BEEN-SEEN.COM - A DIFFERENCE IN WHERE AND HOW WE TRAVEL

Elvis is alive, and working the clubs of Chiang Mai, Thailand - with the help of his mother. I met the young pretender, 23, and his mother at a concert commemorating the 30th anniversary of Elvis' death.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then is a video worth a million? It's an interesting question to ask the people who make the wheels go round in the travel world. Tourism has become the world's largest and most lucrative industry, and as a result, many forms of media have jumped on board. There are countless magazines, websites, books, and photo galleries on travel. And then there are the travel shows and documentaries, the Travel Channels and Globetrekkers; the legions of shaky clips shot on digital cameras by regular folks touting themselves as 'travel experts'. But in the beginning, there was The Compulsive Traveler.

We've all heard a lot about Darfur recently, but seeing it is another matter. Barbara Grover spent seven weeks photographing the Darfuri of Iridimi, and a new exhibition, 'Refuge(e) - Moments with the Darfuri of Iridimi' will run October 18 through January 11, at the Sherry Frumkin Gallery in Santa Monica. In it, she manages to capture the beauty, hope and dignity of Darfuri refugees living in isolated, drought-plagued refugee camps.

The most beautiful women in Thailand are men. Or so they say. Tanya is a great example. I love travelling, and meeting the weird and wonderful, and she (or he) is certainly one of the most wonderful.

Last night I traveled through history. I saw something which has never been seen before. And I am so glad I did. An African-American man chosen as the Democratic presidential candidate. I traveled through history and saw the American dream come alive. As a new American, I got a glimpse of the American spirit. I watched America rally - with great emotion - behind a man that nobody (14 months ago) knew could draw such a crowd. Where else in the world is it possible to witness such a spectacle? Where else in the world could this happen during an election? Last night I visited history, but I also visited America.

What would we do without crazy daredevils? This may look like an act of utter lunacy, but flying cross-country in an armchair hoisted by helium balloons is just the kind of innovation that keeps the world turning. After all, without those magnificent men and their flying machines, how else would we have airplanes? This particular act of daring was just completed by the appropriately named Kent Couch of Bend, Oregon.

Barack Obama's presidential campaign has been all about progress, hope and change. Everywhere you go right now - in the US at least - there are posters of Obama. And not just any posters. Serious art work that's as innovative, creative - and dare we say it? - inspiring as the candidate himself.

I love Venice Beach, LA. The boardwalk is packed with artists, street performers, a graffiti park. I feel at my best when I'm somewhere quirky, and I'm near the ocean. I was recently there with my camera, trolling for interesting subject matter, when I came across a man with a name I forgot to ask.

Go to Java, where the valleys are lush and coconut plantations spread like weeds, and where perfectly-formed volcanoes stand guard over an immense kingdom. It's easy to fall in love with Java. Like the coffee, it is rich, and very distinctive. The icing on my Javanese coffee cake was the warmth of the people. I stayed in the town of Yogyakarta. Towards the end of my trip, the receptionist at the hotel, who'd become my friend, arranged for me to meet a local spirit man who sold kris, ancient ceremonial daggers.

As a travel photographer, I'm constantly looking for that pleasant surprise, that magic moment, something to email to my friends back home in the hard-working world. On a trip to the gorgeously green and volcanic Caribbean island of Martinique, I came across a miracle worker.

I'm a travel photographer, and one of the things I love most about travelling, is meeting weird and wonderful people. On one of my trips to Havana, I came across two landmarks, La Bodeguita de Medio, a longstanding watering hole for the likes of Ernest Hemingway, famed for its rum mojitos. And, permanently moored in a doorway, a few yards away, a strange-looking old lady smoking an enormous cigar and clutching a fist full of dollars, from possibly drunk tourists, wanting a photographic souvenir of ‘the real Cuba.' AM

Image: copyright Alan McArthur

I am working in an idyllic corner of rural France and making frequent trips to Germany, Switzerland, Holland, and Belgium without ever taking time off from work. It doesn't matter where I am, with my laptop and an Internet connection, I am in business.