TR AVELTELLY Issue 2 | January 2013 | Travel, Camera, Action!
Authentic
Cuba
In this issue
Wonders
of Iceland
Capture DUBAI
3 6 0 d e g re e s
Time lapse
Smile of Gambia
Travel apps | Travel gear | Dream journey | This is an interactive magazine
‘Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought’ – Albert Szent-Györgyi
Grand Canyon, USA
Content 6
24
29
6. Cuba
22. Travel Apps
29. The Gambia
Viva la Cuba
HostelWorld and Instagram
Through our camera lenses
14. Sri Lanka
23. Wildlife funfacts
34. Book of the month
Stock video footage
Koala funfacts
Best in travel 2013
16. Wonders of Nature
24. Dubai
35. Dream journey
Golden Circle Iceland
Visit-Capture-Experience
The Trans Siberian Express
20. Camera tips
28. Travel gear
36. Next month
360 degrees time lapse
Travel Adapter and Flashlight
Japan
Travel, Camera, Action! A travel magazine fo r t rave l e r s w h o l i ke to photograph and film
Watch our travel videos on vimeo.com/traveltelly
About TravelTelly
Colophon
TravelTelly is a travel film organization, with a
issue 2, January 2013
love
TravelTelly is a project of MotionMinds.nl
for
discovering
new
cultures
and
destinations. TravelTelly Magazine writes about various destinations around the world and gives tips about travel film and photography. Each issue of this magazine is created by a fixed
TravelTelly Magazine is published every month. www.traveltelly.com. Social Media
team of TravelTelly employees and we guarantee
Facebook.com/traveltelly
that each destination of this magazine has been visited by one of our team members. We also guarantee an honest and independent opinion of each destination that we visit, we will never write positively about destinations or accommodations for money.
Twitter.com/traveltelly Editors: Johannes Oppewal Heleen Lamm Frank Keyner Michael Vink Marco Molhoek Nothing from this edition may be copied in any way without consent of TravelTelly.
More than 13.000 travel shots at
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TravelTelly.com
Dear traveler, A warm welcome and all the best for 2013! A new year is ahead of us, where many of you will go on an adventure somewhere around the world. New places, cultures, new stories to tell and amazing memories that will last a lifetime! We loved the positive reactions we received after the first issue of TravelTelly Magazine. We hope you will enjoy this issue even more. For us, 2013 will be a busy travel year, filming around the globe. And even though part of our travel schedule is already fixed, we would love to hear from you if you know some interesting places for us to film at. We wish you an exciting travel year, with some amazing places and cultures which will make 2013 a year you will never forget!
Enjoy this travel magazine. So Travel, get your Camera out and Action! Johannes Oppewal CEO TravelTelly
Find our travel pictures here!
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Viva la Cuba Cuba is like no other country. When we visited Cuba, we were amazed about the amount of old cars that we saw driving through the streets, and most of them still look new! When you walk through Havana, it feels like you’re walking years back in time. Take a walk through the old city streets, away from the main street, and experience the Cuban city life. Havana is a beautiful city, that does need some renovations when it comes to its old buildings. And when this happens, this city will be one of the most beautiful cities around the world. One of our Dutch colleagues from TravelShots.nl has been filming in Cuba for 4 weeks, and we interviewed him about his experiences.
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Classic cars in Havana
What can you tell us about TravelShots.nl as a company? In 1996 we, Karin and Michael Vink, got married in Sri Lanka. Since then we have the so called backpacker-virus. We were traveling around the world and always brought our video- and photo cameras with us. When we were back home, we would make a short travel video for our friends and family. Later on, we decided that we wanted to not just share our travel videos with our family, but with everyone. This is the reason why we started TravelShots.nl within our already existing video company PASCREA.
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Cuba facts The Cubans refer to their island as ‘El Cocodrilo’ - viewed from above Cuba is said to resemble a crocodile. The population of Cuba totals more than eleven million. When Christopher Columbus first happened upon Cuba in 1492 he thought he had landed in China. The
average
temperature
is
21 degrees Celsius in January and 27 degrees Celsius in July. Source: cac tuslanguage training.com
Street downtown Havana, Cuba
At the moment, we are traveling all around the world, while capturing these amazing places. We learn to understand new cultures and get to know the local people. From stunning Asian temples in Laos and Cambodia to exotic beaches in Cuba, we get to capture it all. Together with our partner TravelTelly, we now have more than 20.000 travel stock videos online for purchase, and we are proud of that! And because we also shoot some great photographs along the way, these are also available for promotion or productions worldwide.
