Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how
Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Sarah Dowdy and I'm Delae to Chuck Reboarding. And
Speaker 1: not too long ago, we talked about a few real
Speaker 1: Indiana Jones possibilities and one of the guys who made
Speaker 1: our short list. We didn't go into too many details
Speaker 1: about him, but one of the guys who made our
Speaker 1: short list was the very famous T. E. Lawrence, better
Speaker 1: known of course as Lawrence of Arabia. And I think
Speaker 1: Lawrence of Arabia could still make a really great solo topic.
Speaker 1: But today we're going to discuss someone who's occasionally associated
Speaker 1: with him, Dame Freya Stark, who's sometimes called the female
Speaker 1: Lawrence of Arabia. To me, those Stark really reminds me
Speaker 1: less of Lawrence of Arabia and more of another podcast
Speaker 1: subject we've discussed, Ottoman traveler Elea Cellaby. They explored mostly
Speaker 1: different areas of the world. They were obviously separated by
Speaker 1: several centuries, but they really stand out from other adventures
Speaker 1: we've talked about before because of their attention to detail.
Speaker 1: They were almost more writers before they were travelers. You
Speaker 1: know that that was what they were really focusing on.
Speaker 1: They bothered to meet all different types of people and
Speaker 1: learn local customs, speak people's own languages, and they always
Speaker 1: preferred the slow road to I think, if you remember
Speaker 1: when we talked about Evlia, he didn't like ships, kind
Speaker 1: of because he was scared of them, but it made
Speaker 1: his travel really slow. And the same is true for Freya,
Speaker 1: who could have taken a car a lot of places,
Speaker 1: but preferred to travel by donkey or by mule, you know,
Speaker 1: really take her time with it. There were some differences
Speaker 1: between them, though. Chellaby ultimately produced one epic travel account
Speaker 1: and one very impressive map. Stark, writing in the modern age,
Speaker 1: broke her accounts down into volumes. In her one hundred years,
Speaker 1: she produced twenty four travel books and autobiographies, and eight
Speaker 1: volumes of letters. Many of them were best sellers, depicting
Speaker 1: arrest by the French, trips to the fortress of the Assassins,
Speaker 1: the secret life of Haren's, and a month long siege
Speaker 1: at the British embassy in Baghdad. But her personal life
Speaker 1: and her penchant for wild hats is really just as
Speaker 1: interesting as this sort of professional life she had. It
Speaker 1: all starts in an appropriately bohemian fashion. She was born
Speaker 1: in January thirty one, eightee in a mom watch studio,
Speaker 1: to artistic parents who were also first cousins. When she
Speaker 1: was only two years old, her parents started wandering, carrying
Speaker 1: her and her baby sister over the Alps in a basket. Yeah,
Speaker 1: very romantic founding life. The most settled period of her childhood, though,
Speaker 1: was spent in her father's home at Devonshire, where she
Speaker 1: slept in a bed her mother had painted with ships.
Speaker 1: Again all very romantic and appropriate for her later life.
Speaker 1: But the family basically lived all over Europe, and she
Speaker 1: grew up speaking English with an accent, which is kind
Speaker 1: of ironic considering she was often thought to be quintessential
Speaker 1: english woman. Um German was really her first language. She
Speaker 1: also knew French and Italian as a child, and learned
Speaker 1: a few other languages later on. As we'll see, it
Speaker 1: wasn't really quite as fun as it sounds, though, this
Speaker 1: life of childhood wandering, but it really did make Freya resourceful.
Speaker 1: She didn't have very much formal education, and she and
Speaker 1: her sister would instead study with occasional governesses, pick up
Speaker 1: a few things, and just read as much as they could,
Speaker 1: according to Jacqueline McLean and Women of Adventure. She later
Speaker 1: said quote, our wandering life made us precocious and pretty tough.
Speaker 1: But when Freya was ten years old, her mother left
Speaker 1: her father for a twenty three year old broke Italian
Speaker 1: count and took the kids with her to northern Italy.
