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Well, 2019, here we are.
Being mid January, we've had some time to process what 2018 meant to us. This powerful photo in the Bernese Highlands of Switzerland (credit Abe Raats) nicely sums up our year. 2018 was all about seeing the big picture. We were reminded of what really matters, the fragility of life, and the gift we are all given to explore this big beautiful world because it really is a gift.
In 2018, we traveled more. We got back to the "why" behind Anywhere, and reestablished our commitment to exploration and discovery.
Time seems to speed up the older we get, and there will never be enough hours in our lifetime to see even a glimpse of its entirety. And that's what makes attempting to try so significant, even if you are just discovering small corners of the world. In fact, we think these are the most important.
We continue to build Anywhere slowly and with intention. We have some exciting developments in 2019 we can't wait to share. But for now, here are the top 10 most significant moments of 2018, in no particular order. Ok, there are actually 11. We couldn't decide! Thank you for sharing this journey with us.
We hope you enjoy.
Nick and Kelly
11. Hawaii. Witnessing our daughter's toes dip into the ocean for the first time.
East shore, Oahu
10. Your adventures! Getting to see people take the gear we made all over the world: Tokyo, London, Paris, Poland, Ireland, Mexico City, Iceland, Amsterdam, Montreal, and Nepal were top destinations for our customers.
We are so fortunate to experience the world through your eyes, your trips, your stories, and your photos. Knowing that we are a part of each journey is the most rewarding feeling you can imagine. This is why we started, and what keeps us going.
Chanelle from Minneapolis, on the North Shore. credit: Nathan O'Malley
Michael from NYC, brewery hopping in Connecticut
Manda from Minneapolis, admiring a glacier in Iceland
9. Our global network of friends. We were so fortunate to collaborate with so many talented people in 2018. Anywhere was shot and promoted in amazing locations around the world because of these teams:
Abe Raats and Babette Bouwman in Paris and Burg Eltz Castle, Germany
Noah Heath with Sierra Messner on an Alpine Lake, Santorini, and Hamburg
Onward Archive in San Juan De Gastgatxe, Spain
Landon Mondragon and Alexis Stetler, Arizona desert
Pola of Jetting Around with friend Riccardo shot by Parisian Cliches, Paris
Samantha Nandez and Vladimir Weinstein, London and Paris
8. New products. The launch of our Tencel Travel Pants which sold out once, so we made more! We have been getting fantastic feedback on these lightweight multi-wear pants made in partnership with Winsome Goods in Minneapolis. We've tested them ourselves in Hawaii, France, and Colorado. Stay tuned for a surprise color coming soon.
7. This couple and their inspiring Alaskan feature in Undone Magazine. Samantha Whillock and Jackson Mcdowell of Jack Pine and Thyme are always up for an adventure. Sam's latest excursion involved floral arranging in Mexico City and we hear she's headed back to do it again.
6. Adventure travel through Japan with our then not-quite-2-year-old terror. Because any trip can be adventure travel if you just bring a toddler.
5. British Vogue. Not one, not two, but three features in the UK's fashion bible. A dream come true.
photo: Samantha Nandez
4. So many trips! We can't believe we covered so much ground in one year. Japan, the North Shore, Grand Rapids, Colorado, Seattle, Wales, Hawaii, France, Chicago, NYC, and the Cascade Mountains, Washington. Most happened with our daughter in tow and we are so thankful she is growing up to love adventure.
Lake Chalen, Washington State
3. Road trip! Introducing the lovely people of Madison to our wears. Thank you One-One-Thousand for having us. This is the city where Nick and I met. It was nice to be back.
Wisconsin State Capitol, view from the Edgewater Hotel, Madison
2. Surprises. Seeing the looks on our customers' faces when receiving a surprise jacket gift! There were more than a handful this year, but the most memorable was Talia, whose thoughtful husband planted a secret note in the pocket of her new coat. It was the sweetest moment of the holidays.
Talia discovering her surprise x-mas gift from her husband at the Linden Hills Minneapolis Craft Market
1. Bicycling in Provence, wild, free, with our Tencel Travel Pants and a lot of rosé.
Thank you for a memorable year, one that created a lot of perspective. Cheers to 2019, and let's all keep discovering those little corners of our world.
Les Baux, France
In October 2015, with a baby on the way, we ventured off to the Azores, a chain of Portuguese islands in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. As our baby girl rocked in the womb, we were swept up in the power and tranquility of nature's best amphitheater, the sea.
Enjoy,
Nick + Kelly
Anywhere Co-founders
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THE AMERICAN MIDWEST is almost instinctively casual. My friend was bartending at a nicer hotel in Minneapolis when an older couple from New York sat down next to me at the rail and asked him for restaurant recommendations. He pointed them to me since I’d lived in the area longer, and after inquiring to their tastes, we had whittled down the list to a half dozen nicer chophouses. Before they headed back to their room, they asked me in passing what the dress codes were like. I had to laugh – if you behaved the part, I doubt there’s a restaurant in the upper Midwest you couldn’t comfortably stroll into wearing denim.
As a consequence, growing up there, there was almost no call to own or wear particularly nice clothes. I mean, you had nice clothes, for nice occasions, but it was a costume, something worn uncomfortably alongside an apologetic half-smile. It was some time before I owned a comfortable wool sport jacket or encountered a situation where it felt right to wear.
Putting it on, I recalled the Mark Twain version of a quote about clothes making the man (a naked man looking pretty silly). I still wasn’t completely comfortable – I felt as though I was pretending to be someone I wasn’t, subtly lying to those around me about myself.
Two things struck me most, though. More superficially, I watched as people just accepted me and how I was dressed – they didn’t seem to notice that I was wearing an outfit completely out of character. More importantly, they treated me differently – the clothes I was wearing, how I appeared, how I held myself – they took it as natural, and they treated me as such.
“Putting a jacket on didn’t change how I saw the world, per se, but it did change how the world saw me, and in doing so, it changed the world I saw.”
This seed germinated for years, and as I mulled it, I more clearly noticed the doors that opened, and those that closed, with every costume change. I learned to inhabit different outfits, and feel at home in them, since I wanted to explore and, to see all the different worlds out there, you had to learn to step into them. There were many portals to different places, but one of the most basic, and most universal, was just what you wore. In a very quiet way, changing your shirt did change your world. It irked me how trivial it seemed, given how little I thought of what I wore (and still do!). But who am I to argue with reality? Whatever else I wanted out of the world, I needed to be able to see it first to do anything within it.
Unfortunately, clothes are expensive and a hassle to carry with you. I missed the childhood simplicity of owning one pair of sneakers, a comfortable pair of jeans, and few pairs of socks without many holes. I hated the burden of ownership – it seemed anathema to exploration. You started focusing on maintaining what you owned, curating your styles, expressing your identity. This was a very inward-facing approach to the world, and it obscured the world I wanted to be out seeing.
