Some of my favorite options for travel inspiration include magazines. With weekly announcements of publications going out of business, I’m happy that the handful of travel magazines I follow are still out there to lure me into dreaming about the next place I’d like to visit. Afar, which debuts this week, is the latest addition to travel magazines that inspire me.

With a focus on experiential travel, Afar’s first issue covers Morocco’s Berber territory, bog snorkeling in Wales, learning how to make bread in Paris and visiting Tokyo’s costume-play cafés. There’s a recipe for bunny chow, South Africa’s national street food (which is rabbit-free); gadget reviews; and a list of voluntourism opportunities for people interested in ocean conservation. Tim Cahill, my favorite travel writer, wrote about “The Kindness of Strangers” on the back page.

According to founder, Greg Sullivan, “Afar is for readers who are curious about everything the planet and its people have to offer.” I know I’ll have my nose buried in the magazine all week. If you’re curious, check out www.afar.com or your local newsstand.

I just returned from two weeks on Guanaja, one of Honduras’ Bay Islands. Aside from enjoying plenty of hammock time, great views of wildlife (spotted eagle rays, dolphins, ospreys, magnificent frigatebirds), island food, tropical sunny weather (and some spectacular evening thunderstorms), and visiting friends, I had some interesting “beyond tourist” moments that I want to share.

Anyone can have a “beyond tourist” moment on vacation, and it doesn’t even require getting out of the resort (although it’s nice to do so, in order to see how the locals live). Just spend time talking to the people who live in your destination and get to know them a little. Since I’ve been visiting Guanaja for more than 10 years and own property there, I’m regularly doing things like grocery shopping for myself, buying plants from the local nurseryman and chatting up locals in the bank line.

Here’s a glimpse into the island of Guanaja that the guidebooks don’t cover:

•    While I was shopping in Casa Sikaffy, one of the island’s largest grocery stores (that’s smaller than your average 7-Eleven), the lights suddenly went out. First thought: power outage. Nope. The owner’s sister walked up to me and explained, “There’s a funeral, and the body just passed in the street outside, so we turned the lights out for respect.” The street that she was referring to? A pedestrian walkway that’s only 7-feet wide.

•    Guanaja’s a relatively small island with limited infrastructure. Plastic recycling is something it hasn’t been able to tackle in a realistic way, until now. An ex-pat friend, Mike, showed me the island’s new “bottle crusher,” which takes piles of plastic bottles and presses them into large squares—ready to transport to the mainland for recycling. It’s a great way to get trash off the streets and beaches, and money into the pockets of islanders.

•    I had the chance to talk with a gentleman from one of Guanaja’s families that date from English settlement times, in the early 1800s. Mr. Borden is 80, and he told me about all the property throughout the island that he’s owned over the years. While it’s certainly an overstatement to say that he’s owned the entire island, his property holdings have covered a large amount of territory. It was a pleasure to hear about what Guanaja was like in the “old days” when there were few people, no electricity and the fishing “industry” consisted only of families fishing for their dinner.

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