Speaker 1: Before her mother's money was cut off, the count bought
Speaker 1: a rug and basket factory and the family managed to
Speaker 1: make a meager living off of that. Then, just before
Speaker 1: phras thirteenth birthday, while visiting the factory, she got her
Speaker 1: hair caught in some machinery. It pulled her up to
Speaker 1: ceiling and mangled her scalp and her right year before
Speaker 1: she could finally be freed, so horrible infections almost killed her,
Speaker 1: but doctors in turn ultimately were able to save her
Speaker 1: life with skin graphs that came from her thighs. But
Speaker 1: the accident really made her quite self conscious. She would
Speaker 1: dress her hair over the right side of her face,
Speaker 1: and later she would wear large hats. You know we've
Speaker 1: mentioned that already, But um it also gave her some
Speaker 1: time to recover too, and some time to start exploring
Speaker 1: new things. While she was recovering, she started to read
Speaker 1: adventure stories and get really fixated on the idea of travel,
Speaker 1: something um I guess she had grown up doing but
Speaker 1: wasn't really doing by this point, just sort of stuck
Speaker 1: in northern Italy, where she was pretty unhappy. Eventually, though,
Speaker 1: her father, who was now living far off in Canada,
Speaker 1: agreed to send her to college in London, where she
Speaker 1: studied English literature and history. She wasn't there for long, though,
Speaker 1: before World War One began and she had to return
Speaker 1: home to Italy, and there she became a nurse. During
Speaker 1: the time that she was gone, though, her younger sister, Vera,
Speaker 1: who was just eighteen at the time, married her mother's
Speaker 1: Italian count boyfriend. Kind of a strange situation there, it is, indeed,
Speaker 1: according to Claudia roth pier Point in The New Yorker,
Speaker 1: there's some disagreement between Stark's biographers about how this actually
Speaker 1: played out. Some of them suggests that the count first
Speaker 1: courted Freya, or that he simply chose Vera instead, and
Speaker 1: that whatever the case, they had a very happy life
Speaker 1: together with four children, and this left Freya feeling either
Speaker 1: that she had made the wrong choice or that she
Speaker 1: had been passed over. Others suggests, though, that Vera had
Speaker 1: a horrible life with the count and that Freya was
Speaker 1: instead troubled by her sister's unhappy situation. Still, I mean,
Speaker 1: I'll say it again, just kind of a strange situation
Speaker 1: more than kind of definitely odd to have your father
Speaker 1: stepfather become your husband and since you were ten. But
Speaker 1: Freya had her own broken engagement to while she was
Speaker 1: acting as a nurse in Italy. Her fiancee had left
Speaker 1: her when she got typhoid. But after the war was over,
Speaker 1: Freya and her mother lived in a house on the
Speaker 1: Italian riviera and they were just barely scraping by. They
Speaker 1: were very poor. Freya grew flowers so that she could
Speaker 1: sell them and supplement their income. Again, she was isolated,
Speaker 1: she was bored, and to get away from this really
Speaker 1: claustrophobic life, she got into mountain climbing and started scaling
Speaker 1: the Alps. And she started studying again, something I guess
Speaker 1: she had sort of put aside for a while while
Speaker 1: she was nursing. A teacher of her suggested, well, why
Speaker 1: don't you learn a new language? You know, she already
Speaker 1: spoke English, German, French, Italian. Why don't you learn a
Speaker 1: language that's a little bit outside of the ordinary, and
Speaker 1: he suggested maybe Icelandic would be a cool one to learn.