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Michael working in Cuba
Cuba
What is the best thing about your work? I was able to make a profession out of my hobby, which is of course filming. I can get creative in the travel videos that I make for others. My other passion is traveling. The fact that I can combine my two passions for work, makes me a happy person. We are always well prepared when we’re visiting other countries, we know what the best places are for us to film and photograph at. The preparations are almost as fun as the trip itself. We don’t really see it as work.
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One of many classic cars in Havana
You film at places around the world, why did you choose Cuba as your most recent destination? We can choose our own destinations, but we always look for destinations that are popular in the travel industry. The last couple of years we often saw advertisements for Cuba in travel magazines, but there weren’t many travel videos online for sale. This island in the Caribbean is mostly visited for its sunny climate, traditional music and its old-timers. Most of the tourists visit Varadero and enjoy their all-inclusive holidays. They forget that there is so much more to see than just Havana. We wanted to capture these lesser known places. And as Cuba is changing and becoming more modern, we wanted to film there as soon as possible, to capture the ‘real’ Cuba. Downtown Havana
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Capture Cuba What can you tell us about filming in Cuba? We were told that it was no problem to film in Cuba, but as we we’re doing research we found more and more messages from people saying that it could be hard to film here with professional camera equipment. A phone call to the embassy of Cuba didn’t teach us anything either. So, we decided to film with compact Full HD cameras. The good thing about compact cameras is that you don’t stand out. This makes it easier to film people. We were only told once, that we couldn’t film from a tripod, which was at the Plaza de la Revolucíón in Havana.
Which place did you love the most? Trinidad and Havana are the most beautiful places to film and photograph. Havana is a must see destination, because of its many old-timers, the beautiful colonial buildings and the Malecón boulevard. It is a metropole, with a relaxed atmosphere and it is a good place to start your trip. Trinidad is listed as World Heritage by UNESCO and is an old town in the Sancti Spíritus province. It still has the feel of the Spanish 16th century. Highlights of Trinidad include: the Parroquial de la Santísima church, Plaza Mayor, Palacio Cantero and Palacio Brunet. It’s an historic town, with many traditional buildings, streets and squares, and it has some cool restaurants that almost look like museums. In the end it’s not about the amazing architecture and landscapes, but about the people you meet. We could talk for hours with young cigar sellers and a sculptor at La Loma de la Cruz in Holguin. We got invited for a coffee by and elderly lady who sings
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Karin together with a friendly local
in Cienfuegos every week. You will never forget these kind of moments and they cannot be captured with your cameras.
What was the most difficult thing about filming in Cuba? We didn’t face many problems when filming in Cuba. Cubans love the camera. When we want to capture a person up close, we always ask for permission first. Tip: soap is a luxury item in Cuba, so we brought some of our hotel soaps. You can give these to the people you want to film and photograph, as some kind of a present.
What kind of advice can you give our travel photographers/cameramen, who want to film in Cuba? When shooting with HDV tapes, bring as many as possible, because we didn’t find any in Cuba. The cards (SD, etc) are also hard to find. And when we visited Trinidad we also couldn’t find AA or AAA batteries easily. Learn some Spanish, it just makes it so much easier to come in contact with the local people. Especially when you want to film or photograph a person, you can ask: ‘Puedo tomar una foto, por favor?’ Many of the younger Cubans also speak English. Our last advice would be to spend enough time in Cuba. Along the way you will discover new places you want to explore, so take a couple of extra days.
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SriLanka Stock footage We have more than 500 High Definition Sri Lanka travel stock shots online, that you can buy for your own travel agency or for your own production. Have a look at: www.pond5.com/artist/travelshots
Buy directly via the link above or contact us at info@traveltelly.com for a discount when buying more than 1 shot.
