Since I’m still settling in and working like a dog here, I haven’t had a chance to get out to take many photos of life here in Saigon. And believe me, there are some facets of life here that have to be seen to be believed.

Until I have photographic evidence to share, I’ll hold off on deeper exploration of the quirks of the city and jump into what I consider the most enjoyable primer on Vietnam you can find. About three years ago, the hit BBC series Top Gear came to Vietnam. The adventure that followed managed to hit almost all of the wonderful elements of this country.

For those who aren’t familiar with Top Gear (i.e. most Americans), the show is a car show but not some drab, boring review detailing engine power and body style. They do get into those topics, but  typically do it in the context of humorous challenges, such as the time host Jeremy Clarkson tried to outrun and outmaneuver a Challenger 2 tank with a Range Rover Sport. Or the time he raced a marathon runner across London during rush hour.

Anyway, for their Vietnam special it’s no cars, but all challenge and pretty much all comedy. In this 75 minute special, they highlight all that is odd, all that is wonderful, all that is frustrating and all that is beautiful in this country.

To avoid spoiling the humor like a Hollywood movie trailer would, I’ll be purposely vague here.

Using the standard mode of conveyance in Vietnam, the trio of hosts is tasked with traveling the length of Vietnam from Ho Chi Minh City to Ha Long Bay. It’s no small feat to travel 1000 miles in 8 days, especially during rainy season.

Their journey takes them through the major icons of Vietnam – Saigon, DaLat, Nha Trang, Hoi An, Hue and Hanoi. Along the way they eat Vietnamese food, including a shot that features a still beating snake heart. Well, most of them do. The closest host Richard Hammond gets to eating Vietnamese food is a bowl of Rice Krispies.

Even better than the everyday challenges the group faces on their way up through the nation is their tendency to screw with each other along the way.

After all of their struggles, humor, relaxation and more than an occasional rainstorm they end up in Ha Long Bay in one of the most beautiful places on earth. And when I say end up IN Ha Long Bay, I mean it. Their final challenge is to get to a bar on one of the floating villages in the aquatic paradise, reminiscent of the atolls of the film WaterWorld (you’re forgiven if you don’t remember the details of that film).

Anyone who wants to visit Vietnam, or just wants to laugh, should check this special episode out. It’s a nice way to get an overview of the country’s varied landscape as well as a hint of the people, food and traditions. It’s available on DVD, iTunes, Netflix and elsewhere. If you’re looking for it, it’s Series 12, Episode 8 but a search on Top Gear Vietnam should get you there, as well.

Well, at long last I was able to fly on Cebu Pacific. I’ve wanted to fly this airline forever. Well, at least since I saw this video last year.

The airline is a typical no-frills carrier like Southwest, JetBlue, EasyJet or AirAsia but they specialize with flights around the Philippines. With thousands of islands separated by vast stretches of water, that’s a necessity if you want to see the country’s highlights.

Sadly, the flight attendants didn’t do any dancing on my trip to Palawan and back, although they did have a little trivia game to keep people entertained for a few minutes. This was after they did their best to hawk drinks, snacks and Cebu Pacific stuffed animals.

How can you not love a cartoon airplane as a mascot?

This isn’t a review site, so I won’t get into more detail than to say the flight was inexpensive, convenient and efficient. The staff was polite and friendly. And that’s all I really want from a budget carrier.

They do have a sense of fun as one of their core values, which is nice to see from the typically stodgy travel provider category. Of course, I really just wanted an excuse to post that video again.

Awesome! Penang, Malaysia is home to the world’s largest toy museum!

With my penchant for toys and comic books, as well as a healthy dose of Peter Pan syndrome, how could I pass up the Toy Museum, curiously located on a small island in Malaysia?

Scratch resistance is futile.

It’s billed as the “largest in the world” and the “only of its kind in Asia.”

So, it was a natural place for me to visit. My imagination ran wild. I visualized toys from all eras and cultures, with a dose of history to make it an educational experience at the same time. Maybe not as educational as the moral at the end of every episode of He-Man, but I was sure to learn something along the way.

Instead, I learned nothing new. I only got a reminder of the phrase “caveat emptor” which I had known ever since Greg Brady bought a piece of shit car on the Brady Bunch in 1972.

The Admission:

20 Ringgit ($7US). Perhaps not a king’s ransom, but that was triple the cost of seeing Tron: Legacy in a Malaysian theater the day before. I assumed it would be an experience taking several hours, while simultaneously creating and bringing back memories.

