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Writing
Someone already mentioned how hard it is to stop for photos. Exactly correct. You either travel and enjoy or travel while recording, and that interrupts the travel a lot. Also, surely it's better to read a description and imagine than to simply look passively at photos. Life's already too passive. That's what HU is all about-learning, experiencing etc. Read, imagine, desire, save, go! The photos would actually detract from the travel experience. I'm all for just shooting off and really experiencing it myself, my way. Forget guide books and loads of research. Travel in other words. No? Linzi.
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It's all about sharing
True, it's a hassle to stop and take photos, write reports from the road and then find Internet cafes to upload your material, but this is what prompts others to follow suit or cut their own path. From Marco Polo to Columbus, to Robert Fulton, to Grant and Susan, it was those who took the time to document their journeys that inspired others to adventure.
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Inspiration to Travel?
Glen....there is truth in your note that having some people take time to stop along their journey and to record in word, picture or drawing, elements of their experience, has indeed served to inspire others to travel.
As you point out sharing experiences is an important part of our humanity. However, to believe that "it was those who took the time to document their journeys that inspired others to adventure" is the main reason that others travel is, I think, with all due respect, a bit simplistic. People travel for lots of reasons. Some want to visit historical places such as 'Vimy Ridge' ... some to return to a place perhaps after a long absence...some may want to meet their relatives or see an ancestral homeland ... some to test themselves ... some wish a spiritual pilgrimage... some may simply have it in their genes...some because they did see, read, or hear about a place that they throught they'd like to go ... and yes, some maybe because they read a RR on ADV or the HUBB....to mention a few. (I must say though, at the risk of being too critical, that the quality of many current RR's (my own included) remind me of the 1950's (am I that old?) torture of spending an evening sitting through someone else's vacation slide collection. Click - Here we are in front of the Mona Lisa - Click - here we are at the next place - Bud's eating ice cream - isn't he cute.) I do understand that being able to have some prior info about an intended route or destination can be useful and there can be info that is essential to share. For me though, RR's are a bit too one way. The beauty of this thread is that there is opporunity for dialogue. Perhaps just another way of sharing. I have enjoyed the thread, so much so, that I've not even gone to ADV since Albert started this... Cheers Stephen |
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And people may yearn to travel but it's adventure books, TV shows, movies, travel posters and other sorts of imagery that makes fantasy a reality--when people realize that what they dream of is possible. For me, the cover photo on Helge's book, Ten Years On Two Wheels is the most inspirational picture that I have ever seen. That image of him paddling through the Darien Gap with his bike in a canoe is burned into my psyche and along with Dave Barr's book, Riding The Edge, caused me to likewise ride the planet. One of several criteria for writing for National Geographic is that your article must inspire others to follow your path or cut one of their own. Because my first book and Nat Geo TV show which has now aired sixty times and been translated into Danish, Swedish and recently Mandarin, I field between fifty to a hundred emails a day. The one key word that resonates in each letter is "inspiration." To me, that's the home-run more important than money. And I wasn't referring to prompting people to take weekend camping trips but rather more challenging odysseys. Very few people just one day decide that they will traverse Africa, climb Everest or even ride to South America. Most adventurers who I have spoken to (a lot) all were inspired by the writings or deeds of others. I would bet that for most travelers on this site, if thinking about it, they could point to particular photos or stories that inspired them in some way to act. As most of us have likely learned through traveling, the world shrinks, and our understanding of others grows exponentially with the more people of other cultures that we meet. Although there are some peoples that I liked more than others, I can honestly say that I have enjoyed and learned from most of our fellow humans on this planet, especially those from developing nations. It's my fundamental belief that if we all got out more, and took the time to meet our neighbors, there would be a lot less war. Hence the reason that I take the time to write books, Ride Reports, make TV documentaries and upload photos at every opportunity. I don't do it for the money, whatever royalties that are generated from these projects goes to straight to international aid organizations. Maybe this is being simplistic but I still say that there is always a spark somewhere that got us going. And the more sparks, the better. |
3 parts: planning, doing, telling people about it.
Before setting off on my big trip in the late 90s I was asking lots of people advice about different things to do and look out for. One chap who'd spent a lot of time travelling said 3 things are important.
