Continuing on from my blog about the Cashless Man, Mark Boyle, here’s a snippet of info I found on his blog about the social network he’s created called the Freeconomy Community and how he’d hate for it to become the new Facebook. Whereas Facebook’s objective is to keep people on-line, reading their adverts, for as [...]
It’s a question worth asking. People using the phenomenally popular site to rent out their own self-contained house, that’s one thing. But giving a stream of people the keys to an apartment block with shared facilities? That could lead to problems and disputes, especially if it is a constant activity.
Someone I know was threatened with legal action/eviction by their landlord this week, because they were alleged to be “running a hostel”. She is now wondering if it was the neighbours who gave the owner a tip-off. (She is not, as it happens, using AirBnB, but she does rent a room on a more long-term basis via Craigslist.)
AirBnB has always been an innovative player in this emerging market, always adapting and often spinning off in whole new directions.
Originally, it focused on offering quick-fix accommodation. It helped you find a place to throw up an airbed, when all the hotels were full because of a conference or special event. Then it moved into offering alternatives to hotels (featuring some quite stunning properties that moved beyond far beyond backpacker territory). Recently it has decided it wants service people staying in places for extended periods and its new subletting division allows users to book their stays by the month. This mid-term market is a hugely growing, especially as many people are now able to work anywhere that has an internet connection. The existence of sites like this is great news for this new breed of traveller.
I see they have chosen to adopt the word ‘subletting’, which is bold. In the past AirBnB has said its users are typically owners of the properties, rather than renters, as subletting is usually prohibited by most rental contracts.
Yet owners or renters can both get on the wrong side of their neighbours. So, should you speak to your neighbours first? Would it bother you if your neighbours rented out their place to travellers?
What is certain is that 2011 was an eventful year for these networks.
AirBnB came back from a PR disaster (as one user had her home trashed) by offering a guarantee to users, which gave them a lot more credibility. They also secured a massive new amount of funding, with their valuation rising to a supposed $1 billion.
Meanwhile, AirBnB’s growth doesn’t seem to be slowing. They recently launched a huge recruitment campaign worldwide. It’s interesting to learn that they recruit photographers, too. This may explain why it looks better than the usual sites that function on member-generated images.
It will be interesting to see what 2012 holds for this new type of travel.
Photo: Flickr Creative Commons, WallyG
All across Bolivia you see backpackers wearing their “I survived the Death Road” T-shirts. It refers to a mountain biking trip you can take down the terrifying Yungas Road, nicknamed El Camino de la Muerte. It’s a ‘must-do’ for many on the stereotypical circuit around the country.
The trouble is lots of people – mainly Bolivians – haven’t survived. At one point, it was said that 200 to 300 were falling to their deaths here every year.
This week the road made headlines across the world again (including in The Telegraph and The Sun), because of this horrifying video of a fatal bus crash.
The driver died. I dread to think what he was getting paid to take such a risk.
There is much less traffic on this route these days and it is known to be exceeding high risk to take it on during rainy season (as this bus driver did). The figures quoted in the press this week appear to be outdated. Numbers from 2011 suggest 114 accidents and 42 deaths. But that’s still a lot.
And, by the way, you are seeing that correctly. The uploader of the You Tube video has used the opportunity to show appreciation for someone called Joe Rogan (a U.S. comedian who appears to have direct viewers/listeners/fans to the incident). And, over the screams of the bystanders, the Rogan fan has decided to advertise ‘a famous magic sock video’, complete with smiley face.
4 Written by
Vicky Baker on
November 17, 2011 – 9:22 pm
A weird things happens sometimes when you are out for a walk in Buenos Aires. All of a sudden, rain drops start to land on you from nowhere. Is it the start of a passing shower, or one of the city’s full-on, drench-your-bones storms? You look up to check out the clouds. Nada. Not a single wisp.
You carry on walking, and the drizzle continues. “Ah, an air conditioning unit!” You look up again. Again, nothing. There are no buildings whatsoever overhead.
I have found myself in this situation more than ever this spring, to the point where I was questioning my own sanity.
Today, to put my mind at rest, I asked around.
Apparently, the rain is coming from the trees. In this video below, you can see them in action. It’s quite surreal.
The tree is a tipuana tipu, or tipa, a rosewood native to South America.
