Sophia Dembling has a different style of traveling, and she's tired of hiding it.
travel
A great video explaining how they use their site (powered by Drupal, hosted by Bryght, designed by Raincity Studios) to share their stories.
Doug Lansky (by way of Adri): “I've never heard of anyone who said: "My dream is to locate the world's totally synthetic experiences, skip along elbow to elbow with my fellow countrymen, nibbling on banana pancakes at popular cafes and buying cheap knock-offs of the same stuff I can get back home while I get my photo taken in front of every major attraction I can jam into my itinerary." So how is it that the vast majority end up doing just that? Is there some sort of banana pancake beam that sucks us in? In a sense, yes.”
Ever since travelling to China and spending a week in Beijing going to 3 places each day (the Great Wall was okay, but I recommend the Summer Palace for a peaceful afternoon), then heading to Changchun to spend a month and a half studying Chinese, I've only ever enjoyed travel when it was to visit with someone that was either from that place or who had moved there. The Changchun part of my trip to China was enjoyable because it was not a tourist town, so we—myself the group of us that went—felt like we were living there instead of just checking buildings that I could just as easily read about on the Internet. Thanks to the Internet, I have friends all over the world, which means possibly a couch to sleep on, but at the very least someone who can show show me around, take me to the good restaurants and places and events, and not just the ones recommended in some guide.