The Display:

The display was like a 1970s era comic book store. Rows of steel shelving, filled nearly to bursting with toys. The shelving was straight out of a hardware store, with scratched sheets of plexiglass taped to the front. Yes, TAPED. With clear plastic packing tape.

Harry Potter toys on the top shelf, a few more on the second shelf. And what the hell is on the bottom? I have no idea.

Layer upon layer of dust was on the toys, and the few pieces of original packaging displayed were faded almost beyond recognition. Hard to fathom, especially when you consider the recency of the pieces inside.

The Presentation:

Pieces were loosely organized by category, with groupings of Star Wars toys, Harry Potter toys and other franchises placed in close proximity to items from the same lines.

But then, inexplicably, there were many large displays that held not toys, but oversized movie displays. Life-sized models of Kung Fu Panda, Spider-Man, Shrek, the Silver Surfer, 3 (!) Lara Crofts and several others had been obtained along the way. Not really toys, but they were actually the most interesting part of the exhibit, since they’re not always easy to come by.

So it was disappointing that those items were spoiled by the inclusion of other toys, completely unrelated to the larger model. A life-sized Seven of Nine figure with Monsters vs. Aliens toys in the case? Ohhh-kayyyy.

The Sorceror's Iron-clad Apprentice?

No history of the items was included in any of the displays. Nothing about the date of the toy, the history of the toy or even who or what the toy was. Like you would typically find in a museum, I would have expected at least some minimal effort to identify the toy and give a bit of history. Not for every piece, of course, but at least for some key pieces (if there were any).

Well, there were a few little sheets of paper if you looked hard enough. Like a 5 page description of the Star Wars films, apparently pulled from the web.

The Collection:

This brings me to the biggest disappointment. My expectation was that it would include a) toys and b) something of historical value. Those are assumptions that are inherent in using the words “toy” and “museum.”

At least this one made me feel at home. It's like my old office.

• It was almost entirely action figures, like an amped up version of Steve Carell’s apartment in 40 Year Old Virgin. Where were the Playskool items or Fisher-Price collections? Legos? Spiro-graph, Etch-a-Sketch, Lite Brite. Hell, how about a Play-Doh Fun Factory? Literally millions of creative toys have come and gone over the years, but none of those were present. The average yard sale in Des Moines has a more varied collection. Instead, you get 743 different Spider-Man figures.
• It was almost entirely movie, TV and/or comic related merchandise with a few others mixed in.
• It was almost entirely comprised of items from the last 15 years. UNLIKE Steve Carell’s figures, all of them seemed like items you could find walking down a Wal-Mart aisle in 2003, even if some are billed as “collectors items” by the Mattel marketing department.
• There were no classic toys, nothing from the 50s, 60s and if anything was from the 70s or 80s, I couldn’t pick them out. Even the Star Wars toys were all re-releases or recent collections, nothing from the original releases. There was nothing from other cultures, showing playthings around the world, except for some action figures (natch) based on Japanese anime series and a few Asian influenced dolls that weren’t described.

They mostly come out at night, tipped over, dusty and broken. Mostly.

Corrective Action:

Two things could turn this experience around:

1) Clean it up. Charging 20 ringgit for a 30 minute walk-through should make enough money to dust the place once in a while, at least. Change out the scratched plexi-glass and light more than the top shelf of each display (you needed a flashlight to see what was on the bottom shelves).

2) Bill it as the world’s largest collection of action figures, not toys. That’s still cool and I probably would have still gone. Maybe that isn’t as simple as calling it a “toy museum” but it’s misleading to use a broad term like “toy” when the collection is so narrowly focused. Even if they use a subtitle: “Toy Museum: The World’s Most Astounding Collection of Action Figures”

With over 100,000 pieces, it’s an amazing accomplishment. They need to treat it like one.

There’s little I enjoy more than something that’s simultaneously useful and entertaining. Lingopal’s translation apps qualify.

At first blush, they’re little different from most phrasebook apps. Organized in categories, they allow you to look up common phrases. When you find “hello” it gives you the written translation and pronunciation (in Mandarin, it provides the Chinese character as well as the Pinyin) and provides playable audio. This puts it a step above many phrasebook apps I’ve used, which only include a few audio files, and far above a paper version devoid of any audio at all.

In a pinch, you don’t even need to learn the language, just hand over the earbuds and press “play” on the appropriate phrase.

Lingopal’s translation programs also excel in the sheer volume of phrases they provide. Hundreds of phrases come with each app and they offer 44 different languages. They have a free “lite” version of most guides, but the full guide is only .99 (for each language), so it’s an incredible value.

