From the swivellin' chair...

6,000 km. On foot. While pushing a wheelchair carrying an imaginary person called Harvey.

Walking across the Nullarbor in Australia.

For Frank Muldowney, the Irishman who is doing the walk from Perth to Byron Bay in Australia, it’s the realisation of a dream. Frank suffered a brain haemorrhage more than 2 decades ago, which dramatically shaped his life. He is a big believer in dreams and personal aspirations and his own dream is to walk across Australia while pushing an orange wheelchair with Harvey in it. It’s a walk for world peace and one which has been getting more and more attention in Australian and overseas media.

Continuing on in our series of interviews with Travellerspoint members, we figured Frank would make an excellent target.... uh, interviewee, for our 2nd instalment. He was happy to answer a few questions about Harvey, world peace and the media.

For the uninitiated: What is the symbolism of Harvey and the wheelchair?
Harvey is the imaginary figure for peace. I created him - believe in him or not - because I believe the dream for peace is in everyone’s heart, that it is as real as love, you just can’t see it - just like Harvey. When I thought of all the peacemakers who were assassinated in history, I then loved the idea of a peacemaker who cannot die - so I knew I had to make him known.

The Wheelchair symbolises a world disabled by fear, racism, war and injustice. Every single person in the world has a problem, no one is perfect, so I use the wheelchair to show that there is equality in the world. We are all equal, and we are all disabled until we have peace, and Harvey in his wheelchair will remind anyone that you are no better than anyone else.

What’s the most common response you get when you tell people what you’re doing?
I hear I am mad, a nutter, that I am not going to make a difference to create peace. That is a small percentage of those who react to it, but after a brief
conversation, it changes. I just say, well if you don’t believe in peace, then why are you here, and why raise a family if the world is doomed anyway, in your own mind? If you say you would like to have peace, then why not try to make your own small difference? I’m doing my bit, are you making that little difference?

The vast majority of people I meet are very positive about what I am trying to achieve. Their positivity, makes Harvey bigger and the more it’s discussed, the
more real he becomes.

You have been receiving more and more attention from the media, especially Australian radio, television and print. Have you always envisioned this as an integral part of your journey? Or has it emerged as a by-product?
It was always about Harvey and creating him. The entire walk is just a vehicle to get Harvey known and nothing else. Yes, I aimed at the media from the
beginning, as the media is the most powerful weapon in the world, strong enough to begin or end a war, it depends on how much is reported. So now if I can have Harvey a regular figure appearing in all sources of media across the world, there is now a figure here for peace. Maybe for the first time there may be some more positive news in the media than negative, and to me that is the real war. I aim to challenge and change the mind set that the 'world will always be at war' as it is that mind set that is the root of fear and war. I like to challenge it, as I don’t believe in it.

So you were right, I wanted to use the sources of the arts, and the media to make Harvey known, and see what happens.

What have been some of the main highlights on the journey so far?
Reaching Adelaide and Melbourne, my 2 favourite cities in Australia. The friendship of the youth in the schools I was allowed to speak to, and the Australian people who despise war, and have supported me in so many ways. Australia is a stunning nation, but it is the people who live there who create the magical moments on this journey. It has been a privilege to walk across this country.

You suffered an epileptic seizure last June and ended up returning to Dublin for several months for medical treatment. How challenging was that time? Did you consider giving up your dream?
I was stuck in Caiguna on the Nullarbor when it happened, and I was afraid as I didn’t know what to do, my health was at risk now. I thought of giving up on one day, my darkest day. My driver Mick would then have to continue the walk for me. The next morning, I knew "that’s not going to happen, I will find a way to get better and continue this walk step by step if needed, as long as it takes." It came out to be a blessing in disguise as by going slower and safer I walked longer. It was always very challenging, but mentally rather than physically. I became a loner many times, as 7 to 8 hours on the road was taxing, but what carried me was my Father and the illness, Motor Neuron Disease, that he lived with before he died in 1993. He would have dreamed to walk across the room, and he sat in discomfort and pain for 7 years. How could I complain, being privileged to walk, and talk, and inspire others? It is an honour to live a dream for someone you love.

