Travel Survival

Eye of the Albatross takes us soaring to locales where whales, sea turtles, penguins, and shearwaters flourish in their own quotidian rhythms. Carl Safina’s guide and inspiration is an albatross he calls Amelia, whose life and far-flung flights he describes in fascinating detail. Interwoven with recollections of whalers and famous explorers, Eye of the Albatross probes the unmistakable environmental impact of the encounters between man and marine life.

Everest and K2 are among the Earth's most dangerous places, yet the world's best climbers can't stay away from them. This audio program offers a unique perspective on climbing these two peaks, from early exploration disasters, to the modern tragedies. You'll hear writing from Matt Dickinson, Chirs Bonington, David Roberts, and others whose stories remind us, in vivid accounts, why Everest and K2 are so feared yet so irresistable to climbers.

The Monsoon Diaries is the firsthand account of Dr. Calvin Sun, an emergency-room doctor who worked tirelessly on the front lines in multiple hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing upon the lessons he learned from his adventures traveling to more than 190 countries in 10 years, as well as from the grief he experienced as a teen when his father died, Dr. Sun shares his journey, from growing up as a young Asian American in New York to his calling first to medical school and then to the open road.

Everything in 12-year-old Pilar Violeta “Purp” Ramirez’s world is changing, and Pilar doesn’t care for it one bit. Her Chicago neighborhood is gentrifying, and her chores have doubled since her sister, Lorena, left for college. The only constant is Abuela and Mami’s code of silence around her cousin, Natasha - who disappeared in the Dominican Republic 50 years ago during the Trujillo dictatorship. So when Pilar hears that one of Lorena's professor's studies disappearances under the Trujillato, she hops on the next train.

Discovering the Beauty and Fragility of the Natural World: A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf. Written by John Muir, one of America’s greatest naturalists, the book captures his deep appreciation for nature as he explores the American South.

This is a collection of short stories that are shocking, exciting, surprising, and at times terrifying moments that I have experienced during my travels around the world. From Easter Island encounters with the Moais, being wounded in Israel, experiencing terror in Beijing at midnight to the challenge of leaving Ethiopia and Italy during the Covid outbreak. These stories and more will introduce you to my not so normal world of travel.

The unconditional will to live and to continue to be - this obvious basic need forms the basis of all human life. As with all mammals, the survival instinct is innate in humans. We always strive to preserve our health and our lives, have a great need for security and protection and are constantly on the lookout to avoid danger. The survival instinct is also called "self-preservation instinct" and it arises from a combination of innate behaviour, learned reactions, and conscious decisions.

The ability to make a fire for warmth in cool and wet environments is critical for survival. Without fire you may die within a few hours. I have spent my life living and playing in the Pacific Northwest in the United States.

Danger! It lurks at every corner! Volcanoes. Sharks. Pickup artists. Savage bike messengers. Keep this audio bundle on your phone, under the pillow, in the glove compartment, and anywhere else to help you survive the most harrowing predicaments—jam-packed with how-to, hands-on, step-by-step instructions on everything you need to know to face the perils of travel, work or romance!

Mungo Park was an explorer of the real kind. In 1795, only aged 24, he left Gambia for the uncharted interior of Africa, in a journey that would be filled with tragedy, heroism, and adventure. Park was the first European to ever reach the river Niger and the legendary city of Timbuctoo, thus resolving, once and for all, a century-old geographic debate. He travelled with local guides and later entirely alone, through warring kingdoms, robberies, imprisonment, and extreme duress. By the time he returned to Gambia, he had long been given up for dead.

An airline story is in the news today! And so it goes. There's hardly a day now that an airline incident of some sort or another is not in the news. We're taking a lot closer look at air travel these days than ever before. Therefore, as regards the psychology of travel, we should take a much closer look at what actually happens on airplanes.

The February 2015 issue samples the sorts of cons and scams experienced by travelers - their quest to travel safely, securely, and relatively comfortably, without falling victim to the innumerable schemes, scams, shams, and rip-offs perpetrated upon them at just about every turn in their travels (as well as, all too often, even in their own home countries).

Michael Brein's Travel Tales Monthly Bookazine Issue No. 11 for May 2015 contains among the best travel stories from Michael's huge collection of about 10,000 travel tales that he has gathered in interviews with nearly 1,750 world travelers and adventurers during his four decades of travel to more than 125 countries throughout the world.

Travel Tales Collections, Food & Drink, No. 7, February 2015, is part of Michael Brein's Travel Tales Collections series. It contains some of the best stories from Michael's huge collection of travel tales that he has gathered in interviews with nearly 1,750 world travelers and adventurers during his four decades of travel to more than 125 countries throughout the world.

Toilet experiences are an unfortunate yet essential aspect of living that, like it or not, we all must come to terms with, whether on the home front or in strange exotic foreign lands. The necessity of dealing with toilets, where to find them; what to do about them; and how to use them even, elicits from many travelers nothing less than abject terror.

Michael Brein's Travel Tales Monthly bookazine, Issue No. 12, June 2015, contains among the best travel stories from Michael's huge collection of about 10,000 travel tales that he has gathered in interviews with nearly 1,750 world travelers and adventurers during his four decades of travel to more than 125 countries throughout the world.

Michael Brein's Travel Tales Collection: The USSR 1 features three wild travel tales of unbelievable things that could have happened to you during the old Cold War Soviet Union communist era. Of course, there are always the usual, typical, expected sorts of Eastern Europe (a la the Cold War) experiences. But there are also those incredible unexpected surprises that become all the more memorable just because they are so unique!

The January issue samples safety and security of the woman solo traveler (as well as women traveling together in pairs or very small groups) - the quest to achieve safe and secure, relatively comfortable, unencumbered, and unimpeded travel throughout the world.

Travel Tales Collections are groups of very interesting similar travel stories on a variety of very specific travel subjects, themes, or countries, such as close calls, great escapes, pickpocketing, scams, safety and security in travel, Paris, Morocco, Mexico, and so on. Eventually several hundred collections on all sorts of specific travel subjects, themes, and countries will be available on all the major eReaders.

It's "award time" so to speak! It's now that I choose to pause for a bit and select the very best of the best so far, from approximately the first third of some 600 hours of roughly 10,000 recorded travel tales told to me over the last four decades by nearly 1,750 world travelers and adventurers, whom I've encountered during my many journeys across our globe.