We can hardly stand it any longer!!

Love,

Your 2008 Travel Grant Applicants

Due to the many applications we need some more days to choose the winner of the grant. We will anounce the winner as soon as possible!

Thank you for your patience!

Cheers
Melanie

Auf Grund der vielen Bewerbungen brauchen wir aber noch einige Tage um einen Gewinner auszuwählen. Wir geben den Gewinner aber so schnell wie möglich bekannt!

Vielen Dank für eure Geduld!

Viele Grüße
Melanie

The Players:
Dan - Adventure/Travel Photographer, Mountaineer, Rock Climber, Scuba Diver, Cyclist, Music Lover, Beer Drinker, Adventure Seeker

Lisa - Yoga Instructor, Mountaineer, Rock Climber, English Teacher, Travel Writer, Editor, Pho Lover, Fellow Adventure Seeker

Soundtrack:
To Be determined (But we will be sure to include some good old American Folk & Bluegrass, Afro-Caribbean Beats, Reggae & music native to the countries through which we’ll travel.)

Our Mission:

The moment the wheels of the plane touch upon India’s tarmac, our year-long adventure begins. Our goal is to prove that it is possible to explore the world without treading heavily upon it. As we travel overland by foot, bicycle, carpool, bus, yak and even the occasional donkey we will yield a very small carbon footprint. We hope that by traveling in such a deliberately mellow fashion, we will inspire others to do the same. By forgoing some large feats of accomplishment, we will be able to focus on the extraordinary beauty and intricacies of every day life and make an effort to truly understand the cultures we encounter that are so different from our own. With a little effort and open minds, we will travel with much humor and forever changing perspective.

For more details of our proposed travels, please select a link from below:

http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1391_India_Trivandrum_Abenteuerreise_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1389_Nepal_Kathmandu_Abenteuerreise_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1558_Tibet_Lhasa_Adventure_travel_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1560_Vietnam_Ha_Nam_Adventure_travel_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1559_Laos_Adventure_travel_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1446_Thailand_Chiang_Mai_Active_vacation_.html

Forgive the late post! There has been much dream-chasing and research busying us on this end!! We hope you enjoy the proposal.

Background Information:

In the winter of 2006, a journey inspired by three backcountry enthusiasts took shape. Four months later, the crew ventured off into remote mountainous regions of Southwest and Central China, with a pile of backcountry equipment and the minor support of a few professional sponsors. The “allowance” was a bit different than what Dodo promises: a box of coffee extract from Java Juice (much appreciated), and a few other goodies from Cloudveil, JetBoil, and Osprey. The itinerary was bold, and the travels were rough, and it was the first time two of the expedition members had ever set foot on the Asian continent.

The winter season was in full effect by the time we arrived in late December. Contributing to the difficulty of the undertaking was the group’s decision to travel solely via public transport, and their reliance on local homes for “front-country” lodging, plus manageable temps for sustained high-mountain camping. Setting out for ski and snowboard descents from nearly 16,500 feet, though, the threesome completely lost track of the grudges that they held against so many of China’s elements.

An introduction to the 2006 Tibetan Boarderlands Expedition can be seen here: http://tibetanboarderlands.blogspot.com/2006/11/15-days-and-counting.html

Who:

An Asia-loving adventurer from Colorado and a backcountry maniac who somehow found himself schooling and working in Washington, DC – writers, amateur videographers, and true lovers of getting “out there.” And although we’re both employed steadily, we’ve somehow secured 6 weeks off, and we’ve dreamed of an adventure that we’re determined to make happen…bank overdrafts or not.

What:

Our destination: Kyrgyzstan, with the following proposition…

Via as much self-sustained travel as possible – whenever possible ski-traversing to cover vast areas of an inhospitable snow-bound land – we plan to run an overland expedition across the country from China, into Kazakhstan, to end in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Gear will be trailed in harness-driven pulk sleds.

Outside of true “adventure” itself, the overarching theme for this adventure is inspired by a small, Jackson Hole, Wyoming-based organization called Vista 360, whose mission is to link mountain communities throughout the world with an exchange of arts, culture and tradition that is inspired by the unique physical environment that mountain-dwellers call home. We will facilitate this exchange of culture and tradition by creating a video documentary of the lifestyle, culture, and tradition of remote mountain communities throughout the Tien Shan and larger Central Asian regions and share it throughout mountain communities at home.

Preview of what’s possible: http://www.vimeo.com/1285159

When:

6 weeks between late December 2008 and January 2009.

