International Mankini Challenge

I love backpacking around the world. The chance to travel to new countries, meet new people, better understand what the world actually is and undertake experiences that make me feel truely alive. Add to this the International Mankini Challenge and the last 13 months of my life have been one of the most fun, daring and enjoyable I’ve had. I also love to share my experiences and the knowledge I’ve gained with others, when asked (last thing I want to be is a travel bore), hoping it will inspire them to take the plunge and reap the benefits of backpacking. However there are three things I hear uttered by new, naive and/or non-travellers that I’m afraid drive me nuts!

1. “You’re so lucky!”

A comment that can be found on many a backpacker’s Facebook albums. Balderdash is what I say to it! Not to travel is easier than travelling and a lot of people confuse backpackers with being lucky because they’ve taken the decision and made the effort to make their dreams a reality.

“I don’t have the money”, “I’ve got a job”, “I’ve no one to go with” etc are all lame excuses as far as I’m concerned. If you really want to travel and see what the world has to offer then save money, leave your job and go on your own! I’ve met people in $80,000 of debt who’ve spent 3 years saving a travel fund and delayed loan repayments for a year so they can live their dream. Leaving your job is the easy part and by the time you’re back it’s likely that things will be a lot better than they are now. In fact you have gained new skills or a new direction that help you get a better and more fulfilling job! And backpacking on your own is the only way to travel in my opinion. You’re master of your own destiny and go anywhere you want.

In essence too many people are ready to put up barriers as to why they can’t do something rather than look as to how something can be achieved. All it requires is a change in mindset.

2. “It dangerous there”

Hearing this said is my number one pet peeve. If I’d listened to this while backpacking around South and Central America recently I’d have missed going to Colombia, the jewel in South America’s crown in my opinion – where anything you could ever want to see/do, you can here (trekking to the Lost City, the beautiful town of Salento, the Manizales coffee plantations, the salsa of Cali, the partying and stunning women of Medellin, the culture and beauty of Bogota, the extreme sports of San Gil, the Caribbean beaches of Parque Nacional Tayrona, the diving in Taganga, the history of Cartagena, the Amazon area of Leticia). Colombian people are actually some of the nicest, helpful and most hospitable people I’ve ever met while travelling.

Colombia isn’t the only country to suffer from the dangerous tag. I could name countless other countries that travellers miss out based on what they or a friend/family can remember reading in the media in the past. Unfortunately people are too quick to dismiss on this basis and don’t take the time to find out more about what a country is like now. Seemingly they then are in the habit of propagating this viewpoint until it becomes ‘fact’.

The best way I’ve found to illustrate the case for Colombia and countries like it is this. If you only believed what you read in the press about the USA then you wouldn’t go there either. Ater all, who would want to go to a country that declares war on others at the drop of a hat, where kids are all fat and shoot each other at school everyday, where street crime is rife and where you’re probably going to die in a hurricane or forest fire?

The fact is we know there’s more to the USA as information is more readily available. If people spent a little longer looking into countries where it wasn’t, they may not looked shocked when I tell them that in the five weeks I was in Colombia I didn’t meet one traveller who had either been mugged or had things stolen when there. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying break the bling out, I’m saying even in your own country there are dangers, just use your common sense.

3. “Back to the real world”

What is the real world? Where is it? Why does the life you left to go backpacking have to be the real world and the one you experience travelling be fantasy? Your life is what you make it, we all have choices. If you want a conventional life with a career, house and family, then fine – good luck to you. But if you want something else, like my friend Alex who left his career as a Management Consultant behind to sail to Latin America and start a hostel in Bogota, then all the best to you in creating your new ‘real world’. You have my upmost respect.

So get your video camera out, make the best film for the STA World Traveller Intern, pack the mankini and send us the pictures!

You can also follow us on twitter and/or join the International Mankini Challenge Facebook Group.

The birthplace of the Mankini may have been in Sacha Baron Cohen’s head, but the place that made it famous is Hollywood and the film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. For a Mankini, Hollywood is Mecca. It’s the closest it can get to its creator and is the spiritual home of green lycra. For the International Mankini Challenge (IMC) the pièce de résistance would be a picture with God Himself, Sacha Baron Cohen. But could he be reached?

