BLADAM - Topic

Welcome! You're reading entries in the Travel topic.

[ If you prefer, you can see the most recent entries from all topics, or browse/search for your favorite topics with the menu above! ]

DISCLAIMER: This is my personal blog. The blatherings here aren't (necessarily) the views of the current company I work for, companies I've previously blessed with my presence, my loving parents, the Illuminati, or anyone other than me, me, me!

Enjoying a sunny weekend in Rome

A few years ago, I got an internship in Germany, and -- eager to use my 3 month unlimited Eurail pass as much and as soon as possible -- I decided to take a weekend trip to Rome (why Rome? I don't recall, actually).

With none of my fellow interns willing to tag along with me, I braved my first big train trip alone. I managed to get frightfully lost there because I was stupid and cheap and relied upon a free "Map of Rome" that was sponsored by McDonald's of all places.

Read the full entry...

- Blathered by Adam on Thursday, January 23, 2003 at 23:02 Permalink
- Filed under Photography • Travel
- Commented on by no one yet. Bummer. Check out the full entry page to leave a comment or trackback!

The culture of Korea

[ Though written in May of 2001, I think my friend Tamara's list of observations on her visit to Korea is interesting and certainly relevant today, given the prominence of Korea in the news. I normally include in this blog only stuff I have written personally, but I feel this is a worthy exception. -- Adam]

A QUICK PROFILE OF SOUTH KOREA

- high cell phone usage; cells provided mainly by a company called Cyon;
most rings are answered immediately with no apology (incl. in restaurants,
in the middle of conversations, in bathrooms, and on subways)

- most kids have desktop computers with a DSL connection (unlike Japan,
where people surf the web and answer email on their cell phones)

- appearance is extremely important, esp. perfectly unblemished and light skin

Read the full entry...

- Blathered by Adam on Thursday, January 9, 2003 at 1:39 Permalink
- Filed under Society • People and relationships • Travel
- Commented on by 14 folks so far. Visit the full entry page and join in!

Parking, Europe-style

Gotta hand it to those direct Irish folk. There's certainly no ambiguity about THIS space.

And speaking of parking: Every time I return to Europe, I'm still both amused by and fascinated with the European style of parking. Given the narrow streets throughout much of Europe, people park with one side of their car up on the sidewalks... and though usually the curbs aren't too stepp, I've nonetheless gotten used to a *JOLT* right before parking.

In France -- or at least in Paris when I visit one of my friends -- there's also the "touchy feely" form of parallel parking. This involves repeatedly hitting the bumper of the car in front of you and in back of you until you get your car in perfectly with just a millimeter or two of space on either side.

Luckily, given the very long lunches and other breaks the French seem to take, there's likely no sense of urgency for folks to maneuver out of their parking spots, so I'm assuming that trapped Frenchies -- spotting their closed-in cars -- barely blink, and simply have another drink or cigarette or both. C'est la vie!

- Blathered by Adam on Wednesday, January 1, 2003 at 23:33 Permalink
- Filed under Photography • Travel • Wackiness
- Commented on by no one yet. Bummer. Check out the full entry page to leave a comment or trackback!

Candy man

This picture shows my crazy candy purchasing from Germany from Christmastime 2001, but this year was much the same... perhaps even worse. Over $80 worth of candy. Just don't tell mama, er, don't tell my dentist!

So WHY do I bring so much chocolate back from Europe twice yearly? That's easy!

Read the full entry...

- Blathered by Adam on Monday, December 30, 2002 at 6:40 Permalink
- Filed under Photography • Travel • Food and nutrition • Wackiness
- Commented on by 3 folks so far. Visit the full entry page and join in!

Ja! I’m going to Deutschland!

I finally got my ticket ($249 roundtrip San Francisco<-->Frankfurt with a very special special!), and I'll once again be spending Christmastime with wonderful friends in Germany.

Of course, I can be a little cranky, and moan about the icky cold I'll be facing, the insane hassles of peak-time holiday air travel (in coach, no less), and so on. But aside from getting to spend time with great people, I'll also come back, once again, with a suitcase full of chocolate goodies.

Read the full entry...

- Blathered by Adam on Friday, October 25, 2002 at 17:05 Permalink
- Filed under Happy body • Food and nutrition • Personal • Photography • Travel
- Commented on by no one yet. Bummer. Check out the full entry page to leave a comment or trackback!

