THE TAO OF TRAVEL
Maurice Crackenthorpe - Editor-at-Large
We are both blessed and cursed to live in an age when travel seems a birthright. A common human desire, some want eagerly to travel, and some actually need it to feel fulfilled –at an almost instinctual level.
But what is travel, and thus what is tourism? Why and how do we do it best? As thinking people, who now spend an accelerating amount of time and money on travel’s pursuits, is there a philosophy of travel we would be well to develop – a personal one, perhaps? Yes, it is about destinations, of course: but is it also about other things?
In the vernacular of travel, there are the terms “holiday”, “vacation”, , tourism and then travel. What do they mean – and more to the point, what can we make them mean for ourselves?
These questions will form the rolling heart of this regular column. I am gifted to have a global band of lifetime travellers as contributors – among them, the fabled Catherine Domain, founder of Ulysses – the world’s oldest travel-dedicated bookstore nestled on the Ile St Louis . Catherine has been, it seems, nearly everywhere, including a very remote island in French Polynesia, to which she returned at length, fully bonded with a web of families, year on year. After 10 years of continuous world travel, that became her hitching post – a kind of informal anthropology.
And there is the peripatetic Joel Stratte-McClure, who divides his time between Paris and redneck Redding, northern California– a seemingly deliberate lifestyle strategy of contrasts. As a journalist, he ran fast and hard across the world, making Africa, France and broader Europe his enduring mistresses over the decades.
He walked the Mediterranean intermittently over 20 years, clocking up 15,000 kilometres (and swam many, many miles) writing three books about this prolonged adventure. We’ll meet these and other wise and cheerful travel fanatics.
And why Tao as a name for this column? Taoism is the ancient Chinese religion or teaching which extols the power of nature to which mankind is subservient – the opposite of the formal, highly civilised strictures of Confucianism. Loosely, but powerfully, it connotes ideas such as “go with the flow “, harmony, simplicity and patience. No practised traveller would deny the benefits of such attitudes whilst on the road.
We’ll reveal some near-secret or early rising destinations, and the still untrammelled locations offering authenticity with a side of adventure, giving outlines on each and leaving room for you to do your own research. You may learn as I have: at least a third of the pleasure is in the prep, and another in the new friends and the memories.
It’s important to note that “untrammelled” does not translate to “arcane and difficult to reach”. The holiday, planned well, chosen with insight and information can yield great refreshment…we’re all for it. And we ourselves relish a couple or more nights of 5-star delight. And we love great, rather than simply famous, restaurants. A couple of international finds are described briefly here – previously unpublicised true culinary marvels in such hugely attractive destinations as Osaka and Lisbon.
Following thus a wide menu, we offer a review now of the rapidly evolving itineraries of the burgeoning cruise liners, and the ships themselves, an area of deepening interest for many. Rose Lane, author of a book on trekking in Nepal, turns her attention to the growing variety of sophisticated, luxurious cruises connecting us across the seas.
We all have a fascination with ocean-going voyages. Just take along a copy of the journals of Captain Cook, a marvellous read, or Darwin’s first book “Voyage of the Beagle”: it will enhance your days. Indeed, reading at leisure and length, in the comfort of your private suite, is one of the high pleasures of a cruise. And increasingly, cruise liners enlist experts in various domains to spark and enrich your dinner conversations.
Maurice Crackenthorpe is an Anglo-French travel addict, who suffers from “out sickness, the opposite of homesickness”. Having lived in various world capitals over four decades, he finally nominated Brisbane as home base several years ago. He spends most of his time reading, and occasionally writes articles and essays, and lengthy book and food culture reviews. His most lauded essay is “Commies in the Kitchen: the Marxist onslaught against restaurants, fine cooking and the good life.” He is currently working on one entitled “The grandeur of the Michelin guide in France – and its stumbling performance in Asia”. He agreed to assume travel editorship only on the basis of full freedom, and an outrageous restaurant expense account, in lieu of regular payment: he appears to be of independent means.