You can see where this is headed. Anywhere was built around the idea of clothes that open more doors than they close, to all the different worlds out there. We aren’t intrinsically founded in either fashion or in technical spec lists, or even in self-expression or identity signaling. We’re founded upon the idea of being able to slip between worlds, to explore. It’s a funny message to try and communicate to your consumer in this day and age: the world isn’t about you, and that’s part of what makes it so magical.
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Jan 31, #traveltuesday, is also known as National Plan For Vacation Day. Why do we need a national holiday dedicated to planning our time off?
They are happier with:
We're all about spontaneous experiences with travel, but you can't satisfy those whims with a 9-5 schedule if you don't allow the space for them to happen. Paradoxical? Yes, but also very real. Planning is important.
If the health and happiness benefits of time off aren't enough to sell you, try this: Research shows that simply having something to look forward to—like a vacation—improves your happiness.
Think about the amount of time you spend daydreaming about a trip you've booked. You imagine yourself being there, totally immersed in the new environment. Maybe you even continue to browse images of your destination, anticipating how you'll feel. All of these positive emotions add up to a happier outlook, more energy, and more motivation in your every day.
One more reason to put those getaway dates on your calendar:
People who spend their money creating memories tend to be happier than those who buy material goods. We've known for a while that experiences are more meaningful than things. Experiences shared with loved ones live on and multiply through generations. And isn't that what we all want at the end of the day?
Happy travels in 2017. We can't wait to hear from you when you return.
Now go plan that trip!
Nick, Kelly, and Alisa
PS: All research comes from Project Time Off. If you feel like taking vacation is difficult due to an unsupportive work environment, anxiety about leaving responsibilities, or fear of losing your job, GO HERE for tools, support, and more info. Or, watch this PSA first:
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2016, the year of the fire monkey, was a big unpredictable adventure. What did we accomplish?
Oh yeah, and we won a nice award from Minnesota Business Magazine and got featured on Twin Cities Live!
Doing all this with a small team required some serious monkey skills:
According to the Chinese zodiac, monkeys are nimble and clever. Being a monkey last year wasn't easy, but nothing worth achieving ever is.
2017 is the year of the Rooster. If we were all Roosters, the trains would run on time, loyalty would rule, and we would all be hyper motivated to achieve our goals. Rooters pride themselves on:
What does that mean for us at Anywhere? Other than trying to be on time for our meetings, we're getting personal, sharing more about what we do every day, the people behind our vision, and why we wake up early feeling excited about the future.
Here's where we get really excited about building this company. This year is all about YOUR ADVENTURES. What inspires you? What tools are you looking for to make your trips easier and more rewarding? We're listening and working to come up with answers.
Events! Come hang out with us! We're fun, and we will nerd out with you about your trips. Meet us in person. Tell us about your next destination. Calendar coming soon!
Travel hacks. How do you really pack light? What's the secret?
Contests. Win nice stuff. Have a good time doing it.
Inspiring stories. Hear from real people with amazing experiences. Learn from them.
Unique tools. We'll share the latest and most innovative travel tools. We've seen a lot, and make a point to only share the best.
Jackets. Finally! Revolutionary convertibility and reversible style will drop this year. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither were these beauties. But they are worth the wait. RESERVE YOURS TODAY.
New accessories. Durable, functional and beautiful. We can't wait to show you!
Behind-the-scenes. What does it really take to create stuff? We reveal the creative process and people involved.
Collaborations. We're already partnering with two fantastic MN travel brands, Urban Undercover and Montgomery Collection. More to come!
Have ideas? We want to hear! Get in touch with Kelly at info@anywhereapparel.com.
To kick off the year of the Rooster, we'll end here with a view of what it's like to be in China during Chinese New Year. This event, called chunyun, marks the biggest human migration in the world as people travel home to be with loved ones.
Cheers to 2017!
Nick, Kelly, and Alisa
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When you hear the words "travel clothing," what comes to mind? Bulky cargo pants? Lots of pockets? Athletic wear? Often, travelwear is synonymous with unstylish or sporty. While it is certainly necessary to pack functional, comfortable clothing, style doesn't need to be abandoned. Fashion is, in fact, functional - especially when you're a visitor in someone else's country.
If you’ve packed clothes which mark you as a certain type of different from the locals, the person you ask directions of might only recommend that which they see as suiting that style of different. No wants to be turned away from the Vatican for lack of shoulder coverage, or denied access to a temple in Bali because you don’t have a sarong, or given the wrong look from a nightclub doorman in Paris because you are dressed too casually.
This is why we created the Men’s Terminus Base and Women’s Transfer Top.
1. I can get away with wearing it a lot…and still smell good.
The lighter you pack, the more you’re able to experience. This means re-wearing clothing items. You may be carrying a light pack, but no one wants to smell like a backpacker. Your base layer or top should be able to repel odor.
2. It doesn't make me look like I'm wearing "travel clothes."
Your top should be built for travel, but it doesn't have to explicitly mark you as a tourist. How many different places can you wear it? Is it built for hiking, site-seeing, museum hopping, and upscale restaurants? If it can’t stretch across at least three different activities, it’s probably not worth packing.
3. It works with my entire trip wardrobe
How many different ways can you wear it? Is it classic enough to pair with both dressy and casual pants/bottoms? Big logos or graphic shirts with loud prints limit your options. Basic is always best.
4. It’s so comfortable, I forget I’m wearing it
Wearing something next to the skin for days on end can be awful if that material isn’t breathable or soft. Your travel clothing should have all of the benefits of athletic performance apparel without looking like it.
5. The pockets are durable and functional
Pockets shouldn’t just be design details, even on a light-weight T-shirt. When you’re traveling, they need to be able to securely hold passports, cash, or credit cards.
A classic crew neck cut, designed for optimal versatility. Flat lock seams reduce chaffing. We opted for traditional sleeves as opposed to raglan for a classic, non-sporty look to fit a wide range of environments.
Odor-resistant with the power of bamboo. Our team field tested this ultra-premium fabric around the world. The result? It doesn't retain scent like polyester. Bamboo is naturally anti-microbial and, in our experience, performs far better than synthetic athletic fabrics. This means you can get away with wearing it multiple days in a row.
A bonded welt pocket at the chest is more durable than traditional T-shirt patch pockets and creates a clean look. Sized for your passport.
A hidden pocket at the back neck is the perfect place to temporarily stash a passport or extra cash. Feel secure, and keep pick-pockets guessing. The pocket liner is made of a wicking mesh with mostly bamboo charcoal to keep sweat off your upper back.
Reversible and layered so you can achieve multiple looks with just one garment. Basic colors are easy to wear and pair with everything. Keep your options open without the extra bulk to go with it. This top has got you covered for the whole trip.
Side A: Our barely-there wicking performance fabric is ultra light weight and reads anything but sporty. A custom embossed ocean swirl pattern is one-of-a-kind.
Side B: Turn inside out to reveal exceptionally soft, odor-resistant bamboo. This touchable fabric keeps you fresh for days on end and does not retain scent.
A universally flattering shirt-tail hem makes it easy to pair with any bottom. Tuck in just one layer for a simplified, clean look with a pop of color at the collar. Cuff the sleeves, and tuck in one or both layers for a whole new look and feel.