Speaker 1: But Frea had a smart hunch that there was potentially
Speaker 1: more promise in learning Arabic. So after World War One,
Speaker 1: the Ottoman Empire had been broken up and the British
Speaker 1: and the French controlled much of the Middle East, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq,
Speaker 1: Jordan's and Freya knew that large parts of the Air
Speaker 1: speaking world were starting to open up two travelers, archaeologists, cartographers,
Speaker 1: and people doing government work. And so she hoped that
Speaker 1: no in Arabic would get her interesting work and quote
Speaker 1: lead me out into some sort of fairy land of
Speaker 1: my own. Plus she had romanticized notions of Arabian nights
Speaker 1: from her readings as a girl. Yeah, she was hoping
Speaker 1: it would be some grand adventure in a way for
Speaker 1: her to go somewhere new, someplace far away from where
Speaker 1: she was. So she took her study very seriously. She
Speaker 1: saved you know, we mentioned she was barely scraping by here,
Speaker 1: but she saved her lessons at the London School of
Speaker 1: Oriental Studies and added Persian to her repertoire too, as
Speaker 1: well as improving her Arabic. But it wasn't until nineteen,
Speaker 1: after her sister Vera died from a miscarriage that Freya
Speaker 1: decided that it was time to put her skills into practice,
Speaker 1: time to go for it and travel like she had
Speaker 1: always wanted to. So she started off by taking a
Speaker 1: cargo ship to Barut, and she recognized that that was
Speaker 1: a good starting place for her because had a strong
Speaker 1: French influence. It wouldn't be completely foreign. She could work
Speaker 1: her way in, she could keep studying Arabic, and she
Speaker 1: was really welcome when she came to town because she
Speaker 1: said that people thought she was their quote, neither to
Speaker 1: improve nor to rob, just to learn stuff, just to
Speaker 1: observe and really practice her language. By March of now
Speaker 1: confident in her language skills, Freya traveled to Damascus. According
Speaker 1: to McLean, this was kind of the first bubble popping
Speaker 1: of that romantic Arabia idea that she had. She found
Speaker 1: this city war torn, cold, full of fleas, and herself
Speaker 1: sick with dysenterry. But she also proved her Early Travelers
Speaker 1: medal by not letting any of that stop her from
Speaker 1: exploring Ruin and wandering the city. Yeah, she really got
Speaker 1: out there and did what she had hoped to do,
Speaker 1: But of course she didn't get her eventual reputation as
Speaker 1: a bold explorer for just powering through dysentery, you know,
Speaker 1: getting out there. It is admirable, but um, you know,
Speaker 1: she had to do more than just wander around an
Speaker 1: already well known city. She got that reputation because she
Speaker 1: went to places where she wasn't supposed to go in
Speaker 1: the first place. And her first major expedition like this
Speaker 1: was south of Damascus to the Druis tribe in a
Speaker 1: region that had rebelled recently rebelled against French control and
Speaker 1: had been suppressed by the French. And then the French
Speaker 1: had actually placed the entire area under martial law and
Speaker 1: bar travelers from entering. So she was definitely not supposed
Speaker 1: to be visiting there, but Freya and a British friend
Speaker 1: slipped at the border and dodged the French authorities as
Speaker 1: long as they could. When they were finally caught, Freya
Speaker 1: and her friend played dumb traveler lady. They were just
Speaker 1: kind of like, oh, a goodness, are Thomas cook guide
Speaker 1: book must have misdirected us? Why did we get here.
Speaker 1: We shouldn't be Yeah, I didn't know. That didn't quite
Speaker 1: work though. The French authorities thought that they might be spies,
Speaker 1: and so they were sent to the army barracks. But
Speaker 1: Freya managed to charm her way out of there. She
Speaker 1: uh took part an army dinner's horse rides. She even
Speaker 1: got permission to keep traveling. And most importantly, she had
Speaker 1: Drew Street cred now since she had been arrested by
Speaker 1: their enemies, the French. Yeah, she was cool with the
Speaker 1: drews Now. So her next trip, which took place in
Speaker 1: nine started in Baghdad, which at the time was British
Speaker 1: controlled but very diverse. It was filled with Arabs and Greeks, Turks, Jews, Armenians, Kurds, Persians,
Speaker 1: and she really took advantage of that diversity too. She
Speaker 1: opped her study of Persian, she began learning folklore. She
Speaker 1: was very interested in history and literature and that type
Speaker 1: of thing, and this improved Persian of hers prepared her
Speaker 1: for the main goal of the strip, which was to
Speaker 1: visit the Elbors Mountains in modern Iran, which held the
Speaker 1: ruined fortress of the Assassin. And um, I think I've
Speaker 1: heard the assassins in conjunction with it's how we have
Speaker 1: our word assassin or assassinate um. But I didn't know
Speaker 1: too much about them, and I think they could make
Speaker 1: a pretty cool podcast subject on their own. But they
Speaker 1: were a murderous medieval fact that would do just what
Speaker 1: you'd expect them to do infiltrate groups and then assassinate somebody. So,
Speaker 1: traveling in what became her signature style, no servants, view guides,
