Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with journey

The right book for a train ride

timory — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:07:43 -0800

What are good books to read on a train? This holiday, for the first time, I'll be taking the train home instead of flying. I'm relishing the thought of being able to read while traveling (airplanes make me queasy), and I'm looking forward to the forced downtime from the internet and other things that distract me from reading even a fraction of what I used to read.

The journey is about 8 hours long, 16 round trip. It seems the perfect amount to read a smaller novel each way, or a longer one I could split half and half on each leg.

Please give me your recommendations. I'm looking for something more literary (not necessarily part of "the canon," but definitely nothing pulpy or best-sellery), and engaging enough to hold my attention for 8 hours straight. I want the perfect thing to read while staring out into snowy Pennsylvania and listening to the tracks chug by. I think the Mountain Goats are the best music to listen to on these long journeys alone, but I want the literary equivalent of that.

Here is a sparse sampling of the kinds of books I'm looking for:
Calvino, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
Gaarder, The Solitaire Mystery
Updike, Rabbit, Run
Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

I'm sensing a theme... maybe the theme of journeys, whether fantastical or mundane, seems to fit the mold for me here.

Recommendations for (simpler) novellas in Russian or Spanish are also welcome, because I could very much stand to brush up on those languages. Bonus points for magically guessing and suggesting books I already own but haven't yet read. Thank you!

Help me find a vibrant Protestant church in the Cleveland area. I'm between denominations.

debbie_ann — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:54:45 -0800

Help me find a vibrant Protestant church in the Cleveland area. I'm between denominations. I love the idea of going to church, but I've yet to find one where I feel comfortable coming week after week. Maybe you know the denomination I'm looking for.

I presently go to children's weekday Mass at a wonderful little Catholic church. I love it for the following reasons
+ The sermons are wonderful. We always learn about a Saint or a story about Jesus, and then the Priest helps us understand how to apply the lessons to daily life.
+ We all sing together. 100 school children, their teachers and many grandparents sing a simple song every week. Last year it was "we are made for service".
+ There is a fantastic sense of community. I know everyone. Everyone knows me. When we pass the peace, we mean it.
+ We all pray together.
+ I leave feeling refreshed and inspired to be a good person, with very clear directions about where a good person should head this week

However, I am not Catholic for all of the reasons that Protestants usually state. I'd like to find a church where I can take communion. I've tried the following... and had the following problems.
- Going to my parents Presbyterian church. It's mainly blue-hairs. I feel lonely during coffee hour. Everyone who talks to me pretty much just asks how old I am now, and tells me how much I've grown.
- Going to a Unitarian service. It seems to be more of a theological class than a worship service. We didn't pray.
- Going to a born again nondenominational church. We sang and prayed for a half hour, which was AWESOME..... but then the sermon would invariably be a half-hour pro-life rampage and during coffee hour teenagers would pass around petitions to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
- Going to a Non-denominational Contemporary church. Very vibrant, but the service lasted for hours. I had to leave because I was faint with hunger....and my ears rang all day from the excessive volume.
- Not going to Church for years. It leaves me with an emptiness... a yearning.
- Going to a Lutheran church. I felt bored and couldn't sit still.
- Going to a different Presbyterian Church. Great sermon.... but we're given about 5 seconds to 'privately confess our sins' before being forgiven. I find myself both too hurried to reflect, and bored after the sermon. Also, just a handful of adults under 40.

The issue is rather pressing because I'd like my son to have Sunday school experiences. I'd like to find a church (in or near Cleveland) with the following qualities, where I can settle down . . .
+ Young people. I'm in my late 20's and would like to be part of a community that includes a substantial number of adults under 50. Other families with kids would be great. People in their 20's and 30's would be awesome!
+ Protestant denomination
+ a sense of community
+ reasonable amounts of singing
+ prayer
+ sermons that teach about Jesus, God, the Bible and how to be a good person
+ vibrant worship (as opposed to the soul-stifling sound of an entire congregation boredly reciting 'Alleluia' and 'it is right to give thanks and praise in unison)

Journey Song?

rockhopper — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:54:42 -0800

Journey song? Some lyrics may include "fly by my window" or similar.