Being Argentina – a country that brought us the melancholy tango – this phenomenon is know as the “llanto de las tipas” (the tears of the tipas).
Sadly, however poetically Argentina tries to dress it up, you’re actually being excreted on by a parasite.
And to make it worse, that parasite is called Cephisus siccifolius. It just sounds nasty, doesn’t it?
The tree cannot, however, pass the buck for the helicopter-like spores it releases, causing hayfever and allergies of the highest order.
It is not a very nice tree.
As far a “raining” trees go, I prefer those of the jacaranda, which, at this time of year, sends wafts of violet petals drifting to the ground. They form such a striking carpet that you almost feel guilty treading on them.
There are some incredible photos on this blog, Los Arboles de Buenos Aires, which is entirely dedicated to the city’s trees. I agree with the writer/photographer that November is the best time of year in Buenos Aires. (Photo by Vtveen on Flickr)
Other trees to look out in the city are the superbly named, twisting ‘palo borachos’ (drunk sticks), which clearly make rather aggressive drunks as their trunks are covered in spikes. Over time, just like us, they also acquire bellies from their drinking … (Photo by Blmurch on Flickr)
And then there’s the tree that provides the national flower, the ceibo. Seen here in Salta, but also visible in Plaza del Congreso, among other places. (Photo by Loco85 on Flickr)
The other unusual Buenos Aires phenomenon to look out for is when it rains from ground upwards. Those are the days when, again, there is not a cloud in the sky, but you make the mistake of stepping on a cracked pavement that has been secretly collecting rain water in its gaps. All of a sudden, surprise! Your shoes are filled.
Icelanders are opening their homes to visitors, as part of a new tourism campaign — and leading the way is the country’s president.
Watch this video above. It appears to be an invite around to the presidency for pancakes. Who’s up for paying him a visit? (If he is using some sort of royal — or presidential — ‘we’, I will be very disappointed.)
Continue watching and it seems the Mayor of Reykjavík is in on it too. Although looking at his dazed expression, he seems to be having trouble just remembering where he is.
So what is going on here? How do tourists get involved?
Clicking through, there’s a page of invites, written by a handful of local people (no sign of the President or the Mayor) and it seems you have to leave a Facebook message below if you are interested in, for example, going night sailing, attending Airwaves festival, or hunting geese.
Beyond that, I’m not really sure how many meets they are offering or how long this campaign will last.
Incidentally, Couchsurfing.com can trace its roots back to Iceland. Founder Casey Fenton first tried out his ‘stay with strangers’ idea here, when he got hold of a student directory, emailed everyone asking if he stay with them while he was in the country, and, lo and behold, he got 1,500 positive replies.
2 Written by
Vicky Baker on
October 3, 2011 – 1:56 pm
Getting to know Misiones (Argentina’s jungle province) beyond Iguazú Falls: this is a trip I’d been wanting to for ages. Here’s the write-up from Saturday’s Guardian. It includes a range of accommodation for various budgets, plus a list of general tips for visiting the falls.
Of all the diverse landscapes in South America – the Andes, the glaciers, the pampas, the beaches – the rainforest is probably my favourite. Nowhere feels more exotic or precious.
The Atlantic Rainforest is like a beginner’s rainforest. It is much more easily accessible than the Amazon, both logistically and financially. Ideally, you’d spend a week or two exploring it, as I did, but even adding a couple of days up there can give you a real taste for it. I’d highly recommend it to travellers from the US and Europe, who can’t get any such landscape or wildlife on their doorstep at home. Although – be warned – you aren’t likely to bump into a jaguar. It’ll be birdlife you’ll be mostly spotting.
It’s fascinating though to think that until the 1980s, there were no roads leading to Iguazú Falls. I spoke to a local girl who’s mother was married to a ranger and used to live in the park. Back then, there actually was a chance of bumping into a jaguar and, apparently, her mother used to live in fear, always locking the doors, just in case.
Aside from the falls, this area is not given hardly any attention in the press – either in travel sections or in the news. When I was fact-checking my article, I called a number of rainforest associations and found they we’re really on-the-ball with the Atlantic Rainforest. (“Er, erm, we don’t actually have any projects there, sorry.”)
With only 5% of it left, perhaps it’s considered a lost cause.