One last way that this stands out as a useful app is for those who aren’t native English speakers. The app allows the user to set the “native” language to whichever they prefer, which is something I haven’t seen in any other competitor (without buying an app specific to that language).

Where does the entertainment come in?

Well, let’s just reveal that the app comes with an “adult content” warning.

Beyond the standard categories, Lingopal includes some you won’t find in other phrasebooks. Sure, they offer “Essentials,” “Numbers,” “Dining,” “Directions” and more, but they also include “Flirting.” An unbelievable nine categories of flirting – from “First Move” to “Getting Lucky.”

Translated phrases include everything from “You’re very pretty” to “I’m a dolphin trainer,” “I’m a pilot,” and “I’m a ski instructor.”

Many are included purely to provide comedy, or to relieve boredom on the part of the creators.

• “I like puppies, long walks on the beach, and reading French poetry in the moonlight.”
• “You are so beautiful that I would marry your brother just to get into your family.”
• “Ah, you have eyebrows, I love a girl with eyebrows.”
• “So you say you’re straight? So is spaghetti until you heat it up.”

If you aren’t interested, there’s the always useful: “I’m sorry, but I’m diseased.”

After all of that, there are two categories of insults – mild and X-rated. These probably aren’t anything you’ll ever use, but provide some entertainment – for you and any friends who speak the language it translates to. The most extreme of those are:

• “Are your parents cousins?”
• “Eat the peanuts out of my shit.”
• “I used to fuck guys like you in prison.”

I love that Lingopal is a useful and well-designed app, but doesn’t take itself seriously 100% of the time. It’s reminiscent of the early days of Google, when jokes and Easter eggs were frequently intertwined with their output. Google still has its moments of fun (ask Google Maps for directions from Los Angeles to Tokyo sometime), but they’re much less common these days.

Try the “lite” versions for free and enjoy! Available in the ITunes store for iPhones and iPod Touch and for Android phones.

This is NOT a sponsored post. Just sharing something I like a lot.

“An Idiot Abroad” could have been the name of my blog, but instead it’s a television program on the UK’s Sky1 that I absolutely loved. It’s a travel show unlike any other.

Ricky Gervais: “You are the strangest man on the planet.”

Karl Pilkington: “You haven’t been to China.”

Overview

In the Sky1 series “An Idiot Abroad,” Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant (best known for creation of television shows The Office and Extras) send their friend, Karl Pilkington, on trips around the world to see the “Seven Wonders.” The difference from other travel shows, however, is that Karl is an unsophisticated everyman who hates anything that takes him out of his comfort zone. Added to that, Karl’s unique perspective on the world provides amazing humor that shines through the naiveté and discomfort he has with the places he visits.

From: http://sky1.sky.com/an-idiot-abroad

A telling moment at the start of the series is when they ask Karl if he’s done much traveling and he says “I’ve been to Wales.”

A little bit more about Karl

Several years ago, Pilkington was the producer on a radio show Ricky and Stephen hosted. Then, they started to bring Karl into the conversation on-air and a legend was born.

Karl isn’t stupid, but he’s a utilitarian who condenses the world around him into the simplest components that he can easily relate to. That makes his observations hilarious, though often painful.

True, he says a lot of stupid things. Sometimes he’s working off of poor information, sometimes he draws unwarranted conclusions, but that’s always blended with an unfiltered, uncommon thought process and an odd sort of bizarre logic.

For a way to fill some hours with great comedy, you can check out the Ricky Gervais audiobooks on iTunes. There are some lengthy collections of their past podcasts and radio shows available, but more recently they’ve started doing one hour audio programs exploring Karl’s thoughts on specific topics – Medicine, Philosophy, Law, The Future and several others.

The Destinations

In each episode of the television series, Karl heads toward one of the Seven Wonders of the World (depending on what list you’re working off of):  The Great Wall, the Taj Mahal, Petra, Chichen Itza, Christ the Redeemer, The Great Pyramids and Machu Picchu.

Before he gets to those locations, however, he’s put through a series of cultural experiences and challenges that would make a lot of Survivor contestants quit and head home. Often, the struggle is where he stays – a crowded hostel in Rio during Carnaval, a cramped room in India, with a tribe on the Amazon. Other times, it’s physical torture like camel rides or eating sheep testicles.

For a man who whines a lot and hates being away from home, I give him credit for putting up with things that would exhaust even a lot of experienced world travelers.

