In the early Aughties, that is, at the beginning of this decade, I traveled for the first time with a laptop. Emails home to friends and family developed into more extensive studies of places visited, still sent out only to friends and family. Then people started asking to see earlier items they had missed, and I decided to put everything onto this website. That required some re-editing of the earlier material, some of which had to be re-acquired from friends who had kept everything, which I had not. I know just when that re-editing took place because I remember being on the cross-Canada trains from Halifax, via Montréal and Toronto, to Vancouver, typing away in my compartment doing much of the re-editing (2005/6). When I was in my Vancouver hotel the last night before flying to Korea, I posted all the back material on the website, and was totally caught up.

I summarize this now because I can’t remember ever doing any writing before of a similar nature. The only writing of any sort that comes to mind is term papers, and since I was a German major, those were all in German, up through theses for advanced degrees, and were totally academic in nature. Still, I suppose honing writing and research skills is just that, no matter what the circumstances.

I could never write fiction since I don’t have that sort of imagination, but non-fiction seems to work, since I do think factually and in a down-to-earth nature befitting travel, travel still being defined as covering geography and history plus associated fields of language and the other humanities, and the sciences.

Tools of the Trade   But factual information doesn’t just pop out of the blue—research is required. I think of the years poking around in libraries, in particular the New York Public Library on 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, with the famous lions out front nicknamed Patience and Fortitude by Mayor LaGuardia. When graduate students in New York say they’re “going to 42nd Street” it doesn’t mean they’re going to the theater or cinema. But today, with internet availability, things must be very different for college students doing research. You can look almost anything up online, and I’m going to mention a selection of websites that might interest you, some giving more global information, and some being much more specific. One of the most prominent tools is Wikipedia. [Click on each heading for the link. The site may then be saved, if you wish.]

WIKIPEDIA       Wikipedia is a marvelous, albeit imperfect, tool. We all hear that inaccuracies occur, since the public does the editing, and sometimes sabotage, especially when a topic is political in nature. I know that Middlebury College, and probably most others, has said that Wikipedia can only be used by students on term papers only as a preliminary source, leading to further investigation. Well, that’s why there are links at the bottom of most pages.

With proper caution in mind, I cannot imagine where I’d discover a fraction of the material I need if I had to go down to any college library, or even 42nd Street. One of the earliest times I realized this was when I was writing about Scandinavia, and wanted to talk more about Skagen, the northernmost point of Denmark, and how the Skagerrak is named after it (2006/4). Wikipedia, as it turns out, has all the towns of Denmark listed, and probably the towns of everywhere else. I’ve never seen such a resource.

I recently said I’d be flying to Taiwan not from Tokyo, but from a city in the south of Japan, Fukuoka. Check out “Fukuoka” in Wikipedia and you’ll see what I mean.

Wikipedia truly reflects the international aspect of the internet. Just look at the title page and scroll down below. There is a summary of languages offered, based on number of articles in each. The names of the languages are in the languages themselves, so it is a challenge to see which languages they are (For instance, Magyar is Hungarian). It is interesting to note that there seems to be fierce pride in smaller languages having their own Wikipedia pages (find Hawaiian), and beyond that, even what many people would consider to be mere dialects of languages have their own entries (find Neapolitan).

This international aspect can be very useful. Once you’re on a given page you can click on the language bar down on the left to change languages. When I was working on Tahiti and Gauguin, the French entries were understandably more complete, but you don’t have to know another language for this to be helpful, because the selection of maps and illustrations can vary from one language entry to another, and perhaps be more complete or more useful.

Finally, there’s a useful translation trick that I’ve found very helpful, and that I used, for instance, in writing about the names in different languages of the various Swiss lakes (2008/13). Try it instead with a city. In the English Wikipedia, get to the page for London, then click on Italiano. You don’t have to know Italian to see the article is named “Londra”.

KAYAK       Let’s mention something very practical at this point that readers can make regular use of when booking hotels and flights. I like Orbitz, also Expedia, but I now find that a super-website like Kayak.com is what I use first. It’s a travel search engine that gathers information from over 4000 other travel websites including airlines, hotels, and even Orbitz and the others. Kayak doesn’t sell directly, but directs you to the appropriate website once you make a decision. I found my air connection from Fukuoka to Taipei this way, plus all three New Zealand hotels and many in Japan.

