Wanderlust issue 152 (Dec 14/Jan 15) sample

Wanderlust Issue 152 (Dec 2014/Jan 2015) Machu Picchu ♦ Road Trip USA ♦ Russia ♦ India ♦ 21 Travel Trailblazers: The people who changed the way we travel ♦ Pocket guides: Great Wall of China, Nagoya (Japan), Bologna

CONSUMER MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR www.wanderlust.co.uk Dec 2014/Jan 2015

MACHU PICCHU Without the crowds – Peru’s other Inca Trail

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W i n!

A USA roa d tr £6,000, a ip worth Turkey an trip to d mo See pg 4 re!

♦ ROAD TRIP USA ♦ RUSSIA ♦ INDIA ♦ D R CONGO ♦ JAPAN ♦ BOLOGNA ♦ GREAT WALL OF CHINA

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CONTENTS

Issue 152 December 2014/January 2015

360˚ – NEED TO KNOW

nder 6 Viewfi to know this month...

14 Need Go now 16Eat this...

18 5 minutes Bill Bryson 20Know your...with...

El Vizcaíno 24 Get on yer bike!

26

TRAVEL MASTERCLASS

Majestic sharks, India’s intense Holi Festival and lots of beach huts How to pick the right mountain guide New low-cost flights to Poprad, Slovakia – great for nature lovers Tickle your tastebuds with tasty Thai nam prik sauce We quiz Bill about his new book and more This Mexican whale sanctuary turns 21 too!

The best cycling (and e-bike) trips for 2015

▲ Cover story

21st birthday 46Wanderlust’s USA road trip!

A 56-day adventure across North America! p58

■ Special features

A trip for two to Turkey p72

22 122Travel trailblazers

Perfect presents for every travel fan

From reusing your towels to giving back to the community, we help you travel more responsibly. Plus, the results of the Thai Green Awards Ask the experts This month: post-trip blues; dive spots; street snaps; solo travel

80Take better travel photos 82 Travel clinic 84Traveller’s guide to... luggage 87

Charlie Waite, founder of the Landscape Photographer of the Year awards, gives his tips Dr Jane debunks Ebola myths and looks at other scary illnesses They’re part-rucksack, part-wheelie bag: here’s our guide to the best convertible luggage

WIN!

Forget Route 66 – for our coming-of-age issue, we blaze a unique trail across the USA, creating the ultimate road trip from Seattle to Denver

Christmas gift guide

76The masterclass

£1,000 towards any Ramblers Worldwide trip p134

As it’s our 21st birthday, we look back at 21 pioneers who’ve changed travel – from Michael Palin to the inventor of the postcard

USA, p46

“Not for the first time on this trip, I felt the thrill of rebellion. Indeed, this whole drive was something of a revolt against the classic US road trip.”

Phoebe Smith

Mexico, p24

46

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Peru, p28 “A traditionally dressed man arrived.

He was a shaman, here to perform a good luck ceremony for our journey. After giving sweets to Pachamama – Mother Earth – he chanted an incantation and blessed each of us.” Lyn Hughes

From the creator of the passport to the grandfather of wildlife TV, we look at some of travel’s greatest trailblazers

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Wanderlust December 2014/January 2015

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MEET A NATIONAL PARK HERO...

John Muir, p79 FEATURES

28 Machu Picchu, Peru 60 Russia 90 India by boat

Take the path less travelled to the hidden Inca city – on the spectacular Salkantay Trail Discover the diverse minority cultures of this vast nation – we explore six of its singular federations Experience life on the river: join us as we jump on board one of the first cruises down the vast and wild Brahmaputra River through offbeat Assam

108

Alamy

Democratic Republic of Congo Edgy, yes – but for the

intrepid there’s nowhere better to see huge lava lakes and mighty gorillas

Russia, p60 Slovakia, p16 Bologna, p141

FROM THE ROAD

104Your Story

Reader David Higgins goes whalewatching in seriously remote St Helena – but does he finally spy his prize?

Letters In our mailbag: praising nudity; debating clothing (again); talking travel faux pas; fever warnings

106 Month You Have 107This Been...

Tackling the tourist hordes in Borobudur, Indonesia; experiencing cuteness overload at the sight of newborn pandas in Chengdu; checking off the cascades on your waterfall ticklist; exploring El Jem; praising our World Guide Awards winners

60 Great Wall of China, p137 India, p90

Democratic Republic of Congo, p108

TALKING HEADS Bill Bryson, p20 “I still enjoy travelling a lot – even though I’m a terribly incompetent traveller. I do enjoy the experience of going to new places and seeing new things, but that wasn’t really what I wanted to do in life.”

POCKET GUIDES

Icon: Great 137 Travel Wall of China

It’s one of the world’s greatest landmarks, and an enduring symbol of Chinese civilisation: our mini guide dissects the famed fortification

139 First 24 Hours: Nagoya

Full of quirky youth culture, temples and fewer tourists, consider this city in central Honshu for an alternative gateway to Japan

141 Short Break: Bologna

Want to sample some sublime Italian cuisine? Then eschew Venice or Rome for Bologna – home to reams of regional specialities, plus amazing architecture too

“Beer duly flowed during lunch, when the costumed dancers returned to perform a Pythonesque dance that saw me eventually engaged in a traditional kissing ceremony.