The more light that can be shed on this area, the better. Responsible tourism could really help. One of the lodge owners I visited told me that before he started any building work he took his carefully considered plans to the local planning office and was dismissed with a wave of the hand. “It’s your land, you can do what you like,” they said to a man whose land directly faces pure, virgin rainforest and is next to a clear, unpolluted stream. Imagine the damage he could have done if he wasn’t eco-minded.
This was a few years ago, so rules may have tightened up, but other stories I head also left me worried (farming chemicals running down hillsides into streams below etc).
Misiones really is a complex and fascinating province. It has to support the needs of its farmers, its indigenous people and its ecologists. If anyone hears of any projects in the area – perhaps ones that help local farmers to work the land more sustainably or ones that help support the customs of the Guarani people – let me know. I’d love to get in touch.
In Cali, I got a lesson in just how proud caleño people are when I went to visit the city’s Cristo Rey monument. It’s an exact copy of Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue, but a few metres shorter, yet I found I was the only visitor standing below its huge, concrete feet.
“I’ve been to Rio. I’ve seen their one,” said my taxi driver, Túlio, wrinkling his nose to show just how unimpressed he was. “Why is it so popular? I couldn’t believe all the people there. I wanted to say to them, ‘hey, why all the fuss? I’ve got one of these at home in Cali’.” And to emphasize his point, he gives a French-style shrug.
I laughed as clearly Rio gets an edge from its views – across the Atlantic Ocean, rainforested islands and Sugar Loaf mountain – but Túlio wasn’t joking.
People from Cali are extremely proud of their city and they refer to it city as a la sucursal del cielo (a branch of heaven). That may be stretching it a bit, but I found it a good place to spend a few days (perhaps more if you’re a salsa fiend).
Cali doesn’t have the greatest of reputations – not helped by its past as the home of the Cali Cartel – and a few people seemed surprised by my choice to go there. So much so that even though I already had my commission to write about it lined up, I started to have second thoughts.
Fortunately, I was impressed. Here’s the write-up in the Independent: the rhythms of Cali.
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Vicky Baker on
September 13, 2011 – 3:22 pm
Today, I visited Garufa, an Argentinian café that has sprung up in Highbury since I’ve been away. I actually opened around two years ago and is brought to us by the same people that launched the very successful Buen Ayre in Hackney.
It was oddly exciting to discover it, sitting directly opposite the house where I once lived.
It’s clearly a little corner of Argentina, but I was pleased to find it had taken a subtle approach. Instead of plastering the walls with pictures of Maradona and Gardel, the sophisticated, bare-brick décor includes a few blown-up photos of yesteryear Buenos Aires and a sign in traditional filete design. On late summer’s day, the best part was the huge, wooden picture-window which opens wide on to the road to give you that street-café feel. (Although the Number 19 pulling up outside soon shatters any illusions.)
The menu features all the typical Argentinian favourites. There are tostado sandwiches (£3) and choripan (£5) for lunch, plus steak dinners and an extensive wine list. Coffee is served in a chunky, little glass, as is customary, and breakfast is available until 5pm, which is ideal if you’ve enjoyed an Argentina-style late night.
However, the differences from Buenos Aires became apparent from the moment I sat down, when the porteña waitress put down the menu, along with the salt and pepper.
Pepper! I could hardly believe it. You never get a pepper on the table in Argentina. Just one, sole salt shaker, which makes up for its loneliness by being hyper-active. (Argentinians put such dangerously high amounts of salt on their food that the government recently agreed to a law banning them from being put on the table.) But pepper? Never any pepper.
This was one of a few clear concessions made to an English market, which I found quite interesting.
There were also plenty of green “vegetarian” signs on the menu (unheard of in Argentina); the salad wasn’t just lettuce, tomato and onion; and there was a “babyccino” on the menu too, lest we forget we are in Islington.
Perhaps the biggest move towards Anglicisation, however, was the “full Argentinian breakfast”, which features eggs, steak and “Argentinian-style sausages”. Argentinians – as I’ve noted before – simply don’t do breakfast. When I cook a cheese-and-onion omelette for brunch in Buenos Aires, my Argentinian housemate is astounded. (“Wow, you must have a strong stomach!” etc.) And they certainly wouldn’t combine it with a Bloody Mary, which Garufa also offers as part of the deal.
But Brits… get a load of this… a place that offers a hearty breakfast until 5pm with a hair-of-the-dog cocktail!