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The Japanese author Kondō Marie put out a book several years ago about decluttering. After finally reading it last year, it occurred to us that in a sense, that’s what we’re trying to do with the stuff of travel. We’re not travel minimalists, though that probably comes close to what we’re trying to do.
We make clothing that works in just about any social or cultural context, which packs lightly and has great travel features but doesn’t advertise them. We want you to be able to ignore us and focus on the trip, and not on whether you look appropriate or how much you’re carrying. But more than that, we want to champion an idea of modern exploration. The problem is that modernity often means "more is more."
In today's age of apps and information, sometimes the planning aspect of travel can feel fragmented. There are tons of great pack lists and itineraries out there, maps and guidebooks, and waterproof sleeves to carry it all in. But sorting through ten different confirmation packets while in line for a flight check-in or carrying your Lonely Planet guidebook out to the bars is a little cumbersome. Or, you can pack all that stuff onto your phone, and carry with you those burdens: you’re never really unplugged and present in the place you spent so much effort to get to. You have to worry about data connections and rain and charging and app crashes, and you can’t always hand your $700 smartphone to a stranger to try and get directions from the map you saved.
You do have to carry information with you though, and it can be heavy in its own way. So, just like our apparel, we’ve honed the idea of a trip sheet over years of our own journeys to help you travel more lightly. Essentially, you just identify all the critical information you need for the trip (and no more), and put it on one sheet of paper in a convenient, well-designed way.
At first glance, this may look data-heavy. But, when you consider that this one sheet replaces multiple maps, guidebooks, lists, and other info, it really does save time and space.
It helps to put the sheet together so that it folds into eighths, and to display the data which is most important or which needs to be checked most discreetly on the sections which can face outwards. Really, these are great guides, but you can compose a sheet any way you like. The most important thing we’ve found is getting the key data down to one sheet of paper that folds up discreetly in your pocket.
We’ve found some of the list below worth including, but only as needed:
Flights
departure (highlighted) and arrival time/date, length, carrier/flight number, confirm/ticket numbers, seats, layover lengths, terminals, connection lengths, visa needs and options, airline help number
Rental cars
on-site or off-site/shuttle-to-lot, times, brand, cost, confirm #, office hours/phone number, toll way payment systems and routes, any IDP/license/age/insurance requirements
Train / ferry / bus reservations
especially for night trains and long-hauls, departure/arrivals/trip length, connections, next available departures, prior and next stops to destination, terminus, car/seat numbers, special platform/terminal locations, transport options/hours to/from terminals, notes on trains that separate halfway through the route or have branch routes, food service/bathrooms, cost
Hotels
check-in/out times/dates, hours of property entry, address (also written in foreign language for cabbies etc.), front desk phone, cost/amount still due, confirm #,
Rail pass
number, activation instructions, help line, duration, line/quality restrictions, what to do in case of loss,
Weather forecasts
actual simple forecasts for the near-term, climate averages for the longer-term, weather conditions idiosyncratic to the area – like sideways rain, extreme cold, or dust storms, Celsius to Fahrenheit conversions
Exchange rates
using a unitary conversion for native and foreign currency, as well as a rule of thumb for odd rates (e.g. for 1:8, use also 5:40, to make mental conversions easier), options for obtaining cash in-country
Tipping conventions / other etiquette
amounts, contexts, other local obligations and niceties
Dialing info
local area code calling conventions, country exit code, international country numbers, dial-in country codes for your home country, consulate and embassy phone numbers/addresses (plus addresses in local language/literation to ask for help with),
Useful, more logistics-oriented, phrases
“Excuse me”, “thank you”, “where…”, “hotel” or “bed”, “food”, “bathroom”, “hospital”, “medicine”, “police”, with phonetic pronunciations and local literation,
Time differences
both relative to home and to the last place you were
Maps, maps, maps
where are the hotels, how’s the city or island or country laid out, subway maps, bus routes, major highways, airport terminals, sites of interest, etc. for the places you’ll actually need them for – getting off a subway at 11:00pm and trying to find a hotel seven blocks away can often be much more daunting than you’d expect
Some white space in the margin for notes – things always come up
As a bonus, not only can it be fun to put one of these together (not for everyone, of course – often it's worth just winging it, or other times you know enough already to skip the sheet), but these also can serve as a great memento of the trip. We’ve sometimes found that, even more than pictures or souvenirs, the trip sheet can take you back to the immediacy of the trip and finding your way more than any keepsake. It helps remind you where you’ve actually been.
]]>His images capture an ephemeral moment or story that result from both preparedness and open-mindedness. We caught up with the travel and adventure photographer to learn more about his travel style and philosophy behind the lens.
Quick facts:
Portfolio:
How did you get into travel photography?
I first got into photography with my smartphone. I had a Lumia 1020 which is still one of the best smartphone cameras out there. I got a gig selling photos from the phone to Nokia, where each month I would get an assignment for a certain style of photography. The assignments were a lot of fun. They forced me to be creative with different styles of photography. One month would be water-focused photography; the next would be people-focused. In 2014 I spent my summer in Seattle and that’s where I really got into the idea of telling stories with photography - taking a few trips out into the Cascades and out to Pacific Coast at La Push, WA. Those experiences crystalized for me how the one augments the other. Travel has always been a passion of mine, and photography added a creative challenge to it that made the whole experience more rewarding.
"La Push, WA" – I actually took this with my smartphone back when I was just starting out with photography. The coast of Washington is mostly undeveloped, and you can camp out right on the beach. The mornings are usually foggy, so when the sun starts to burn it off you get these amazing streams of light coming through the trees. This is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been.
How would you describe your artistic point of view?
If I have a signature style, it’s that I like to integrate off-camera flash into my photography to add some dynamic texture to my subjects, and open up a wider range of light environments to photography. In a broader sense, though, I just try to focus on capturing the sense of place that I am experiencing as I travel. I try not to force a certain style on the place, but let the place lead me to the compositions that tell its story. This requires a bit of patience, waiting and watching and talking to people before I start capturing photos.
"Fisherman by Boat in Thailand" - I am probably most proud of this shot, not only because I love the color and composition, but because of how it came together. This was taken on Koh Lanta, an island in southern Thailand. I found the boat the day before while scouting out sunrise shots on my motorbike. The next day I got up before sunrise and motorbiked back to the spot. The island was dark and silent, except for the sound of the morning call to prayer at the mosque. I had never experienced anything like that before - it was really incredible. At the boat I was setting up my flash (to illuminate it against the rising sun), and this guy randomly walks up to me through the marsh and just points to himself, and then points to the boat. It was just a “coming together” moment for me - I had been practicing off camera flash photography, bought remotes, brought a lot of gear, scouted out, and all that preparation proved its worth in this totally unexpected moment.
What kinds of subjects/environments are your favorite?