I took one for the team.” Mark Stratton

Nagoya, Japan, p139

90

Thailand, p18 “The Mahabaahu cruises the Brahmaputra, providing a completely new way to experience the cut-off, far north-east. There is not, nor has there ever been, a river journey remotely similar anywhere in India.” Martin Symington

108 “You felt an unmistakable connection, a deep sense of kinship, which was hardly surprising as gorillas are some of man’s closest relatives.”

Martin Fletcher

Wanderlust December 2014/January 2015

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Blazing a

trail

15 ecosystems, 4,600m high trails, on four hoofs... Trot to the top of the other Inca Trail for a view of Machu Picchu the crowds don’t see Words Lyn Hughes photographs Simon Chubb

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Peru Found city

When the clouds drift, Machu Picchu reveals its secrets

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Wild Mustang

A map, a red Mustang and the open road – key ingredients in any American road trip

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USA

Wanderlust has spent the last 21 years encouraging travellers to leave the beaten track. So what better way to celebrate our anniversary than designing a unique American road trip...

TAKING THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED WORDS PHOEBE SMITH PHOTOGRAPHS NEIL S PRICE

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THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS ❄ GIFT FOR ❄ TRAVEL ADDICTS

❄

10 ISSUES OF WANDERLUST + TRAVEL PHOTO OF THE YEAR VOLUME 6 BOOK + £50 TRAVEL VOUCHER ALL FOR £30

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Wanderlust Christmas Subscription Offer – PACKAGE WORTH £110

Travel Photo The Year Volu Of me 6 is th

❄

e brand ne w 136-page h ardback photobook worth £20

❄ * FOR ONLY £30 YOU CAN GIVE SOMEONE ❄ 10 ISSUES OF WANDERLUST ❄ A copy of the NEW photobook TRAVEL PHOTO OF THE YEAR VOLUME 6 ❄ £50 TRAVEL VOUCHER towards their next trip booking‡ Order online: www.WanderlustXmas.co.uk Or call us: 01753 620426 *UK subscription cost: £30 for ten issues. Overseas: Europe £42; rest-of-world airmail £52; rest-of-world surface mail £42. Payment must be in UK sterling. Order by 9 December 2014 to guarantee delivery (within UK) by Christmas – we’ll do our best to process orders received after that. Offer ends 31 December 2014. Wanderlust Publications cannot accept any responsibility for delivery delays due to Royal Mail. Free Wanderlust Travel Photo Of The Year Volume 6 book offer valid for UK delivery addresses only. Gift giver and recipient must be different. Not valid in conjunction with any other offer. ‡ Terms and conditions apply – see wanderlustvoucher.co.uk for details.

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, A I S S RULOVE?

IN

WITH

federal y in t 2 2 s it s s of Russia s e n t s a v e h t peoples – y it r o Within in m e r e gans laves wh republics, enc dheads to Europe’s last pa ess? re cc from meadow aditions. But with what su tr – cling to their TON OTOGRAP WORDS & PH

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HS MARK ST

RAT

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Russia

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The

River

The vast, perilous Brahmaputra was thought virtually unnavigable – but, a brave new boat journey has just opened up Assam’s remote, wildliferich, culturally unique riverbanks

Wild

Words & Photographs Martin Symington

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Assam, India

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DR Congo

Smoking is cool

An aerial view of active Mount Nyiragongo in Virunga National Park

Brief encounters Vast and varied Virunga National Park is often off-limits due to conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But when it is open, you’ll find some of Africa’s most magical moments lie inside Words & Photographs Martin Fletcher

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21

travel trailblazers To celebrate our 21st Anniversary, we hail the travel pioneers that helped broaden our minds and our horizons. Prepare to meet the brave, the bold, the occasionally bonkers‌

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Trailblazers

1

Antipater of Sidon (c150BC) Travel list launcher

‘I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon... and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the Colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids...’ This ditty

by Antipater of Sidon is the earliest surviving record of the Seven Wonders of the World. Which pretty much means we can blame the Greek poet for every Best Of/Before You Die/New Wonders list that exists today!

2

Alamy; Shutterstock

Henry V (c13861422) Passport patron The earliest known reference to a ‘safe conduct’ document in Britain is from an Act of Parliament dated 1414, during the reign of Henry V. Signed by the king, it proved the bearer’s identity and facilitated ingress into foreign cities.

Shakespeare’s Henry V even gets the lingo right: ‘That he which hath no stomach to this fight / Let him depart; his passport shall be made’. Documents akin to those we know today appeared in the early 20th century. The passports of tomorrow? Expect heartbeat recognition or even odourmetrics.

3

William Caxton (1415-1492) Phrasebook proliferator

It’s tough to pin down the author of the first phrasebook, though multi-lingual guides in some form were being used by medieval pilgrims. But Caxton’s 1483 volume, Dialogues in French and English, is one of the earliest traceable examples; its content is similar to today’s phrasebooks, featuring translations of key sayings such as ‘May I haue a bedde here withinne?’. Moreover, it was Caxton who established the first printing press in England, in 1476, thus enabling him to mass produce his Dialogues, and ultimately paving the way for every book thereafter.

4

George Stephenson (1781-1848) Father of the railways

Stephenson was chief engineer of the Stockton & Darlington Railway; opened in 1825, it was the world’s first public railway to transport goods and passengers by steam power. In 1829, his pioneering steam loco, the Rocket, thundered along his new Liverpool & Manchester Railway tracks, reaching 36km/h. Its success spurred the construction of railways across the country, and the birth of rail travel as we know it.

Wanderlust December 2014/January 2015

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