Traveling around cyberspace this week, I came across two articles that reminded me that there’s a lot of weird out there worth exploring.

The first article, 7 Bizarre Tours You’d Actually Sign Up for … Maybe highlighted some truly interesting tours that you never would have thought existed. For example, how about the Illegal Border Crossing Tour in Mexico, a ‘night-time guided hike and you’ll be chased in the dark, shot at by (fake) police and you may or may not make it under the fence’. Sounds like something the PC police might have a problem with but I’ve just added it to my list of things to do on my road trip next year. (note to self: make sure I pack some old clothes). Other intriguing tours include the Karaoke Ghost Tour of Sydney and the Scandal Tour of Washington DC.

The second article, Top 10 weird attractions around the globe, offers a list of ‘one of a kind’ events and places. From the Cockroach Race in Brisbane, Australia to the Hakone Kowakien Yunessun Wine Spa in Hakone, Japan, there’s enough weird here for everyone. If I had to choose one, I’d definitely be heading for the wine spa.

And if that’s not enough weird, just yesterday I was reading a short article in the recent Wanderlust magazine that listed ’sewer tours worth a visit’ ranging from the sewers to Paris to New Dehli.

It sure is a weird, weird world.

One of the things I always do when traveling is check out the local bookstores. Not just the local Borders or Barnes and Noble but also whatever independent bookstores might be around. Last year I discovered the Fieria de Libros - Madrid’s Open Air Book Market and New York City’s Strand Bookstore.

This year I’m looking to discover more bookstores around the world. But because I’m not traveling at the moment, it will have to be via the internet. And so far, I’ve discovered some new and interesting places to add to my ‘bookstore’ list.

The Guardian’s Sean Dobson list of 10 bookshops from around the world has introduced me to Boekhandel Selexyz Dominicanen in Maastricht, a 800-year-old church converted into a bookstore and El Ateneo in Buenos Aires, another convert, this time from movie theater to bookstore.

The Boston Traveler’s Ten Great Places to Browse Books in Boston includes Brattle Book Shop, a antiquarian bookstore that’s been around since 1825.

Rolf Potts put together a Very Subjective Guide to Bookstores praising Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon and Shakespeare & Company in Paris, France.

The Bookstore Guide, an amateur guide to book shopping throughout Europe, lists Livraria Lello in Porto, Portugal and The Bookàbar Bookshop in Rome as top impressive appearance bookstores.

USAToday’s Nine destination bookstores worth putting on a tourist’s itinerary highlights the Elliott Bay Book Co in Seattle, Washington and the Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, Colorado.

With recommendations like these, my bookstore list is growing.

Want to add to it?

What’s your favorite non-chain bookstore?

This week’s reading included two articles that featured some of my favorite things - coffee, walking, and writing.

USAToday’s article on 10 great places to take a literary hike had me wishing I could just put on my walking shoes and hit the trail. Created by Joni Rendon, author of Novel Destinations, the list highlighted literary places such as Bronte’s Yorkshire Moors, Thoreau’s Walden Pond, and Jack London’s Beauty Ranch Trail.

And then I came across a post at TripHow that focused on current day literary cafes in Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as a brief look at the tradition of literary cafes in Europe. Turns out you can get a book, The Grand Literary Cafés of Europe by Noel Riley Fitch, profiling 40 historic literary cafes in Europe (all of which are still in business). Cafes such as Le Procope in Paris that first opened it’s doors in 1686. And Café De Oriente in Madrid where Salvador Dali and Federico Garcia Lorca would meet.

Coffee, walking, and writing - sounds like a perfect way to travel.

Have you ever read a book and then started day dreaming about visiting the place where the characters are living?

Or imagined staying at the place or sit in a cafe where an author wrote a certain book?

I know I have.

On a recent trip to Madrid, I was hyped by the idea that I was able to sit and drink a beer in the same cafe that Hemingway once sat and wrote in. And that I could eat in the same restauarant (Cafe Botin) that was a favorite Hemmingway haunt and also the final meeting place of Jake and Brett in the last pages of The Sun Also Rises.

Being able to walk in the footsteps of authors and their characters is the focus of a new book published by National Geographic. Called Novel Destinations, it provides a guide to literary sites, festivals, and tours around the world. After all, not all places are as easily found or known about as Hemmingway’s Madrid.

Novel Destinations travels the world, focusing on classic writers such as the Bronte sisters, Steinbeck, Dostoevsky’s and the like. This is not a book for those looking for the Da Vinci Code.

The book has a companion website where you can find out more about the book and it’s authors.

You can also read an interview with the books authors over at Intelligent Travel.

With all the talk these days about having to pay for luggage and using cell phones inflight, I thought it would be interesting to revisit the early days of passenger air travel.

Back when air travel was in it’s infancy…

The less you weighed the more luggage you could take. Weight allowances were closely monitored. Passengers and their luggage were weighed together at the check in counter with the maximum weight allowance being a combination of person and luggage.

Stewardesses used to carry the luggage onboard and also pump the fuel. In the 1930’s stewardesses hired by Boeing Air Transport (now known as United Airlines) were all registered nurses who wore white uniforms onboard, dusted the plane, screwed down any loose seats, and even helped push planes into hangers.

Airlines used to provide flying gear. Because the early planes were unheated, passengers were often provided with flying togs with paper liners to insulate them from the cold, helmuts and gloves, and even hot water bottles.

Pilots used to pass messages about flight times etc by paper to the passengers. Planes were too noisy for conversation. Passengers often stuffed cotton wool in their ears to try and drown out the sound of the engines. It wasn’t until the 1930’s that cabins were soundproofed and a steward call button system introduced.

Early planes only flew during the day as night time flying was considered too risky. And many flights were suspended altogether in winter. Rather than fly during the night, the plane landed and passengers disembarked and were accommodated in a hotel. Night flying was seen as neither safe nor humane.

Flights often took days rather than hours. The first long distance flight in 1924 between Amsterdam and Jakerta took 55 days, averaging a speed of 75 mph. By 1929, the same flight took 12 days. It wasn’t until the 1940s that a flight from London to New York took under 24 hours.

Today’s air travel might not be perfect but you have to agree that it sure is an improvement over the early days of travel.