Why:

Remote mountains in Asia hold an indescribable allure, period. And a country that proclaims its land as 94% mountainous (and lays claim to the largest mountain range in Asia) promises perhaps the most alluring zones for exploration in the region. That is doubled with the fact that Kyrgyzstan was only quite recently freed of its former Soviet subsidiary status, finally opening many areas to foreigners within the last few decades. A wintertime journey, planned mostly in the mountains, probably seems like an inconceivable option to most. It has been said that travel within Kyrgyzstan “isn’t always as easy as it may seem on a map.” But this is adventure travel, right?!

We invite you to view our travelogues here:

http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1509_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1564_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1563_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1565_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1566_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1567_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1568_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1569_.html

Many thanks for this opportunity and for your consideration,

Ryan Koupal,
Boulder, CO

Bryan Gault,
Washington, DC

gentlemen * explorers

But first, let’s talk about what I want to do for dodo.com. See, I’m a longtime Mac programmer who’s just getting into programming for the iPhone, and I’ve been thinking that what it’s perfectly suited for is what I call ‘gonzo blogging’ in honor of Hunter S. Thompson, which is blogging you do in the midst of your travels or activities; snap some pictures with your iPhone’s camera and/or record some audio with its microphone and/or tap out some text on its screen, and then the phone bundles that off to your website of choice along with the GPS coordinates you’re posting from so people can follow on the map exactly what you’re doing as you’re doing it, from anywhere that has a cellular data network.

I’m definitely going to be doing a gonzo blogging iPhone application targeted at _somebody’s_ website; the plan to date has been to take the open source WordPress for iPhone application

http://iphone.wordpress.org/

and add features to that — most pressingly, geolocation — to post on my own WordPress blog. But if I’m selected as the winner, my first order of business will be to work with the dodo.com programmers to put together an application to post travelogues directly from one’s iPhone to this website with at least pictures and location attached, and I’ll publish that for free on the App Store for any other user with an iPhone to do their reporting from as well, and then I’ll give it a good thorough testing by proceeding to jaunt around the world on what I call

Wonders of the Ancients 2008 — The Beta Test Tour

(And for those of you thinking “gee, that sounds backwards … publish THEN beta test?” well, let me put it this way: There’s a reason the version number of the software you’re using is not ‘1.0′.)

First leg is to skip across from Vancouver to Laie in Hawaii and attend Ali’i Luau,

http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1527_Hawaii_United_States_Laie_Culture_and_study_trip_.html

then hop along the islets of Micronesia visiting the traces of the Aroi Sun Kingdom of the Pacific,

http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1528_Fed_States_of_Micronesia_Kosrae_Culture_and_study_trip_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1529_Fed_States_of_Micronesia_Pohnpei_Culture_and_study_trip_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1530_United_States_Guam_Culture_and_study_trip_.html

then visit the Indus-Sarasvati remnants of the Rama Empire,

http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1531_India_Lothal_Culture_and_study_trip_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1532_Pakistan_Mohenjo_Daro_Culture_and_study_trip_.html

stop in Iran to visit Jiroft where there’s just in 2001 been discovered a previously completely unknown civilization which may predate Sumer,

http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1539_Iran_Jiroft_Culture_and_study_trip_.html

proceed to the supposed Osirian civilization of the Mediterranean,

http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1542_Lebanon_Baalbek_Culture_and_study_trip_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1544_Malta_Ggantija_Culture_and_study_trip_.html

detour southwards to the Cyclopean pre-Incan sites of South America,

http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1548_Bolivia_Tiahuanaco_Culture_and_study_trip_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1553_Peru_Cuzco_Culture_and_study_trip_.html

… and just as a nod to Indiana Jones on our way back to Vancouver, stop at Lubaantun to see where the real Crystal Skull supposedly was discovered and see whether we agree now with the people who don’t think it’s Mayan at all.

http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1557_Belize_Lubaantun_Culture_and_study_trip_.html

A wondrous tour indeed!

Here is a link to my sample travel schedule for a dance study tour of Brazil to Peru.

I currently dance in a Brazilian performing group in Vancouver and would like to use this travel opportunity to learn more dances from the regions of Peru and Brazil as well as collect costumes of the dances I learn. Although I will be focusing my dance on Afro-brazilian and Afro-Peruvian dances, I will also be visiting and studying Peruvian indigenous dance forms in the local communities.

I’m also a Social Worker by profession and would like to use my experiences to help children in my community by teaching classes and putting on performances using the costumes I collect.