Speaker 1: lots of medicine, lots of little presents, and embossed letters
Speaker 1: of introduction, starts set out with mules. The fortress had
Speaker 1: already been explored, but Stark updated maps, she relocated a
Speaker 1: misplaced mountain, and she documented all the people that she
Speaker 1: met along the way. She also popularized the place writing
Speaker 1: The Valleys of the Assassins and other Persian travels, which
Speaker 1: became a hit not just for the main attraction and
Speaker 1: which of course was the assassins, but for the other
Speaker 1: personal details that contained, like an account of a poor
Speaker 1: woman offering Freya the only tomatoes from her garden, but
Speaker 1: secretly slipping her son the leftover juice that came out
Speaker 1: of spicing them. And I think this is a good
Speaker 1: point to mention too, that Stark is really well known
Speaker 1: for her depiction of women's lives. According to Roth pier
Speaker 1: Pont that New Yorker article we mentioned earlier, um she'd
Speaker 1: often be the first European woman in an area, So
Speaker 1: the first people who would be really interested in her
Speaker 1: were of course the the local women. You know. They
Speaker 1: were interested in seeing their first European lady, and so
Speaker 1: she would make friends with them, start talking with them first,
Speaker 1: and learn about bridal customs and clothes and jewelry and
Speaker 1: harems and kids and just the day to day life,
Speaker 1: and through them ultimately gained access to the men's world,
Speaker 1: but pick up a lot about kind of an unexplored
Speaker 1: aspect of life in the meantime. So after a third
Speaker 1: two year trip, Stark began to be seen as Middle
Speaker 1: East expert. Back home, the Royal Geographic Society honored her
Speaker 1: and began to help fund future trips of hers. So
Speaker 1: in four she decided her next trip would be less
Speaker 1: about mapping and more about discovery. She really wanted to
Speaker 1: find an ancient trading spot believed to be the origin
Speaker 1: of the Frankinstance trade route and possibly the capital of
Speaker 1: the Queen of Sheba. Pretty much any foreign explorer, we
Speaker 1: should say here, um, pretty much any explore in the
Speaker 1: Middle East at the time wanted to find Shablah, which
Speaker 1: was believed to be buried, but the area was a
Speaker 1: harsh desert and contested ground between two warring tribes, so
Speaker 1: it's pretty dangerous to attempt this. And to make matters
Speaker 1: worse and even more difficult, Stark would have to cross
Speaker 1: into independently controlled northern Yemen, where foreigners were not welcome,
Speaker 1: and so she'd have to do it in secret. So
Speaker 1: she went traveling with Bedouin guides and um got you know,
Speaker 1: decent ways before she caught measles from a child and
Speaker 1: a harem on a stop along the way. She got
Speaker 1: pretty near to sha Boa, but she got thick again,
Speaker 1: this time with malaria, and then she made a bad
Speaker 1: mistake about mixing medication. She combined her malaria medicine with
Speaker 1: her dysentery medicine, which caused major heart problems and uh.
Speaker 1: She ultimately had to be evacuated by the Royal Air Force.
Speaker 1: But while she was in the hospital, this mustage has
Speaker 1: been so disappointing. While she was in the hospital, a
Speaker 1: German photographer found the fortress ruins. She did later get
Speaker 1: credit from the guy who explored them more fully, but
Speaker 1: she didn't get to see them or discover them herself. Rather,
Speaker 1: when World War Two began, Freya chose her English alliances
Speaker 1: over her Italian though her home was in Italy and
Speaker 1: her nieces and nephews were all Italian. She joined the
Speaker 1: Ministry of Information and was posted to Audun as the
Speaker 1: South Arabia expert. Her job was basically to keep Yemen
Speaker 1: and later Cairo and Baghdad pro British or at least neutral,
Speaker 1: so she essentially became a pr woman, a propaganda woman.
Speaker 1: She'd battle Nazi or fascist propaganda with pro British propaganda,
Speaker 1: trying to convince people that the British could win the war,
Speaker 1: which was something that was a little bit on the fence.
Speaker 1: In the early years. She had also helped disseminate news,
Speaker 1: she'd translate Reuter's reports for a broadcast, and she'd even
Speaker 1: personally arrange propaganda exhibitions herself. In northern Yemen, for instance,
Speaker 1: she snuck in a projector claiming that it was some
Speaker 1: sort of portable commode and made friends with the minister there,
Speaker 1: or made friends with the minister's wife there, she would
Speaker 1: have tea with her, chat with her in Arabic to
Speaker 1: sort of get comfortable with everybody. Movies and recordings were
Speaker 1: forbidden there for religious reasons, but Stark found a way
Speaker 1: around that by describing the movies to the ladies of
Speaker 1: the Harem, and she must have done it enticingly enough
Speaker 1: that the ladies were eventually allowed to watch. They eventually
Speaker 1: pressured somebody to allow them to watch the movies, and
Speaker 1: soon enough the men were also watching these pro British
Speaker 1: propaganda films, and uh Many credits Stark for at least
Speaker 1: partially being responsible for keeping Yemen neutral during World War Two.