I was impressed to read that you’re planning to carry on with more walks for peace after you’ve reached Byron Bay. You are aiming to walk in some pretty hostile places, such as Israel, Iraq and Afghanistan. What made you choose these places?
It's is a test of my own belief that peace is inevitable, and if I do not believe in that, then no one will. So the best way to believe in this walk is to carry the same message through places which will be peaceful in the future. It would be an honour to see the last battle or war in each country on earth, my simple role is to walk through it, as I don’t believe in war, it’s only misguided people who are not educated enough to understand what it is like to live in peace. I hope to show a smile, and make friends with anyone, as I have no enemies. I only need the opportunity to show what it is like with peace in your heart, as you walk through a war zone which of course is temporary. Peace is lasting.

I end with the quote that I believe in:

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited, imagination encircles the entire world - Albert Einstein.

That quote is lasting as it has the same meaning, now as it will in another 100 years. What we know right now, will be laughable in the future. I believe in this, and peace lies in our imaginations and thoughts.

***

Good luck as you head for Byron Bay, Frank! If you want to read more about Frank's journey, you can check out his blog on Travellerspoint or his website.

As I've quickly noticed after signing up on Facebook, it's addictive. I've also bumped into (read: poked and been poked by) quite a few Travellerspoint members and if that isn't enough, there's now even an 'official' Travellerspoint group on Facebook (hint hint, join us ). So, imagine my surprise when with just a tiny bit of playing around I found you can quite easily have your blog automatically added within your profile every time you make an entry! That's pretty cool, because let's face it, you might have some friends on Facebook that don't visit Travellerspoint (although of course you have many more the other way around, right?!) but you'd still would like them to see what you're up to and be able to leave comments.

Here's the break down:

1. After you've logged in to Facebook, head over to your "Notes" area. This can be accessed through the Applications list on the left side of the page, or you can get there using the drop down box at the top right hand side of your profile page:

Once there, click on the "Import a Blog" link:

That will bring up the page in the image below, where you need to enter the domain name you wish to import notes from. For my personal blog, I entered http://sam-i-am.travellerspoint.com/ (you can also add /rss.xml to the end of this, but it shouldn't be necessary). Accept the Facebook conditions by ticking the box and hit Start Importing.

Facebook will do its thing and give you the following preview notice:

Hit the "Confirm Import" button on the right and your latest blog entries are all imported!

So, what does this mean really? This should mean your friends see your notes as they are entered/imported. Not just on your profile, but on their own pages (if you haven't blocked this) as part of what their friends are doing on Facebook. Here's a few random screenshots of places where my notes displayed on my own page:

within the minifeed

within the minifeed - the first time you import it will bring in the last ten entries

in the notes section of your profile (go figure! )

See how in the last image some of my friends have actually left a comment on the entry, directly within Facebook. Pretty cool and as you can see, easy to do.

Okay, so now for some current (temporary) issues. Because you are uploading your feed, it is limited to the last 10 entries only, although of course all future entries will be included automatically (Facebook checks every now and then for new entries). Also, the entries are currently not imported in their entirety, again because this is the default in the feeds. This means friends have to click on the link in your notes to take them to your blog and view the entry there (not a disaster, since it looks better that way too!). Fixing up how much of an entry is included in the feed has been on our 'to do' list to fix and I am pretty sure has just jumped up the list quite a bit with this post

UPDATE: This has now been fixed and if you have set your blog to generate a full feed, the entire blog entry will show in Facebook, including photos. For some reason Facebook seems to be blocking out the videos and maps at this time but they are included in the feed, so this is a Facebook thing.

All in all, it's very easy to do and once you've done it once, you don't have to do it again. If you have a lot of Facebook friends and don't want to keep them all guessing what you are blogging about or send them an email asking them to check out your blog, set up your profile to import your blog posts and you're sure to get a lot more readers in one go!