By displaying the photos and videos I collect from my trip at my Vancouver performances I will be able to help raise money for the children’s groups I volunteered for while in Brazil and Peru.

Here is a link to my travel schedule. It is a draft format, but will give a basic idea of what I would like to do.

http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1505_Brazil_to_Peru_Dance_Study_trip_.html

Please read about my proposed travel to follow an oil pipe line almost 1000 km from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea, between the two Caucus mountain ranges only 180 km apart, and traversing Caucusus region countries of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia in late summer 2009 all the while not sure whether I am in Europe or in Asia!

http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1516_Mysterious_Borderlands.html

Thanks,

Michele

My trip is definitely extraordinary and encompasses places well traveled, some very remote, but all extremely diverse. I will be volunteering in Ethiopia and Madagascar, working in Australia and backpacking everywhere else. I pretty much cover all adventure tourism could offer including; trekking, diving, snorkeling, volunteering, eating (very important), safari’s, climbing, rafting, kayaking, paragliding, bungee jumping, and surfing.

I am so excited about this adventure I can barely stand it. I have been saving up and fundraising for years and this grant would help me so much. I would be able to eat more then just rice and veggies! (from reading my travelogues you’ll understand my love for food). The grant would mainly be put towards the adventure side of my trip, as it is the most expensive and volunteering contributions.

I plan on reporting through travelogues, photo’s and video’s. My writing is always filled with crazy antics and strange observations which are sure to give a good laugh. As a wanna be pro photographer, I will be taking stunning photo’s with a DSLR camera and recording video’s on it too. I would love to do live chat as I’m all set up on Skype to stay in touch with friends and family. I think it would be cool to do a bizarre moment of the week blog where I could list a truly strange, yet funny occurrence every couple weeks. All travelers have experienced this while traveling in different cultures and these bizarre memories usually stand out the most

So without further ado…here they are….(drum roll!)……..

http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1508_Canada_Toronto_Round_the_world_trip_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1474_Netherlands_Amsterdam_Round_the_world_trip_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1475_Ethiopia_Addis_Ababa_Round_the_world_trip_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1476_Republic_of_Kenya_Nairobi_Round_the_world_trip_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1477_Madagascar_Ifaty_Round_the_world_trip_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1480_India_Bombay_Round_the_world_trip_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1482_Nepal_Kathmandu_Round_the_world_trip_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1488_China_lhasa_Round_the_world_trip_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1501_Sri_Lanka_Colombo_Round_the_world_trip_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1502_Malaysia_Kuala_Lumpur_Round_the_world_trip_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1503_Indonesia_Jakarta_Round_the_world_trip_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1504_Philippines_Manila_Round_the_world_trip_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1510_Guam_Hagatna_Round_the_world_trip_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1511_Australia_Cairns_Round_the_world_trip_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1512_Micronesia_Kosrae_Round_the_world_trip_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1513_United_States_Honolulu_Landing_Round_the_world_trip_.html
http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1514_United_States_Anchorage_Round_the_world_trip_.html

Thanks

Tessa

We are applying for Dodo’s travel grant for our upcoming trip to Japan to celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary!

http://www.dodo.com/en/travelogues/1381_Japan_Day_Cultural_Trip_.html

Our goal with this trip is to explore the variety of cultural experiences Japan offers- from the traditional to the futuristic, from the sublime to the kitschy. We want to dive in with both feet instead of remaining on the outside, engaged in the typical superficial methods of tourism. Therefore, we’ve arranged for various unique cultural experiences like Samurai sword lessons and a Maiko performance! And we’ll be visiting areas that are a bit outside the typical tourism hot spots, like Koyasan. We’ll be staying in a variety of lodgings, from traditional Bed and Breakfast-like inns called Ryokans, to a Buddhist Temple to a retro-styled hotel. We hope to explore as many types of cuisine as we can, especially the ones allowing us to be interactive and participate in the actual cooking! We plan on visiting department stores, grocery stores and fish markets for a glimpse into the daily life of a typical Japanese citizen. And although we will be engaging in some activities that can only be described as “touristy” we will also attempt to immerse ourselves in the culture with as much respect and joy as can be imagined!

We are already preparing for our trip by taking an intensive Japanese language and customs course, and our life-long obsession of all things Japanese can only help us once we actually arrive!

As for what we can offer DODO if we win: We will take our laptop with us and report back with gusto every night! I’m an avid photographer so photos will be a no-brainer.

Please consider us for the grant reward!! And thank you very much for inspiring us to plan this thrilling trip!