Today Gadling welcomed our newest blogger, Brenda Yun. Yun, who is tapped into the thrill of world travel without guidebooks, has looked for surf in a remote spot in Vanuatu and has traveled to where many haven't tread.

Keeping with a theme of thrills in mind, here's Gadling's Take FIVE for this week:

• Meg's post on Devil's Pool at the top of Victoria Falls is one way to test your fear of heights mettle
• Head to Dubai's mall at the base of Dubai Burj, and you may be a witness to a shark eat shark world. Literally. Josh described what happened when the mall opened, showcasing its 10 million-liter aquarium. Let's just say, several sharks didn't make it until closing time.
• Josh, possibly on a thrill seeker kick, also posted on swimming with crocodiles in Australia.
• Jeffrey recommends reading Britain's Peter Biddlecombe's writing, particularly his accounts of business travel in Iraq. A corkscrew landing does have a certain thrill sounding ring to the name.
• For thrill on Thanksgiving and Christmas, Mike's post about Universal Studio's plan to be open on the holidays offers an option. Although, you won't find Mike there. He's less than thrilled with the idea of the crowds.

This week also marks the end of our series, Catching the Travel Bug. The series offers personal accounts of various parts of the world where the kindness of strangers and newly made friends have resonated over the miles and years.

If travel seems overwhelmingly expensive, or just plain overwhelming, turn it down a notch. That's the message in the book 101 Places You Gotta See Before You're 12! by Joanne O'sullivan. Plus there's not the word "die" in the title. That's uplifting.

Although this book is aimed towards children, it offers a fresh way to look at travel for adults as well. Each page touts a different wonder to tantalize ones fancy. Instead of specific places, there are themes so that no matter where you live, you may not have to travel far to check destinations off the list. Some don't cost a dime.

Each offering is presented in eye candy pages complete with facts and details for finding out more. It's like having all the best field trips in the world right at your fingertips.

First up, A Lighthouse. Did you know Michigan is the state with the most? There are 124. To find lighthouses in North America, check out this web site that features legendary lighthouses.

Here at Gadling we'll be highlighting some of our favorite sounds from the road and giving you a sample of each -- maybe you'll find the same inspiration that we did, but at the very least, hopefully you'll think that they're good songs.

Got a favorite of your own? Leave it in the Comments and we'll post it at the end of the series.

"Oh My Sweet Carolina" by Ryan Adams

Nick Hornby, a favorite author of mine, first tipped me off to this amazing Ryan Adams song in this essay on the McSweeney's website. "Oh My Sweet Carolina," which Hornby describes as "so quiet that you don't want to breathe throughout its duration," might seem to be an odd choice for a series celebrating great travel songs. After all, it's about the unfulfilling, disappointing journeys-- to Vegas, Cleveland, San Antonio-- that we take because we're looking for something that we can't find at home:

Oh my sweet Carolina
What compels me to go
Oh my sweet disposition
May you one day carry me home

This is a lesson many travelers, including myself, have had to learn first-hand: that travel is not a panacea for all your problems. Running away from life is only a quick, temporary fix, and sooner or later everything you fear must be faced head-on.

Michael Crichton, author of several well-known novels like Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain, as well as the creator of the long-running television show ER, died Tuesday of cancer.

As a bit of a tribute, I thought I'd excerpt a part of Crichton's book Travels, an autobiographical account of, among other things, his trips to the Mayan pyramids, the Malay jungle, and Mt. Kilamanjaro. Here's Crichton on why we travel:

"Often I feel I go to some distant region of the world to be reminded of who I really am.... Stripped of your ordinary surroundings, your friends, your daily routines, your refrigerator full of your food, your closet full of your clothes, you are forced into direct experience. Such direct experience inevitably makes you aware of who it is that is having the experience. That's not always comfortable, but it is always invigorating."

Well said, as always. Rest in peace, fellow traveler.

When my husband and I got married, we were also on the verge of moving from London to the United States. As a wedding present, a number of our friends chipped in and bought us a huge world atlas. It seemed like a somewhat strange gift at the time, but it's surprising how much we've used our atlas, even in these times of Google Maps and other internet resources. There's just something so nostalgic about pulling out the giant atlas, flipping over its huge papers and pouring over the maps, and inadvertently learning something new (the GDP of Singapore is $168.7 billion, who knew?). And nowadays, we often pull out the huge book to teach our daughter about the various countries of the world, as well.

If owning an atlas (or giving one as an unusual gift) sounds good to you, you're in luck: Ben Keene, editor of Oxford University Press, has just posted his handy guide on how to pick an atlas. His tips include focusing on what you'll be using your atlas for, determining whether an atlas is outdated or not (or a collector's gem), and describes how an atlas' index is much like a search engine. He even gives a compelling argument about why atlases are still relevant in a GPS world.

"An author knows his landscape best; he can stand around, smell the wind, get a feel for his place." --Tony Hillerman

Yesterday, when I read that Tony Hillerman died, I flashed back to one afternoon when I went as a guest to a writer's group meeting at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As I introduced myself, was I surprised when I shook one man's hand, and his warm voice said, "My name's Tony Hillerman." I had no idea that this was the writers' group he attended.

What struck me about Hillerman was his unassuming aura. He was generous and thoughtful with his comments to the other writers, and not any more important than the others in the room.