People in their natural environment, just doing their thing. I love capturing people doing the ordinary, and then adding this element of drama with off-camera flash. When working with strangers this can be tough because you have to work so fast and sometimes the shot just doesn’t turn out before people move on. It’s also a bit nerve-wracking because I’m actually a bit shy working with strangers, but when the composition comes together, I get this exhilarating feeling of having captured something meaningful while overcoming my fear.
"Children in Village" -- I did a three-day trek through the Namtha NPA, a “protected” jungle outside of Luang Namtha, in northern Laos. The trek was amazing; think banyan trees, banana trees (which we ate… I had no idea you could eat the tree itself), and Akha women foraging for bamboo shoots. We passed through a village where again I just set up my flash on a little rise to balance whatever I could shoot against the setting sun. There was this guy in a pressed white shirt on his motorcycle, and I asked if I could take his photo. Soon a semicircle of about thirty men and children were watching me, jumping into frame for photos. It was a proper photo shoot with 10% of the village population. I love this picture because of the composition and the whimsical look of the children, which was caught by chance - they were laughing and jumping around the rest of the time.
What, in your opinion, makes a travel photo compelling?
Something that tells a story about the way you experienced a place. Travel is a two way street: what you bring to the place and what the place brings to you. If you’re in the city, street photography offers endless opportunities. Try to integrate what stands out to you the most, it could be the street hawkers, it could be the art, it could the motorbikes that everyone is riding. If you’re out in the rural areas or in the wilderness, try to get up at sunrise to capture a few shots - that’s when landscapes really come alive.
How much planning do you do for shoots when traveling? How much is spontaneous?
On my trip through South East Asia last year I did a lot of pre-planning. I brought a lot of lighting gear that would hold up to the demands of traveling in a backpack. When I would arrive in a new place, I would rent a motorbike and spend part of a day scouting out the surrounding areas for good photo opportunities. In Thailand I would mark these places using downloaded maps from the app HERE. I would drop stars (pins) on the spots that looked good and would come back when the lighting was better. This lead to some chance encounters with a few locals that were spontaneous in the moment, but never would have happened had I not scouted things out the day before. In Laos - where neither Google nor HERE maps have anything close to an accurate representation of the actual road network to offer - I just scouted out and did my best. I even used some hand drawn maps that I found in villages and took pictures of them with my phone. This lead to a lot of really hilarious conversations where I was pointing to a hand drawn map (in English) to locals and they were looking at me like, who is this guy on a mountain bike in our village pointing at his phone?
"Noodle soup stall in Bangkok" - Spending a day, or several days, just taking the boats up and down the Chao Praya river and walking the neighborhoods of Bangkok is a great way to get to know the city. This soup stall, which I found in an alley in Chinatown, really captures the vibe of the street in Bangkok. It’s crowded with people, food stalls, and motorbikes, but is somehow calming and serene at the same time. If you’re in Bangkok, skip Khao San and Sukhumvit and meander around Talad Noi, Chinatown, and the Lamphu Canal - you’ll see more of Bangkok and fewer cargo shorts.
You've taken some great shots of children and locals on your trips. How do you approach them?
My favorite shots of children and locals have happened through a combination of spontaneity and preparation. I never walk up to someone and point a camera in their face. I just don’t feel comfortable doing it. The best moments have come when I’ve set up some lighting equipment to just shoot a landscape where I want to illuminate something in the foreground or balance something against a sunset. It usually draws some curiosity, as I explain above in the caption for the picture of the fisherman by the boat and the kids in Laos.
Do you ever have moments when you travel when you don't want to capture a photo? How do you decide when to “unplug” from the lens?
Yes there are a lot. It’s cliche but I like to work hard and play hard. When I go out and shoot I’ll spend a whole day, or a whole morning, or a whole night - whatever the place has on offer - and have my camera with me all the time. When I’m done though, I’ll go lock it up in my room or stuff it into my bag so I’m disconnected from it, which allows me to focus on the people I’m with or that I’ve met on the trail. As I’ve said, I try to tell a story with my photography, and if all I’m doing is just taking photos the entire time - what story is there to tell?
With the growing popularity of cell phone cameras, filters, and apps, some people think traditional photography is a dying craft. What's your take on this?
My father was a professional photographer in the traditional sense. He shot film, he had an intimate understanding of aperture, ISO, shutter speed, and ambient and artificial light that allowed him to confidently shoot a wedding, a safari, a landscape, without being able to look at the back of the camera to see how it came out. That is a true master skill, and I can’t think of a single person I know that shoots film these days. So in that sense I think traditional photography is already dead, but only in the sense that film was a traditional technology. Photography is an art, not a technology, so I don’t think that can die. Yes, anyone can put a DSLR on auto-mode and take well-exposed, high resolution photos now, and these days you can do the same thing with your smartphone camera - even National Geographic has had cover photos from smartphones. But not everyone will take time to contemplate the elements of composition, of storytelling, of capturing an image that conveys something more than just being well-exposed and sharp.
"Granite face over the Merced River, Yosemite" - This was taken a few months ago in Yosemite. Fresh snow had just fallen and the beauty of the valley was elevated. Yosemite has some serious magic, and I think this photo captures some of it.
If you were to walk out of your hotel room and carry one camera setup, what would it be?
When I’m going out for a whole day and don’t want to carry a lot of gear, I’ll take my Canon 5D Mark II and a 24-70mm 2.8 aperture zoom lens. This is a very versatile lens; you can do street photography, landscapes, portraits, star photography, just about anything.
Have you found that the clothing or gear you've worn has impacted the shots you are able to get when traveling?
I try not to bring very many clothes, so I pack one outfit that is similar to what I would wear in DC, and the rest is functional for treks, motorbiking, beach, whatever. I do a lot of trekking and motor biking when I travel so functional gear is just so huge, and without it I feel I would be restricting myself from plunging through the jungle to get a shot of a river, or scrambling an incline to get a better vantage point, because normal clothes would just be in tatters from that. Social context also has a lot to do with how people will interact with you, so for instance in northern Laos, where the people tend to be much more conservative, both your clothing and your conduct matter more.
What is your travel fashion style?
In the city I try to have a good pair of chinos and short-sleeve button up shirt with a pair of low-key sneakers. If I’m in transport mode I just dress functionally, and if I’m out on a multi-day trek I stash all my extra stuff with the outfitter and wear whatever will allow me to retain some semblance of dignity without showering.
How do you travel with expensive photography gear, especially in areas where security is a concern?
When I travelled through South East Asia last year, I had a Chrome camera bag that could hold a really great photography kit, but could also fit inside of my big traveling backpack. The upside of this was that I was totally discreet when in transit. The downside was that it was a pretty heavy setup. I think the biggest security issue to keep in mind is staying in a place where you can lock your stuff up and be confident about it - which means avoiding hostels that cater to partying backpackers which are by far the most likely people to nab your stuff. When you’re on the street with a really expensive photography kit, you’re going to look like a tourist, but you are a tourist so don’t worry about it - just be yourself and be aware of what’s going on around you.
Where is your dream destination for photography?