Anuradhapura with Jetavana stupa at the background
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More than
500 HD
stock video shots from Sri Lanka
SriLanka Stock footage
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of Nature
Wo nders
Golden Circle What: the Golden Circle route in Iceland. Where: this route takes you from Reykjavik to central Island and back. Covering 300 km. Main
stops:
national
park
Iceland
is a wonderful place
to visit. It is an island which will take your breath away, especially when you’re a nature lover. Even during wintertime, when you
Thingvellir,
only have a couple hours of full
waterfall Gullfoss and the geothermal active
day light, it is a perfect time to
valley of Haukadalur.
visit. We visited Iceland a couple
Highlights: geysers Geysir and Strokkur, Kerid
of years back, in December, and
volcanic crater and waterfall Gullfoss. Tour info: Golden Circle route is available as a guided tour by bus, by jeep including glacier
filming the sunrises and sunsets here was simply amazing. If you only have a couple of days like we had, and when you’re staying in
Langjökull or with your own car. Snowmobile
Reykjavik, the Golden Circle tour is
ride on the glacier is available during this
a great option. In just one day you
tour as an extra activity all year round.
will explore a lot of the Icelandic
Costs: between $60.00 and $285.00.
landscape.
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Find more information here: www.goldencircleiceland.com Watch our Iceland video here: vimeo.com/2400115
Iceland
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Skyline Rome, Italy
Shinjuku, Tokyo, japan
Creating a 360 degrees time lapse If you have a GoPro or small (phone) camera, an easy and cheap way to make a 360 degrees time lapse video is with an egg timer. Yes that’s right, an egg timer. We all know cameras and equipment can be very expensive and we often need to be creative, as we want to save some money for our social lives as well ☺ But not all camera equipment has to be so expensive and you can still make some amazing shots. We love filming time lapses and an egg timer is just the easiest and cheapest way of making a 360 degrees time lapse. Here are two links of websites that you should definitely check out. Especially watch the videos that explain how you can make it yourself. A post by Tim Romano: midcurrent.com And a post by one of our favorite filmmakers who’s really testing everything that has to do with cameras, the funny and famous Phillip Bloom. His blog is worth following and it helps you learn everything you need to know about camera gear: philipbloom.net Part of our Japan video includes a 360 degrees time lapse of Tokyo, you can watch it here: video: vimeo.com/56822286 20
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Travel with your GoPro As you probably already know, is that we are huge fans of the GoPro camera. It is a really small camera, but if you want to make a proper video you still need all kinds of accessories. The best thing that you can do is to buy a small case, in which you can put all of your equipment and this way you are sure not to leave anything behind. We bought the Xseries black box (as you can see on the picture). It is a handy case to put all your GoPro equipment in and it is easy to bring with you while traveling. Of course there are many good cases out there, but we think this one is a good investment. There is nothing worse than filming and missing some of your gear, so that you cannot take the shot you wanted. And as the GoPro has loads of extra camera gear that you can use, which makes it easier to film just about anywhere, you need enough space for all your stuff. On the photo we used the GoPro on a bus driving through Dubai.
The GoPro is a small (ultra) HD camera. Many people use it on their surf and snowboard, on the car or motor, or even in an airplane or to dive with. This camera is the best you can have when it comes to filming extreme sports or difficult angles. Next to that, the GoPro is very small and available for a really good price, so even buying a couple cameras might be a good option if you’re making a special production where you have a budget. TravelTelly.com
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Travel Apps Every month, we will describe a couple of useful Apps in this section.
HostelWorld Mobile App Free (in the App Store and Google Play) – Millions of travel adventures start at Hostelworld.com. Start yours now. Backpackers are the main users of the website Hostelworld.com. It is probably the best website for finding cheap hostels, all around the world. But now there’s also an App available, with which you can directly find and book your hostels. With the HostelWorld App you can search in over 27,000 places in over 6,000 destinations worldwide. Search by type of property, budget, area or rating. The App also gives you photos of the hostels, as well as maps and directions. If your English isn’t great, there are some other languages available. Such an easy App to use while on the go! www.hostelworld.com/mobile-landing
Instagram Mobile App Free (in the App Store and Google Play) – Fast beautiful photo sharing All around the world, people are already using Instagram. It is one of the most famous Apps available at this point. For travelers who don’t know this App yet, pay attention. Instagram is one of the coolest Apps for sharing your photos while traveling. You just snap a picture, choose a filter to transform its look and feel (like black & white or old skool), then post to Instagram and share it on Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr. Sharing your favorite travel photos with your friends and family has never been so fun and easy. www.instagram.com Do you know a useful travel App we need to promote!? Mail us at info@traveltelly.com 22
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Koala Funfacts Did you know‌
Koala at Kangaroo Island, Australia
1. Did you know that koalas have a pouch? Just like kangaroos, koalas have a pouch. The young koala (joey) lives in its mother’s pouch for up to 6 months, where it grows and drinks milk. When it gets bigger, the young koala climbs onto the back of its mother.