Speaker 1: In Cairo, she recruited members for an anti fascist pro
Speaker 1: democracy group called Brotherhood of Freedom. She had just gotten
Speaker 1: to Baghdad to start a new chapter there when a
Speaker 1: pro Nazi coup took place in April. Most British allied
Speaker 1: foreigners tried to hunker down at this point, but Stark
Speaker 1: just took a jaunt to Tehran and then remarkably came
Speaker 1: back to Baghdad because she was worried about all her
Speaker 1: empty friends. She was arrested by frontier police but managed
Speaker 1: to talk her way out of it, claiming that she
Speaker 1: couldn't possibly stay without a lady's maid, and she kind
Speaker 1: of flattered the guard a little bit um and this
Speaker 1: was just the ladies made part of it was really
Speaker 1: it was opposite to her actual way of living about it.
Speaker 1: She's so good at talking her way out of these situations,
Speaker 1: even if it involves saying something completely counter to what
Speaker 1: she really believes. So the Guard did send her on
Speaker 1: her way to Bagdad, where she slipped into the British
Speaker 1: embassy just as they were stand backing the doors for
Speaker 1: a month long siege. So Phrase spent the next month
Speaker 1: with three and fifty other people inside that embassy. Since
Speaker 1: the Royal Air Force Base had been closed by the
Speaker 1: Iraqi Army, the British were attempting to uh shell the
Speaker 1: base try to reclaim it so they could get their
Speaker 1: folks out. But despite sniper fire and summer heat and
Speaker 1: obviously close quarters in the embassy made people were sleeping
Speaker 1: in the lawns, Stark, who was after all by this
Speaker 1: point kind of a British celebrity, really tried to keep
Speaker 1: morale up and keep folks entertained. They were already piano
Speaker 1: concerts and things that would be staged, but she gave
Speaker 1: a lecture about her travels. She made sure that the
Speaker 1: ladies were gonna have soap and face powder, even though
Speaker 1: in that request is granted. Even the one Iraqi policeman
Speaker 1: supposed at least that he couldn't imagine why the harem
Speaker 1: inside would bother thinking about something like face powder, because
Speaker 1: they were all about to be murdered. Um. When the
Speaker 1: siege finally did end, according to rough Pierrepont, Hitler was
Speaker 1: only able to commit two squadrons of planes because he
Speaker 1: had been in the process of sending these huge numbers
Speaker 1: of troops to the Soviet Union. So when the siege
Speaker 1: finally did end, Stark promptly headed out but three new
Speaker 1: hats and um this kind of a side note there too.
Speaker 1: She was really into not only hats, but close. She
Speaker 1: apparently wrote, there are few sorrows through which a new
Speaker 1: dresser hat will not send a little gleam of hope. However, fugitive,
Speaker 1: I think that's kind of a surprising reminded me of
Speaker 1: Louise Boyd, almost with her flowers she would wear in
Speaker 1: the Arctic on her Arctic expedition. Um that this lady,
Speaker 1: who obviously could rough it for a while, was still
Speaker 1: pretty interested in hats with clock patterns on them, in
Speaker 1: interesting clothes and that type of thing. Well, in ninete
Speaker 1: she took those hats with her on the road when
Speaker 1: she was sent on a tour of the US to
Speaker 1: try to influence American politicians to oppose the creation of
Speaker 1: a Jewish state in Palestine. While she was welcomed as
Speaker 1: a famous writer, her speeches did not go over well
Speaker 1: at all, nor did her assertion that immigration required Arab consent.
Speaker 1: She was really dismayed that many people considered her an
Speaker 1: anti Zionist and was horrified to be considered anti Semitic.