Like anyone else who lives in Albuquerque, I was aware of Hillerman's work as a mystery writer whose stories center around the Southwest. A person cannot live in that city without being aware of how he brought weight to the region. Plus, his books are everywhere. I recall racks of them.

I'm in awe of writers who are able to attach themselves to a place and dive deep into its nuances. Reading a Hillerman novel is a trip to the Four Corners region of the Southwest. His version is not the one that requires putting one foot in New Mexico, one foot in Arizona, one hand in Utah and the other in Colorado before buying a Navajo taco from one of the food vendors.

If you go to Four Corners with Hillerman's eye, you look for the person behind the scenery. Who is the person who is selling you that turquoise bracelet? Who lives in the houses far flung at the edge of the hills? What about life matters most to them?

Election day is next Tuesday and Americans are poised to make one of the most critical decisions in US history. With Obama leading in many polls, Democrats have allowed themselves to be cautiously optimistic. As such, you probably haven't heard as much of the "If the Dems lose I'm moving to Canada" chatter that emanated from the blue states in 2000 and 2004. In a recent review of Phil Zuckerman's "Society without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us About Contentment," Salon columnist Louis Bayard discussed why potential expatriates might shift their glances towards Scandinavia if McCain wins.

Zuckerman's book, as well as Bayard's column, focus less on Scandinavians' high life expectancy, healthcare, economies and social mores and instead channel their energies on religion and faith. Scandinavians live in predominantly secular cultures. Bayard notes that,

As few as 24 percent of Danes and as few as 16 percent of Swedes believe in a personal deity. (In America, that figure is close to 90 percent.) In Scandinavia, belief in life after death hovers in the low 30 percent range, as opposed to 81 percent in America. Some 82 percent of Danes and Swedes believe in evolution, while roughly 10 percent believe in hell. Their rate of weekly church attendance is among the lowest on Earth.

Ideally, people who are disenchanted with the outcome of the election will remain in The States and help fight for their causes. If I was inclined to leave my homeland, however, I don't think I'd head to Scandinavia. I loved my visits to Iceland and Sweden but I'm not so sure that a long, dark Nordic winter would soothe my soul should the American electorate let me down. And Scandinavia's suicide rate is twice that of the United States'. I wonder if that has anything to do with their high rate of alcoholism.

No, I think I'll stay here and be part of the solution if things don't go my way. Or head south. I'm a warm weather guy. Hmm, maybe I should check out the tax laws in Chile.

Would you leave the States based on the outcome of the election? Where would you go? Drop us a line in the comments.

There's a novel by American author James Still titled River of Earth. This photo by miggiddymatt reminds me of Still's writing.

Still, who died a few years ago when he was well into his 90s, was an adventurer and traveler who settled in the mountains near Hindman, Kentucky, a tiny town in the southeastern part of the state. He wrote about the Appalachians with an ear that perfectly captured the cadence of place.

Even though this photo is of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, the colors and ripples evoke a memory of a day I drove to the end of a road near Natural Bridge State Park to overlook such wonder. When I saw the view, I thought that the earth did indeed look like a river that went on and on forever.

If you have a shot of wonder, send it our way at Gadling's Flickr Photo Pool.

As you've probably gathered we've geared up for a Rolf Potts extravaganza here at Gadling. Here's just another plug for Potts, but more so a shout out to one of Gadling's former bloggers who is bringing travel to your armchair through books.

Kelly Amabile, fellow world traveler and voracious reader --she created Gadling's feature One for the Road--is combining those passions as the events manager at Book Culture, an independent book store in Manhattan. Considering that Kelly is a whiz at travel and books, who is more better for the job than Kelly? I'm thinking, no one. She's gathered quite the line-up for October which is rapidly approaching.

For example, Rolf Potts is scheduled for October 21 at 7 p.m. He'll be reading from his book, Marco Polo Didn't Go There.

Also on the schedule are Stephanie Elizondo Griest who wrote the travel memoir, Mexican Enough (Oct. 8) and an encore with Rolf Potts on October 23. He'll be appearing along with Pauline Frommer and Matt Gross to talk about how to make travel happen.

Whenever I read about events like this happening in Manhattan, oh, how I want to go there. If you do go, tell Kelly I said "Hi."

Book Culture is on 112th Street and is a hot spot for browsing even if you can't make one of the events. It's an independent book store after all, and those are few and far between.

In the ever changing scene of world travel, this week Gadling pointed to some of the highlights of change.

• If you want to see Angkor Wat before it goes totally upscale, you'd better hurry. It might be too late. Josh wrote about how high end development is going on all around the complex.
• In the world of gadgets that make travel easier, Scott posted about the new T-Mobile G1 which should make several aspects of staying in touch while on the road easier and cheaper.
• In Jerry's Talking Travel conversation with Snake Charmer author Jamie James, part of the talk was about how James's interest in China changed after he wrote about Shanghai in 2001. As he points out, one's interest in a particular can changed based on exposure. For James, China has lost his attention.
• Jeremy's latest addition to his New York series is a lush piece on the changes in Staten Island's landscape over the years--more specifically, the section of Staten Island where old boats and ships are put to rest.
• When it comes to politics, Grant has his attention on the changing of the communist guard due to the absence of Kim Jong Il and Fidel Castro. He imagines them sitting on a beach somewhere chatting it up while drinking out of coconuts. Grant is a little weird that way.

What I hope isn't changing is people's ability to have a grand experience, even if it's one they find in their own neighborhoods.