Greg Wesson's travel map. Click for the big version.

Back when we launched our travel maps in December last year, we figured that they would make for pretty impressive visual displays, especially for those of you who have made a few trips in your lifetime. “Bragging rights”, we called it.

Greg Wesson (gregw) is one of those members with a map to brag about. With journeys across Asia and Europe, an adventurous trip to Tanzania and Mount Kilimanjaro, and forays to the southern tip of South America and other spots in Latin America, Greg does justice to the title of Travel Guru, an honour bestowed upon him by the dark and mysterious powers that control Travellerspoint. The map also shows a colourful criss-cross of lines in North America, highlighting what has been Greg’s most common form of trip over the past decade: the business trip.

After the interview with professional travel photographer Timothy Allen a few weeks ago, we decided it was high time to point the spotlight on some of our own intrepid travellers. Greg was happy enough to take the time to answer a few questions, explaining his views on everything from great beers of the world to the highs and lows of travelling for work.

You list your hobbies as travel and "sampling beers of the world"... What's the best beer you've ever had?

The last one... until the next one.

Seriously, though, one of the seminal experiences in introducing me to the beers of the world was a night at a pub in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, USA back in 1993. I was on a ski trip in the Pocono mountains, and we wandered into this bar that had over 200 different types of beer in bottles, organized on the menu by the country of origin. I hadn't travelled much at that point in my life, and so I decided to try and do a round the world trip by trying beer from different countries that night - Germany, Britain, Japan, Jamaica, even a Belgium beer made by Trappist monks. It was really my initiation to the fact that different beers can really have different tastes. The bartender said that if I could drink a full bottle of the "chili beer," which is basically a Mexican-style beer that had been picking up the heat and taste of the chili pepper soaking in it for months, he would buy the next round. The chili beer was undrinkable and I had to pay, but the whole night really got me started on experimenting with different types of beer.

I am now a big fan of wheat beers, and getting a chance to have a Hoegaarden in Brussels was pretty cool, because it felt a little bit like making a pilgrimage.

You've said that two of the favourite places you've visited were Punta Arenas in Chile and Denver, Colorado. What was it about these places that really impressed you?

A lot of people go travelling to "find themselves," and while I still haven't found myself completely, both Denver and Punta Arenas were places where I had a small epiphanies.

In Denver, it was really the first time when I was travelling for work that I started to feel like some place other than Toronto could feel like "home." I had been travelling for work for about 2 years by that time, but every trip prior to heading to Denver always felt like I was away. In Denver, I made a bunch of friends, had some great times hiking in the mountains and skiing and got a beautiful apartment overlooking the Rocky Mountains. I even managed to sort of get myself in shape. I started to really feel like I lived in Denver, and just happened to occasionally visit Toronto, instead of the other way around. I had never before believed that I could "live" anywhere other than Toronto, but Denver made me realize that the whole world was open as a place to live. It came at a really good time for me, because prior to that trip I had been having a bad couple years in Toronto, including the death of my mother, and I was projecting a lot of my anger and sadness on my physical surrounding in Toronto. Everything in Toronto felt haunted. So it was nice to live somewhere else for a while, and let the ghosts in Toronto leave.

Punta Arenas provided me with a feeling that I hadn't really felt in a long time. I was in Punta Arenas when I took 3 months off my job and backpacked around South America. As a 32 year old who hadn't had anything longer than a week off since starting university at the age of 18, it had been a long time since I wasn't loaded down with responsibilities. I was, at this point, about 3 weeks into my trip, and starting to get into the swing of backpacking (it was my first experience with it). On this one day, as I wrote about in my blog entry on Punta Arenas, I walked out from my hotel to a bright sunny day, of which they had been few in Patagonia since I had gotten there, and I was suddenly struck by how happy I was. I was in a place as far as I had ever been from home. Everything was at the same time both so familiar and so alien. Everything that was worrying me back home was completely and totally off my shoulders. I was totally free to not worry about anything except walking around and checking out the town. It was a moment of complete and total freedom. And the sun was shining. It was the first time I think I'd ever had a vacation where I actually felt like I was on vacation, and I didn't have any thoughts of what I left undone when leaving, or what I had to do when I got back.