And there are options – yes, options – for veggies too.
With strong Argentinian character and style, I wouldn’t say Garufa is inauthentic; it just knows how to play to its local audience.
I need to go back again to be sure, but, on first impressions, Garufa could be the perfect marriage of my two favourite cultures.
Today is the 10th anniversary of 9/11. With all the commemorations, tie-ins and, in some cases, blatant profiteering (fancy some 9/11 memorial wine priced at $19.11? ), I don’t think many people have failed to pick up on this.
As midnight approaches, most of us have reached overload. Nonetheless, the following email sent out by MeetUp.com yesterday was interesting and, as the company tends to keep a low profile, it struck me as genuine.
Founder Scott Heiferman said he rediscovered his appreciation of the local community after the disaster.
Here are his words:
I don’t write to our whole community often, but this week is special because it’s the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and many people don’t know that Meetup is a 9/11 baby.
Let me tell you the Meetup story. I was living a couple miles from the Twin Towers, and I was the kind of person who thought local community doesn’t matter much if we’ve got the internet and tv. The only time I thought about my neighbors was when I hoped they wouldn’t bother me.
When the towers fell, I found myself talking to more neighbors in the days after 9/11 than ever before. People said hello to neighbors (next-door and across the city) who they’d normally ignore. People were looking after each other, helping each other, and meeting up with each other. You know, being neighborly.
A lot of people were thinking that maybe 9/11 could bring people together in a lasting way. So the idea for Meetup was born: Could we use the internet to get off the internet — and grow local communities?
We didn’t know if it would work. Most people thought it was a crazy idea — especially because terrorism is designed to make people distrust one another.
A small team came together, and we launched Meetup 9 months after 9/11.
Today, almost 10 years and 10 million Meetuppers later, it’s working. Every day, thousands of Meetups happen. Moms Meetups, Small Business Meetups, Fitness Meetups… a wild variety of 100,000 Meetup Groups with not much in common — except one thing.
Every Meetup starts with people simply saying hello to neighbors.
It’s a wonderful revolution in local community, and it’s thanks to everyone who shows up.
Photo: the planned development on the World Trade Center’s site, via wiki images.
9 Written by
Vicky Baker on
September 2, 2011 – 12:21 am
Big news came last week in the announcement that Couchsurfing.com had decided to abandon its non-profitmaking roots and accept £4.7m of venture capital.
Some members are angry about the move and protest groups have already been formed on the site’s very own talkboards. Especially annoyed are those who gave their time as volunteers. Not long ago, Couchsurfing was advertising a whole host of volunteer posts, from IT support to being a gardener at their HQ. Now these people – and others who worked from home dealing with press queries and building forums – have been left questioning what exactly they have been working towards.
Some are even suggesting that their past donations should be returned.
Couchsurfing has been described as “the anti-capitalist AirBnB”, but members have long known the site was making money – predominately from charging an optional credit card fee, which verified user identity – and this has long been a cause of debate.
Today, some users noted that the sign-up page has changed, making a donation now seem an obligatory part of the process. See this screen grab:
It has been also noted that Couchsurfing has taken the opposite route to the Burning Man Festival, which is preparing to turn from profit-making to a non-profit (Growing pains for Burning Man Festival, NY Times).
But it’s not all bad. The ideas behind a “B Corporation”, which Couchsurfing will become, are explained in this TED talk . The concept seems to have great intentions, but the trouble is Couchsurfing.com is backtracking and moving from one thing to another, leaving a lot of people very confused.
Couchsurfing means a lot of different things to a lot of different people (over three million people at last count). Among the membership, there are also those who have hated to see it become mainstream, as people jumped on to the idea of “travelling for free” rather than wanting to forge intercultural relations.
And then there are the minority who want to forge relations of a different sort altogether. One sticking point arose when some members sought to close down an internal forum for people using the site to get laid. Some were disgusted; others said it was inevitable and best kept out in the open, so both hosts and guests knew were they stood.
As an interesting aside, the New York Times chose today to run a piece about naked Couchsurfing, which may or may not have given the site a boost.