1.Planning 2.Doing 3.Telling people about it when you're done. Many never get past 1, or let others do it for them i.e. go on an organised tour. Some do 2. Of those that do 2, some do 3 (well or badly, depending on your tastes/interests/style). Each to their own. I do all of them, but run a website, rather than creating RRs on a forum like ADV or HU (although I do put a link from these to my site). I have the skills to make and maintain a website. People who haven't the webskills/or don't have the time create RRs. RRs are good because there is the instant gratification of being able to post comments and you can see all your friends' comments too. Having RRs here on the HUBB wouldn't be a bad thing. Just another way of telling your story along with websites and blogs. Hosting the pictures elsewhere and pasting in the IMG codes saves HU memory/bandwidth. I really like the great photography on ADV RRs (their BB runs the same software as the HUBB). I don't bother much with the words though. The words on the HUBB are generally good, but a separate RR section primarily for pictures (e.g. embedded from smugmug/photobucket etc)/videos (e.g. embedded from YouTube) would be great. That's it, my 0.5 pence worth. cheers Chris |
Problem
Chris,
I just went to Riders Tales where I found your thread about Riding in Romania.All good up to that point! What do I find? a link to your web page! Now what does this mean to a Ride Report section? it means that I instantly move on! Why you ask? Because it means there,s no instant looking at photos and worst of all I,m going to have to navigate my way through some other guys version of a web site with all the imaginative ways they,ve used to try and make theirs different from the rest.E,g a pain in the arse!!! Anyone using this tactic should at least put about 15-20 teaser pics to lure people into the link they,ve posted,then we can chose to look if we find the teasers interesting and not if they,re not.Better than being obliged too!!! The other problem is that the links to others website seems to kill off all interaction.I,m guessing that to navigate back and forth between the link and the Ride Report is also a pain,so people just don,t bother.By having the photos right there with the Ride Report you can just pop on a comment however dumb it may be and it all adds to the fun and that in turn starts to create the banter in general. Thats the point of Pics on a Ride Report!!! Al theturtleshead |
Helge's book, though short on words is rich on pictures, remember, "A picture is worth a thousand words":palm:
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What Inspired You?
Glen....good comments....I think that you are correct in saying that there is always a 'genesis' point people can refer to as they start along their various travel or life paths....and that most people require a development process to 'get going'.
Your comments about travel building humanity are also bang on. Your comment .... I would bet that for most travelers on this site, if thinking about it, they could point to particular photos or stories that inspired them in some way to act.... offers an interesting opportunity. You noted that Helga's photo served as a key inspiration .... I wonder what photo or story inspired Marco Polo, Robert Fulton, Mallory, Smeeton, Guzwell, Chichester, Grant and Susan or anyone else here on the HUBB. What about it? What photo played the biggest role in starting YOU, HUBB reader, off on a travelling life? Stephen |
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Cheers Chris |
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cheers Chris |
New Thread
Chris....from Easy Rider to theBrightStuff and the cover of the AMH! ...now that's a long and winding road...
Do you think a new thread asking peeps for their 'starting' inspiration photo would be in order? Stephen |
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cheers Chris |
yep! I can remember mine, but doubt I could find the exact photo ....
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Done!
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Oh Lord !!!
I'm going to have to agree with Mister Turtlehead here. Yes a links fine, and if it sounds vaguely interesting I'll click on it, and I might spend a bit of time looking about.
BUT, I'd far, far, far and away have a taster on here, a few photos, and a tiny bit of text, maybe just one highlight from a longer story, one part of a pre-existing blog copied and pasted on here, something to get me to bite. It's basic marketing to be honest, give a hint of something and people are more likely to bite. And yes, I like the interactivity (is that even a word) of it being on a forum, of being able to ask questions of the author, make encouraging remarks, or hints, or anything, and being diverted away to a blog which I'll read on my own doesn't allow me to do that the same way. Here's a prime example. In THIS post of the previously mentioned Romanian trip thread, Dave Ede says, "Very nice pictures of the Romania trip, in picture'30' was she like that before, during and after you had 'passed' through?". And that's OK, I scrolled back up to the top, clicked the link, clicked the link on the site and found the photo. But how much better, how much livelier, would it have been if it had looked like this. Quote:
It's marketing, and if you're doing a blog for anything more than your friends and family, and specifically if you've had sponsors you want to give converage and thanks to, or like Chris, you've got something you'd like to sell, then a little tiny bit of marketing is worth it. It doesn't even have to take that long, if you've written a blog post, just copy and paste it in. And personally, if I saw this photo from the same site http://www.thebrightstuff.com/picsFo...as_Ecuador.jpg I'd have been over there like a shot to find out what the story was. |
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