A few of my favorite bits

In the Amazon: referring to the candiru that live in the Amazon and can swim inside a man’s penis with painful result: “What’s so good about The Amazon? Can’t be that good; there are things in it that would rather live in me knob.”

About jellyfish: “Jellyfish are 97% water or something, so how much are they doing? Just give them another 3% and make them water. It’s more useful.”

On the Great Wall: “You can see it for miles. Like, it goes over the hills and stuff for miles….but so does the M6 and that’s useful.”

On Cairo: “That song Walk Like an Egyptian – no one’s walking, everyone seems to be in a car at all hours. Just beeping.”

On the Taj Mahal: “Anyone who builds something like that for his dead wife, something was going on. ‘Three other wives, I shouldnta done that. I’ll put her in something nice.’”

My take on the show

As with other “reality” shows, it’s obviously been edited heavily. But in this case, it’s for comic effect, which it delivers marvelously. More than once, I’ve been caught laughing uncontrollably while watching.

Some of it’s a bit uneven, with stunts that are clearly staged to evoke a reaction from Karl, like booking him into a horrendous hotel room or the mock abduction by terrorists. Ricky and Stephen’s set-ups are often painful to watch and can come across as mean-spirited, even as practical jokes.

The show is at its best when it’s organic and Karl shares his thoughts about the locations he’s seeing. Those thoughts aren’t always limited to travel. For anyone following the podcasts, you know that Karl has a fascination with two things – insects and human oddities (like the Elephant Man).

He puts an amazing amount of effort into anthropomorphizing everything around him. One of my favorite segments from Peru is when he’s just talking to the camera about “stick insects” and how difficult life is for them because from a distance they can’t tell if it’s a friend of theirs or just a stick so they have to walk all the way over to find out.

He has a uniquely logical, if misinformed, perspective that comes across in a deadpan, matter of fact delivery. His thoughts and opinions are not always politically correct, but it’s apparent that those thoughts come from a lack of understanding and not any form of malice.

How to get it

The show recently concluded its 8 episode run. For the most part, viewing is limited to people in the UK at the moment, though the show was just released on DVD (again, only in the UK). It’s viewable online at http://sky1.sky.com/an-idiot-abroad (ALSO open only to viewers with a UK IP address).

If you’re not in the UK, you can check out fairly lengthy clips on Sky1’s YouTube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/skyonezone or download free podcasts of highlights and cut scenes from iTunes. Otherwise, I’m sure the series will be making its way to other outlets around the world soon.

UPDATE – January 26, 2010: The series has begun broadcasting in the US on Science Channel. It’s also available on iTunes for US based customers.

http://science.discovery.com/tv/an-idiot-abroad/

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There are a lot of great travel blogs out there. I could do a list of the “top 59 blogs to feature on your own blog to drive more traffic to your site.” But to Hell with that. As is extremely apparent to the 5 people who read this blog, I’m not one to worry too much about site traffic.

But I do like to be entertained, so I’m sharing this little list of sites that keep me laughing in the hopes that you will enjoy them and be inspired to write something clever in the comments below. Or at least tell me about something funny you read once, fer Chrissakes.

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1) Unbrave Girl

What it’s about:

After leaving Buffalo to teach English in Japan for a few years, Sally is now pushing further into Asia. Slowly. After a few adventures and odd jobs, including boat building in Malaysia, she’s settled into Chiang Mai, Thailand with 312 other travel blogging expats. Yes, Sally, you’re crazy. But yes, it’s a good crazy.

Why it’s on the list:

Every post Sally writes makes me laugh. And the bonus is they’re all the length of novellas, so you get more bang for your click-through. Whether it’s her battles with bugs and cats in Thailand or her frequent admission to spending most of her globe-trotting time on the couch eating cookies, she’s my kind of traveler.

The Must Read post:

unbrave girl at the movies: a belated review of eat, pray, love

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2) Bacon Is Magic

What it’s about:

Someone needs to do a 21st century version of the Grease song and call it “Corporate World Drop-out” because there are a lot of people who can identify with Ayngelina’s departure from the world of advertising to travel South America. She is able to keep up with writing a post nearly every day as she goes from country to country in Central and South America. A couple of key features are the “Have you met… x?” – profiles of people she meets on the road and the photos of her traveling companion Mr. Bacon.

