The Wandering

I ordered Rick Steves' Guides to Istanbul and Athens, as well as the Lonely Planet Guide to Egypt. Guidebooks maybe considered "old school" nowadays, with the proliferation of Twitter accounts, online forums and blogs. The traveler has so much information, that lugging huge books in their backpacks is inconvenient. Whatever. I still get the guidebooks.

Rick Steves' books are big on self-guided walking tours. One of my fondest memories of Amsterdam is the taking the Jordaan walking tour. I wandered down canals, passed people's homes, all in relative peace. Those are the experiences I long for.


*Taken on the Jordaan Walk*

When traveling, don't forget The Wandering. Wandering works best when you're traveling independently, but some organized tours have time in their itineraries for walking around and taking in the scene. Beware the tours that limit your wandering time.

Unless you're in North Korea. Then don't wander.

Travel Keywords

This month, I've been learning how to be a better man.

The Art of Manliness has a 30-day challenge on how to be a better man. Each day, men (and women, should they choose to accept the challenge) are given a task to complete. The tasks vary from shining your shoes, to taking a woman on a date, to writing your own eulogy. Each task is geared to equip males to become better...males.

The task for Day One was Define Your Core Values. What are the values by which you live your life? For example, my core values are Humor, Humility, Honesty, Integrity and Love. With everything I do and say, I try to adhere to these values.

Why not apply this concept of to travel? When we plan a trip, we want to do too much. We pack our itineraries to the brim. Then our trip becomes more about crossing off things on our to-do list, than enjoying our surroundings. That's no fun.

What if we did some thinking before we plan? What if we came up with a short list of Travel Core Values? Core Values may not be a good fit here, so let's say Keywords; What do we think of when we see "travel"? What phrases or images come to mind? Once we define those Keywords, our planning can now be centered around these words. We don't have to plan everything. Just the things that matter to us.

Here are some sample Keywords:

Food
Culture
Music
Fun
Partying
Adventure
Politics
Community
Environment
History
Art
Volunteering

...and there are so many more Keywords out there.

A fun exercise you could do by yourself, or with your travel companions, is to come up with three to five Travel Keywords. From there, when you plan, you can spend your energy researching activities that are centered around those Keywords. Your trip can be a quest to find the perfect Italian gelato, or a week secluded in a Tuscan villa. You get the most out of your vacation, and peace of mind, to boot.

What are your Travel Keywords? I'll put mine up shortly...

Southwest Airlines is Cool

I wish all flight attendants were like him.

Seeing this video makes me want to get on a plane and go somewhere. I just wish I had the time.

Invest In Travel

Now that Tax Day has come and gone, some of you are fortunate to get a refund from Uncle Sam.

The economy stinks. I know. Retirement funds are dwindling. Stocks are plummeting. Anxiety abounds. What are we to do?

We travel, dangit!

Travel Guru Rick Steves puts it best:

So, what's the impact of these “hard times” for travelers? Airfares are down about 20 percent since this time last year. (I just sent one of our researchers to Europe, flying from Seattle into London and home from Rome for $600 — wow.) Our dollar is about 20 percent stronger versus the euro, compared to a year ago (the euro used to cost $1.60, now it costs about $1.25). And the tumbling stock market means most of us have 30 or 40 percent less in our retirement accounts than we hoped to at this time. (Many are starting to think that investing in life experiences like travel might bring better and more reliable returns than investing in the stock market.)

Now is a great time to travel. And not just because everything is reasonably priced. But at a time when we're so reluctant to trust in our 401ks for our financial well-being, how about investing in "life experiences" that only travel can bring.

Invest in travel. The rewards are priceless.

Running The Red Lights

It’s 2 A.M., the bar is empty, and I sing “Your Song” at the top of my lungs. I’m at a Karaoke Bar in the heart of Patpong, and it’s closing time. A stranger leaps onstage, grabs another microphone to sing backup. Another man hands me a flower. I tuck it in my shirt pocket. In the crowd is Cousin Randy, a Bangkok resident for twelve years. He cheers me on. My throat is hoarse. My head spins. I reek of Heineken. I have never felt more alive…

Patpong, located in central Bangkok, is one of many Red Light Districts around the world. When you think of Red Light, you think sex tourism, rampant drug use, and a genuine fear for your safety. However, with the right precautions, traveling through these seedy areas can be an entertaining, unpredictable and eye-opening experience.


*The one picture I can show*

Here are three reasons to run the Red Light:

For the Thrill - Patpong is an assault on the senses. With every step, peddlers harass you, trying to lure you to check out a “Ping-Pong Show.” You pass booths selling cheap trinkets to take home. You pass by the plethora of Girlie Bars, each one bearing tacky neon lighting, with the pulsing techno beat streaming out the entrance. You’re tempted to come inside for a drink. The air is sticky. There’s a constant cloud of cigarette smoke trailing you. The streets are packed with horrified tourists. And all the while you ask yourself, “What exactly IS a Ping-Pong Show?”

Anyone can charter a bus to a famous landmark, take a picture and leave. You can’t do that in the Red light district. It requires immersion, forcing you to see, smell and hear everything.

For Facing Reality - You can read about the sex trade in a newspaper or online. But when you see it live, there is no substitute. When you're in Amsterdam and see the women in glassed off rooms, what do you feel? Are you appalled? Are you tempted? No matter what you feel, you’re there, right in the middle of it.

For the Folks Back Home - When you share your latest travels, do your friends look at you with glazed eyes? Are they bored? Disinterested? Here’s what you do. Go to the Red Light! Just tell them about the time you went to the Ping-Pong show. And when you share (I can’t do that here), they’ll laugh. They’ll cry. They’ll pass out. But they won’t be bored. And you might scare them away from table tennis for good.

The Red Lights in Bangkok, Amsterdam or Hong Kong are exhilarating, but the dangers that surround them are real. Travel in groups, protect your valuables and be aware of your surroundings. Above all, don’t fear. There’s an eye-opening experience just waiting for you.

Just mind the ping pong balls.

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This is the last essay from my Thailand. I know I promised a 4th, but too much time has passed. To make up for it, I've included a video:






It's a little dark and grainy. But I did really sing!

On to the next trip! Booking soon. Details to follow...

Never Fly Alitalia Airlines

Good grief...

The Z-List

I have a long list of places to visit. I break them down into smaller lists. There's an A-List; places that I want to go right now if possible (Spain, China, Italy), a B-List: places that are on my mind and would like to visit but it's not so urgent (India, Ireland, Morocco), and so on down the line.

I also have a Z-List, places where I'd rather not go. You can take a guess which countries those would be. Iraq? Check. Afghanistan? Check. Detroit? You betcha. (I kid you, Motown...)

Which is what makes this NY Times article all the more inspiring; A group of middle-aged and older tourists on a tour of Iraq. Yes, that place we invaded six years ago. Where that madman Saddam reigned for so long. And they survived!

The danger that comes with going to such a war-torn country intrigues me. Yet I'd rather not travel to a dangerous place for the sake of going to a dangerous place. I want to go somewhere to immerse myself, to soak in the people and culture. Could I do that if I'm constantly wondering, "Could I actually die today?" and ask that question without being dramatic? I don't think I can.

I'm being honest. I cannot see myself finding the will to book a flight to Baghdad International Airport on Kayak. That doesn't mean I don't have the curiosity. Turns out there aren't any flights going there at this time.

Maybe in a few years, when the violence has dissipated and the fears subsided, I'll move Iraq up from the Z-List to the S-List. It could happen.

For those reading, what's on your "Z-List"? Where wouldn't you go? And what would it take for you to think about going there?