WORLD CLOCK       We talk a lot about time zones, and it’s easy to check out what time it is around the world by using the world clock. What you see at first is the Main World Clock with the most important world cities, but clicking on Large World Clock will add more cities to the list. Click on any city for more information, including about Daylight Saving Time.

PLUGS & SOCKETS       Laptops (and razors) today are all dual voltage, making it easier for travelers, but there is always concern about the different plugs and outlets, for which this Belgian website is highly informative. Scroll down to the map to see where higher or lower voltages (and Hertz) are, but right after that is the information on plugs and sockets used everywhere, including a plug and outlet map. In the countries list above the second map, check out that Samoa, Fiji, and New Zealand (also Australia) use the “I” type plug and socket, then click on the “I” to pop down and see what it looks like. The converter I picked up in Apia was the non-grounded type with just the two V-shaped slots. Check Tahiti to see that “C”, the standard Europlug, is used there, which I had with me. You’ll find that Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand use the North American plug, but Singapore uses the standard British plug, so I’ll have to take my UK converter with me then. In South Africa last summer I picked up a converter for their outlets, so my converter collection keeps growing.

CURRENCY CONVERTER       Always handy for international travel is a currency converter. This one is kept up to date live. It’s particularly helpful when booking online hotels whose rates are quoted in local currency. Try converting ￥ 10,000 (Japanese yen) into US$. For a hint on day-to-day calculations, note that a yen at this writing is worth about a penny, so just drop the last two zeros from 10,000, resulting in 100, and then raise it a bit.

CITY DISTANCE TOOL       To find the distance in both kilometers and miles between two cities (as the crow flies), try this website. Find the distance between London and Vancouver. When you enter those words, it gives you a choice of same or similar names, so you have to specify that you want England and Canada, respectively.

LONGITUDE & LATITUDE       For finding longitude and latitude of cities, this is a good website, yet it bothers me every time I use it, since it’s giving you the answers for astrological purposes with which I heartily disagree. Still, you get the answers you need. Try finding the numbers for Sydney. Like the previous site, it lists all the same or similar possibilities, so you have to specify Australia, and not the one in Nova Scotia, for instance.

AIRLINE ROUTE MAPS       This website has collected the route maps of airlines around the world and is helpful in finding out who flies in an area you’re interested in. Just click on a region and follow the links. But before you do, please note the below point about the map, which I’ve mentioned before about Eurasia.

Traditionally, there were the civilizations on the Atlantic, which we called the West, and civilizations on the Pacific, which we called the East. Those were the definitions used to consider this single continent of Eurasia as being two continents. This traditional split made sense at the time. But in the modern world, Eurasia can still be split into two continents, but on a different, more logical and practical basis. As you see, although this map for convenience subdivides Europe into two parts, still Europe runs along the northern stretch of Eurasia from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Asia, too, is here subdivided into two parts, yet Asia runs along the southern stretch of Eurasia from Turkey to Japan. I’m sure we’ll continue referring to the cultural split of the West and the East, yet in modern, practical terms, most accurately, Eurasia splits into the North (Europe) and the Southeast (Asia). Furthermore, Europe is longer, running from the British Isles to the International Dateline and almost to Alaska, while Asia runs only from the Eastern Mediterranean to several time zones west of the Dateline.

I’ll mention two other websites, not for their own merit, but just because of the map they use in order for you to select their product. Pass your cursor over the map on this website for Lonely Planet guidebooks to see that it shows Europe in the north, and includes Turkey. Asia is in the south, but with the Middle East part of Asia shown separately. Also look at the tiny map for Accor Hotel reservations, which shows a green Europe in the north and a blue Asia in the south. This is very frequently (but not always) the current practical state of affairs in the division of Eurasia.

SKYTRAX       I’ve mentioned the Skytrax airline ranking system in the past, where, on a bell curve they use, most US airlines fall in the mid-range three-star category (“fair quality”), including the recently mentioned Delta and the airline it’s absorbing, Northwest, which I’ll be using on the Japan/Taiwan trip. Skytrax is located in the UK.

