Archive for Rants and Random Reflections
TravelBlur.com Wins Three Travel Writing Awards
Posted by: | CommentsMy mom taught me not to brag, but I’m going to do it anyway.
As of Saturday, I can now call myself an “award-winning” freelance writer. You read it correctly. Someone actually gave me an award - and not just one, but three. They came from a legitimate journalism organization too.
The folks here at TravelBlur.com (that’s really just me) brought home two first place and one second place writing awards from the Oklahoma Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Seriously, we won.
My lovely wife and I took home a first place award in the Leisure Writing category for Newspaper Division B (circulation 7,000 to 25,000) for a collaborative effort headlined The Splendor and Rich Heritage of Copenhagen which appeared in Edmond Life and Leisure.
In the Newspaper Division C (circulation less than 7,000) Leisure Writing category, this writer captured first place with a story titled Giant Buddha Rules Kamakura and second for a Halloween piece called Prague’s Creepy Gothic Church of All Saints. Both stories published in The Journal Record.
While honors and awards are a welcome validation, the true joy of writing comes not from the accolades, but from a quality turn of phrase. I like writing, I like crafting a narrative and, honestly, I like winning awards too.
Oslo’s Ski Jump – Come Fly With Me
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I really enjoyed watching the Olympic ski jumping competition from Vancouver over the weekend. I’m amazed how these courageous daredevils launch their bodies into the void in pursuit of Olympic gold.
I always wondered what it must be like to look down that long ramp, and I had the chance to find out when I visited the Holmenkollen Ski Jump above Oslo, Norway.
American Airlines Wants $50 to Fly Standby
Posted by: | CommentsI read in today’s The Dallas Morning News that American Airlines plans to start charging many passengers $50 to get on a standby flight. This aggravates me to no end. I’m not an elite flier, nor do I book the expensive coach tickets, so now I’m going to be forced to pay $50 to get into an empty seat on an earlier flight.
My lovely wife and I fly light – it’s carry-on only for us – so bumping to an earlier flight is a strategy we’ve employed quite successfully on several occasions. But now, if it’s going to cost us $50 each, we’ll probably just wait on our scheduled flight.
Travel Entertainment – No More Hungarian South Park
Posted by: | CommentsTech guru Dan Weitman (Twitter: @newmediazine) follows all things new media at www.newmediazine.com. He recently posted an item on his news feed about the MediaHub HD, an interesting contraption that allows hotel guests to play their portable devices through the hotel room’s TV.
Although I don’t generally spend much time hanging out in a hotel room when I travel to a distant land, I have spent my fair share of time watching the repeating loop of information on CNN International, typically the only English-language station on the dial. In a decade of trips to four continents, I’ve watched South Park in Hungarian, Dawson’s Creek in French and Air Force One in German. I’ve seen countless soccer matches and scratched my head watching cricket.
While I think it’s a fun part of the whole cultural experience to take in some local television, even cool Japanese TV can get a bit old. Wouldn’t it be nice to just hook that iPhone or iPod right to the in-room TV and watch something you downloaded from home? Here’s hoping all hotel rooms worldwide adopt this technology.
Read about the MediaHub HD here.
Travel Around the House – An Obligatory Resolutions Post
Posted by: | CommentsToday is the day for grand proclamations and declarations of lofty achievements.
Although I think these annual resolutions are a bit absurd, I feel the need to join people the world over by participating in this time-honored tradition. In that spirit, I offer these travel declarations for my little slice of 2010:
It has always struck me as odd that over the last decade my lovely wife and I have visited three times more countries than US states. Therefore, I resolve to pass on my passport for the next 12 months and spend my time and money exploring my own country.
Along those same lines, I resolve to discover my hometown and my native state as a tourist instead of a jaded local. The land I belong to is grand, and I resolve to see it through new eyes.
There, my obligatory resolution blog post is complete. Look for me around town. I’ll be the guy with the camera and backpack. Does Rick Steves have a book on Oklahoma?
Disclaimer: New Year’s resolutions are null and void in the event travel opportunities unknown at this time become available.
Off the Coast of Belize My Christmas Regret Lies
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Christmas Day is the anniversary of my greatest regret.
I’ve been blessed over the last decade to visit some amazing places, see some incredible sights and meet some wonderful people. There have been a few disappointments and expensive tourist traps, but overall, I really wouldn’t change a thing.
That said, I wish for just one do-over.
At this time last year, I was snorkeling in the deep blue Carribean waters off the coast of Belize. I’m not a strong swimmer, as my swims-like-a-fish brother helpfully reminded me, so I was a bit nervous as we splashed off the side of the boat into the warm, clear water.
Once I realized I wasn’t going to die a horrible drowning death, I quickly became enamored with the colorful fish, gliding stingrays and spirally conch shells that populated my new underwater world. I was so captivated, in fact, that I never noticed when my wedding ring slipped off my finger and drifted secretly to the ocean floor.
“So what.” you might say. “It was just a gold band. Go buy another.”
If it were only that simple.
The ring I wore for almost a decade was more than a metallic marker of my marital status. That plain gold band was my link to a loved one lost.
When my father died in 1998, my mom took the rings they had exchanged 20 years earlier, melted them together and gave me the gold. The wedding band my beautiful bride placed on my finger almost ten years before was forged from history, a round reminder of the love my parents shared and a promise of what was to come in my life.
Distraught, I searched the sandy bottom, hoping against hope to see a shiny reflection against the soft sea soil. I retraced my path as best I could, but my treasure was lost. I cursed and I cried.
