From the swivellin' chair...

After Niels (aka Bentivogli) fell in love with tango, it was little surprise that he also became obsessed with the homeland of the seductive dance: Argentina. Since his first visit in 2003, Niels has been back twice, but he's dreaming of the day when he can move to Buenos Aires.

For now though, Niels has to satisfy himself with living in Amsterdam, where he works as a linguist. I caught up with him to chat about his obsession with Argentina and tango, as well as his views on travel and the environment.


Niels in Pisa, Italy.

You're a self-confessed obsessed fan of Argentina. What do you love about Argentina?

Hm, tough questions first, eh? The country and me simply hit it off right from the start. For starters, I had a lovely conversation on the plane over with an Argentine woman, who not only told me everything about her entire family and circle of friends, but also put me in touch with some of the more interesting figures in the local tango scene. Plus, she offered me a ride downtown from the airport, was determined to help me find accommodation, and wouldn't leave me before having had dinner with me. The best thing was, she was no exception: my encounters with the locals have been like that since. I cannot think of a country with people nicer than Argentinians, although the recent immense increase in tourism has had a somewhat negative impact...

Besides the people, I am in love with the country itself. The cities, though most of them are ugly, are extremely lively and interesting; nature is like nothing I have ever seen elsewhere. I am in love particularly with Missiones and Neuquén provinces; both are host to amazing landscapes and stunning National Parks.

How long have you been fascinated by Argentina?

A number of things conspired to spark off my interest. One of them was the marriage of the Dutch crown prince to an Argentine woman in 2002; I don't think I ever considered Argentina as a travel destination before that, but it got me reading about the country, in particular about the Guerra Sucia. Then, I met a girl from Buenos Aires in Vienna that same year, who I travelled around with for a week. She was extremely critical about her country, which surprised me and made me curious, because I had just read that all Argentinians suffer from a major superiority complex... But the most important reason in the end was tango. I took up dancing in 2002, and was addicted from the start onwards. This made it only logical to go to Buenos Aires, which I am confident to say is the only place where it is taught properly.

So tell us honestly... How good is your tango?

I won't be the judge of that. The basis of tango is that man and woman move as a single body; the dance partially arose from the need to have a decent outlet for carnal desires. The other basic feature, which is commonly neglected in the western world, is that tango is about simple improvisation rather than complex predetermined figures. I would say that I am capable of dancing a tango in close embrace with any woman on any type of music; from the leader's perspective, that is quite an accomplishment.

You live in Amsterdam, a city with a several main tourist sights that everyone knows about. What are some lesser known attractions people should check out if they're visiting Amsterdam?

I am not one for attractions. One should discover one's own Amsterdam rather than visit some arbitrary highlights. That said, places I particularly like are the former docklands north of Haarlemmerstraat, the Amsterdam Historical and Jewish Historical museums, and my own neighbourhood (De Baarsjes, west of center). Visitors should rent a bike (provided they know how to control it!), because it gives you the possibility to get away from the historical center, which is interesting but very one-sided.

You've had some heated debates on Travellerspoint forums about the rise of budget airlines, which you argue has been bad for the environment. Why do you think budget airlines have had such a negative impact?

Basically because the price of transportation stands in no relation to the environmental damage done. Travellers are like sheep: they don't think, they just do what others do. I would like people to travel responsibly, which means a couple of things, two if which I find most important. First, don't try doing in a week what can only be done in a month rationally. That is, don't fly over to Thailand for the weekend, but stay closer at home. Reconcile your ambitions with your timeframe. I am very much aware that travelling is a status thing, and many people fly halfway across the world only because their peers do as well, while they have never explored their immediate surroundings. Second, travel as the locals travel. I find it very disconcerting to hear people brag about 'having done South America' in 3 weeks, without ever meeting a single 'South American'. Slow travel is the best way by far to get in contact with local people.

How have environmental issues affected your travel habits?

To an extent, although one could always do (much) more. I try not to fly within Europe, and take the train instead. I cannot always stick to that; my employer occasionally makes me take a plane, because I don't get the extra time needed for train travel. When I fly, I buy carbon offsets. I know that their effectiveness is questionable, but I cannot think of anything better to do. Third, I have my short breaks close to home; you won't find me planning a NY shopping weekend, for instance. Finally, I don't have a driver's license. Instead I take public transport, cycle or go on foot, which is also a lot healthier.

Do you have any trips planned for this year?

I have a conference in London in September (this time I am allowed to go by train, woohoo!); in November, I fly to South America for five weeks. We're flying to Sao Paulo, Brazil, and don't have a fixed itinerary from there. My girlfriend wanted to see Patagonia, I'd like to go back to Pantanal, but maybe we'll go north as well... very exciting to travel without a fixed schedule.

