Travel and prosperity go together like a horse and carriage.

Travel and prosperity, and peace in the World all go together. If everyone travelled around the world for 6 months when young, say early twenties, absorbing other cultures, then there would be no wars, I predict.

Young people travel as students, or tourists and as backpackers. The ones I have met come from prosperous countries. You can divide countries into 3 categories viz., Prosperous, So-So, and Hopeless. Here is my assessment.

The most traveled people come from New Zealand (me included), the reason being it is also the most isolated. Everyone goes around the world at least once in a lifetime to see if it really is as depicted in books and newspapers. Next most traveled are Australians and then the British and Americans. Of the Europeans I would put the order as Germany, Italy, France and Spain, but they seem not as well traveled as the Brits. Very frequent travelers are the Israelies particularly as backpackers in South America. African travelers are thin on the ground with notable exception of young people from South Africa, Kenya and Egypt.

Conversely, I have never met ANY travelers from North Korea, Syria, Afghanistan, Niger, Algeria and many other African and Middle East countries. This leads me to suggest that travel is a pursuit of people from prosperous countries who have found peace at home and are spreading it around the world. It follows that to encourage this activity Governments, Councils etc should promote easy and unrestricted travel, youth hostels, hospedajes and the like. My article on Tips for backpackers covers some of these points. Click HERE
Foto: Young itinerant sales girl holding Aussie flags at street restaurant in Panajachel, Guatemalan Highlands.

What's New for 2012?

Kindle Travel

The Kindle electronic book reader from Amazon has opened up several new worlds of travel to be enjoyed by young and old. The present and future travel is enhanced by the ready download of Lonely Planet Guide books of any country desired, for a modest cost of between $10 and $18 per guide book, which is at a discount from the real paper book edition that may require postage for delivery. An e-book saves lugging around heavy books when traveling or backpacking across multiple countries.

Traveling in the past, or armchair travel, is well catered for by Kindle. I have been enjoying many Kindle travel books which are classics, such as Jerome K Jerome's "Three Men in a Boat" which is a funny account of a boating holiday along the River Thames ca 1885. Then if you are a fan of Latin America what could be better than being absorbed by one of the first travel books written by a woman, "Life in Mexico" by Madame Calderon de la Barca, a Scots lady who married the Spanish Minister to the US. The book is a detailed account of her two years traveling through out Mexico in the years 1839-41. If you have ever traveled in Mexico and are familiar with the geography this is a fascinating book. Both these old travel books are free Kindle downloads, but first buy your Kindle from Amazon. Cheers, Allano

Travel guide: Argentina

Where to go in Argentina can be a problem for the tourist. It all depends on various personal factors which must be delineated.

1. Is this your first visit or have you been before?

2. How much time do you have for a visit? One week or a month or more?

3. How much money do you have to spend? Are you a budget traveler or is money no object?

4. Do you have special interests that might be satisfied, like skiing, fishing, hiking, crafts, painting, history, farming and so on.

Once you have answered these questions you are then able to decide where to go and formulate priorities. Everyone will be different.

Consider a first visit of one week duration. What to do? Normally one flies into the capital Buenos Aires (BA) for first taste of this wonderful country. You could happily stay for the whole week exploring this European style city, a replica of Paris located in South America, but I suggest otherwise, because you can always make a return visit. You have time to split between BA and one other major tourist resort, such as the Iguazú Falls, or San Carlos de Bariloche in the Argentine Lake District.

Continue here
Foto: Approaching Ushuaia in the Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego, on the cruise ship Terra Australia.