That’s so tough! Can I say a ten-year trip to everywhere? I’m most excited about Mongolia right now. It’s just so vast and epic and diverse. I want to be able to work with some of the people out on the steppe, capturing the traditional nomadic lifestyle and also the mashup created by development which I find very fascinating.
A lot of travelers are aspiring photographers. How do you practice your craft without ruining the magic of travel?
It can be a struggle. I think it helps to be deliberate, especially if you are traveling with someone else. Decide when and what you want to be shooting. Usually the middle of the day is a bad time to be shooting because the sun washes everything out, so you can get your gear for early morning or late afternoon/sunset. Shoot one day, then don’t shoot the next. It’s whatever works for you, but you really don’t have to have your camera on you 24/7 when traveling to get amazing travel photos and be able to tell a story.
]]>photo: @ying.yang.photo
Her photos are more than just eye candy. She often posts tips, insider knowledge, and insightful quotes from travel essays about each place she experiences. Whether she’s enjoying a glass of wine in Santorini or exploring the ruins of Ta Prohm in Cambodia, it’s clear that she feels at home just about anywhere. Plus, she is an expert at traveling light, staying comfortable, and always looking well-dressed for the occasion.
We caught up with Ana to ask about her travel philosophy, the fashion scene in Lisbon, and how she packs for her favorite places around the world.
TRAVEL STATS:
Ana's favorite places:
Klein Curaçao in Curaçao. For me it embodies everyone’s fantasy of a tropical island getaway.
South Africa Pilanesberg National Park. I was riding in a similar balloon when I took this photo.
Singapore is one of my favourite cities. I love how they were able to combine technology with nature in the Gardens by the Bay.
Nyaven, Copenhagen, Denmark. I was in the harbor to have dinner in one of the nice restaurants when I saw the balloons flying over. It was really special!
A water gardener looking over lotus leaves in Cambodia.
TRAVEL PHILOSOPHY
Anywhere: Why is travel so important to you?
Ana: Travel is important to me because it allows me to connect with my history, my cultural heritage, and helps me on my personal development. You learn something new on each trip. It's the best education you can have. Plus it's fun!
Anywhere: Name your top three favorite places in the world. What makes each one special to you?
Ana: Excluding my own country Portugal, my three favorite places in the world are:
1. Japan – because of its culture, I love everything about it! The friendliness and politeness of the people, the food, the animation and manga style comics, the beauty of the Japanese gardens especially in the Spring when the cherry trees blossom, the cleanness of the taxis and the honesty of their drivers. The list goes on and on...
2. Italy – For obvious reasons: the food, the history, and the art.
3. Chile, Peru, and the Maldives. Sorry I couldn’t bring myself to pick just one more place: the first two because of the breathtaking landscapes and the third because of the amazing marine life. The National Park Torres del Paine in Chile is one of the most magical places on earth for me!
National Park Torres del Paine, Chile.
Anywhere: What is your dream destination or experience and why?
Ana: Right now it’s Zambia, because I can’t wait to experience the Devil's pool. This natural pool is created each year at the fringes of Victoria Falls, when the dry season reduces water levels to create what has been called by many the ultimate infinity pool.
Anywhere: What is something about travel that you didn’t read about or know about until you experienced it firsthand?
Ana: Many times you imagine that some land mark sites or places are huge in size and when you get there you discover they are not. I remember visiting Disney World Paris for the first time and being so disappointed at the size of it.
Anywhere: Do you have a favorite travel memory? What makes it stand out to you?
Ana: Dominican Republic. This was special to me because it was the last family vacation I took with both my parents. Shortly after, my father passed away.
Anywhere: Out of all of your trips, what place felt the most far away or foreign to you?
Ana: The road through the mountains from the Dead Sea to Petra in Jordan. I could not understand what was written in the road signs and felt really insecure.
THE LISBON FASHION SCENE
Anywhere: What is the fashion like in Lisbon right now?
Ana: In today's world, when it comes to street wear and fashion it's very hard to distinguish between cities, especially in western countries because you find the same stores and brands everywhere you go. Fashion trends tend to be very similar whether you are in Paris, Madrid, New York, or Lisbon. In Lisbon, people tend to dress well and in a conservative way. It's a smart- casual style.
Ana’s scarf is reversible, with a blue pattern on one side and black on the other. The blue reminds her of traditional Portuguese blue tiles. She told us when the temperature is mild, not to cold, not to hot, this is ideal to pair up with a simple pair of jeans and white shirt or long sleeve t-shirt. You can add a hat for effect and there you go -- you look super trendy! Girls in Lisbon play a lot with these kind of accessories right now.
The view from St. Jorge Castle where Ana loves to read and relax a little. The castle is always full of tourists, but the gardens have a few secluded and quiet spots.
Ana’s coat, from Stradivarius, is currently popular on Lisbon streets. Her bag is from Portuguese designer Ana Salazar, and the belt around the bag has a Portuguese coat of arms. Here is Terreiro do Paço, a square that overlooks the river Tagus. The Tagus River is connected to many important moments in Lisbon’s history and its people.
WHAT TO PACK FOR LISBON
Anywhere: What should Lisbon visitors consider when packing?
Ana: When packing for Lisbon the most important item you must bring with you is comfortable shoes. The cobblestone streets and hills of Lisbon are sometimes very steep and can become slippery when wet, so pack shoes that are comfortable to walk in. Tennis shoes or sneakers are good, and if like me you are a girl that can't live without heels in the city, then consider bringing shoes, sandals and boots with wedge or chunky heels and rubber / non slippery soles. Stilettos are not a good idea. The heels can get stuck on the cobblestones and make you fall.
A hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen are also a must. Lisbon is sunny for the most part of the year. In the summer you should bring shorts, t-shirts, tops, shirts, and light summer dresses. In the winter pack an umbrella, a rain coat, and a good jacket as it can get quite rainy and a bit chilly.
No matter the season, when you are visiting Lisbon layers are always a good idea. The weather has been so crazy lately that we can have all four seasons in one day (literally!) so bring light clothing that you can easily layer with something warmer like a cardigan sweater, a pullover and jacket or just a scarf or a pashmina.
Always keep the cobblestones streets of Lisbon in mind when packing because maneuvering a big suitcase in the streets can be difficult, and there may not be a lift if you’re staying in a budget accommodation or a hostel, so pack light and take a small carry on suitcase or a backpack.
SECRETS OF THE CITY
Anywhere: What is something people don’t know about Lisbon?
Ana: If you visit Lisbon in September you can do an underground tour of the city and see Roman Galleries which are more than 2,000 years old. These galleries are only open for three days of the year and are free to go inside, but you have to book in advance.
Another thing that might seem obvious, but a lot of people, including locals, don't know, is that one of the best views of the city, and the perfect place to watch the sunrise, is Praceta D. Fradique, next to Belmonte Palace. The Palace itself is a Portuguese National Heritage site, built in the 15th century and was recently restored and turned into a luxury hotel. It has a unique collection of tiles and was chosen by the German director Wim Wenders to shoot his film "Lisbon Story."