Why it’s on the list:

Ayngelina isn’t necessarily writing comedy on a regular basis, but she does have a great wit, she’s one of the nicest bloggers I know and the site’s name alone makes me laugh, even months after I first heard it. Her “12 Things I Hate About Travel” was funny while being a wonderfully cathartic vent, getting an eye-popping 65 comments from people who could identify with having a bad day on the road

Must Read Post:

Have You Met Whatsherface?

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3) The Jetpacker

What it’s about:

Much less of a personal blog than the rest, Bret and Jackie share offbeat travel news, funny lists and unusual things to do while traveling. They also do have the requisite blog entries that provide a wonderfully lighthearted look at their own travels.

Why it’s on the list:

A great daily round-up of what’s going on in the world, with a news of the weird vibe. It’s an entertaining  place to visit for a few laughs and to learn about odd attractions around the world that you won’t generally find in Lonely Planet. This is the blog I’d like to run, if I had the time. And ambition.

Must Read Post:

69 TOWNS AND CITIES WITH FUNNY DIRTY NAMES

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4) The Solitary Panda

What it’s about:

After losing her job in the US last year, Janet hopped off to a volunteer experience in India, then made her way to the Philippines to live with her parents in her childhood home. Her blog chronicles some amazing experiences and things she’s done along the way, always with a refreshing openness and sense of humor.

Why it’s on the list:

Janet never ceases to inspire me. There are a lot of people who claim to “tell it like it is” but I have never in my life read posts from someone who absolutely refuses to filter what’s on her mind, whether it’s masturbation or shaving her head. Her search for direction and adventure has led her to the Philippines where she’s done things most people would never even think of doing – like staying in a Buddhist monastery for four months and then a month later walking 400 miles along Palawan island.

Must Read Post:

I’m All Holy And Shit

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5) The Aussie Nomad

What it’s about:

En route between a little town in Australia and a new job in London, Chris took an extended diversion to travel Europe. In addition to some of the well-known icons, he has also spent a fair amount of time in less-traveled corridors of Eastern Europe, providing information and tales from little known places, always with an Aussie’s wit and penchant for a pint.

Why it’s on the list:

One common thread I’ve found amongst the humorous travel blogs is that they have a palpable love for their lives, which is why the energy and lighthearted mood come through so well. Well, Chris has more personality than the average 10 blogs put together. Somehow, with his “Vegemite Challenge” he has conned a number of people into trying to eat the foul Aussie creation. And sending him videos of it. I think the videos qualify as “torture porn” like Saw 8, but that’s just me.

Must Read Post:

The Vegemite Challenge

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6) Fevered Mutterings

What it’s about:

This is the personal blog of Mike Sowden, who’s left the world of archaeology to become a freelance writer. While Mike writes extensively for travel sites and about places he’s been, his personal blog isn’t exclusively a travel blog, unless you want to invoke a cliché and say that life itself is a journey. But I would never be so lame as to say that.

Why it’s on the list:

In addition to a stunningly wicked sense of humor, Mike is an exceptional writer. He also has a bit broader series of posts than just travel destinations, as he regularly writes about writing, reading and even a bit of science fiction. With how dear all those things are to me, how could I resist reading a site that mocks them?

Must Read Post:

50 Amazingly Achievable Things To Do Before You Die

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7) A Chick With Baggage

What it’s about:

After leaving a computer nerd career to start a perpetual trek around the globe in January of 2010, Abbey stopped a few months later because she fell in love. Not with a man, although those have certainly come into play. Abbey found a home and a job in a tiny town in the south of Spain that felt so right that she halted her world tour for a while. Great stories and great information from someone who’s even raunchier than I am.

Why it’s on the list:

Abbey was once given some blogging advice that her site name might be misinterpreted negatively. When she replied “yeah, that’s the point” I knew I had found a winner. She was a bit too happy living in Spain for so long, so I’m hoping that being back in the US for a while will bring the mean and nasty side back. She also has a fondness for signing off emails by saying “penis” instead of “Best Regards” so how can you not love that?

Must Read Post:

The Biggest Tomato Fight IN. THE. WORLD.

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8 ) Johnny Vagabond

What it’s about:

One of the few independent world travel bloggers who’s in my age range, Wes Nations shows off gorgeous photography and an outstanding ability to tell a tale everywhere he goes. In his hands, the most random encounter turns into a fascinating and laugh-out-loud anecdote. He’s left on a one year (or more) trip on the slow road, making his plans up as he goes, but always taking time to see the less traveled destinations and meet the locals.