While regular airlines are ranked with gold symbols, there is a separate ranking for low-cost airlines using red symbols. No low-cost airline reaches the red five-star status, but it’s worth noting that five reach four stars: Frontier, JetBlue, Midwest, Niki, VirginBlue. The first three are US airlines (finally!), Niki is Austrian, and VirginBlue is the second-largest airline in Australia.

THE MAN IN SEAT SIXTY-ONE       Some of the websites I’ve suggested have good practical use, while others might appear as mere curiosities. This one, though, is a gift I offer to anyone who likes travel, but particularly by rail. It’s a British website run by one Mark Smith, whose entire career has been with railroads in the UK (his bio is on the site). When he takes the Eurostar from London to Paris or Brussels, it’s become his quirk to request seat 61 in First Class (also explained in his bio), and it’s now his signature, and has become the name of his website.

What does he do? He tells you how to go from London to—well, to everywhere, and all by train, sometimes including ship or ferry, and rarely, a connecting bus. This is on the presumption that you are not in a hurry, but want to enjoy relaxing train travel across the world for its own benefits. You can browse his website in two ways. If you want to actually go from London to, let’s say, Lisbon, you can follow his advice by clicking on Portugal in the left-hand menu. Even if you’re not starting in London, you will have plenty of information on Portuguese rail travel. But it’s even better for the armchair traveler. You can do an imaginary trip to anywhere.

One of his signature words that always makes me smile is “easy”, especially when combined with some rather distant or obscure places: “It’s easy to go from London to Helsinki by train + ferry …” But when you read what he has to say, you see it IS easy, and would appear to be a lot of fun.

I planned my rail travel in New Zealand on my own, and only consulted him when it was a done deal, but his pictures of connections and the Interislander Ferry made it easier to know what to look for when you get there. He’ll get you from the UK to Australia without flying, but his secret is to take a freighter. I’d already become very knowledgeable about rail travel within Australia, and his information does correspond to what I’ve learned, and he has pictures to boot. He’ll also describe going by rail from London to Tokyo, or to India, or to Cambodia—it’s amazing. It’s a little more than you or I might be willing to do, but these are adventures to read about and marvel at.

I AM considering going next year from Bangkok north to Chiang Mai by overnight sleeper, and largely with information supplied by Mark Smith. Let’s see if I actually have the gumption to do it.

GOOGLE MAPS & STREET VIEW       I will assume that many people are already aware of the incredible Google Maps. Type in any location by town, address, street, intersection, or landmark, and you have an excellent street map that you can zoom in on, and print out to take along with you.

But in the last two years, Google Street View has been added for cities in many major countries. If “Street View” is indicated for the address you’ve located, click on it and you will see the picture of exactly what’s at the address you’ve entered for the map. These pictures are taken by cars with 360° panoramic cameras mounted on the roof, and more and more locations are being added all the time. Aside from the fun aspect of looking at houses of friends and family, or places you used to live, I found a very practical aspect. I had decided on a certain hotel in Tokyo I’d found in Frommer; checked it out in Kayak, and the hotel’s website was very inviting. On a hunch, though, I went to Street View and found that the whole block didn’t look all that inviting, and there was horrendous amount of auto traffic running up and down the street. I dropped it and found a better hotel.

Try this: type in “Cathedral Square, Christchurch”, and you’ll see the map of the neighborhood, including the irregularly-shaped square and the nearby Avon River (2009/10). Then click Street View and you’ll be looking down the streetcar tracks on the north side of the square, with the cathedral gift shop and terrace on the right, where I had breakfast. Use your left arrow (or drag the picture to the left), and behind the Oceania bus is my hotel. Continue going around until you’re back at the cathedral. Keep clicking on the picture at tempting spots and you can move yourself around the square. What a wonderful resource.

Try this one that doesn’t use a street address, but names a destination. Type in “Katia’s Russian Tea Room, San Francisco”, then click on Street View. You are brought to Balboa Street on the left looking east, and 5th Avenue on the right, looking south. You can pirouette if you like, but you’re looking at Katia’s right now. You can click on the windows on either side to approach, and look into the restaurant, almost to the table in the far inside corner where I was sitting talking to Katia (2008/19).