Cais das Colunas, where the Portuguese Navigators departed to discover new worlds
Anywhere: What would you advise visitors to experience in your city?
Ana: Ride the number 28 tram. This vintage yellow tram has a route that goes through the city center, crossing many touristic attractions, while navigating along winding and very narrow streets. It's a really nice ride!
Go to a fado house to experience the soul of Lisbon. Fado is a form of song that was born in the 19th century in Mouraria and Alfama, two of the city’s oldest districts. To get a feel of the traditional fado go to Bairro Alto. Walk around the streets and check inside the Tascas (small restaurant/bars) to find the real Fado.
Go to one of Lisbon's terrace restaurants/ bars. There are many beautiful ones in the city and there you can try the best food, best wine and enjoy some of the best city views ever.
PACKING LIGHT
Anywhere: What does traveling light mean to you?
Ana: Traveling light to me means two things: security and practicality.
Security: When you travel with a carry-on plane-sized suitcase, you can take it with you everywhere you go because it fits anywhere. It fits in the luggage rack above your head on a train or bus, in the overhead compartment of an airplane or between your legs on a ferry boat. This means you can keep an eye on it all the time and not worry about anything being stolen, damaged, or lost by airport handling services or worry about your luggage being tampered without you knowing.
Practicality: You save time when you travel light. You don't have to check your luggage at the airport, you don't have to wait for it when you arrive at your destination, and you feel more comfortable if you have to travel by public transport and carry your luggage through the streets and in and out of buses, trains or subways. With a light suitcase you can start to enjoy your destination immediately!
Anywhere: How do you choose what to pack?
Ana: I take the following points into consideration:
For more inspiration, check out Ana’s pages at www.thetravellightworld.com, @thetravellightworld on Instagram, and follow us @anywhereapparel
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THE STOWAWAY CONVERTIBLE JACKET
At Anywhere Apparel, travel is our passion and innovation in design is paramount. We confront the specific challenges of travel and go beyond high performance fabrics to bring you new solutions for navigating your journey. We strive to approach each problem afresh, rather than just combining borrowed solutions.
Our newest item, successfully funded on Kickstarter and available to everyone this fall, confronts several design challenges we were eager to take head-on, including:
After a year of development, we are proud to share with you the Stowaway Convertible Jacket.
Why we made it
We all know the struggle of layering for more temperate climates. You set out in the morning chill with full layers on, and by midday, when you’re halfway through that hike or cruising shops and museums, you’re sweating. When you’re traveling it is exponentially less convenient to be lugging your jacket around, and we all dread the tourist alarm bells sounded by the jacket tied around the waist. So when approaching the men’s jacket, we knew we wanted a silhouette that represented classic style, great fit, and something that could serve equally well traveling while it was taken off as when it was being worn.
We created our Stowaway convertible jacket to do something a bit unconventional, seamlessly transforming into a sleek messenger bag when it is no longer needed to keep the elements off.
To transform the jacket, simply fold in thirds vertically, starting with the top half. You'll find a zipper hidden under the back detail, with the other half in the back hem of the jacket. Zip the two together and snap the remaining sides in under the arms. Next, pull the concealed carabiner out of the right forearm pocket and attach to the loop on the opposite cuff. Sling over your shoulder and go!
A hidden exterior pocket placed at the back waistline of the coat becomes accessible from the front of the ‘bag,’ where you can keep important items and documents, or mementos you find along the way. These things can easily stay stored here when the jacket is converted back to its original state.
Details
The transformative nature may be the most striking aspect of the design, but we knew the totality of your travel needs could never be addressed by a singular feature, so we didn’t stop there. Our Stowaway coat is made for the whole journey. With underarm ventilation, interior back pockets for storing as much as a change of clothes, hidden valuables pockets, a key ring holder, and a water resistant hidden hood that doesn’t bulk up in the collar, we approached each feature with attention to detail and careful real-world testing.
Whether you’re hitting the trails, the streets, or getting off the beaten path entirely, the police uniform-quality wool blend fabric and quality construction is durable and strong enough to take you anywhere.
Our design team and partners work to source materials that will stand the test of time as well as stay true to a classic and timeless aesthetic. When you’re traveling, it is important to be aware and respectful of different standards in dress. While we can’t encompass them all in one garment, we approach each silhouette with a consciousness for different cultural environments.
Interior Pocket System
On the interior of the jacket, you will find a series of pockets for securing a phone, small tablet, valuables, and itineraries and passports, made with a durable, water-resistant lining. We have also designed large interior back pockets with cords stretched across the length of the top for draping a change of clothes. A quick-drying mesh pocket on the right interior is the perfect place for storing damp gloves, a hat or a scarf.
We redesigned the hidden hood to be rid of the bulky collar with exposed zipper, and instead stowed the hood away in the back yoke of the jacket, across the shoulders. This distributes the fabric more evenly, allowing more comfort as well as a sleek, minimalist style. We also included deep shoulder gussets for maximized range of movement and a polished, tailored look.
When can I get it?
The Stowaway Jacket will be hitting our online shop and available late fall of this year. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for updates and more of our innovative travel products.
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You say you’re building an ethical company. What does that mean?
We think about this in two ways:
One, esoterically: ethics is very tricky. Despite the best efforts of philosophers and theologians throughout history, there has been no unanimous consensus on what doing good means. Especially in practical terms when it comes to making clothes. Where do we make our trade-offs? Because there are always trade-offs.
Two, concretely: we look at it through the lens of the awful events in Beirut, Paris, Mali, San Bernardino, and, as well as the ongoing tragedies in Syria, Nepal, North Korea, Ukraine and countless other natural or political disaster zones. Bad stuff happens a lot out there in the wider world. What does that mean for Anywhere as a company?
We can’t change everything. But we can do our part. We believe we can help make the world a better place if we can help people to go out in it, and not just see, but experience the differences, understand them, and forge new connections. It’s good to wish the best for an abstracted idea of a culture or country far away, but to have family, friends, and new relationships over there humanizes it in a way no amount of idealism can replicate.
We also can’t be too unfocused. Just as we want to specialize in items that can improve traveling the most, we can’t spread ourselves too thin. We try to do right by everyone involved in the process of getting your clothes to you. We are trying to use:
We won’t always be perfect, but we try. We don’t donate to charities as a company. We don’t espouse political causes. Our purpose is very specifically to better empower people to experience more of the world. Those people can then decide on their own charities and politics: we believe they will, on the whole, make better choices and a bigger impact than if we take their money and do it for them. We trust you, our customer.
We don't post about the parade of world tragedies which have been occupying headlines for years. We focus on the positives of traveling, and the potential and hope we believe in. The awful things in this world already get a lot of press, and there are many, many good people trying their hardest to do something about them. But these events don’t often encourage hope, or an unbridled passion to explore. Our company vocation lies in this positive aspect, and it’s what we will try to cultivate as best we can.
And for what it’s worth, everyone at Anywhere has opinions on which politics, charities, or tragedies are deserving of attention or support, and in our personal lives we work at them as best we can, just like everyone else.
