Sounds crazy, right? Don’t jump to conclusions. Eruc has already:

• Bicycled 5,546 miles roundtrip from Seattle to Alaska
• Climbed 20,320-foot-high Mt. McKinley (Denali)
• Bicycled 3,980 miles from Seattle to Miami
• Rowed solo across the Atlantic Ocean between the Canary Islands and Guadeloupe

In fact, he has covered more than 13,000 miles to date by human power. When I spoke with Erden, he was trying to bulk up, explaining that it takes an estimated 8,000 to 9,000 calories a day to row his 23-foot ocean-going craft. (That’s some diet!) Listen to the interview to find out how Erden manages to pack in all those calories, how he sleeps while at sea, what happens if he encounters high seas, what he expects will happen to his legs after ten months of sitting (no walking at sea!), how a sea anchor works (no, it doesn’t reach two miles to the bottom of the ocean), how he financed the expedition, and—most important—why he’s taking on such an immense challenge.

For more information, go to Erden’s website, Around-n-Over and sign up to receive dispatch alerts.

• Developing strategic marketing plans, including identifying key market segments; determining positioning, marketing objectives, and communications objectives; recommending test matrices; writing creative briefs; analyzing results.

• Managing creative and production processes, including developing schedules and estimates; managing in-house or freelance copywriters, art directors, and designers; managing list ordering, merge-purge, print production, lettershop, and fulfillment.

• Team building, including recommending and managing talented creative directors, copywriters, art directors, designers, photographers, stylists, website developers, programmers, proofreaders, translators, list brokers, database managers, international direct mail specialists, traffic managers, print production managers, printers, lettershops, and fulfillment houses.

• Managing client communications and expectations, deepening client relationships; managing revisions to keep the project on strategy, on schedule, and within budget … in the context of a rapidly-changing marketplace and constantly-evolving client plans.

• In my first twelve months as Director of Marketing for luxury educational tour operator, total bookings increased by 98.5% and fill rate increased by 27% over previous year.

• Team-developed marketing strategy for national telecommunications company (Telecom Australia) undergoing deregulation. Managed ongoing strategic refinement (in response to rapidly changing marketplace) and campaign implementation. Retained 33% more customers than anticipated in aggressive marketing plan.

• Led agency team that introduced a new marketing vehicle — direct response software sales — to the U.S. marketplace and built direct response business for Borland from zero to 60% of sales in two and one half years. (During the same period, revenues grew from $90 million to more than $500 million.)

• Analyzed direct marketing expenses and leverage points for major Silicon Valley client; developed and negotiated plan to save client over $1,000,000 annually — without decreasing revenues.

• As member of 3-person circulation department, increased PC World circulation from 30,000 to more than 300,000. (Folio 400 ranked PC World the fastest-growing U.S. consumer magazine … and I received a Folio Gold Award for Excellence in Direct Marketing.)

• Built and managed marketing department at luxury educational travel company. Developed or supervised development of infrastructure — including management reports, budgets, estimate formats, proforma schedules, brochure templates, top-off programs, approval checklists, offer summaries, client profiles, style sheets, etc. Hired, trained, and managed department.

• Managed advertising agency’s most profitable account team at Cohn & Wells San Francisco, generating annual revenue in excess of $20,000,000. Experienced in training both clients and agency employees in direct marketing methods and procedures, and in managing high-volume, detail-oriented direct marketing projects. Over a period of ten years, contributed as Director of Strategic Planning, Studio Director, and Group Account Director.

• Turned around faltering in-house design studio (DMZ); established and implemented operating procedures and quality control standards. Results were significantly improved product, faster service, increased volume and profitability, and much higher levels of customer satisfaction and confidence.

• Elected treasurer for 150-person organization (Bay Area Travel Writers).

This show aired on blogtalkradio on March 14, 2007.

Popuar travel writing teachers Linda Watanabe McFerrin and Joanna Biggar are off to County Cork to enjoy the countryside, whale and dolphin watching, and excursions to castles and gardens in southwestern Ireland. (The Kinsale ghost tour sounds fascinating!) Find out more about the writers’ workshops they offer and about the upcoming ten-day intensive in County Cork, from June 25 through July 4, 2007. Workshop participants will be asked to submit stories about Ireland for possible publication in an anthology.

This show aired on Blogtalkradio on March 14, 2007.

Our show will focuses on hauntingly beautiful Wrangel Island, where the last known woolly mammoths roamed, and where the first impacts of global warming can already be seen.

Tom Brokaw and a team of four world-class scientists will travel to Wrangel Island in July, 2007, aboard the icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov, to see the effects of global warming firsthand. There are a few spaces available for passengers who want to participate in this historic adventure.

Two of the study leaders, Dr. Ross MacPhee of the American Museum of Natural History, and Dr. John Harte of the University of California, Berkeley, will be available on the show to answer your questions about global warming, Wrangel Island, the extinction of woolly mammoths, and the future of humankind. You’ll also find out how you can participate in the upcoming Symposium on Global Warming and Climate Change.

Listen to find out:

• Why should we believe the studies that predict global warming?
• What’s the worst that could happen, and how soon?
• Did climate change cause the extinction of woolly mammoths?
• What’s happening right now on Wrangel Island?

“The Anti-Ugly American—Peter Voll’s utopian travel vision” appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine on Sunday, March 18, 2007.

Who do you call if you’re working for the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and are asked to improve foreign relations? It had better be someone experienced at working in culturally ambiguous situations, someone who is diplomatic, persuasive and adept at navigating bureaucratic channels. It should be someone who is well-connected and effective at brokering new relationships. Ideally, it would be someone who is passionate about increasing cross-cultural understanding, someone people are willing to follow to the ends of the earth.

Peter Voll is such a person. A pioneer in educational group travel, he took some of the first Western travelers to areas as far-flung as the People’s Republic of China, the North Pole and Burma, and (more…)