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Since everything was on lockdown almost everywhere in April and May and nobody was traveling, we put out retrospectives with stories from the archives in Perceptive Travel. The May 2020 issue was called “You Weren’t Going to Go There Anyway” and had tales from North Korea, Uzupis, Abkhazia, remote Patagonia, and central Serbia.
Destinations are starting to open back up to tourists though–whether they’re ready or not–so we’re back to publishing new material again in the online magazine. Perceptive Travel features narrative stories from book authors anyway, the kind that end up winning “best travel writing” awards and placing in book anthologies. So it’s not like we’re putting out calls to action for trips to destinations that aren’t letting anyone in.
One story is mine, however, and is something you could act on this summer. It’s a road trip kind of place anyway: Montana. This is a state full of gorgeous drives and ghost towns, places where hopeful men showed up in droves digging for gold. Those kinds of towns don’t tend to last very long. Once the ore is tapped out, the people move on. This is a story about the towns that survived and even thrived, however, as comeback kids. See Mining the Past in Southwest Montana.
We also have a timely story of traveling during the onslaught of the pandemic in the USA. Norm Bour and his wife were told to shelter at home, but these nomads who were just back to visit family in the USA asked, “What home?” They caught a flight to the Caribbean side of Mexico instead, on what turned out to be the best flight of their lives. See their story here: Beating a Hasty Retreat from the USA in a Private 737 Airliner.
Dave Seminara visited Meteora in Greece a decade and a half ago as a young diplomat and met a monk who made a big impact on him. Back now with the family, would he still be able to find the magic despite what felt like 100 times more tourists? See A Pilgrimage to Meteora.
Stephen M. Bland has taken us to some strange places on the fringes of the old Soviet Union, but this time he dives into an area that’s still part of Russia despite some bloody fighting over the years: the North Caucasus Republics. See Tensions Beneath the Bling in Chechnya and Ingushetia.
Susan Griffith checks out three new and noteworthy books on data maps, vanished places, and the Zen of bike touring.
As usual, we’re giving away a travel gear prize to one lucky reader who pays attention and enters. Anyone who is on the monthly newsletter list is eligible, but if you missed this month’s you can follow Perceptive Travel on Facebook to have a shot at these summer shades.
We’re giving away a pair of the gold-plated aviator sunglasses above from The Wright Brothers Company based in the brothers’ original home of Dayton, Ohio. This is a $155 value prize. Click the photo to see details.
Yeah I know, there are only a few places you can travel now and who knows when we’ll be able to roam around the world and travel freely in the future. Or when we’ll feel safe getting on a plane again. But at least you can kick back on the sofa and be taken away to a distant land in our monthly travel stories from book authors. Enjoy!
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