In short, Anywhere does right by its partners and travelers, and we help you to discover more of the world. The rest is up to you.
]]>When I was little, I was fascinated by the idea of someplace far away, someplace exotic, someplace different. I would look at maps and imagine myself lost on the far side of the planet, an intrepid explorer playing as Indiana Jones, or Zheng He, or Robert Scott (ill-starred as he might have been). I’d read both Victorian travelogues and fantasy novels, which always seemed to involve trekking across half a made-up world in order to assemble the necessary people and things to finish the quest (Lord of the Rings would not have been as fun if they could’ve fixed Middle Earth’s problems with a few weeks of phone calls and hard thinking in the Shire).
These stories all shared an aspect I didn’t appreciate the importance of then: physical distance, often exacerbated by the hardships of the intervening geography, was the defining characteristic. Tolkien wouldn’t have written three novels if his characters could’ve taken the nonstop redeye to Mordor. Livingstone could’ve phoned home periodically; Marco Polo could’ve dictated his travels into his GoPro over J-term instead of his cellmate in Genoa more than two decades later. Physical distance, while still relevant, no longer is the central difficulty confronting travelers. What is, then? And what does that shift mean?
I’ve read plenty of articles talking about how the world has shrunk. First ships, then locomotives, then air travel, and now the internet have all made distant lands far more accessible. Literature and documentaries can take you to places on the far side of the globe, and with a good author as your guide, bring you to understand them more thoroughly then you might ever by going there yourself. As a consequence, it would be easy to write off travel these days as an indulgence of the relatively rich, or perhaps an exercise undertaken in the few instances when a physical presence is still needed: inspecting a factory in China, or visiting your grandmother in Croatia.
I don’t think the world is smaller. It’s just that physical distance isn’t exactly what makes it big anymore. With a reasonable budget and the right passport, you can get to any major city in a day or so. But that’s what we, in some sense, already know. How many news pieces, or movies, or stories have given you a glimpse into Seoul and Istanbul? The blank spots in our mental maps are still there, they’re just more fragmented. And it’s not just the map that’s fragmenting; it’s our common knowledge of it. My blank spots are probably different than yours, and this creates an illusion of knowing, or at least being close to knowing, just about everywhere.
I was on a train in the Andes, riding to a trail put-in, and I ended up sitting next to a couple from New Zealand about fifteen years older than I was at the time. They were friendly enough to chat with me and – after I expressed my enthusiasm for travel – tell me story after story of all the places they’d visited or lived. I couldn’t help but feeling envy; they seemed to have been everywhere. That became my image of the truly accomplished traveler for a time: someone who was unfamiliar with nowhere. Slowly, that image started to scare me: what happened when I had been everywhere? The world would become small and finite, and I would become bored and tired.
I was wrong on two counts. First, there are countless places that still take a huge effort to get to. There are still places that are very far away. The struggle to get there is just about more than distance now. Second, I started to understand something I’m sure more enlightened travelers than me have understood for a long time: there really isn’t anywhere new. Not really. But there is an infinitude of places which are new to you.
Newness is a function of what you have already experienced. And that’s the real key to exploratory travel, I think. It’s what you find weighed against what you know. If no one, according to the old question, can see the same red, imagine trying to see the same Tokyo.
There was a danger, too, in how I was wrong. I wanted to have been everywhere. If you want to conquer newness, to have it be something you’ve put behind you, you eventually will. You’ll see a new way to inhabit a house, or design a park bench, or communicate a courtesy, and you’ll find yourself thinking, “Oh, I’ve seen pretty much exactly that somewhere before.” And you’ll grow jaded.
But, if you simply want to explore, to find that next hilltop, you start to find that novelty grows in power as you accumulate more memories to weigh it against. That common courtesy just given will impress you all the more; you’ve seen dozens of ways to say thank you, so why do it in that fashion? What led there? The implications spiderweb away from you, leading to new places, new destinations, and sometimes to somewhere familiar, too.
More experiences are still my aspiration, but only because they compound upon themselves. Each one adds further dimension to the next, and to all those before. I said I didn’t think the world has grown smaller. On the contrary, I think it has grown bigger. Not only has the number of places you could visit grown, but the combinations of experiences you could possess have multiplied spectacularly. The world has only grown smaller if you aren’t looking that closely.
So what is far? I think far is just someplace that takes a while to get to. It’s not physical, though that’s some of it. On my first trip out of my country, to London, I was surprised at how I didn’t feel like I was someplace else – the sensation of here didn’t suddenly become a sensation of there.
Instead, as corny as it sounds, it’s you. Getting to a different set of experiences, when you start seeing new things through the lens of a new set of memories, of people and places, of concepts and ideas, is, I think, how you know you’re far away from where you were before.]]>I realized by the second international trip of my life, with an uncle and aunt who had graciously invited me along with them to Peru to hike to Machu Picchu, that I loved airports. I loved the tenseness and the hurrying, the sense of being in a crowd where everyone’s immediate purpose was evidenced clearly, but where no one’s deeper purpose was at all clear, removed as they were from their everyday. And, as the trip unfolded, it was not just airports I realized, but train stations, ferry ports, and even the odd dingy bus terminal. I read a travelogue at some point on that trip in which the author wrote lucidly of the feeling of potential, and nowhere-ness, of travel hubs. They’re something of an exclusive mixing ground, a place of incredible diversity, bound by a common activity, isolated from the world of place.
Imagination is very involved in travel. It’s required simply to plan the trip, to imagine the events you’ll need to anticipate while packing. What will I need to pack for eighty degrees and lots of rain for a week? But for many trips, it also serves as motivation, illuminating the thing you go to, which for now is not near enough, not concrete enough, to see or completely understand without the help of imagination. Both sorts are exciting, though I think the former sometimes gets short shrift in much travel writing.
Those simple things require not only imagination, but adaptability, and ultimately, a skillset all their own. From learning basic skills like how to use a rancid squat toilet on a moving train in Asia or a bulkhead lavatory during some inflight turbulence, to brushing your teeth without water or sleeping on a short bunk with no blankets, there are a hundred ways you can (and likely will) be put “outside your comfort zone” while taking even the most luxurious trip. That’s saying euphemistically, it’ll probably be uncomfortable.
In my experience, though, doing something uncomfortable often just means you’re doing it for the first time (though sometimes, after repetition, I’ve discovered it’s just plain old uncomfortable). Unfortunately, as I get older, I find myself only tolerating discomfort if the payoff at the end, the skill I’m putatively acquiring, seems really cool. Often that just means someone else who’s done it has convinced me it’s cool. I haven’t, however, seen many movies I like featuring a compelling scene with a dirty blockhouse shower in rural Laos.
I’ve found these skills to be far more gratifying than some of the others I’ve picked up, though. Feeling a sense of craft in what you do, a competence that stands on its own (since you won’t be impressing anyone with many of these skills), and the quality – and sheer texture – it adds to travel, is awesome.
