Whether Armchair Traveler or the Real Thing, Salon's "Literary Guide to the World" Sponsored by the Travel Channel Provides a Virtual Cultural Immersion. FASHIONTRIBES TRAVEL BLOG

Travel comes alive for sophisticated and novice travelers alike with the launch of this new section on Salon.com, as part of the Travel Channel & their Be a Traveler campaign. The interactive journey begins on a large, colorful world map that allows readers to click on the destination of choice, download podcasts, and contribute their own suggestions in real time about each destination, offering their own picks or musing on the choices presented. Essays by noted writers about their favorite domestic and international travel destinations further brings things to life. To kick things off, top notch writing talent was brought on board: Alexandra Fuller writes about Zimbabwe; Booker Prize-winner John Banville, about Ireland; and acclaimed young novelist Tony D’Souza, on Havana.

Other debut destinations include Martha’s Vineyard, Arizona, Togo, Spitalfields and Whitechapel in London (following the literary trail of Jack the Ripper), and vivid literature on Vietnam including its beauty, culture and people, as well as some of the best writing on the Vietnam war and its impact on the landscape, history and the world. In addition, the essays’ authors will recommend further reading material that will define each location. "Literary Guide to the World will become the ultimate companion for the well-read traveler," says Salon Editor in Chief Joan Walsh. "This is much more than a typical destination tour book. Readers will experience a virtual cultural immersion in each destination through multiple platforms on our site."

Salon will roll out two new locations weekly during the summer and one per week in the fall, focusing on cities and regions that include major U.S. destinations and popular European and Eastern European cities and countries as well as more far-flung spots. The goal is to cover at least 70 destinations.

A virtual passport to the world awaits at Salon.com.

- Lesley Scott

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