Why it’s on the list:

A great wit, but more importantly, Wes has an uncanny ability to step into the most bizarre, off-the-wall situations imaginable. From con men to crazies, he doesn’t shy away from encounters even when any sane person would. Instead, he dives in further and has been mostly unscathed for it. As in the post noted below, he’s also a bit of an “over-sharer” which is always great comedy.

Must Read Post:

Three Mistakes on a Hot Day in Bangkok

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9) Candice Does The World

What it’s about:

Candice. The World. Candice’s writing background ranges from children’s books to technical manuals for deep sea equipment, and she’s also an associate editor at Matador Network, one of the best known travel resources on the web. In her blog, Candice chronicles her life in Newfoundland Canada and travels as often as she can, tracking down nightclubs and trouble like a shark tracks a wounded seal.

Why it’s on the list:

It’s her role as a trouble-magnet that makes Candice a joy to read. When she’s off on road trips with friends, it’s like Lucy and Ethel Go To Cabo. When all the buzz was about Chatroulette a few months ago, Candice braved the perils most people feared and wrote about the experience. In excruciating and disturbing detail.

Must Read Post:

P-Mates, for the Girl Who Has Always Wanted to Pee Her Name in the Snow

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And there you have it. My favorite travel blogs when I need a dose of humor. If any of you comment that I only listed 9 blogs, you’re missing the obvious one. And screw you for that.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a practitioner of “shiny object tourism.” If I see something that looks interesting, I wander in that direction – sometimes at the expense of more famous sites and attractions. But the discoveries are usually worth it and this was a day that was no exception.

I wasn’t up for riding the bike 110 miles in one day, so I made a stop in St. Nazaire, France on the way to Nantes. I’d never heard of the town before landing in Bretagne, but it’s a beautiful beach community. With a few hours to fill before dinner, I explored, wandering until I saw a sign that said “La Plage de M. Hulot.”

That struck a familiar but distant chord with me so I took a left turn and went to take a look. Sure enough, I quickly ended up on the beach where Monsieur Hulot’s adventures began with “M. Hulot’s Holiday” or “Les Vacances de M. Hulot” if you’d like to revert to the French title.

I saw this movie in a college film class and remembered some key points that made it a classic, notably the unique style of the director and star, Jaques Tati. One download later and I was able to check it out again, refreshing my memory with how wonderfully funny it is.

The film centers on Monsieur Hulot, a goofy, clumsy everyman, and the challenges he faces while trying to enjoy a holiday at the beach. While Hulot is the main character, the supporting cast is gloriously highlighted because the film is organized as a series of vignettes with scarcely any plot.

- Created and portrayed by Tati, M. Hulot went on to be a primary character in several other renowned French films (also directed by Tati), including Mon Oncle (Academy Award winner for best foreign language film) and Playtime.

- The comedy is steeped in sight gags and slapstick, owing more than a little to the silent era, but that only scratches the surface of how the movie operates. In his films, Tati intermingles social critique with the comedy, blending the two in a unique way. Often the modern lifestyle is the target and in “Holiday,” that’s no exception.

- An array of vacationers is skewered over the course of the film – from the student who continually attempts to talk politics with disinterested vacationers to the old man who follows his wife around the beach, silently but painfully resigned to her fascination with every mundane thing she sees along the shore. Even in 1953, Tati mocked the American businessman who couldn’t stop taking phone calls, ignoring his wife and son’s pleas to relax.

- Though the film was made in 1953, M. Hulot’s Holiday verges on being a silent film, but with a twist. While there is nearly no dialogue, the atmospheric sound is a cornerstone of the film – music, bits of conversation and various sounds you find at a beach resort.

- One of the things that made Tati an acclaimed auteur was his use of multiple planes of action in his films. Rather than the story taking place in the foreground, Tati frequently focuses on a blasé bit of business in the foreground, while the real action and much of the comedy is taking place deep in the frame.

It’s not an easy film to find, but if you can grab it on Netflix, it’s definitely worth checking out. There are French and English versions, but most people would be hard pressed to tell the difference.

A lot of folks have shared information on great ways to use mobile apps on the road (including some great posts at TravelsofAdam.com). I just wanted to share a couple recent discoveries. Helpful to anyone with an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad (which is getting close to being everyone with one of the three).

Mobile Check Deposits with Chase!

Well, I’m not making any money while I’m traveling (not yet, anyway) but I still have a few checks coming in from closing out some past accounts.

My checks all went to a good friend, who’s acting as my mail drop while I’m traveling. The challenge became “how do I deposit those checks from halfway around the world?”