One of the biggest shocks to come out of all this was seeing Hospitality Club founder’s Veit Kühne let out what looks like years of frustration in a public statement. It also provoked Hospitality Club’s first tweet in four years. Not only did he say Couchsurfing’s move was “the worst nightmares of many people who love the idea of hospitality exchange”, he also vowed “to release [a] new site this year” and “build the best hospitality exchange website this planet has ever seen”. These are high claims from one of the least innovative websites online today and one that has barely changed in ten years. “We were lazy,” admitted Veit in the statement.
Meanwhile, some CSing members are already jumping ship, with small-fish competitor BeWelcome.org reporting a sudden surge in sign-ups.
As I said in the Guardian piece, most users aren’t interested in the background politics, they just want to meet some friendly people and have a place to crash on their travels. This demand isn’t likely to go away and I’m sure the “aggressive hiring” that co-founder Daniel Hoffer has spoken about in recent days will do wonders for attracting attention and new members.
The only thing that seems sure right now is that there will be some interesting times ahead for an area that has been static and silent for too long.
5 Written by
Vicky Baker on
August 24, 2011 – 2:24 pm
I’m over the idea of getting thrills from Bogotá because it feels daring and dangerous to go there. Bogotá is exciting in its own way. Not everyone is bowled over by it instantly, but that’s what I like about it. I’m not much into standard sightseeing and, despite two visits, I still haven’t even been its famous Gold Museum. However, I love the music, the literature and the general creativity of the people, and I am sure the climate (warm to chilly, with regular rain) is conducive to this cultural scene. I also like how the best places you find often feel “local” and “underground”, because tourism is still so nascent. On my recent trip, I was often the only tourist – or one of very few – in most places, which is a huge contrast to Buenos Aires.
I’ve tried to get this point across in a profile of the city published in Saturday’s Guardian. Although it was included in the Gap Year Special – as “the best backpacker city” because this is still where most of its market comes from – it was written to appeal to a wider market. I think Bogotá is finally about to break through into the “city break” territory. It could do with a few more decent hotels (again the contrast here with Buenos Aires is huge), but it’s not far off. And I miss the food already, especially this prawn dish from Mini Mal, as featured in the article.
Proof that it’s “not quite there yet” as an aspirational destination comes from the fact that the few decent hotels it has still mainly cater to the business market (although this doesn’t have to mean sterile and without flair: see the new Hotel Avia 93). However, this means weekenders can cash in as rates drop outside of the working week.
Bogotá is definitely an exciting place to go as a travel writer because it is evolving fast and, generally speaking, poorly covered. I was secretly quite pleased to find the Lonely Planet had missed many of the places that became key to this piece and other pieces I am still writing.
The wider truth is that some major travel sections still refuse to cover Colombia. I’m pleased the Guardian is more open-minded and the interest is certainly there, as I have had more feedback from readers than usual. Let’s face it, a lot of this does come down to its dangerous past. Foreigners are intrigued by it, while locals are grateful to anyone who manages to present it for what it is today and not mention the “c” word every few minutes.
If anyone knows any decent local knowledge websites or blogs that cover Bogotá, please let me know. There must be some. I’m also interested in good hotel tips for future reference. With little information available, I found myself sporadically calling on the taxi driver to pull over whenever a hotel sign caught my eye. That’s how I discovered Alma de Bogotá, which is a great little place and just a stone’s throw from those prawns at Mini Mal.
There is an interesting article on the Betabeat site this week looking at how AirBnB users could be upsetting their neighbours. It’s a question worth asking. People using the phenomenally popular site to rent out their own self-contained house, that’s one thing. But giving a stream of people the keys to an apartment block with [...]
All across Bolivia you see backpackers wearing their “I survived the Death Road” T-shirts. It refers to a mountain biking trip you can take down the terrifying Yungas Road, nicknamed El Camino de la Muerte. It’s a ‘must-do’ for many on the stereotypical circuit around the country. The trouble is lots of people – mainly [...]
A weird things happens sometimes when you are out for a walk in Buenos Aires. All of a sudden, rain drops start to land on you from nowhere. Is it the start of a passing shower, or one of the city’s full-on, drench-your-bones storms? You look up to check out the clouds. Nada. Not a [...]
Inspired by Iceland Invitations from Inspired By Iceland on Vimeo. Icelanders are opening their homes to visitors, as part of a new tourism campaign — and leading the way is the country’s president. Watch this video above. It appears to be an invite around to the presidency for pancakes. Who’s up for paying him a [...]
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