Photo by guldfisken.

The Traveler’s Notebook published an article of mine called Ten Travels (and their Tales) that Made History.

It is about my favorite old travel books. I read a lot of books about world exploration, and it was nice to put that to use in this piece. Every book I mention is over 100 years old - Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, Lewis & Clark, Sir Richard F Burton, and so on.

Julie (a regular on the Matador network) already left a comment:

Fantastic article. What I really liked about this piece is that you include books that are obscure to many readers, even those of us who consider ourselves pretty well-read! The only problem is that I already have an impossible stack of books to read!

Why Go is a travel blog that is part of the extensive BootsnAll network of travel blogs. They do one post a day, featuring either a photo or a quotation. Today, they chose one of my photos. Check it out. It is from a parade I saw while staying in Cuenca, Ecuador.

I have been getting a steady stream of emails from people wondering how to break into travel writing. Just so you know, I haven’t been doing this long. I don’t make big bucks. However, most of my submissions do get accepted, and I do get paid. Maybe I will develop a FAQ page on this later, but for now I will let you know what I think.

It is as simple as finding a travel website that you enjoy and try to submit stories to them. Don’t be shy. I haven’t found it to be that difficult to break in, as long as I follow the submission guidelines.

There are many markets to be found listed here:
50+ Travel Magazines That Want To Publish Your Writing

Just be sure to read many articles so that you understand their style and content range.

So far, I have gotten into a couple markets and have worked on submitting multiple articles to those few. After building a history with those sites, I plan to expand. This isn’t my day job. Right now, I would be happy with submitting to four or five markets on a semi-regular basis.

More:
The Do’s And Don’ts Of Submitting To Online Travel Magazines

I have been watching the sales numbers on my photo book. I know where some of them have gone, but I am curious about the rest. If you buy a copy, I would love it if you would leave a comment here or send me an email. Let me know what you think!

I just found out that a photo from my Flickr account was chosen as Gadling’s Photo of the Day a couple days ago.

It is a photo I took in an outdoor market in the Sacred Valley of Peru.

Jeremy Kressmann of Gadling says:
“The bright colors of the vegetables on the tarp along with the movement of the women as they hustle about certainly piqued my interest.”

The Traveler’s Notebook just posted a new article of mine called The 6 Best Free Photo Sharing Sites on the Web.

If you have been wanting to set up an account on one of the many photo websites out there, but haven’t been able to pick one out, then maybe this will help you decide.

I have added a page called Photos to the website. If you are interested in seeing pictures from my travels, check it out.

Recently, I put together a coffee table photo book. It is made entirely of photos I took during my trip through Peru, Bolivia, & Ecuador.

I made the book for myself and didn’t expect anyone else to be interested in it. However, I have been asked where it can be bought. So, here it is:

Peru, Bolivia, & Ecuador

It is available as a softcover, hardcover with dust jacket, and hardcover with the cover images directly on the book. The prices start at $25.

I have been working on an article on dam removals and I wanted to share some of my research.

To find out which dams near you have been removed (or are slated for removal), try searching through this document available from American Rivers:

If you want to scare yourself, look at the 2006 deficiency statistics.

As a sample, my home state of Iowa has 83 dams that have been classified as high hazard, meaning they pose a serious threat to human life if they should fail. Of those high hazard dams, 9 have been identified as structurally deficient or unsafe.

But that pales in comparison to some other states. Texas has 101 high hazard dams that are structurally deficient or unsafe. Georgia has 156. Ohio has 170. Pennsylvania has 215.

Only three states (Colorado, Connecticut, & Rhode Island) have zero dams deemed unsafe of this classification.