2. Did you know that koalas differ in appearance? In Australia, koalas are found in 4 states. In the north, koalas are almost twice as small as the koalas in the south. In the south, koalas also have a thicker coat, as it gets colder in these states.
3. Did you know that koala bears are not related to the bear family? Even though they are called bears, koalas are not related to the bear family at all. They are just called koala bears because they look like them. Koalas are part of the marsupial family and are close related to the wombat.
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Visit-Capture-Experience
DUBAI
Downtown Dubai
If you like to visit a modern city where almost everything is hightech, then Dubai is the place to be. We discovered that there is nothing impossible when it comes to architecture! If you look at the highest building in the world, the Burj Al Khalifa, it is amazing that a building can be this high! It is also possible to go skiing all year round, even when it’s 45 degrees Celsius outside. Ski Dubai is an indoor ski resort with 22.500 square meters of indoor ski areas. It is part of the Mall of the Emirates, one of the largest shopping malls in the world. And just when you think it cannot get any crazier, one of the largest aquariums in the world is found in The Dubai Mall. Dubai Aquarium is 51m x 20m x 11m and features the world’s largest viewing panel, at 32.8m wide and 8.3m high.
Watch our Dubai video here: vimeo.com/46606175 24
TravelTelly.com
Burj Khalifa
Best Photo/Video
SPOTS
photo spot: from metro in Dubai
1. A fun way to take some shots from Dubai is from the metro, because a large part of it is above ground.
2. Visit the Dubai Fountain and the Burj Khalifa. The fountain is animated with performances set to light and music. It is visible from every point of the lake promenade and from many neighbouring structures.
3. Go to the top of the Burj Khalifa. If you want to take a picture from the highest point in the world, now is your chance! Visit the website for more information: www.burjkhalifa.ae
4. Walk around the Harbor. A fun place to see a lively scene with people working, is the harbor of downtown Dubai. Walk around the harbor and take a ferry to the other side of the river, or take a cruise through the harbor. It will give you enough places to take some nice shots from.
5.
Go to the Burj Al Arab hotel. Of course you’ll also need a picture or
video from the most expensive hotel in the world. The problem is though, that if you’re not staying here, then you are not allowed to come close to the building. Another option close to the hotel is Jumeirah Beach, from where you can take a nice shot of the Burj Al Arab hotel, which looks like a sailing boat. TravelTelly.com
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Floralis GenĂŠrica in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Travel Gear and Gadgets Travel Adapter The Compact Universal Travel Adapter is a really handy adapter when you’re traveling around the world, because you can use this adapter in 150 countries. With just a simple flip of the switch, this single, compact unit can alternate among four built-in international plugs. Not only is this an adapter, it can also be used as a USB charger for your camera, phone or other USB-compatible products.
Travel Adapter $50.00 shop.nationalgeographic.com
Mini LED Flashlight and Lantern This gadget by Sunpak can be used as a handy small flashlight as well as a little lantern. It works on LED light and weighs only 71 g and measures only 102x37 mm. The mini flashlight converts quickly and easily to a lantern for illuminating just about any area, by simply sliding the flashlight’s reflector up and exposing the LEDs. It is powered by 3 AAA batteries for hours of use. The water-resistant housing has a rubberized non-slip surface and a wrist strap.
Mini LED Flashlight and Lantern $12.95 bhphotovideo.com
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Exploring
GAMBIA through our
camera lenses
The Smiling Coast In 2012 we filmed 2 weeks in the Gambia. We filmed at different places and even a couple of days in Senegal as well. Local markets, fish markets and local villages around the Gambia’s capital city Banjul are some of the other places we filmed at. “I love to film in Africa. It is so different than the western way of life. The friendly people are always nice to talk to. Eating with locals and getting to know their culture is always fascinating. The one thing I love most, is to work with the local people on a production. The Gambia is totally different than for example Kenya. There is still so much more to see and explore in Africa and its culture.” – Johannes Oppewal CEO TravelTelly
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Paris at Night
Friendly local
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Gam b i a Fa c t s Population: 1,595,000 Capital:
Banjul; 372,000
Area:
11,295 square kilometers (4,361 square miles)
Language:
English, Mandinka, Wolof, Fula
Religion:
Muslim, Christian
Currency:
Dalasi
Source: travel.nationalgeographic .com/ travel/countries/gambia-f ac ts/
The Gambia is a country on the western cape of Africa and is surrounded by Senegal. The slogan of the country is ‘Gambia the smiling coast’. It is a small country, where they speak English next to their tribe languages. Banjul is the capital city and the city where the international airport is situated.