CYRILLIC VIRTUAL KEYBOARD       This is for me something useful, and for you, I hope, a fun toy. Click on the Cyrillic virtual keyboard. This is not the location of letters on an actual Russian keyboard, which is quite different. On this keyboard, the corresponding Cyrillic letters are put where the Roman letters appear on most western keyboards, to make it easier for non-Russians to find the keys. What I would do is type, copy, and paste somewhere else. You can just play. It will not work with everything, but try these words, which work quite well. Type Oslo, and you’ll get Осло. Here are more that work: London, Tampa, Berlin, Boston, Amsterdam. If you think to use a K and not a C, type Amerika and Afrika. If you know the Russian cities as Moskva and Sankt Peterburg, you can try those, and the Italian capital is Rim, so try that.

GREEK VIRTUAL KEYBOARD       The Greek virtual keyboard will be more problematic, since I don’t know enough about Greek to guide you, and the few spelling facts I do know require a lot of explaining. It’s always easier to read Greek letters as capitals so put on your caps lock. How about Phi Beta Kappa, the honor society? Type in FBK and you’ll get ΦΒΚ, to discover that 2/3 of what you wrote is exactly the same. Using the above translation trick in Wikipedia from an English entry to the corresponding Greek one tells me that London in Greek is Londino. Try that all in caps, and you’ll get ΛΟΝΔΙΝΟ, otherwise Λονδινο. Paris, I find, is Parisi, and you’ll get ΠΑΡΙΣΙ, or Παρισι.

Travelers may be afraid of the two above alphabets, but a little review if you’re going there goes a long way. I like to say that a traveler in Moscow or Athens looking for the subway can’t go wrong when he sees ΜΕΤΡΟ, which is 4/5 recognizable, and yes, it’s the same in both alphabets. It also is not difficult when you’re there to look at a name on your map, check out the first couple of letters, and compare that to a street sign or a subway stop. This is because you’re dealing with three European alphabets that are related to each other.

MULTILINGUAL VIRTUAL KEYBOARD       It’s different with Arabic or Hebrew or other alphabets. To take a quick look, click on the multilingual virtual keyboard, and choose Thai. I understand that this is also alphabetic, (and not using word symbols, like Chinese writing does), but I can’t figure out a single one of these Thai letters, and neither can you. This is a point where you’d be glad to be dealing with something simple like the Greek or Cyrillic alphabet. Still, I’m hoping to make it around Thailand, including up to Chiang Mai by train, since I understand many signs are also put in the Roman alphabet for visitors. Try typing a bit of Thai, then go back (it’s easiest to work from the home page where the names are also in English and not only in the foreign alphabet) and try Hebrew or Arabic, and watch the writing from right to left. Arabic is particularly attractive, as you watch the letters connect with each other. You can also do Cyrillic and Greek on the multilingual keyboard, but I don’t think it comes out as well.

Finally, if you think that all keyboards with the Roman alphabet are the same, you are mistaken, and we discussed two notable exceptions, German and French, in the Caribbean (2004/20). I’ve only checked a few possible keyboards here on this virtual keyboard, and find that Spanish, Italian, Swedish, and Dutch keyboards, and probably many others, are the same as English, or at least as far as the main alphabet is concerned, not the numbers or punctuation, which can vary wildly. But try German, and you’ll see that Y and Z are reversed. Then check French, where you’ll find three reversals from what you’d expect, Q/A, M/?, Z/W. Whether you touch type as I do or hunt-and-peck, you’ll go out of your mind if you try using a keyboard with so many differences.

Since the German and French keyboards are under discussion again here, I’m going to copy from 2004/20 two illustrations I gave. I’d had awkward experience back in Mainz with a German keyboard, and didn’t want to use the one in the Adlon Lounge on the Deutschland because of the Y/Z reversal: When I try to touch-type using a German keyboard, New York comes out New Zork, and Zanzibar would come out Yanyibar. Then on land on Guadeloupe, I had to use someone’s keyboard, which of course was French: On the French keyboard the Q and A are reversed (“Queen Anne” would touch-type as “Aueen Qnne”), the M and ? are reversed (asking if it’s “Mom?” would appear as “?o?M”), and the Z and W are reversed (“hazy view” would appear as “hawy viez”). Well, instead of taking my word for it, you can now try writing these and other words on the German and French keyboards yourself and see if you can maintain your sanity.