Archive for November, 2009
Con “Artist” + Cocky Traveler = Embarrassing Lesson
Posted by: | CommentsI don’t fall for travel scams because I’m too smart for that rubbish. When I travel to a foreign city, I don’t need a travel agent or travel guide because I’m a smart guy, a world traveler if you will.
Or so I thought.
My lovely wife and I like cheap travel, so we usually go it alone. When we arrived in Beijing, our first time to travel to Asia, we promptly became super lost looking for the Forbidden City. I, of course, deal with the process of getting lost in a new travel city by getting mad. Thankfully, cooler heads (hers) prevailed and we kinda figured out where we were going and stumbled on down the road.
Soon after, a polite young Asian man on a bicycle asked if we were looking for the Forbidden City. When we replied affirmatively, he generously offered to show us the way. (You can see this coming now, can’t you?) A chatty Cathy, the young man took us down a side street talking all the while about how he was an artist, and wouldn’t you know it, we just happened to be passing right by his studio. Then he invited us in for a look.
Like a sheep to the slaughter, I headed for the door.
My wife, wise to the scheme the entire time, let me get to the middle of the street before she called out that I was being duped. That polite young man was an artist alright – a scam artist. Shaking his head at the one that got away, our young guide headed back to the main road in search of his next mark while I hung my head in shame.
The moral of the story, aw crap, there’s no moral only embarrassment.
Travel to London: Nothing Wrong with a Female Beefeater
Posted by: | CommentsThe Tower of London is a great travel trip. Every time I travel to London I at least stop by the Tower.
I stumbled across this story about how Moira Cameron, the first female Yeoman Warder, has been harassed by her colleagues. Evidently, some of the boys don’t appreciate Ms. Cameron joining the club.
My take on the situation: you go girl, and God save the Queen.
Tips for Better Travel Photos
Posted by: | CommentsI’m not much of a photographer (look no further than the photos in other posts for proof), so I’m always on the lookout for tricks to make my travel photos a bit better.
This month’s Travel and Leisure has some simple photo tips that should prove helpful on my next travel trip.
Metallica Musical Memories -or- Ghostly Oslo
Posted by: | CommentsThe human mind fascinates me, especially how music can spark memories of seemingly unrelated events. Just the other day I was driving home from work when a Metallica song came on the radio and I immediately thought of Oslo, Norway, Norwegian friends and ghosts.
Strange combination I know. Well, here’s the story.
We were visiting Oslo as part of a travel trip I call our Nordic capitals tour. By this time, we had been in Scandinavia for about 10 days and we were way-past tired of pickled herring. Jonesing for a hamburger and fries, we dipped into the Hard Rock Cafe on Karl Johans Gate for an American fix. The rock group Metallica was playing a gig that night in Oslo, so the place was packed with long hair and black clothes, tattoos and piercings. It was good to be back among my people. The restaurant manager put the Metallica music on a loop so the whole place was rockin’ to the beat of pounding drums and screaming guitars.
So now when I hear Metallica, I think of Oslo. But there’s more
Cherri and Knut Dohlen are Norwegian friends of my grandma-in-law who generously volunteered to show us around their city during our visit. Turns out that Cherri is a writer who authored a fun little book about the haunted place of Norway called Gray Zone Wanderers.
So obviously, Metallica = Oslo = Cherri and Knut = ghosts.
Makes perfect sense, right?
Rock on.