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The friendly Gambian staff
For our client in the Gambia we filmed the SunSwing Beach Resort, which is right next to the beach of Kololi. It was a pleasure to work with the local staff., one of the staff members takes you on a tour through the hotel and shows you the places where you can enjoy your beach holiday. But don’t forget to do some tours as well, where you come in contact with the locals.
We made this promotion video with a big smile! See the video here: vimeo.com/54435110
Swimmingpool SunSwing Beach Resort
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GAMBIA
SunSwing Beach Resort, The Gambia, West Africa Attractive Beach Resort with a dream location on the wide sandy beach of Kololi. Enjoy the best beach bar of the Gambia, a fun beach life, the mighty Atlantic Ocean and beautiful sunsets. The SunSwing Beach Resort is located on the beach side of SunSwing Boulevard, with its restaurants and nightlife, and just a 30 minutes drive from the capital city of Banjul or the airport.
Watch the video here: vimeo.com/54435110
Source: w w w.sunswing.gm
Beach of Kololi TravelTelly.com
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Travel Book of the month
Best in Travel 2013 The best trends, destinations, journeys & experiences for the upcoming year The latest edition of Lonely Planet’s ‘Best in Travel’ is now available! This little book describes all the best places to go and things to do all around the world for the upcoming year. Lonely Planet ranks the top 10 countries, regions and cities to visit in 2013, as well as some of the best-value destinations, best places to do something new, best places to get a tattoo and more. The book also comes with a travel planner which describes all the events per month. It is a great little book to have and take with you while traveling, it is small and light, but brings loads of travel info! Some of the countries described include Sri Lanka, Slovakia and Madagascar. Regions include The Yukon, Palawan and Corsica. And some of the cities chosen are Amsterdam, Beijing and Hobart. ‘Best in Travel 2013’ comes with beautiful photos and info like population, capital, currency and the reasons why you should visit these particular places in 2013. There’s really nothing negative to say about this new Lonely Planet book, it is well worth your money!
shop.lonelyplanet.com $15.00
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The Trans Siberian Express
Dream Journey The most famous train ride in the world is the Trans Siberian Express, which will take you all the way through Russia in about 6 days. It is the longest train route in the world. We think that doing a journey by train is a great way to travel, and because we haven’t visited Russia yet, we would really love to do this in the future. Russia isn’t such a popular place for a lot of travelers (with the exception of Saint-Petersburg and Moscow), which is another reason why we want to undertake this journey, so that we can show people what Russia is like. The Trans-Mongolia is also a famous train route, with which you will travel through Russia, Mongolia and China. But we will describe this journey in another issue of the TravelTelly Magazine.
Route Description Moscow – Vladimir – Nizhny Novgorod – Kirov – Perm – Ekaterinburg – Tyumen – Omsk – Novosibirsk – Krasnoyarsk – Irkutsk – Ulan Ude – Khabarovsk – Ussuriysk – Vladivostok
Trip Highlights Some of the cities that you will pass by on this journey: starting in Russia’s capital city, Moscow. This city is known for its rich history, art scene, architecture and culture. The most famous sight is the Kremlin. Another stop on this journey is Ekaterinburg, Russia’s third largest city and important business centre. Omsk was an important city for Tsar Peter the Great and is now seen as Siberia’s cultural centre. After 3 days of traveling you will stop in Irkutsk. Irkutsk is one of the major cities of the Trans Siberian Express and is a typical Student city. You will end your journey in Vladivostok, known for its nice harbor.
Price tag Train tickets for this journey range between $400.00 and $600.00. www.transsiberianexpress.net
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Next month: Japan
Kiyomizu Temple kyoto, japan
In our upcoming issue we will take you to Japan. We had been dreaming about filming in Japan for a long time. In October 2012 we finally had the chance. We filmed in the amazing city of Tokyo, followed by Mount Fuji where we met some nice locals and had some Sake ( A local beverage), followed by filming many of Kyoto’s amazing temples and much more. We can’t wait to share our stories and experiences with you. You can already check out our Japan video here: vimeo.com/56822286
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