http://www.besttravelwriting.com/btw-blog Just another WordPress weblog Mon, 07 Nov 2011 07:43:20 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en by Jeffe Aronson Autumn, 1976 The air is cool, damp. The walls coated with long undisturbed, powder-like talc, virtually liquid. My feet sense every irregularity of the limestone floor through the thin plastic soles of Chinese slippers. I cannot tell where the water is–the pools mere phantoms, perfectly clear, perfectly calm, ... http://www.besttravelwriting.com/btw-blog/great-stories/adventure-story-bronze-winner-beyond-thunder/ by Marianne Ruane Whether it was all of the rocking the boat did while stalling for us to photograph the whales, or the fact that I was getting chilled, or those Denny’s breakfast sausages I probably shouldn’t have eaten, I don’t know, but all of a sudden, I was not feeling ... http://www.besttravelwriting.com/btw-blog/great-stories/silver-cruise-story-moscow-doesn%e2%80%99t-believe-in-puking-a-whale-watching-tour-in-monterey/ by Jeffe Aronson I glance back uphill at the slowly disappearing shape of Alan, where I left him perched on an overhanging rock ledge, sketching the remote and incomprehensible landscape visible from the tip of Great Thumb Mesa. Part of the Havasupai Indian Reservation. It’s June, which is really a stupid ... http://www.besttravelwriting.com/btw-blog/great-stories/bad-trip-gold-winner-sinyala-fault/ By Kate Crawford “Is that my elephant?” I ask as the first mammoth mammal lumbers into camp. “That’s Lawan,” John replies, watching her undulating gait. “She’s our youngest, the village flirt. She can be a bit naughty. She’s known to indulge in little diva tantrums if another elephant gets more ... http://www.besttravelwriting.com/btw-blog/great-stories/animal-encounter-gold-winner-elephant-driving-101/ by Sabine Bergmann I leaned cautiously towards the road’s edge, which gave way to a sheer cliff, a gashed rock-face stretching towards the distant earth. At the bottom, a mere speck of yellow on the floor of rocks, lay the tiny carcass of a yellow bus – tiny from here, at ... http://www.besttravelwriting.com/btw-blog/great-stories/adventure-travel-gold-winner-death-road/ Yep, the judging is over and the news is out. We've announced the winners of this year's Solas Awards. Check out the "Awards page" for all the news. Many thanks to all who participated, and all who enjoy great writing. http://www.besttravelwriting.com/btw-blog/blog/fifth-annual-solas-awards-winners/ by Carolyn Kraus On a warm and windy July morning, we were headed south on the Partisan Highway out of Minsk, Belarus. Marina, the friend of a Jewish Belarusian expatriate I knew back home in Detroit, was nervous at the wheel of the little twenty-year–old Soviet-built Moskveech she’d just learned to ... http://www.besttravelwriting.com/btw-blog/great-stories/grand-prize-gold-winner-the-memory-bird/ by Marcia DeSanctis Two women, one skirt, and an untold story. The first time I met Maria Konstantinovna, she was wearing a black leather skirt. It was Italian, brand new, and it was mine. Masha, as I would come to know her, was a dejournaya in Moscow. Women like her sat on ... http://www.besttravelwriting.com/btw-blog/great-stories/grand-prize-silver-winner-masha/ A Journey Down the Colorado River with Captain John Wesley Powell by Michael Shapiro Our boats are four in number. Three are built of oak, stanch and firm (with) water-tight cabins.… These will buoy the boats should the waves roll them over in rough water. The fourth is made of pine…built for ... http://www.besttravelwriting.com/btw-blog/great-stories/grand-prize-bronze-winner-beneath-the-rim/ by Shauna Sweeney It takes fifteen minutes to confirm I'm being followed. At first I had my doubts, kept second-, triple-, quadruple-guessing. I thought fear was playing tricks on me, making monsters out of shadows. But we've turned too many corners, switched onto too many new streets for coincidence. The car ... http://www.besttravelwriting.com/btw-blog/great-stories/womens-travel-silver-winner-the-moustache-brothers-of-mandalay/