My travel year, a look back and a look forward

Tallinn in winter.

This past year has been pretty good for me as far as travel goes. I managed to visit three new countries—Estonia, Slovenia, and Austria. In addition I got in some other smaller trips such as visiting an Italian book festival to celebrate the translation of one of my books, did lots of caving, saw Edinburgh, plus the usual visits to Oxford and London. I also visited Tangier three times. I’ve really fallen for that relaxed Moroccan port and I’ve been getting a lot of work done on a novel set there.

Sadly, there was no great adventure travel in 2013. In 2012 I got to visit Iraq and the year before that I spent a couple of months living in Harar, Ethiopia. This year I spent entirely in Europe with a toehold in Africa. Am I getting old? No, it’s just that my travel funds are drying up thanks to my main sugar daddy, the travel blog Gadling, closing up shop.

This is going to make 2014 a tight travel year. Oxford and Tangier are in, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to afford much more than that. Both of those will be working/research trips. Beyond that, I may just hole up in my apartment and write a ton of fiction, like I mentioned in an earlier post.

Of course, the New Year might bring some surprises. Who knows where I may end up in the next twelve months?

What were your big trips in 2013? Anything good planned for the New Year?

Blogging about travel and history in Iraq

Alongside my Iraq travel series for Gadling, I've been doing a bunch of guest posts for other blogs about my trip.

For Osprey Publishing I wrote about the Baghdad North Gate War Cemetery, where many of the British Empire's fallen from the First World War are interred. For A.J. Walker's blog on medieval history and archaeology, I wrote a guest post about a medieval castle in Iraq. Over at The Adventure Blog I've written about the ancient Arab city of Hatra. I also wrote about Exploring Medieval Baghdad for Black Gate Magazine, which published my historical fantasy novella The Quintessence of Absence.

So head on over to these sites and get some good free reading, otherwise this Iraqi kid will ride his ancient lion over to your house and eat you!

Blogging more than 400,000 words

As my regular readers know, I blog at Gadling, the number one travel blog on the web. (And I'm not just saying that, our hits prove it).

Today my dashboard told me that I broke 400,000 words. To be exact, it said, "You have written 400,143 words on 866 posts since you started publishing 2 years and 179 days ago."

Persistence. Write every day and your publications will pile up.

Tell my boss to send me to Afghanistan

As many of you know, I'm a travel blogger for Gadling, the world's most popular travel blog. I've done several series on adventure travel, including one on taking a road trip around Ethiopia, and another on living in an African city. I did another on visiting Somaliland.

In my more than 20 years of adventure travel, I've never been to Afghanistan, and it's always been at the top of my list. I visited Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province in the 1990's and spent several pleasant weeks among the Afghan communities there. Afghanistan's long history and varied cultures would make a great Gadling series. . .

. . .but I can't afford it. So I need your help. If you'd like to see a boots-on-the-ground series on Afghanistan written by yours truly, tell Gadling to be my sugar daddy. I'll write about culture, history, and daily life, all the things the news ignores. I already know an adventure travel company that can take me there. If enough people vote, maybe Gadling will send me!

Please leave a comment at this link, telling Gadling they need a series on Afghanistan.

[Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons]

Hoping to travel to South Sudan

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard that the Republic of South Sudan has just become the world's newest country. Welcome to the family of nations!

I'm looking into ways to get there in order to be the first travel blogger to write a series about it. My series about traveling in Somaliland, a country that doesn't officially exist, was my most popular ever, so I'm hoping the South Sudanese government will respond to my inquiries. With Gadling getting ten million hits a month, I could sure give them some good publicity.

I also have to figure out how to be the first Postcrossing member to get a postcard from South Sudan. . .


[Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons]

Photo Friday: Why writing is important

As I mentioned before, I spent the past two months in Harar, Ethiopia, a fascinating medieval walled city. Before going to Harar I spent three days in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. I’ve visited the city before but there were some things I hadn’t seen, like the Red Terror memorial. This is a museum dedicated the victims of the Derg regime, a Marxist government that assassinated the Emperor Haile Selassie and ruled Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991. This regime killed 500,000 people in its first year in power. Nobody knows the total number of victims.

Sadly, many countries have similar museums and this one has the typical displays you’d expect—walls covered with ghostly photos of victims, displays of torture methods, official documents—yet I left the museum inspired. Why? Because of this one display pictured here. It's a mimeograph machine used by a dissident. He was a scientist at an agricultural research center on the outskirts of Addis Ababa and he used this machine to print pamphlets protesting the government. He would have been executed if he had been caught so he used to bury the mimeograph in a field when he wasn't using it. After the regime was toppled he left it buried until he finally dug it up years later and donated it to the museum.

