You won’t find top 10 lists or tourism board-approved itineraries in this online-only publication. Rather, Nowhere is all about the experience of traveling, be it a co-pilot recounting an average day in the life, a writer videotaping a “voyage” to Home Depot, or an artist presenting his doodles from a tour through India. The e-journal is the brainchild of Porter Fox, a New York City-based writer who was inspired to start it after a particularly frustrating interaction with a travel editor. Although it does not accept unsolicited submissions, Nowhere boasts an all-star list of contributors, like street artist Swoon. And because it’s free, even those too broke to take a trip this December can enjoy it.
The enjoyment is not only to read Nowhere but also to challenge yourself, the next time, to record your journey. I have a friend who celebrates the details of places he visits with a gorgeous watercolor journal whose pages follow the alphabet; another returns home with the flotsam of his travels and, in remarkable albums, reorganizes the material and enhances it with paints and papers and trims.
Fixing travel in time and space is important. The very process of doing so changes the experience of traveling and gives it a voice that echoes for years to come.