Tim Leffel's Cheapest Destinations

Perceptive Travel’s Third Birthday

This is the time of year when most media outlets phone in the “best of” roundup stories they wrote a few weeks ago so they can extend their New Year’s partying without a care until Monday. I’ve been running around too much to get anything done in advance, so I had to write and edit while I was sipping my libations. (Well, that’s one advantage to being self-employed and having a home office.)

Today marks the third birthday of Perceptive Travel, so go have a look at the January 2009 issue. If you’re not a newsletter subscriber and you sign up, you can win two fat Lonely Planet books. See the home page for details. (If you are a subscriber, watch for the newsletter next week as we’ll give away another three sets there.)

We’re going monthly from here on out, spacing things out a bit so there’s not such a long gap between issues. So one or two less features each time, but a net gain in the end. Here’s what’s up this time:

Edward Readicker-Henderson returns with a philosophical piece about leaving comparisons behind while traveling through Mongolia.

Brad Olsen returns with a look at the decadence and debauchery that’s ever-present at the annual Burning Man Festival.

I’ve got a story that came out of my recent trip to Iceland, with unusual bodily sensations and eating a home-grown banana next to the Arctic Circle: Strange Sensations in Iceland.

Graham Reid handles the world music reviews and Zora O’Neill does the travel book reviews. Good stuff, check it out. And thanks for helping us get to the toddler stage!

[photo by Brad Olsen]

Related posts:

1. Polar Bears, A Farmer’s Invisible Kite, and a Chain-smoking Deity
2. Travel Stories From Great Authors
3. Aliens, Spiritualists, and Motorbike Taxis
4. High in Fiji, a Boat to Bagan, and America’s Stonehenge
5. A Burning Devil, the Spanish Inquisition, and Kayaking in Bangladesh