When you travel you have the good fortune to meet people from all sorts of countries and walks of life. If you listen when people are talking about themselves you’ll also pick up valuable pieces of information that may not only be interesting, but may prove useful to you or a friend in future. And if you don’t listen, then posting a request for help on your Facebook status or on twitter account can often help you out. I tried all these avenues to try and get hold of Mr Sacha Baron Cohen and was lucky enough to snag a friend of a friend who knew him and a mate who knew his agent, manager and publicist’s names.

Now a friend of Sacha may have limited influence with a man with a profile as big as his, but a manager, agent and publicist… If you watch the US show Entourage then you’ll know how this dynamic works between ‘E’, Ari Gold and Shauna. The manager manages the day to day affairs for the client and pushes the agent to get the best deal and opportunities for them. The agent negociates with the studios in trying to secure the roles his client wants while trying to raise his client’s equity in the movie business. The publicist on the other hand tries to build a public image of the client through various media that makes him more employable. And so I dropped these guys emails, no doubt all bigwigs in their respective agencies, doubting I’d get a response.

Arriving at LAX after 11 months in Latin America I was braced for my own ‘Cultural Learnings of America’. Coming back into ‘the modern world’ was sure to be a shock judging by how overwhealmed I felt about my first Walmart experience in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. However I had the benefit of staying with a good friend from London who now lives in Los Angeles (LA) and with him we put our heads together for alternative LA picture opportunities as back up. The list read as follows:

As well as being a fountain of knowledge on LA landmarks, my friend also works and is connected in the entertainment business. Thus over the week of my stay he’d arranged for me to play football at singer Robbie Williams house, get VIP passes to Universal Studios and go to an LA Lakers basketball match. I supplemented this by speaking to a contact of mine (before traveling I worked in sport) to get us access to the five day old VIP Hyde Lounge Staples Centre at the game where, it turned out, a certain Mr David Beckham and his LA Galaxy teamates would be celebrating the fact they had reached the Major League Soccer (MLS) final!

After taking into account the fact I wanted something synonomous with LA, somewhere I wouldn’t risk running into kids or getting lynched by security or the cops and something relevant to the Borat film, as well as would make a good picture, I settled on the Hollywood sign!

Sure, a picture with Robbie on the pitch at his house would have been cool, but he was in the UK (the chances hey?) promoting his new album Reality Killed The Video Star. It would have been rude to do it without his permission. A shot with Becks would also have been awesome, but this wasn’t the right environment and to be honest I think he gets bothered enough. I wanted to let him chill and enjoy his night with his team mates. And so I found myself travelling up Beachwood, the best street to get a view of the Hollywood sign, one Saturday. It’s a pretty residential area and home to the rich, famous and private security firms! However after some expert navigation by H, we found the spot!

Unobstructed views of the Hollywood sign are hard to get, especially ones without the rest of LA’s tourist population at your heels. But we’d found such a place. With the light fading I slipped into the straps and we picked our spot. After a couple of trial shots I stripped off and we got the shots and 15-20 seconds after I got my kit back on a patrol car rolled by… phew. Upon checking the rear mankini pictures I noticed that the label was out. After so many shots I’ve become a bit of a perfectionist and so after a brief look around I whipped the gear off again and we got some more arse shots. Boom – done!

It may not be Sacha, Becks or Robbie – but nonetheless it’s Hollywood and I’m pleased to get a shot such as this with an icon such as the famous sign.

See the pictures here.

Just a brief post to wish you all the best for 2010 and to let you know that a new Mankini unfortunately didn’t make it into Santa’s sack this year.

Undetered however, and joined by a 6ft man in a all in one blue lyra Morph suit, I played Mankini Santa to a group of fellow backpackers in San Telmo, Buenos Aires in Argentina. The pictures below are a brief snapshot of the joy brought by Mankini and Morph Santa. Who says they’re not real?!

Happy New Year!