World Hum’s Most Read: Aug. 30-Sept. 5

What We Loved This Week: Jose Feliciano, Rub’ al Khali and Raw Oysters

Don’t Be Cruel: Traveling ‘Elvis’ Draws Attention, Groans

It’s Not Easy Being Green and Crucified

A Tourist With a Shovel and a Hoe

When she arrived in Kenya to volunteer with the Maasai, Daniela Petrova looked down her nose at tourists there to have a good time. But was her own motivation much different?

How Should I Spend My Time in Spain?

Vagabonding traveler Rolf Potts answers your questions about travel

Paul Theroux: Invisible Man on a Ghost Train

Jim Benning asks the author of “Ghost Train to the Eastern Star” about his new book, aging and the challenge of disappearing in the age of the BlackBerry

Eat Ceviche in Lima

Grab a Cusqueña and get comfortable. As Nicholas Gill explains, a trip to a Peruvian cevichería can be an all-day immersion in good conversation and raw seafood.

Unsentimental Journeys: Wrestling With Paul Theroux

Bronwen Dickey considers “Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: 28,000 Miles in Search of the Great Railway Bazaar”

My Travels, My Feet

After taking one too many headless torso shots of herself, solo traveler Sophia Dembling started snapping photos of her feet around the world, from the Grand Canyon to Red Square

Seven Reasons to Have a Foreign Fling

Sure, having an overseas romance is fun. But Terry Ward points out seven other benefits to cross-border love, mon petit chou.

Should Travel Writers Discourage Flying to Reduce Global Warming?

Thanks, Jim. Good stuff. Petra is a bit hysterical about it all, but she does make some fine points. Personally, I CAN’T WAIT to read her rant when the first Airbus 380 full of “package holidaymakers” blasts off from Heathrow.

Thanks to travel writers cross-cultural understanding is generally accepted as the benefit of world travel. If travel writers were to similarly promote responsible travel (how green is this attraction, outfitter, etc) the impact could be tremendous. To be effective, education should go beyond airline emissions. While the impact of a hummer tour on the rock formations in Utah and collecting shells in Mozambique may be smaller, they are part of the same. You can’t expect someone who leaves a trace of a hike to worry about the impact of a flight.

I had to chuckle out load when I read this subject.  Do people really have so much time on their hands that they are kept up at night worrying about the degradation that they are causing to the global climate by travel writing?  Give me a break!  How many travel writers are there in the world?  Are there actually 747’s flying around containing nothing but travel writers?  Have I ever even been on a flight with a single travel writer?  I seriously doubt it!  Will there be even a discernible impact on climate change if the tiny number of travel writers on this planet suddenly stopped flying?  Of course not!!  Alarmism rampant!  Anyone who thinks this problem is even important enough to discuss has a bloated sense of self-importance and needs to get a grip.