EPIC JOURNEYfilter - I want to make a drive from Alaska to Chile.

robdon — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 16:57:36 -0800

I'd like to make a drive down the entire western coast of the Americas, starting in Alaska, and ending in Chile. I need advice on how to go about this using the least amount of money, and in the safest way manageable. Background: I am an 18 year old college student on a limited budget living in D.C.

What I'd like to do: Fly up to Alaska, obtain a cheap, sturdy, small 4-wheel drive vehicle, and drive south until I run out of land. I also need a way to transport the car back up to the states (container ship?), as I plan on flying back from Buenos Aires or Santiago

Pressing Questions:

What would be the best vehicle to use?

- I would want a smaller, rugged SUV that has proper off-roading capability, the ability to carry a large amount of fuel (and run on the kind of fuel one might come across in South America), and is easily servicable. Something along the lines of a Range Rover Defender would be nice, but in the under $4,000 USD range

What sort of International Driver's License would I need?

Driving through some more unstable parts of the world seems unavoidable (ahem, Colombia)... Is there a way I can circumnavigate the unsavory parts? Is there a real risk that I might be robbed, killed, or kidnapped on this journey?
- I would be driving this with a fluent Spanish speaker (I don't speak a word of it), but we are both small, skinny white kids, so we couldn't do much more than talk our way out of a bind

Is there a service available to ship the vehicle back to the East Coast of the U.S.A. once I make it south?

I dont really have a set goal in mind other than to simply make the journey, but visiting a coffee plantation and some ruins along the way might be nice.

Any glaring faults in my plan that I haven't thought of?

Adult baptism gift

Hugh2d2 — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:21:16 -0800

My wife is getting baptized into her new church this weekend. I'm an apathetic atheist, but I want to get her something meaningful to commemorate the next step in her journey and I need ideas.

It's one of those progressive christian churches (rock music, video screens, etc.) if that makes a difference.

What should I get her?

Full-length classic rock ready for the construction site?

porn in the woods — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 12:30:34 -0800

A friend of mine recently went to work for a construction team. Their current music selection on their field boom box is limited to CDs of Journey's Greatest Hits, Led Zeppelin 3 and 4, and Mötley Crüe Shout at the Devil. "Tragically," they recently lost their Huey Lewis and the News Sports CD as well. We (mostly) agree that these are perfectly fine records, but there's only so much of this one can stand in a 40-hour week. I was going to help out my buddy track down some new music, but all I'm coming up with is Bob Seger, Eagles, and Steve Perry's Street Talk solo lp. What construction-and-hard-work-friendly full-length releases could be introduced to this stack of CDs to make both my friend and his co-workers happy? He works with men in their late 30s and early 40s, so nothing too outré (No Lightning Bolt or Hair Police.)

Help me remember this Incredible Journey starring kids

acoutu — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:56:46 -0800

BookFilter: Help me remember this book about 3 children who go on an "incredible journey" of sorts after their parents fail to pick them up from the hotel's daycare. I read this book before 1983. It was a paperback with red edges. The kids are on vacation with their parents, who leave them at the hotel's daycare for the day. By dinner, their parents still haven't returned. The kids decide to go back home, several hundred miles away. The kids are 10, 8, and 6 or so. The eldest is the protagonist. She has a spare tire around her middle. The middle is a boy, perhaps named Brett or Shane. The youngest is a girl and named Brett or Shane (or some other name that I associated with a boy) -- and she likes steak and eggs. At the time, I thought the family was wealthy, but they were probably just middle class (which I was not!). The kids travel across the country/state/province, buying bologna and trapping a rabbit (and cooking it) along the way. I won't say anything else about the plot, in case someone wants to read it.

I always thought it was by the author of The Incredible Journey, but I can't find anything to prove that now. I've tried Amazon and Alibris, but I'm using the wrong keywords, I suspect. Any thoughts? Thanks!

"Mistah Kurtz - he dead."

numinous — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 21:55:30 -0800

[Man’s-Journey-to-find-himself-Filter]: I am looking for works of film and fiction that employ the imagery of traversing a difficult path/passageway as a metaphor for man’s inner journey toward connection with his unconscious shadow (in the Jungian sense of the term). The setting/fictional location of the work specifically needs be a narrow and dark passageway through which our character must physically travel.