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Check out these past interviews in the Talking Travel series:

• Talking Travel with Amy and Wim
  
• Talking Travel with Hien
  
• Talking Travel and HIV/AIDS in India with Dave Reidy
  
• Talking Travel with Utrecht
  

When Peter posted in our forum last month about the launch of several new features and additions to our budget accommodation area, it was an exciting day for us. There's often several months of work and testing behind the larger announcements, and this one was no exception. Amongst several more common features such as reviews/ratings/mapped properties, we also launched something we believe is quite unique and specially of interest to members of a community like Travellerspoint. I thought I'd highlight that something, which we're calling Social Bookings, in this blog post.

Here's how Peter described it in the forum:

See if other Travellerspoint members are staying there!. If another Travellerspoint member has booked the same property for the dates you are searching, you will see a note saying that "another Travellerspoint member is staying here on these dates". If you are the social type and are interested in hooking up with other Travellerspoint members while travelling, this might sway you to choose a different place to stay. I'm calling this "Social Booking". Once you have made the booking, you will be able to see what members are staying at the same place and be able to get in touch with them via Travellerspoint.

Peter's description is a good one but with something so unique, I thought it would be a good idea to take a more practical approach and walk through some of the steps involved with this.

The idea
Social bookings is a concept tailored towards independent travellers, much like those who in the past years have posted thousands of requests on our Travel Companions forum to meet up with other travellers heading to the same destination on the same dates. Anyone who spends time on any of the more active travel forums will know that there are literally millions of posts like this made. Backpackers setting off on a gap year to Australia for example can consider this an alternative to a group departure if they are nervous about not meeting anyone at the hostel on the first few nights. This isn't for every traveller and we're well aware of that, however we're convinced there's a large group of travellers who are going to absolutely love this feature!

How it works
Whilst browsing the budget accommodation area (which includes hostels, budget hotels, guesthouses etc), you will see properties where other Travellerspoint members are staying on the same days.

~ here it appears that on 5-7 January there is 1 other Travellerspoint member staying at the Flying Pig hostel in Amsterdam and it's pretty well rated/priced as well.

Let's have a closer look by expanding this listing:

If you'd like to know what kind of rooms they have available and at what prices each come, click on the name to take to you to this:

~ hey look, this place now has 2 other members staying there on these nights; it must be popular!

Let's say you decide that this looks like an awesome place to stay in Amsterdam (which it is by the way!) and you proceed to make a booking. You'll be presented with a few short details you have to enter to book and at this stage will be asked if you would like to "Allow other Travellerspoint members to see you are staying here". As you can see, this is an opt-in feature only. It's completely up to you if you want to participate in this, don't tick the box and no-one will ever know any different.

At this stage, you still haven't actually gotten the details of which members are booked at the property and not until finalizing your booking does this information appear on your confirmation.

In this case both members are showing as being online (light green) and both have a full name filled in, but that's a choice that individual members make when signing up. You can choose to have a look at their profiles and see if this is the kind of traveller you'd like to hang out with based on that, or you can just send them a message directly through Travellerspoint. There's an option immediately below the names to undo your choice of having your name show up and you can unlist like this at any time through your booking confirmation page (which is emailed to you just in case you forget it of course).

This feature is currently in beta while we expand on some of the other functions (like getting even more properties mapped!), but works like a charm *already*. Only Travellerspoint members have access to the Social Bookings feature, but of course anyone can place a booking at any time without being a Travellerspoint member!!

Please let us know what you think of the feature either in the comments below or via private message to Peter or myself.

1. Kashgar to Turphan. By LuisDafos.
A venerable uygur old man awaits for the long, icy December night to come in a hard seat wagon crossing the Takla Makan desert.


2. Off to school. By dinah1.


3. Dusty Road. By Nurse1.

4. View of Table mountains. By namfon.

5. Mikrolet Maddness. By joffre.

6. Varanasi Sunrise. By hayden111.


7. Ship with mountains Lake Baikal. By adamandmeg.


8. Donna che trasporta rami secchi. By paperix72.


9. Chilled bicycle. By srenangman.


10. Dogsbox on bicycle. By srenangman.

11. Old Style Transport. By kiwilara.

12. Sailing under Öresundsbron - the bridge between Sweden and Denmark. By snatterand.

13. Indian 2nd class sleeper. By LuisDafos.

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Every month, Travellerspoint throws a travel photo competition with a unique theme. LuisDafos, the winner of our Transport Photo Competition, will receive a $50 Amazon voucher. He'll also have his monthly photo upload limit raised to 200MB. So will dinah1, this month's runner up.

Inspired by the UEFA Euro 2008, we've given our June competition a fresh theme: Sport. If you have beautiful, interesting or funny photos with a sporty theme, you can enter into the new competition. Find out how here.

Check out the results of past competitions:

• 13 of the Best Watery Travel Photos
  
• 10 Photos to Whet Your Appetite for Food and Travel
  
• Red: 11 Evocative Photos by Travellers