New Addition to the Travel Lexicon: ‘Vagabond Neurosis’

World Hum’s Most Read: Oct. 4-10

What We Loved This Week: Bajofondo, Rattlesnake Cake and Leaf Peeping

Travel Headline of the Day: ‘Fear Grips Global Stock Markets’

Love Herring in Sweden

From artery-clogging casseroles to a fermented concoction that smells alarmingly like vinegary flatulence, Lola Akinmade digs in to a smörgåsbord of herring and explains how to best appreciate Scandinavia’s favorite fish. 

The Water Is Wide

Bronwen Dickey considers Tim Butcher’s “Blood River: A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart,” which takes readers deep into the Congo

Vagrant Ruminations of a Compulsive Traveler

Where does the urge to hunt for that “fleeting fix of elsewhere” come from? Peter Wortsman recalls a life of travel inspiration. 

Rolf Potts: Revelations from a Postmodern Travel Writer

His new book “Marco Polo Didn’t Go There” includes his best stories from the past 10 years. Michael Yessis asks him how travel writing has changed in the last decade—and what he sees for the future.

Notes From an Unofficial Tourist Greeter

Summer is over, and so is Julia Ross‘ season as an ambassador to travelers in Washington, D.C.’s Woodley Park neighborhood. She’s happy to be off duty.

10 Great Travel Race Movies

Slow travel is well and good. But there’s something irresistible about a great travel race movie. World Hum Travel Movie Clubbers Eva Holland and Eli Ellison share their favorite vicarious thrill rides.

How Should I Spend My Time in Spain?

Vagabonding traveler Rolf Potts answers your questions about travel

Busking Story Earns Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing

Ever since I read that amazing story about Bell’s experiment, I’ve started paying better attention to street musicians in the Metro.  You never know…

The first time I saw busking/street players was in NY City in the 60s. In recent years I went to Galway City in Ireland with two musicians and my girlfriend was the only woman in sight that day (or most). She played her own music and some Tim Buckley and made about 50 euros in about 45 minutes. Then
that was $66.00. It was a great day for buskers and mimes in an area where there is only foot traffic. Some wonderful musicians. Aside from my friend, my favorite was a young man from Tibet who
played a long, carved, wooden flute in a
near formal manner. He was not a monk. But his music was beautiful, strong and soaring like the country he had fled. Busking is wonderful and time honored and also illegal in some unenlightened places. Why was Bell ignored? Timing? Was he startling to the people? My girlfriend was startling and amazed some of the people in Galway who were not used to seeing a lone woman busking. But in Europe Bell would have been applauded. Some buskers who do it for a living, give a spiel before they play and pass the hat first, explaining that they want people to know this is their livelihood. And people give money. It adds up. I would have listened to Bell, for sure. And thrown some coin.