In the quality of its writing and the effectiveness of its message, Uncornered Market (www.uncorneredmarket.com) can't yet be compared with the famous memoirs of that adventuresome traveler, Richard Halliburton, in the 1920s and early 1930s. Like Halliburton, the authors of Uncornered Market -- Audrey Scott and Daniel Noll -- are now engaged in continuous, multi-year travels around the world to those places, mainly, that aren't yet the subject of tourism, ranging from West Bengal to rural El Salvador. Only occasionally do they follow the well-trafficked routes, as they recently did on a trek to Machu Picchu from Cusco, Peru, or on fast visits to Berlin and Vienna.

They travel on foot, or on occasion by public bus. They don't engage in extreme feats of derring-do like Halliburton, who swam the length of the Panama Canal. But they subject themselves to all the various problems and unique encounters that true travelers will experience. And their memoir, which now covers no fewer than 32 countries -- three in the Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia), five in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan), four in Central America (El Savador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua), five in Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam), two in South America (Ecuador, Peru), and eight in Europe (like Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the countryside of the Czech Republic, in addition to standard destinations), offers a fascinating dip via both text, photographs, audio clips and videos into vicarious adventures of the sort that many wouldn't risk. And they also challenge the rest of us to go somewhat off the beaten tourist track.

How do they finance their travels? Through the sale, they claim, of their photos, videos, and texts. Their worst hotel experiences? "A pestilential stinkhole with indentured servant boy in Ismaili, Azerbaijan. A Sikkimese village hut". Their favorite foods? From street vendors in India and Thailand.

Audrey Scott and Richard Noll are currently in Bolivia, to which Pauline and I telephoned them for our Sunday radio show this past weekend. Their next stop? Heaven knows. But I'm sure I'll be returning to Uncornered Market on numerous occasions in the year ahead -- and invite you to do the same.