Speaker 1: While she wrote a book during this period, it was
Speaker 1: her last on Arabia. Politics just turned out to be
Speaker 1: not really her thing. She preferred history instead, and she
Speaker 1: preferred its traveling to After the war, she moved back
Speaker 1: to Italy. She found that Fascist officers had been living
Speaker 1: in her house, and she got married. This is a
Speaker 1: very odd interlude in her life. She married a historian
Speaker 1: and diplomat who she had met through her wartime work
Speaker 1: and who had she had known for a few years. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: he was known to be gay by pretty much everybody
Speaker 1: except for her, and the marriage was not what she
Speaker 1: was anticipating. She had not been expecting a marriage between friends,
Speaker 1: and the two separated pretty soon after. Though she did
Speaker 1: continue calling herself Mrs Freya Stark, which I think is
Speaker 1: an unusual little nod to her married state. She didn't
Speaker 1: get divorced either. She must have really liked to have
Speaker 1: that and Mrs title, but have her own name attached
Speaker 1: to it. She was made a Dame of the British
Speaker 1: Empire at age seventy seven. Wrote until her death in
Speaker 1: nineteen at age one hundred, traveled until she was ninety three,
Speaker 1: visited much of Iran, retracing the route of Alexander the
Speaker 1: Great's army, going to remote spots in Afghanistan and her
Speaker 1: seventies and uh. In her eighties and nineties she stuck
Speaker 1: mostly to Europe, escorting her many god children on travels
Speaker 1: as well, so she sort of passed on the travel
Speaker 1: bug in a way. It sounds like she did some
Speaker 1: of her god children to have even written about her accounts,
Speaker 1: and of course later in life too, she was doing
Speaker 1: a lot of photography and was considered pretty great at
Speaker 1: documenting places in an interesting, interestingly architectural way. For such
Speaker 1: a lifelong traveler, though, it's maybe not too surprising that
Speaker 1: she even saw her own death as as a type
Speaker 1: of journey. She told a friend quote, waiting for death,
Speaker 1: my dear, is very much like being in an old
Speaker 1: fashioned steam train setting out on a journey. Her story
Speaker 1: and her fame are more remarkable too, And you consider
Speaker 1: that she wasn't a great explorer, as in, she didn't
Speaker 1: make many important discoveries per se. Her bigger contribution was
Speaker 1: really her ability to observe and to document change, you know,
Speaker 1: paved roads, new states, things like that, as well as
Speaker 1: traditions of all classes, men and men and women. And
Speaker 1: her books are filled with incredibly descriptive passages. And she
Speaker 1: could convince people to open up to her, and that
Speaker 1: was a real talent, partly because she spoke their language,
Speaker 1: and many of the people she met on her travels
Speaker 1: became lifelong friends hers too. But I think what might
Speaker 1: be the most notable thing about for A Stark's life
Speaker 1: was her almost complete disregard for danger. She just really
Speaker 1: didn't care. She could almost always get out of things.
Speaker 1: I think a great illustration of this was when she
Speaker 1: was exploring ancient graves in what is today Iran and
Speaker 1: she crossed yet another border illegally seems to be a
Speaker 1: common theme here and was stopped by the police. When
Speaker 1: she was delivered by the police to the governor, he
Speaker 1: was more amazed than angry because she was alive and
Speaker 1: she had been in this area that was riddled with bandits,
Speaker 1: and in fact, she later learned that murderers had been
Speaker 1: stalking her right before she was captured by the police.
Speaker 1: And I think that's a such a strange example because
Speaker 1: we've seen all these ones where she talks her way out,
Speaker 1: but how many near misses were there too, that's true.
Speaker 1: It's interesting too that she seems to have really like
Speaker 1: embraced this aspect of her personality of thirst, and it's
Speaker 1: really indicative. I think in this quote of hers, she said,
Speaker 1: I wanted space, distance, history, and danger. So there you go.
Speaker 1: I know, I'm really envious about quality and people. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: not recklessness. I mean, sometimes of course it's just crazy,
Speaker 1: but sometimes I wish I had more of that, just
Speaker 1: you know, disregard for danger, just go for it. Well, Deblina,
Speaker 1: I think you will maybe want to listen to our
Speaker 1: listener meal then, because we not only have some emails
Speaker 1: from folks who recommended some great travel accounts. We have
Speaker 1: some travelers as well. Oh well, I can't wait to
Speaker 1: hear that. So loopen this thing. Back around to evah
Speaker 1: l V who we mentioned at the beginning here. During
Speaker 1: that episode, we had put out a call for favorite
Speaker 1: travel narratives and we heard from a lot of people. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm just going to name a few recommendations people had,
Speaker 1: but like I said, also some folks who are doing
Speaker 1: their own travels. I thought it was really interesting to
Speaker 1: hear from those people. One recommendation, which came from Kathleen
Speaker 1: was for Lefcadio Hearn, who she said was an excellent
Speaker 1: observer of life in Japan in the late eighteen hundreds
Speaker 1: who had a profound effect on the area. She also said,
Speaker 1: though he was apparently given a shout out in a
Speaker 1: Bond film, so an effect on culture as well. But
Speaker 1: that was pretty neat. We heard from nia To, who
Speaker 1: suggested a leaf Battaman's book by pronouncing that right the
Speaker 1: possessed adventures with Russian books and the people who read them.