This is real writing. Writing what you believe when you risk being put up against a wall and shot. I'd like to think I'd have the courage to do this, but thankfully I don't think I'll ever be tested in this manner.

Working on page proofs for my next book

One of the nice things about being back in Oxford is that I'm only a short bus ride away from Osprey Publishing, who have published some of my most recent books. I went to the office yesterday to pick up the page proofs for Armies of the Adowa Campaign, due in stores in September. The art looks great and the layout is excellent as usual. I love working with a team that actually cares about the product!

While I was visiting Harar, Ethiopia, Osprey's blog published a couple of guest posts of mine about writing this book. Part one was about researching in Ethiopia, and part two was about researching in Rome. Check them out for insights into the ups and downs (and even dangers) of researching military history!

While visiting the office I also got to sit down with the editors and brainstorm some more book ideas. Hopefully I'll have an announcement here in the coming weeks about more contracts!

Back from Ethiopia

Hello again!

Yes, I've been silent for two months, but I've had an excuse. I was living for two months in Harar in eastern Ethiopia and not only did I have to struggle with a dialup connection (remember those?) but it turns out the Ethiopian government censors Blogspot. Apparently too many dissident Ethiopian expats have blogs, and instead of trying to block each one they just block all of Blogspot! Strangely enough I can get onto Blogger and write posts, but since I couldn't see my end result I decided it wasn't worth the ages it took to load.

Anyway, I had a great time. I've started a series on Harar for Gadling and am working on a book proposal. More on that once it begins to take more shape. Today was my first full day back in Madrid and I spent it playing with my son. I won't have long here, though. On Monday we all head up to Oxford for the Easter break!

Now that I'm back I'll be keeping a more regular schedule with this blog, at least two and preferably three posts a week. So stayed tuned, friends, I haven't forgotten about you!

Settling down in Ethiopia

Hello from Harar, Ethiopia! This blog has been a bit silent lately because I’ve been in the Horn of Africa. The Internet in Ethiopia can be a bit slow and unpredictable.
Just like my last Ethiopia trip, I’m having a great time. I just rented a room in a traditional home in Harar’s medieval Old City and am writing an Ethiopia travel series for Gadling. I’m also working on a book proposal. In other Ethiopia news, Osprey Publishing published a blog post I did on researching the Armies of the Adowa Campaign book in the northern Tigray region. Less adventurous but no less fun was the research I did in Rome. See you soon!

Leaving for Ethiopia tomorrow!

Hi everyone! I'm leaving for Ethiopia tomorrow for a two-month stay in the walled medieval city of Harar. I'll be working on a travel series for Gadling and an adventure travel book proposal.

I was originally supposed to leave last Sunday but I was flying Egyptair. With a layover in Cairo. Needless to say my flight was canceled! They gave me a full refund but I still had to scramble to find another flight. Luckily I found a Turkish Airlines flight that was only a bit more expensive.

Once the first post in my series is up on Gadling I'll be sure to mention it here. I'll also try to post some photos and thoughts now and then and I have at least one guest blogger. Inevitably, though, this blog will be a bit less regular until my return. In the meantime, you can follow my adventures via my Gadling feed. Feel free to subscribe to the RSS feed; upping the numbers makes my editor happy.

This is a photo I took on my last visit to Harar. It shows one of the more than 300 saint's tombs in the city. I like how that tree has grown all around it.

Preparing for two months in Ethiopia

In ten days I'll be on a flight to Ethiopia. This will be my second time in the country. Last year my wife and I did a big road trip in Ethiopia for our tenth anniversary and I also did a side trip to Somaliland.

While that last trip was more of a survey of the two countries, this time I'm focusing on just one place--Harar. This medieval walled city in eastern Ethiopia has a unique culture that's a mix of the many different societies it has interacted with in its role as a major trading center. I'll be studying its culture and history to write a long series for Gadling as well as a book proposal.

So what am I doing to get ready? Not much, actually. On this sort of trip you just have to let things happen. My contacts in Harar will help me with my research and it's such a friendly place that I know everything will work out fine, more or less. I'm doing a lot of background reading, of course, sucking up every bit of information I can on the city and region. Sadly, there's not as much in English as there should be for such an important city. That's where I come in.

I'm also not worrying about the subject matter of my book proposal. I know it's going to be about some aspect of Harari culture, but I haven't decided what. While I have dozens of ideas I'm going to follow the advice of a Harari friend and let the subject choose me. Who I meet and what they teach me will shape my book. When a writer goes into a major project, it's best not to have too strict of an idea where it should lead.