I certainly could have had him make a trip to the bank for me (and forge my signature, etc), but I didn’t want to inconvenience him every time I got a $12 refund check from a canceled magazine subscription. And without a permanent address overseas, I didn’t want him to mail the check to me (not to mention the challenge of exactly where I would be able to deposit it).

Enter Chase’s new mobile app. Sorry, at the moment you need to have an account with Chase AND an iPhone for this.

And no, I’m not being paid for this post!! But my hand is open, Chase…

This fantastic little bit of software allows you to take a photo of a check with your iPhone, upload it to the Chase website and it deposits into your account on the spot – wherever you are in the world.

For this, I didn’t want my friend to have to mail the check to me, so here are the two simple steps:

1. He scanned the check in hi-res and e-mailed the image to me.
2. Using the Chase application, I was able to take a photo directly off my computer screen into the app and voila! Check was deposited.

I don’t know how often I’ll need to use it, but it was incredibly handy. (Free app)

OffMaps ($1.99)

I was searching for an application that loaded up city maps so I didn’t have to carry the paper versions with me (or FIND a paper version in every single city I visited).

Enter OffMaps. You can download one of the free city maps they offer or just buy the application. Download the city you’re visiting and you’ll have full time access to a street map, that also integrates with the iPhone GPS. The full version allows downloads of pretty much anywhere, from the looks of it, but I’ll be testing it more as I head through France.

In addition to street maps, it includes sites, restaurants, hotels and has optional city guide downloads for more information.

Caveat: as you would expect, the maps are HUGE, so prepare for long download times. Best to do when you have a full-time internet connection – NOT while downing a McFlurry.

Accio Language Guides ($1.99)

I’m loving the Accio language guides so far. Type in a word you want to translate and it takes you right to it. Hit a button and it instantly switches from French-English to English-French. Or whatever language you’re using.

Sitting on the train, every time I see a sign I don’t understand, I pull up the words in an instant. It’s teaching me the language far more quickly than if I had to pull out a dictionary each time.

At $1.99 each, they’re a great value and space saver.

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And finally, another shout out to Evernote. I know I’ve extolled its virtues before (here), but I use it CONSTANTLY to record my random thoughts and memories so I can store my impressions the way a photographer stores images.

Over the last year, I’ve read a number of books as I was considering, deciding and then planning to take my trip around the world. Here are the ones that had the biggest impact on me. Special note to Sarah Palin: I know eight books is a lot to read, but I really don’t want you traveling anyway.

Neither Here Nor There – Bill Bryson
Do I really have to elaborate on this one? Bryson is the writer that most travel bloggers strive to be, even if they don’t know it. This account of his journey through Europe is hilarious, heartfelt and informative (a little, at least). His ability to turn everyday encounters and thoughts into compelling anecdotes makes him the gold standard. I hate him, just on principle.

Metal Cowboy – Joe Kurmaskie
While the book is about a cyclist traveling different countries around the world, it’s something that anyone can enjoy, even if you’ve never pedaled a single stroke. Also no stranger to wonderfully written anecdotes, Kurmaskie’s journey highlights the strange and wonderful people he met mile after mile.

Drink, Play, F@#k – Andrew Gottlieb
The fictional male response to Eat Pray Love, Gottlieb’s tale of a year-long journey to Ireland, Las Vegas and Thailand was a fun romp. While far from a realistic account of travel, the sense of humor and fun imbued in the writing made it a quick, entertaining read. True, the Vegas chapters were pretty ludicrous (he sustained his lifestyle by gambling… really?) but it was written in such a light-hearted tone that I had to forgive him.

Falling Uphill – Scott Stoll
This one is interesting, because while Scott appears to be a great guy and corresponds directly with his readers, I didn’t actually find it very inspirational. It’s a good read, but the challenges Stoll writes about make it seem like the trip wasn’t very fun. It’s apparent he went through a physical and spiritual change while riding his bike 25,000 miles around the world over 4 years and despite some downer chapters, the compelling transformation kept me reading. I think the stories of disease, imprisonment, harassment and injury were interesting because they painted a harsh portrait of the struggles you can face on the road. Or he could be cycling’s James Frey.

Vagabonding – Rolf Potts
The must-read for anyone planning extended travel, even if it’s just a vacation. While there’s not a lot of concrete advice in it, that’s not the intention. It teaches how to think about travel in a way that appeals to me – live simply, don’t set limits, be creative, let your spirit grow, adapt. These are the things I want my travel to be.