I was back in Peru years after my first trip there, and standing back in the same airport. The sun-bleached tile and still air tangibly reminded me of my original excitement being there, and it put in perspective how far I’d come. Last time, I almost missed the connecting flight – I didn’t have a clue how to navigate an airport, and mainly just followed others, hoping they knew the way. Now, I can usually get directions quickly in almost any language between some key phrases, and a sense of what pantomimes and hasty sketches in my notebook will quickly convey my need and my gratitude. When I had to go to the bathroom, I knew how to juggle my luggage and my fly, and when I needed a meal, I didn’t gag at the unidentifiable thing placed in front of me with a smile. And when I did all these things, I knew how to keep getting better, to keep finding more nuance to explore.
This approaching mastery of the small things in travel is when I realized that travel is not just a means to an end, not just an escape, not just a necessary evil, but a craft. It’s an activity which interfaces with much of the world, with an incredible depth of practice and an incredible number of consequently related skills available to the diligent practitioner. And just like many crafts, which can produce something of beauty and wonder accessible to just about anyone – from a beautiful piece of furniture to a great piece of music – a well-crafted trip, built upon all these tiny little skills and appreciations, is sublime.
]]>My college roommate was from Jakarta, and he came to visit me for a week suddenly several years after we graduated, tacking on our reunion to the end of a swing through the USA. On such short notice, I wasn’t able to get time off from work, apart from leaving a little earlier and going in a little later. So, each weekday, I’d have to abandon him, sans car, at my little apartment. And, each day, he went and walked a mile and a half to the same quirky burger joint in my neighborhood I’d taken him to for welcome beers on the first night.
I pointed out partway through the week that we actually had a plethora of great restaurants in the neighborhood, including a few that served all varieties of incredibly spicy Asian food, which he and I would compete eating, trying to burn our tongues off in undergrad. Acknowledging this, he gave me an insight I remembered not because I fully understood it right then, but because I kept encountering the idea in so many places the more I traveled, including when I later visited him in Indonesia.
If you can afford to travel to a place, you can often afford at least one high-end meal there. While these can be truly incredible, I would recommend saving your money and eating at the spots the middle class likes to splurge at when the kids are screaming at them and they don’t have the time or focus to be creative with where they’re going or what they’re eating – they just need something everyone likes, and now. That’s what my old roommate found: he could get staples of international cuisine like oysters, roasted duck, foie gras, and sushi that was nearly as delicious as any in the world back home; he couldn’t get what he deemed “a decent burger”. Why?
Our hypothesis? Not enough people eat burgers there. There’s not the creative ferment you get when you’re surrounded by verdant farmland, tons of cows (or steers), and a culture and people who frankly love hamburgers, cheeseburgers, a scalding Jucy Lucy, or a heart-arresting butterburger, and buy them by the bushel. You don’t get the creative push and pull between each burger chef trying to tender their own twist to outpace the vast competition for local appetites.
I can find nasi goreng in my area, and it might even turn out to taste above-average to someone more discerning than me, but I’m almost positive it’s nothing like that at my ex-roomie’s favorite warung (if he even has one). I can eat good sushi here, and our local Philadelphia makizushi are probably as good as any (come on, we get cheese!), but it’s not the same as what you could get in a mid-sized fishing town halfway up the train route from Tokyo to Aomori.
That’s no huge revelation, once you watch for it. But I kept seeing it in other aspects. A culture needs participation and innovation to remain alive. It’s often not owned by a person or a subgroup, dictating what is or is not a part of it. It’s very often just what everyone’s, well, just doing. It isn’t necessarily what they used to do, or what they cherish, though these inform it; it’s what they are. It’s what you yourself are a part of.
When you stay in a house built for someone who has had some say in making it how they want – an abode which reflects the tastes of its owner – who grew up, built, and furnished that house a half a world away from where you grew up, the differences are profound. It was what initially fascinated me on my formative first trips. Why would anyone ever want two faucets for one sink? Why would anyone not want to sit down on their toilet? Where’s the drywall, or the insulation? We all start our lives provincial, and we probably all end them mired in another sort of provincialism. But I believe that that’s what allows things to be new. When you stay in a place with unfamiliar fixtures, they almost insist on a deeper understanding of how one culture has chosen to cope with its environ.
It’s this combination of finding things done differently, sometimes better (and sometimes worse), with finding other things done the exact same way that helps tease apart the necessities and the affectations of being human.
]]>Travel can be many things: it can be getting from A to B; it can be a sense of motion; it can be an escape, a move, or it can just be aimless wandering. All of these things involve access – access to somewhere or something else. Access lies at the heart of travel.
When travel is conceived of as access, it reframes the purpose not of travel, but of the tools of travel. Just about anything can be used to travel; Pixar’s Up reminds one that you could, conceivably, even travel with your home. As great as that might seem, it was quite unwieldy. The tools of travel, like the tools of any other craft, can be more or less suited to their purpose. This is why access is a useful idea: it allows for the design of suitable tools of travel towards an end, without defining the end.
Admittedly, this may all sound a little abstract. But think about a trip – perhaps you’ve planned and anticipated it for years, or maybe chance dropped you into a different place. Maybe you’re in a quiet corner of rural Kenya, or you’re in the pulsating center of Osaka. Wherever it is, you have to decide what to do. You may or not have been here before, but you’re traveling, and there’s sure to be something, many things, new to explore. How do you find them?
If you’ve packed clothes which mark you as a certain type of different, the person you ask directions of might only recommend that which they see as suiting that style of different. If you have a suitcase the size of your dresser, packed for all contingencies, you’ll probably be tied to a hotel or storage area, and precious hours of each change in location will be dedicated to storage instead of exploration.
It’s the reality of our world that in most places anyone goes, they won’t look or sound or behave like those around them. You probably won’t ever quite fit in, at least not without huge investments of time and effort, if even then. That’s not travel, per se, though; that’s more resettling.
What you can do is acknowledge local values and habits, without appropriating them. You can cloak your precise cultural origin, to avoid the baggage of local prejudice. You’ll always be from somewhere, but you can keep others’ focus not on that but on where you are now, instead. And you can make sure you aren’t carrying so much with you that you can’t chase after an opportunity.
The apparel and tools you travel with can be selected and designed to address this purpose as carefully as those of a craft such as mountain climbing. They require a recognition of common elements of travel, such as ease of carry, security, and placeless fashion, while admitting a flexibility of uses and contexts not available in similar clothing or equipment. They can be designed to fit as many experiences as possible, so that when you encounter an opportunity, whatever it could possibly be, you can chase it.
That’s the idea of access. And that’s the guiding principle underlying the functional design, the fashion, and the brand we’re trying to build with Anywhere. Avid travelers ourselves, we haven’t found anyone who consistently offers clothes and tools designed towards this ideal. As a result, our own backpacks and suitcases are filled with a hodgepodge of brands and things.
We’re trying to refine a set of clothes and accessories which will consistently help you get the most out of your travels, open the most doors in your explorations – rural and urban, foreign and domestic – and work so well, you barely realize you own it. As we roll out our initial line, and in the coming years make it better and more diverse to address different types of trips, we hope you’ll give us a look.
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