What's the most disappointing trip you've ever made?

I don't know if I'm just lucky or the kind of person that always sees the glass as half full, but I haven't had a really disappointing trip. There are portions of trips that I've taken that have been disappointing, but nothing where I find myself entirely disappointed.

As an example, I loved Missouri, but a day-trip to Meramec Caverns was quite a disappointment. Dubbed "America's Cave," Meramec Caverns has an excellent history including being a hiding spot for the outlaw Jesse James. But upon arriving, the place was tourist kitsch. The main entrance was turned into a ballroom complete with disco ball. The cave was nice, but nothing special and no ability to get off the tourist trail and really explore the cave. At the end, you get to sit and watch a SUPER CAMPY light show while "God Bless America" plays, ending with the American Flag being shown in lights on the side of the cave wall. Not at all the day of cave adventure I was hoping for. I had a great time otherwise in Missouri, and can recommend spending some time in St. Louis to check out the excellent blues clubs, so one day of a tourist kitsch doesn't sound so bad.

Of course, some people might look at the experiences I had with altitude sickness on Mount Kilimanjaro or getting caught in the middle of a revolution in La Paz, Bolivia and think these should be disappointing experiences, but they are really unique experiences, taught me something important about myself and the place I was in, and make great stories at parties, and that's why we all travel in the first place, right?

One thing I noticed on your map: you've been to every continent, except for Australia and Antarctica. Planning a trip down under any time soon? Or do you have other travel plans on the horizon?

Australia and Antarctica are both on my list of places to see, along with about 10,000 other places, though. I'd love to go down to Australia, but given it's size and the distance from Canada, I'd like to make sure that if I go, I go for at least a month or two so I can get some time to travel around and see at least part of it.

As for the horizon, other than some business trips in the coming weeks, most likely to see more of Detroit, the next big trip I have planned is to spend a couple weeks in Europe in August. I am going to do a week seeing London and Brussels solo, and then meeting up with some friends to see the Netherlands, before flying out of Frankfurt, Germany.

I think some of my friends and family are a bit shocked at the choice of destination, though. They are usually used to me announcing that I am going off backpacking in Central America or taking a train through Siberia, so they are suggesting that perhaps I've gone soft.

Some people idealise the idea of travelling for work. It can seem like a pretty cool life, getting paid to travel. As somebody who's been doing it for 10 years, do you think that travelling for work is a satisfying way to travel? Or does the thrill of travel get old once you're doing it as part of your job?

Travelling for work can be a satisfying way to travel, but it does require a different kind of effort than travelling for pleasure. When you travel for work, as you've implied, it's easy to lose the thrill of travelling. When you are on the road, you are often expected to put in longer hours than you would at home, and so after a long day at the office, it's sometimes hard to get yourself energized to go out and see the city sights, especially when a four-star hotel with air conditioning, cable TV, a soft bed and room service is the other option. If you can get yourself out of the hotel lobby and start wandering around, though, it is almost always worth it. It's very easy to fall into the habit of seeing just airports, hotels and office buildings, and usually when I see co-workers who spend every night in the hotel, it's a pretty safe bet that they are going to be looking for a new career pretty quickly.

Travelling for work does provide some benefits that you don't get when travelling for pleasure. The best benefit is having someone pay for you to travel. Though, when someone else is footing the bill, you lose a lot of the ability to plan the itinerary. You go where you’re needed for work. That can be good, though, because I've gone some places for work that I never would have gone to otherwise. I can't imagine that I would have travelled to Columbus, Ohio or Omaha, Nebraska if I was planning a trip on my own purely for pleasure, but I ended up quite enjoying both places.