The Four Hour Work Week – Timothy Ferriss
Okay, don’t roll your eyes at me. Sure, 90% of what Ferriss talks about is garbage. He seems to be a self-promoting con man, for the most part. But I can’t hate him, because the book made me think about life differently than I had before. His methods may not be as easy to emulate as he makes them out to be and the core of the book could have been condensed down to the length of a magazine article, but the idea of mini-retirements got me to ask “What if?” So I owe him that.

The Grown-up’s Guide to Running Away From Home – Rosanne Knorr
The book is filled with practical advice for ex-pats and early retirees who want to live abroad. While not specifically focused on travel, the tips cover everything from selling your stuff to visas to picking destinations. The speed with which the internet is changing the world makes some of the book obsolete already, but there are plenty of words of encouragement that re-assure you that it’s not as scary as it seems to leave your old life behind.

Special Mention:

Fletch – Gregory McDonald
I’ve dreamed of being a writer since I was 5 years old and that dream is in need of some CPR – maybe even a defibrillator. This book’s not about travel and I first read it 30 years ago, but it’s the novel I hold up on a pedestal when I think about the book I’d like to write while I’m on the road. I wouldn’t call this my favorite book – that honor belongs to Stephen King’s The Stand – but the blend of comedy, suspense and tiny bit of romance you find in Fletch is right in my sweet spot.

*author’s note – yes, 3 days after writing that I wasn’t going to try to make any money while traveling, I posted links to books on Amazon. But it was the coolest ways to display the images and I don’t want Amazon to cancel the Associates account I signed up for 4 months ago and did nothing with…

In honor of the US premiere of Doctor Who this week, I wanted to share a few travel tips I got from watching the series.

Don’t let the fact that this post is based on the British Sci Fi series scare you off. First airing in 1963, Doctor Who is the longest running travel show on television. It’s not much different from watching Samantha Brown, only with time travel, talking cats and evil trash cans. It is the kind of show that can appeal to people of all ages from children who like playing with action figures to adults who enjoy a game at poker.de. It will make you laugh, get excited and sometimes even cry. If you’re interested in a primer, here’s some info.

Here are a few things I’ve learned from The Doctor.

Hard to believe the show pre-dates hippies.

Set out to have fun

The Doctor travels for no reason other than the joy of it. Though he may get side-tracked into saving aliens, worlds or even the universe, at the core it’s about having fun – exploring things you haven’t yet seen and meeting people you don’t know. How much purer a motive can you have?

Spin the dial and see where you end up
It wouldn’t be an adventure if it’s all planned. The unpredictable nature of the TARDIS can take you anywhere in time and space, but the best times can be when you leave your destination up to the universe.

Help people

Even if you’re in a strange place, you’ll have chances to lend a hand. You don’t have to save a planet by frying a Dalek’s circuitry with your sonic screwdriver. You can simply help an old lady cross the street. Or even a young lady.

pssst! Freema, call me!

Discover companions along the way

Don’t let a love of solo travel keep you from joining up with people to share in some of your adventures. Whether you meet in a hostel, hotel bar or a hospital that’s been transported to the moon by the Shadow Proclamation, it’s fun to pick up travel mates for a while.

London is the center of the universe

Okay, I’m not sold on this one, but marauding aliens certainly seem to end up there a lot. I always figured the center of the universe was the place ice cream was invented (China, in case you’re curious).

You don’t need to pack a lot of clothes

The beauty of always meeting new people is there’s no one to notice that you wore that same shirt yesterday. And the day before. And apparently every day.

Don’t judge people by your own standards

The Doctor may have a strong moral compass, but he understands that everyone is entitled to their own culture and traditions, no matter how strange they may seem to us. The fact that the Ood hold their brains in their hands is still kinda creepy, though.

Be a bit of a show-off

You’re going places most will only dream of, so whether it’s through photos, stories, recipes or helping Shakespeare write the Tempest, share the uniqueness of the journey with others.

There’s no time like now

Even if you can travel through it, wasting time sucks. You can’t regenerate into a new body when you die, so don’t blow it sitting around and staring into the time vortex.

I’m always working to convert the uninitiated. If you’d like to know more about The Doctor, the latest incarnation airs Saturday nights on BBC America starting on Saturday April 17, 2010. To catch up on old episodes, I’d recommend downloading from iTunes: Blink, The Christmas Invasion, The Waters of Mars, The Girl in the Fireplace. Those are all from recent seasons. I’d definitely suggest diving into those long before you look at the classic series.

This post is sponsored, in part, by poker.de