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The Travel Wire: best travel reads #17

The Travel Wire: best travel reads #17

On travel media's misguided obsession with the "local" experience.”, navigating reverse culture shock, Laos, Sardinia, Mekong Delta in harvest season, and more travel reads

January 03, 2025

Welcome to The Travel Wire, where I curate the best travel reads of the week.

Travel reads

• Tourists rule, locals drool (free subscription required)

“On travel media's misguided obsession with the "local" experience.”

• Navigating reverse culture shock: my journey home after 16 years on the road by Trisha Velarmino

• A Life of Travel: 26 thoughts from 26 countries I visited in 2024 by Derek "Wandering Earl" Baron

• See the mysterious winter parade that brings tourists to the remote island of Sardinia

“Since ancient times, a town on the Italian isle has marked the season with a grim costumed festival.”

• Is this the year Laos breaks through? (archive)

"The Southeast Asian country has lagged behind Vietnam and Thailand when it comes to tourism. The government hopes new hotels, roads and a train system will put Laos on visitors’ lists."

• Mekong Delta rice fields glow in harvest season

"Nestled in An Giang Province in Vietnam's Mekong Delta, the golden fields of Ta Pa come alive every December, offering a blend of nature’s splendor and rural charm."

• Passports may soon become obsolete as facial recognition and smartphones take over

• Deserted beaches, wild rivers and seaside chill: four days walking in NSW’s largest coastal park

• Is it the world's longest train journey anyway?

“A guide to the World's Longest Train Journey from Portugal to Singapore, why it's not currently possible and why the concept of 'World's Longest Train Journey' may not be as simple as you think!”

Another “World's Longest Train Journey” article circulated last week, so I was glad to see Mr. Seat 61 jump in and explain that it's not possible and that the route might not be the longest anyway.

• Romania and Bulgaria join the EU's visa-free Schengen zone

• White Christmas sees hero Khmer cyclist brave -30°c

“Now at the halfway point of an epic bicycle journey from Cambodia to Europe, Tiv Dararith, an experienced long distance cycle-tourer, is encountering conditions unlike anything he has ever been through.”

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James Clark (Nomadic Notes)