My best travel writing on Gadling in January

Here we are in February already! The year's started off busy for me, with a deadline looming for my next book, a trip to Ethiopia coming up, and a lot of blogging for Gadling in the first month of 2011.

At the beginning of the year I was finishing up my series on Extremadura, Spain, where my family and I went for the holidays in December, including a fun article on the castles of Extremadura. I'm a big fan of castles! I also did a few articles on Egypt, including the stunning news that the government is closing Tutankhamun's tomb in order to save it from deterioration. The following week they reversed their decision and said they won't be closing it in the near future but it's still in the cards. Egypt also demanded that New York take care of Cleopatra's Needle of give it back. Egypt was again in the news when some rioters broke into the National Museum and destroyed two mummies.

I also did some opinion pieces, one on why travel writers need to stop stereotyping Africa, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and how I feel about the burqa.

Perhaps my most popular post, and certainly the one that generated the most controversy, was on about a hotel that got fined for refusing a gay couple a room.

In all I did 40 posts. Not bad for a month where I didn't go anywhere!

Photo Friday: Highland Farm

Welcome to another Photo Friday. Today is a shot I took while hiking the East Highland Way, Scotland's newest long distance trail. It starts at Ft. William on the west coast and runs for 78 miles deep into the Highlands to Aviemore. You see a lot of these isolated farmhouses on the way. This one is wisely built at the foot of a steep slope, where a line of trees marks the path of a mountain stream. Good for watering your sheep! I like how the mist softens the already soft colors.

Kevin Langan, who established the route, has already self-published a guidebook. Now it's been taken up by a traditional press and he's asked to use some of my photos. I'm happy to share with him because he pointed out such a great hike to me!

Planning my next adventure

As I've talked about earlier, I've been missing Ethiopia ever since I got back last April. I spent two months traveling around the country. For three weeks my wife joined me and I gave her a road trip around Ethiopia as a tenth anniversary present. It was also a work trip, resulting in an upcoming book, and travel series on Ethiopia and Somaliland for Gadling.

Well, I just got my ticket and I'm going back for another two months. I'll be spending the majority of the time living in the place you see here. It's called Harar, and it's a medieval walled city between the central Ethiopian highlands and the Somali desert. It's been a center of trade for at least a thousand years and has a fascinating mix of people and traditions.

The Hararis have their own culture and language. When I was there last time I tapped into a network of Harari writers, poets, musicians, lexicographers, and museum curators. It seems every educated person in that city is trying to preserve their culture. I'm planning to stay there and learn as much as I can in order to work on a book. Two months won't be enough, of course but this won't be my last trip if I have anything to say about it! I'm headed out in late February. Look forward to another series for Gadling, and perhaps a book in a couple of years!

Getting back into gear with the new year

Hi everyone! I'm back after a ten-day blogging hiatus. After finishing up my book on the Adowa campaign for Osprey Publishing my energy pretty much tanked, as I described on this blog during a similar post-book slump. Now I'm kicking back, spending lots of time with my family, watching movies, and reading books that have nothing to do with my research.

I haven't completely crashed, however. Besides organizing my first solo photo exhibition (more on that tomorrow) I've been blogging for Gadling as usual. Well, considerably less than usual, but I'm still blogging. My wife's Christmas present to me was a four-day trip to Extremadura, Spain's southwestern region. We stayed at a lovely Parador in Mérida, saw the historic sites, and ate heaps of good food. I've started a series on it for Gadling called Exploring Extremadura: Spain's Historic Southwest. Check out the link for articles on this wonderful region's Roman and Moorish ruins, beautiful villages, and tasty cuisine.

And expect lots more from the Midlist Writer blog in 2011! I'm branching out to include more author interviews and book reviews, to give my readers insights into the lives of midlist authors other than yours truly. Hope you come along for the ride!

Photo Friday: An Ethiopian priest at Lalibela

It's Christmas Eve, and while I'm an agnostic I know many of my friends and readers are celebrating the birth of Christ, who probably existed but almost certainly wasn't born on December 25. So in the holiday spirit here's a priest standing in one of the famous rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, which I wrote about for Gadling at part of my series on travel in Ethiopia. These churches are actually carved out of the bedrock and are some of the most amazing buildings I've ever seen.

Ethiopia is the second oldest Christian country in the world, having converted in the fourth century shortly after Armenia. Actually, the Roman Empire converted before Armenia did, but where is it now? The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has its own traditions, calendar, and several holy books that were edited out of the Western edition of the Bible. They also have some amazing architecture and art, as you can see here.

Does this guy look a bit Chinese to you? I met several Ethiopians who do. China had trade links with East Africa for centuries. A recent DNA test found links between the populations of China and Kenya. I'd like to get those Chinese geneticists to test out some Ethiopians.

