When I was sixteen, I had the fortunate and formative experience of traveling 450 kilometers of the Bonnet Plume River in Yukon, Canada by canoe. On one of the first days of the trip, I casually said from the stern: “We’re really in the middle of nowhere.” After all, most would agree that a river less than fifty people see every year defines the phrase ‘middle of nowhere.’ But my boat-mate, who was wiser than I, responded without hesitation: “I like to think of it as now here.”

This was not only a familiar reminder to appreciate the here and the now, but it was also a lesson in people—that we can see the same landscape in vastly different ways. NOW!HERE, the Columbia Journal of World Travel, hopes to capture this sentiment in all of its highly varied content.

NOW!HERE features articles, photos, and art inspired by the international experiences of Columbia students. Whether they're planning a trip or just looking to travel vicariously, NOW!HERE takes its readers to a place far away from the here and now.

Please post comments, submit ideas, or write an article for the next issue. NOW!HERE is about all of our opinions, recommendations, and impressions, especially yours.

I hope that you have fun traveling vicariously through our writers and that you find this issue useful to you in some way. Have a good trip…