“Ask the Pilot” addresses the nail clipper conspiracy

Frequent and/or savvy Bladam readers might have noticed that I'm often citing articles from Salon.com. That's because even the free stuff there is amazingly insightful and a downright pleasure to read... and the 'premium' articles -- for which I pay about $30 a year -- are typically far more substantive and thoughtful than what you'll more commonly find in similar journals.

Their "Ask the Pilot" column is especially cool, written by an honest-to-goodness pilot at a major airline who answers questions that run the gamut from "Why aren't there more women pilots" to "Do seat cushions actually save lives?"

Read the full entry...

- Blathered by Adam on Thursday, August 29, 2002 at 22:26 Permalink
- Filed under Travel
- Commented on by no one yet. Bummer. Check out the full entry page to leave a comment or trackback!

A sane article on insane terrorism

Richard A. Muller has written a cogent and very readable article in the MIT Technology Review entitled "Airport Insecurity." In a nutshell, he smartly explains why banning nail clippers and similar sharp objects is stupid, searching "little old ladies" is understandable, and why it's all about the shoes.

- Blathered by Adam on Monday, August 12, 2002 at 20:01 Permalink
- Filed under Travel
- Commented on by no one yet. Bummer. Check out the full entry page to leave a comment or trackback!

Great way to wake up

Okay, so I can think of some TRULY great ways to wake up, but since this isn't an X-rated blog, you'll have to be content with me speaking the virtues of the amazingly handy-dandy contraption pictured on the right here, the aptly named "Shake Awake."

For those of us who occasionally sleep in dorm rooms or hostels (basically like dorm rooms anyway) or for people who need to be woken up independently of their significant other in the same bed, this Shake Awake thing is a Godsend.

Read the full entry...

- Blathered by Adam on Tuesday, August 6, 2002 at 18:31 Permalink
- Filed under Grab bag • Tips • Travel
- Commented on by no one yet. Bummer. Check out the full entry page to leave a comment or trackback!

“Security” that’s not so sharp

Post breakfast New Year's Day in Weinheim, Germany

I recently came back from a 5 week trip in which I took nearly a dozen flights to, from, and around Europe. Almost all of my travel was in the blissfully comfy Business Class section of the planes for the first time in my life, and amidst all the friendly service and generally tasty food, one thing stood out:

Plastic knives.

Okay, so I don't mean to sound insensitive to the victims of 9/11 or National Security yadda yadda and Mr. Ashcroft if you're reading this please don't arrest me, but this is one of the most friggin' stupid things I've ever seen.

Confiscating eyebrow tweezers from my younger sister at the airport security checkpoint ranks up there, too. But I digress.

Anyway, I guess no one stopped to think that, gee, if someone is hell bent on hijacking a plane, a metal fork is likely to do just as much if not more damage. Or how about broken shards from the wine glasses? And as they (sort of said) in A Christmas Carol, watch out for those metal spoons, 'cause they'll gouge your eyes out!

Why do we have such a history in this country of taking not only the easy way out, but the absolutely moronic dumb-as-rocks way out when faced with real problems? In fairness, even Air France dumbly offered the same surprisingly sharp plastic knives, but I'm guessing that none of this silliness would have happened without American gov't/airline decrees.

Am I the only person to be so annoyed by this symptom of knee-jerk stupidity?

- Blathered by Adam on Tuesday, July 30, 2002 at 19:57 Permalink
- Filed under Society • Politics • Travel
- Commented on by 2 folks so far. Visit the full entry page and join in!

Traveling, pictures, and memories

If you don't have pictures to remember your travels, did they really happen?

While we all would initially no doubt insist that we travel for the "experience," we should also ask ourselves to what extent we travel to "collect" things... trinkets, pictures, etc. Without those things, what do we really have left? When the memories fade, what then?

I came to this hard realization after getting my backpack stolen while on a 5-week Europe trip...

Read the full entry...

- Blathered by Adam on Monday, July 29, 2002 at 16:16 Permalink
- Filed under Travel
- Commented on by one person so far. Visit the full entry page and join in!

You're reading page 2 of 3.
<< See more recent entries | See earlier entries >>

The magic number for the moment is 21. Neato.

FEEDS:	Full-text, all categories: (See a complete list of category-specific and other BLADAM feeds!)
CREDITS:	Site powered by ExpressionEngine. Cool menus by the Ultimate Dropdown Menu. Thoughtful advice and assistance from Ingmar, LisaJill, other awesome EE forum volunteers, and nice friends.
COPYRIGHT:	My sites are the result of many hours of hard work. Kindly ask before using my content. Thanks! :)
[ Return to the top of the page]