http://theaccidentalextremist.com There's No Such Thing As A Bad Trip.... Wed, 20 Jan 2010 02:21:37 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en [caption id="attachment_657" align="aligncenter" width="208" caption="Will you scratch my back? (Shown: the author's; photo: Bill Hatcher/Outside)"][/caption] First law of adventure-travel survival: Heed not the blasé reassurances of locals when you raise issues of life and flesh. Case in point: I was headed to the Amazon rainforest of northern Peru to do a survival trip ... http://theaccidentalextremist.com/2010/01/i-fed-myself-to-the-rainforest-human-sacrifice/ [caption id="attachment_646" align="aligncenter" width="319" caption="Are we there yet?"][/caption] I was at the Aga Khan
University in Karachi, organizing a writing workshop, when the call came in. "Oh no," whispered my colleague. 
"That's bad. That's terrible." She turned to me. "Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated. We want you to go home
 right now." ... http://theaccidentalextremist.com/2010/01/the-traffic-apocalypse-drive-like-hell/ [caption id="attachment_633" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Don't spend it all in one place."][/caption] Here's the first of three excerpts from Letters to Zerky, an account of Bill Raney and his wife JoAnne's travels along with their 18-month old son Zerky (and their miniature dachshund Tarzan) across Europe and through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, ... http://theaccidentalextremist.com/2009/12/youre-so-money-off-the-map/ [caption id="attachment_626" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Nice and cozy."][/caption] Writer Jeff Alt sent us an excerpt from from Chapter 24 of his new book, 'A Walk for Sunshine.' [Adds Alt: This is my second night hiking the Appalachian Trail.  I’ve assembled camp in a shelter on top of Blood Mountain, Georgia...] I turned off my headlamp and burrowed ... http://theaccidentalextremist.com/2009/12/strange-bedfellows-when-animals-attack/ [caption id="attachment_622" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Fulla, the Muslim Barbie."][/caption] After spending five anxious days in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, hanging out in a Bedouin tent with an international fugitive who’s wanted as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist”—a character who figured prominently in a story I was reporting about a Muslim charity in southern ... http://theaccidentalextremist.com/2009/11/toy-story-nothing-to-declare/ [caption id="attachment_617" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Business meetings ought to be a bit more exciting."][/caption] Here's the last of three tales from Greg Dobbs, an Emmy-winning producer and correspondent for 23 years with ABC, taken from his new book, Life in the Wrong Lane - Why Journalists Go In When Everyone Else Wants Out. From the chapter I ... http://theaccidentalextremist.com/2009/11/shoulda-gone-to-law-school-close-calls/ Here's the 2nd of three tales from Greg Dobbs, an Emmy-winning producer and correspondent for 23 years with ABC, taken from his new book, Life in the Wrong Lane - Why Journalists Go In When Everyone Else Wants Out. [From the chapter CHAMPAGNE FROM A STYROFOAM CUP, on covering the revolution in Iran] The ... http://theaccidentalextremist.com/2009/10/rocked-at-the-casbah-dangerous-liasons/ [caption id="attachment_600" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Do you feel lucky punk? Well, do ya?"][/caption] Ever wonder what it's like to be a far-flung correspondent for T.V. news? Let's just say it's no walk in the park. This week Greg Dobbs, an Emmy-winning producer and correspondent for 23 years with ABC and currently a correspondent ... http://theaccidentalextremist.com/2009/10/horned-and-dangerous-when-animals-attack/ [caption id="attachment_591" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Let's just take the bus. We'll be there in no time!"][/caption] It was my 2nd time on Esquel, a sleepy mountain town in Argentine Patagonia known for its fishing and a gem of a ski area. This time I was with my ski buddy, Tyler from Montana, ... http://theaccidentalextremist.com/2009/10/ski-bus-to-hell-lost-in-translation/ [caption id="attachment_584" align="aligncenter" width="350" caption="Teamwork builds character!"][/caption] Isn't delving into deep nature a feast for the soul? Yeah, sure it is! Except when it becomes more like 'Lord of the Flies'. Here's a new yarn from Tetsuhiko Endo on that all-American rite of passage, the Outward Bound adventure, and what happens ... http://theaccidentalextremist.com/2009/09/bound-for-disaster-character-building/