Happy holidays everybody!

On the trail of Jesse James: a new travel series

Hi all! As you can see from the margin on this blog, I've written a lot of series for the travel blog Gadling. Now I've started a new one on Jesse James. Join me as I explore the real history of America's toughest outlaw, with lots of photos of where he lived, the places he robbed, and where he met his end.

Photo Friday: Ancient cave paintings at Laas Geel, Somaliland

Welcome to Photo Friday, a series I started last week here on Midlist Writer. This week's pick is one of the 300 (!) shots I took of the painted caves of Laas Geel in Somaliland. On a rocky hill in the middle of the Somali desert are a dozen rock shelters covered with paintings of cows, hunters, giraffes, and other images. Somali archaeologists estimate the paintings to be from 5,000 to 11,000 years old. Many painted caves have come to light in recent years and an ongoing survey will almost certainly find more.

Somaliland is a breakaway region of northern Somalia. They enjoy peace, government, and the rule of law. While Somaliland has its share of problems, it's WAY better off than the rest of Somalia. I went there earlier this year and wrote a series on Somaliland travel.

In January I'm going to have a photo exhibition about Somaliland at a local cafe in Madrid. More on that later!

Press trips: good or bad for writers?

Back in September I took my very first press trip. While I've been to many press events over the years, this was the first time I did a long trip on someone else's dime. VisitEngland and Welcome to Yorkshire footed the bill for ten Canadian and American travel writers to spend a few days in Yorkshire seeing sights related to the Brontë sisters. The result was a series I wrote for Gadling titled Exploring Yorkshire: Ghosts, Castles, and Literature in England's North.

Press trips are controversial in the industry. Many markets don't accept articles written about press trips, citing conflict of interest and inherent bias. Those markets that do use press trips are selective and tend to use them sparingly.

Fellow Gadlinger Tom Johansmeyer has written an excellent post about press trips that all travel writers should read. His main point is that press trips make our job possible. How else are brokeass writers supposed to fly over Zambia in a Cessna or review some luxury resort in the Caribbean? I fund much of my travel by double-dipping, combining book and blogging projects. That's how I managed my travel series on Ethiopia. Not everyone can do that.

Tom also makes the point that while writers have to mention that they had their trip paid for, some guy sitting at a desk working off a press release doesn't have to mention he never saw the place he's writing about! Press trips actually improve reliability and objectivity because the PR filter is somewhat broken down.

My personal experience on this was educational. Our schedule was pretty tight and so we didn't have much time to wander around independently. This is the complete opposite of my usual relaxed wandering. People make a lot of noise about press trips leading to biased coverage, but I didn't experience that. There was some boring stuff they made us see that I simply didn't cover. Good restaurants got a mention, but one hyped-up place that served mediocre food didn't get appear in my series. If a sight was important and popular enough that I had to cover it, I was honest. The Jorvik Viking Centre is one of York's biggest attractions and my article reflects what a cheesy tourist trap it really is.

So press trips aren't the bugbear many people think. It does lead to some bias because all writing is biased. My travel in Somaliland was shaped by my preconceptions and experiences on the ground, plus the eagerness of the Somalis to paint their emerging nation in the best possible light. My series on Yorkshire was shaped by what they showed me and what they didn't show me. The mere fact that I went on it changed the coverage. Would I have written a positive series on England this fall? Yes. Would it have been about Yorkshire? Probably not.

So press trips are a vital part of the industry. They can work as long as writers and readers all know what's involved.

Best travel writing on Gadling in October

Halloween has come and gone, and here we are in November. As I look back at my Gadling travel posts in October, they aren't as adventurous as they were in September, what with my trip to Rome, but it was still a pretty good month.

I did a series on travel in Yorkshire that turned out to be popular. This was my first press trip, courtesy of VisitEngland and Welcome to Yorkshire, and it was an interesting experience. I'll be blogging about what it's like to go on a press trip next week here on Midlist Writer. It's a controversial subject, and I'm not 100 percent in support of them, but hey, at least I got to spend three nights in a haunted hotel room.

More on that later. As usual I did a variety of posts on archaeology, including a possible solution to the mystery of Silbury Hill and proof of Chinese trade with Africa before the Europeans. I also wrote a piece on favorite hiking spots near Madrid. Other random posts included an aquarium that's hiring a mermaid and a weird Japanese ESL video a friend sent me.

So check out my feed on Gadling. You'll even see a scientific explanation of why airline food sucks and some advice on what to do in a Muslim country during Ramadan!

And if you want adventure travel, check out Don George's series on Peru.