Desktop Destinations

Today at the office, I was trying to sell a colleague on the excellent work of New York Times travel writer, Matt Gross. This is my third summer following Matt as zips around an amazing amount of territory in a relatively short period on a miniscule amount of money. The blog detailing his journey, The Frugal Traveler, has a sidebar this year, breaking down his daily budget. My coworker was incredulous at the amount set aside for nightlife: $1.86. A fairly well-traveled guy himself, he couldn't believe it could be done. I asked him to suspend his belief and read on.

Gross' trick is that he knows that the key to good entertainment (and travel overall) isn't how much you spend, but who you meet while doing it. He spends time with people, learns their stories, and wouldn't you know it, in the end he usually gets a round of drinks or a free night on a couch.

After last summer's trip driving through the US in an old Volvo he bought (and later resold) on Craigslist, he's returned to Europe. He's gone a little highbrow with his inspiration, following the routes known collectively as The Grand Tour which, up to about 100 years ago, meant a route through the southern half of the continent that young, monied gentry took as a part of their finishing experience between school and the world of work. The twist is that Gross is doing it now, in the internet age, when class barriers are a little more permeable, travel is much more egalitarian, and, instead of a family fortune to blow on a villa in Florence, he has a daily lodging budget of $42.02.

If you, like me, feel the need for the occasional 10-minute mental vacation, I cannot recommend his blog highly enough. Yes, I love the gorgeous photos, and the descriptions of all the food and magnificent sights. But it's how he unearths the stories of the real, common, workaday people he meets, and incorporates that into his understanding of those marvelous things he's seeing and eating that makes his writing something special. Last summer, he helped me fall in love with America all over again. This summer, he's teaching me to fall in love with the simple act of discovery.