The Travel Bookshop at Notting Hill

The Travel Bookshop's real façade (www.thisislondon.co.uk)

The Travel Bookshop, Notting Hill, London.
(www.travelbookshop.co.uk)

For all those fans of the film "Notting Hill" (1999) starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant, the bookshop at the center of the action has become a tourist destination. Unfortunately, this bookshop is scheduled to close within a day. This impending loss has been reported in the media recently, from news outlets in Britain such as The Daily Telegraph to NPR in the United States.

The Travel Bookshop is a landmark for those avid travelers, collectors of travel guides, and readers of travel narratives. It arranged its books by country rather than by genre, as a more general bookstore would do. This arrangement has become more commonly seen in larger bookshops now, such as those gigantic Barnes and Noble megashops. But the Travel Bookshop also attracted real travel writers, those adventurers whose books were sold in the shop, such as Paul Theroux, Colin Thubron. If you look at the website you will find travel narratives and writers producing work on all parts of the world, near and far. Such a shop clearly gathers together a vast amount of knowledge and creates a tremendous resource for readers of all levels and interests. Travel is a way to explore and test your curiosity about others, and the books featured on the website, even on the eve of the bookshop's closure, shows us how this field is vital and flourishing.

Alec Baldwin has already stepped up to support the continued operations of this bookshop. If you recall, Alec Baldwin played the boorish celebrity boyfriend to Julia Roberts, the last person in the film who would seem to have an interest in books. He has spoken out on his Twitter feed about helping out. You too can help out by continuing to support writers and bookshops, in your own communities and beyond. Travel writers in particular seem to be increasingly relevant in today's globalized economy, so please try to reach out and support these intrepid writers and booksellers whenever you can.

Hail that Black Cab!

When I was a little girl living in New York City, taxis were all big yellow checker cabs. The trim was a black and white checkerboard, and the yellow belonged only to cabbies. To this day, whenever I still see a car sporting a bright yellow paint job, I always ask myself, "who would ever want to have their car painted taxicab yellow?" Even Joni Mitchell thinks cabs are all yellow, as she sings about the big yellow taxi that comes to take away her man, to convince him to turn paradise into a parking lot. This toy version captures what I remember about how those cabs looked. Note the roundedness of the body -- this version is a little slimmer than the even rounder versions in my memory.

From Wikipedia.

There is an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest cab ride from New York City to the West Coast, but there are three guys from England -- Johno, Leigh, and Paul -- who aim to set a new record in a black cab by driving from London to Sydney. At least they hope to raise £20,000 for the British Red Cross through their project, It's On the Meter. They are currently in China, having traveled through India and Tibet, and have raised close to 40% of their goal.

The cab named Hannah formerly ferried passengers through London streets for sixteen years, and has been retrofitted for this trip of a lifetime. I wonder if Hannah turns into a hydrofoil because the map of their route has the party traveling through the Indonesian Archipelago to get to Australia. I suppose if Hannah survived the rough and tumble of London, it can make it anywhere. Anyone who's taken a black cab will know that awfully secure feeling in the back seat, a feeling reinforced by the hugeness of that back seat. New York cabs today can only dream about being this muscular.

From It's On the Meter.com.

Take a look at their website for their incredible photos and stories, and to support Johno, Leigh, and Paul:  http://www.itsonthemeter.com/. Next time you take a cab and feel as though it's taking forever, remember these three guys and Hannah.