When we celebrated our 10th anniversary a few months later I was sans band, and my finger is still bare today.
You see, just any old ring simply won’t do.
Talking to Locals Makes Great Travel Memories
Posted by: | CommentsOne of my favorite parts of travel is interacting with locals and other tourists. I journal religiously when I travel to a new place and always try to note interesting conversations.
Below, in no particular order, are a few of my favorite quips and tidbits from our journeys.
“I cheat you less” – from a street vendor in Tijuana, Mexico.
“Sausagefest” – an Australian man describing the nude beach near Dubrovnik, Croatia.
“Looka, looka shop” – from a Beijing street vendor.
“It’s a small world” – from Freda, a Bruges, Belgium, B&B owner describing a foggy day.
“Oklahoma! Where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain” – sung by a shop owner in an unknown little Austrian town after she asked us where we live.
I’m “not comfortable” here – from a Catholic cab driver in Belfast, Northern Ireland, while driving through the Protestant Shankill Road neighborhood
We are experiencing “turbulence due to typhoon” – from a flight announcement during a Japan Airlines flight from Shanghai to Tokyo.
“I’ll show you the way” – from a scam artist near Beijing, China’s, Forbidden City.
“Oklahoma is one of only three US states with a panhandle” – from a guard at Munich, Germany’s, Nyphenburg Palace.
“One is enough” – from a lady leaving the De Garre bar in Bruges, Belgium.
You are “brave” for traveling independently – from a group Americans on a tour in Budapest, Hungary.
“I am Han and this is my partner Solo” – from a Vienna, Austria, street performer.
“We’re going to get to the castles early, you know, around 10:30 am” – from two American guys in Fussen, Germany.
“It doesn’t matter, you’re in Belgium” – said to me by a Belgian lady after I accidentally went into the women’s bathroom in Bruges, Belgium.
“It’s good to laugh in the morning” – from Bacharach, Germany, B&B owner Fatima after scolding us for coming down to breakfast late.
“When are we going to land off?” – from little kid while our airplane was on approach to London, England’s, Gatwick Airport.
“In the time of the Yugoslavia” – part of a history lesson from our Croatian driver Petar.
“You’ve got your 10 Kuna now jump” – from a young English boy to a Mostar, Bosnia, bridge diver.
“Jordan” – the Estonian translation of the American name Charlie from a hostess at Vanaema Juures restaurant in Tallinn, Estonia.
“Oh say can you see” – from group of Americans singing the Star Spangled Banner in a Stockholm ice bar.
“Play the boot” – a request from a fiddle player to the crowd in a Dublin, Ireland, pub.
“Are ya Irish” from an Irish guy at a seaside patio in Nerja, Spain.
Theft in Poland Stirs Memories of Travel to Dachau
Posted by: | CommentsThe Associated Press reported in this story that the infamous “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work Sets You Free) sign above the entrance to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz has been stolen. The story caught my attention because the same slogan appears above the gate at the Dachau concentration camp outside Munich, Germany.
I have toured the camp which is now a memorial to the victims who suffered there at the hands of the Nazi regime. Words like sobering, haunting and troubling do not begin to describe the camp and the exhibits of torture and malice. My visit was on a sunny, warm fall day but I vividly remember the chill, real or imagined, that descended when I toured the camp. Hard, cold concrete buildings, the crematorium’s ovens and hard-packed, bare earth stick out in my mind.
Dachau, the Nazi’s model concentration camp, served as a “school of violence” for the Nazi SS. During its 12 years of operation, more than 200,000 prisoners passed through it’s gates, and 41,500 were murdered.
It is important, in my view, that we preserve these terrible monuments of pain and suffering and use them to educate ours and future generations about the evils of hatred.
It’s on the House, er Plane, at Southwest Airlines
Posted by: | CommentsMy lovely wife recently received a happy anniversary greeting from her “friends” at Southwest Airlines. She flies Southwest on occasion when she travels to business meetings and is a member of the airline’s frequent flier program. This anniversary card contained a drink coupon for a free beverage on her next Southwest flight.
Not a bad bit of public relations. Freebies are always appreciated by business and leisure travelers alike, especially since we are nickled and dimed to death every time we board a commercial flight. I tip my hat to Southwest’s pr/marketing folks.
Oh Tannenbaum – Travel Memories Decorate Tree
Posted by: | CommentsMy lovely wife and I decorated for the holidays yesterday and our Christmas tree made its triumphant return after a five-year attic hiatus.
It took us longer than I expected to decorate the tree. As we unwrapped and hung ornaments we found ourselves reminiscing. When we travel to a new city, we buy a Christmas ornament so each and every decoration that adorns our tree is attached to a special memory.
Now our tree is an evergreen aggregation of the journeys we’ve taken since we married 10 years ago. Some of our St. Nick knickknacks are quite pretty and others quite cheap; but each one, whether a plastic piece of junk or carefully crafted handmade treasure, reminds us of a place we’ve been or a person we met along the way.
I remember the cozy little shop right on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile where we bought our Scottish bagpiper and the huge department store on Beijing’s Wangfujing where we fought through a crowd of shoppers for a bit of Beijing Christmas bling. We have a lace ornament from Brugges and Buddha from Kamakura, a cardboard cutout from Mostar’s Stari Most and a cruise ship from the Royal Caribbean onboard shops. The Eiffel Tower that graces our tree is actually a keyring.
Whether “made in China” or by an artist’s hand, each ornament and the memory that accompanies it is a part of our shared past. I can’t help but feel comforted by those tree trinkets and what they represent as they twinkle in the bright white Christmas lights.
