Though there is no substitute for actual travel, there is something you can buy at your local bookstore or newsstand that’s as close as you can get to scarfing down a Turkish döner in Berlin, catching an Argentinean documentary in Quito, hanging ten off the coast of Bangladesh without actually coughing up the airfare: Afar.
Based in San Francisco (check out the minds behind the mag), the bi-monthly magazine focuses on “experiential travel,” which it defines as being connected with “the authentic essence of a place and its people.” This theme pervades every page of the magazine, from feature stories that take you into the dumpling kitchens of Shanghai and Lee Harvey Oswald’s former apartment in Minsk to double-page spreads featuring the beer cans, national birds, and traditional hats from around the globe. The articles, expertly-written and as respectful of other cultures as I’ve ever seen in print media, keep me in perpetual wanderlust, tinged with a bit of envy at the caliber of the text and slight annoyance that the editors haven’t tapped me for one of their “Spin the Globe” features (where they drop you in a foreign place with nothing but a few dollars and your own travel wits; I’m available, Afar…I’ll call in sick to the day job if I need to! *wink*).
And in the vein of experiential travel, Afar sponsors educational excursions and youth development programs through its foundation, coupling social change and personal development with international travel.
So if you haven’t already checked out a copy of Afar, run to the nearest B&N, or better yet, subscribe through their website to get your bimonthly dose of travel porn, stuffed with gems like this (from “When Being a Good Traveler Means Being a Bad Guest” by Chris Colin, May/June 2011 issue):
“The poignancy of a place lies at the intersection of its virtues and its flaws…
To care only for the airbrushed version of a place is not to care much for it at all – it’s hardly love if your partner knows your charming smile but not your bad breath. So, too, with a place: Your affection takes on depth only after you’ve glimpsed the imperfections and made room for them in your embrace.”
Amen.
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