The most obvious uses (to me) of this motif are employed by Joseph Conrad in Heart of Darkness and, consequently, by Coppola in Apocalypse Now.

What other modern (let’s say work from 1850 onward) examples of this theme in film and literature can you think of?

(I would also appreciate a brief explination of the scene if the work mentioned is particularly obscure.)

Viking Metal?

Darth Fedor — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 22:26:21 -0800

MetalFilter: In "A Headbanger's Journey," there is a song playing during the scene where they show those huge stone sword monuments in Nordicland. It rules and I want to know who it is. It's got a cool stoppy-starty riff with some creepy viking chants going behind it. Help! I need to know the source of this rulingness.

Don't stop! Belieeeeeving!

dorothy humbird — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 20:16:31 -0800

What are the best incredibly cheesy yet persistently feel-good, over-the-top possibly-80's songs you can give me? Until this weekend I had somehow never heard Journey's "Don't Stop Believing." As soon as I heard it, though, I recognized it as one of those songs that either in spite of or BECAUSE of their uber-cheese enthusiasm, they get me every time. I listen to these songs when I go on cleaning sprees or running or just for fun because they're ridiculous and catchy.

I know similar questions have been asked, but I'm not looking for training songs, or things to get me in a fightin' mood. I want songs that will make me absurdly happy and slightly embarrassed to be singing along.

Examples of other songs I adore in this fashion:

Baltimora - Tarzan Boy
Self - What A Fool Believes (this version is more beep-boop synthesized and way more fun, I think)
Depeche Mode - I Just Can't Get Enough
Queen - Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy
Hanson - Lost Without Each Other (oh... the shame...)
Ben Folds - Annie Waits (this actually isn't that cheesy but it has the intensity style I love)

As far as I can tell most of these songs are major... key, as opposed to minor. (Please excuse my dearth of musical knowledge.) I'm definitely going for the bright and cheery here. Recommendations?

Where/how can I watch Jeremy Piven's Journey of a Lifetime?

nitsuj — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 10:10:15 -0800

Where/how can I watch Jeremy Piven's Journey of a Lifetime? It premiered on April 1, 2006. Discovery's website has a schedule saying it's playing on August 29th and 30th on Discovery HD, but I don't have that channel. I can't find anywhere that would have it on DVD. I can't even find a torrent for it (though I'd be up for paying for it if there's a legal way to do it). I can't find any reference of it on the regular Discovery or Travel Channel websites (both of which have been advertising the show).

Any ideas of how I can see this show?

I want to travel the West Coast for cheap

tweak — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 11:49:01 -0800

How do I travel the West Coast by rail for cheap? I have the general plan mapped out (I want to go north... or south?). I most certainly will see people and places in Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego. Hopefully in a semi-linear fashion with interesting walk-abouts in between. I'm thinking railpass. I'm not really asking for nuts and bolts, I'm asking for your impressions. I would prefer not to wander farther East than Vegas.

Now then. If you were doing this, and you were traveling this general path, in either direction, or hopping from place to place, what would you want to do and see, and why? Oh yeah, one more thing, I'm not hung up on too many specifics, I'm just more interested in the first thing you would do, the first impression you have, because if I like it, I'll eventually do it, or some form thereof, during the trip. The only boundary is that outside a rail pass and a plane ticket I won't have more than $100 to spend. I know I can swing it. Anyway, I look forward to your responses. Also, I'd rather not read the Lonely Planet or any travel books written in vague generalities for 'Joe Reader'. Thanks in advance. I will probably ask more specific follow up questions when I remember that I wrote this post and actually hit the Post button.

Why is Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" at number 8 on the iTunes Music Store?

pandaharma — Fri, 05 Aug 2005 12:59:23 -0800

Incredibly Pointless Question: Why is Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" at number 8 on the iTunes Music Store? Just noticed this ancient bit of dreck was in the iTunes Music Store's top ten. Was there some reference in a current movie / television which somehow made its sales jump?