Speaker 1: She said the book couldn't technically classify as travel writing,
Speaker 1: it's more of travel through literature almost, but she said
Speaker 1: that it had that strong sense of adventure, which was
Speaker 1: something that I know we discussed a lot during the
Speaker 1: the During our discussion of travel writing, we got another
Speaker 1: email from listener Jordan's in Chicago and he said that
Speaker 1: after he finished listening to the podcast from Eva Telobe,
Speaker 1: our comments near the end about how we prefer travel
Speaker 1: narratives to guide books quote really struck home with me.
Speaker 1: He said, have a travel website, the Uneducated Traveler, and
Speaker 1: I've always advocated traveling without a guide book, without a
Speaker 1: structured plan. Since I travel without a guide book, my
Speaker 1: trips never read like one either. That makes some mistakes myself,
Speaker 1: but I want to encourage people to start exploring countries
Speaker 1: and their people instead of reading about them. The world
Speaker 1: should be ours to share, and that means traveling without
Speaker 1: fear or hesitation, even if it's a little uncomfortable at times.
Speaker 1: That's very stark, Askna. And then finally, just one more here.
Speaker 1: I loved this email from Scott and Eadie. They said, uh,
Speaker 1: they're big fans of the podcast, and in November two
Speaker 1: thousand eleven, this is what they said. We left our
Speaker 1: jobs in our apartments, sold their furniture, stored a few
Speaker 1: remaining things and packed a truck to hit the road
Speaker 1: for a year or more of traveling. You all along
Speaker 1: with others like this American Life, Snap, Judgment, Risk cover
Speaker 1: Bill from the Staple list of podcasts we listened to
Speaker 1: while driving In the past five months, We've covered over
Speaker 1: twelve thousand miles and have seen some amazing countryside from
Speaker 1: Key West to Heila National Forests. That's a lot of
Speaker 1: time to listen to the podcast. We listened to the
Speaker 1: episodes about Evli Chellaby while driving into HeLa National Forests,
Speaker 1: one of the most scenic and beautiful places we've seen.
Speaker 1: That episode was really interesting to us, but we have
Speaker 1: much more infrastructure, you know, GPS, Internet, iPhones, etcetera. To
Speaker 1: support us than he did. It was like hearing about
Speaker 1: a kindred spirit. He set off to discover the world
Speaker 1: in his own way. So another another really interesting connection
Speaker 1: to somebody who has been dead for five hundred years
Speaker 1: that travelers today can still feel a connection to. To
Speaker 1: a fellow writer and a fellow traveler. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: like that people are that travel has changed so much,
Speaker 1: and that people are approaching it in so many different
Speaker 1: kinds of ways. I like the don't use a guide
Speaker 1: book tip, although I will say I've found some things
Speaker 1: in guide books sometimes, you know, sometimes it's like the
Speaker 1: seventh thing on the top ten list or whatever, and
Speaker 1: you think it's going to be a total bust anyway,
Speaker 1: but you just go because it's closest or something like that.
Speaker 1: You just need the map, you know. Un sometimes you
Speaker 1: just need the map. That's true too, but sometimes you
Speaker 1: discover some weird and neat things. But it is nice
Speaker 1: to kind of go off the guidebook path. So thank
Speaker 1: you all listeners who wrote in to share favorite travel
Speaker 1: narratives or just tell us about your own travels. I
Speaker 1: think both Evliah and Freya would be be proud. And
Speaker 1: if this has inspired you to go on your own adventure,
Speaker 1: we have a cool article on our website called ten
Speaker 1: Extreme Vacations, so maybe you can get some ideas there.
Speaker 1: You can find that by visiting our homepage at www
Speaker 1: dot how stuff works dot com for more on this
Speaker 1: and thousands of other topics. Is it how stuff works
Speaker 1: dot com puto