spain - Works of Antoni Gaudí (extended)

    If you're looking to get away from your daily routine and explore the world but don't exactly know where to head first, consider perusing the list for ideas. I was excited to see one of the new sites added to the list. Backpacking and camping around the Sea of Cortez and its islands has been near the top of my list of places to go for a few years now. And now, with its addition to the list, the NE Mexican bay just jumped up a few notches, inspiring me to pencil it onto my calendar as a 2-week trip sometime in the fall of 2006.
    Tomorrow, the group will consider the state of conservation of sites already on the List and may place some of them on the List of World Heritage in Danger so as to help overcome obstacles to their conservation. I'm hoping that Machu Picchu will make the list to help conserve the site from the ever-growing number of tourists. I'll keep you posted...

Link of the Day: Saving Places ~ A few years ago, National Geographic wrote an in-depth look at UNESCO's World Heritage sites. The October 2002 issue is worth searching for at a used bookstore, your local library, or eBay, but for now check out the link for the story's introduction, facts about the list, and a short links section to help you start exploring the world's most treasured places on the web.

 »»» Article on Plitvice    July 13th, 2005:
  I was flipping through the August '05 issue of National Geographic Adventure, one of my favorite travel mags of all time, and discovered that their Frontiers section on upcoming destinations highlights Plitvice Lakes National Park! Just a page long and yet packed with info, the article addresses the cool locations in Croatia once you head away from the beautiful shorelines. I was surprised to read that Lonely Planet picked Croatia as the the top destination of 2005. Sweet!
  It mentions how you can "DO-IT-YOURSELF" by flying into Zagreb for just $1,257. WTF??? $1,300 was about the cost of my entire 16-day journey in May, 2004! If you're a extreme-budget traveler like me, I suggest looking for a cheap round-trip flight from London to Dubrovnik through British Airways. When I was planning that trip in the fall of 2003, I saw a BA flight for just $200! Unfortunately, I missed the deal and ended up doing "option b": flying into London, taking a cheap flight through RyanAir to Bari, Italy, then taking an overnight ferry through Jadrolinija to Dubrovnik. So if you see a cheap BA flight from London to Dubrovnik, grab it! Then, plan your trip around that.
  Ok, back to the article. It mentions that you can talk to the staff of Plitvice Lakes NP for help in booking hotel reservations. That's all well and good if you would like to stay at a 4-star, first class modern hotel for USD$100+ a night, but to crunch that budget, consider walking to the small village of Mukinje and staying with one of the local villagers. I had no problems asking for a sobe, a Croatian pension, and getting a whole apartment to myself for 100 kuna (USD$16) a night! To locate Mukinje upon arrival to the park, get off at the second entrance ("Velika Poljana") and ask for directions at the shop on the east side of the road near the post office. From there, it is about a 10 minute hike to the village though the park.

Link of the Day: LAX Airport Monitor ~ This map is both cool and frightening at the same time! Enter a past date in the "Replay Mode," select a speed, press start, and zoom out to 80 miles. Chaos ensues! All those planes crawling across the screen reminds me a bit of SimAnt on my slow-ass computer back in the day.

 »»» Marginalia & Dog Ears    July 10th, 2005:
  Another ebay item arrived in the mail today. In case you don't know, (as many of you don't, I'm sure) I am a collector of books. Not any books, but old travel books that have been well used by a traveller. My newest acquisition is a 1892 London guidebook owned by some dude named J.M. Lawrence. Along with the signature on the front page, there are notes along the margins, giving me some idea of places he saw or museum pieces he liked, or maybe just marked pages to read later. Only Mr. Lawrence would know for sure, but I love to imagine what they were for.
  An old book can hold so much more than what is printed by the publisher. For instance, dropped into the pages over 100 years ago is a ticket stub from the London Road Car Company, a business card for an antiques dealer on Southampton Row, and a grocery list. Each piece added a bit more to the puzzle and launched my imagination into the clouds. I pictured Mr. Lawrence staying awhile in London. Maybe he was an art collector or dealer?
  The book alone is an excellent glimpse into what it must have been like travelling in London in 1892, but the notes, pictures, and the like added within the pages of the book by the owner while they were traveling brings the history out of the blocks of typed print.
  Someday soon, I'll update my Travel-Related Books page with a few of the others in my collection.

Link of the Day: Transparent Screens ~ When I first took a brief look at this site, I thought someone invented the coolest monitor of all time. I was just about to run out to my local Best Buy and purchase one of these babies, but then figured out the "transparency" is created by an illusion. Nonetheless, it is a cool idea. If I had something behind my 17" monitor more interesting than just an empty Pepsi can, a coil of cat-5 cable, and a particularily large dust bunny, I would try this expirement myself.

 »»» Welcome! +++   July 9th, 2005:
  Hi! Welcome to my first blog entry! After almost five years of running this website, I've finally decided to go ahead with keeping an online journal. Let's start off with a few updates, shall we?
  I've freshened up the place! Along with adding this snazzy new front page, I've also created a few pages which will hopefully make it easier to check out my favorite photos from my Eastern European and South American journeys. I also had some fun creating a new "coming soon" and "404 Error" page, but I'll let you discover those on your own.
  Well, I don't want to start off with a long-winded post, so I'll end this. I hope you check back to see any of the many planned upades to Kahunna.net, as well as how I'm progressing with my plans to visit England and Wales in September! ~K

Link of the Day: Rite in the Rain Ever wish you didn't need to worry about weather damaging your journal? This site sells all-weather paper supplies that can survive the harshest of conditions. Take a look at some of the feedback on the "Cool Stories" page. I bought a couple of their 5x7½ journals and might use them on my upcoming trip. My only complaint is their ugly yellow covers. Oh well - maybe I'll take some electrical tape to it and turn it black...