Obviously, travelling for work implies that you have to do work when you arrive. That cuts into your sight-seeing time, but it does provide you an opportunity to get to know how people in a place live. I've been constantly amazed at the differences in the people who live in different regions in the USA and Canada, let alone what people overseas are like. Working with people from another region or country gives you an opportunity to get to meet people and learn what life is like for a citizen of the area. It's kind of like getting to do a homestay program, though it's really more of a "workstay."

In your last blog entry, you commented about your doubts when you first started travelling for work, about 10 years ago. At the time, you didn't really see yourself lasting 2 years - let alone 10. Now that you've been doing it for over a decade, could you imagine yourself in a job that didn't require you to travel?

I have no idea any more. If you'd asked me 6 months ago, I would have said, "of course I can see myself settling down and not travelling for work any more." Now I'm not so sure. Recently I've found myself getting an itch to travel to a new location after spending 4 months in a place.

I do think I could see myself quasi-settling, by moving to a place overseas and living there for a while. I think I could be happy having a job that didn't require me to travel if I was living in some place I could explore. I really liked Paris, and one of the missions of my upcoming trip to London is see if I think I could live there. London would be good, because my grandparents were English, and therefore I can get an ancestry visa to legally work there relatively easily.

Now, stroke our egos. What's your favourite aspect of Travellerspoint?

I like that you stroke my ego and call me a guru!

Seriously, it's a tough choice. Obviously I love blogging, and the mapping feature is excellent, but I'd have to say that the interactions in the forums is what keeps me coming back. There are some really great people contributing both questions and answers on the site, and unlike some other sites I've read, people have managed to maintain civility and are still welcoming to newcomers.

***

Thanks for the interview, Greg! You can read more about Greg's trips on his blog.

Interviews with Travellerspoint members will become a more regular feature, so feel free to keep updated by subscribing to the blog. It’s also a great way to find out early about all the cool new features being added to Travellerspoint, like our fully-editable destination guide.

Besides launching the new destination guide last Friday, some of you may have noticed a few other changes around Travellerspoint.

Navigation through the control panel is easier now. When you now click "Control Panel" at the top of the page, it will list quick links to your photos, blogs, maps, profile and contacts, as well as the main control panel page. Just to make life on TP a little more streamlined.

The other change is a redesign of the Photography page. The new version highlights more quality members' photos and conveniently links directly to your photo gallery. We think you'll like it.

You'll notice that the list of countries' photo galleries is quite a bit smaller than it was in the old version, but don't stress if you're looking specifically for photos from a country that isn't listed. You can get to the list of all countries with a featured photo gallery by clicking "More" at the bottom of the Country Galleries box. Or, easier still, you can use the Search box.

Well, whatta ya know, Detroit is not the capital of Michigan after all. Lansing is. Don't worry though, the change has already been made on the Michigan guide. For those of you struggling to work out how you're actually supposed to edit this guide, I've included a step-by-step tutorial below, explaining how to make changes in the wiki.

Step 1: Go to the page
Use the search form on the guide's front page to quickly find an article.

Ok, pretty obvious so far, but I did promise this would be a step-by-step tutorial... In my case, I went to the Michigan page and decided to update it with my new-found knowledge. Notice the incorrect data listed on the right side of the page under Quick Facts.

Step 2: Scroll down and hit edit

Once again, pretty straightforward, but there's one thing to notice here. When you're editing a specific section of the article (like the Introduction), you can click the edit button that is located at the top right of the section. If a Quick Facts section already exists for the page, there will also be an edit button at the top of that special section.

Step 3: Make your change in the edit window


As you can see, I have changed the capital city by replacing Detroit with Lansing. I have also added an extra field for the "Largest City", which is Detroit. I guess I just really wanted Detroit to get a mention.

Step 4: Note what changes you made and hit save

Once you've made your changes, it's useful to briefly explain what kind of changes you made. This makes it easier for other people working on the same article to figure out what has been happening on it. Once you've filled this in, hit save.

Step 5: Admire

Voila! Your edit has been made for all to admire. Easy peasy.