Speaking of laws, I’m still reading The Devil’s Picnic, although my cover isn’t nearly as cool. It’s an interesting quest by Taras Grescoe, which covers his quest for the forbidden foods of the world. I’m not done yet, and . . . → Keep Going: Sleeping in airports/ The Devil’s Picnic…]]> So this backpackers.com post made me laugh. I’ve spent two nights in airports, Barajas (Madrid) and Ruzyne (Prague), which the latter being a much better experience. The results here do and don’t surprise me. Sure, Singapore is an amazingly clean and safe airport, but I can’t imagine being able to sleep in peace there. Wouldn’t it be violating some law?

Speaking of laws, I’m still reading The Devil’s Picnic, although my cover isn’t nearly as cool. It’s an interesting quest by Taras Grescoe, which covers his quest for the forbidden foods of the world. I’m not done yet, and likely won’t be before the school crush starts, but there are a few very amusing bits:

(about the previously mentioned Singapore): “its detractors call it Princessland, a bizarre cross between a Confucian Chinese mandarinate and a British boarding school, the ne plus ultra of the nanny state” (Grescoe 57).

His section on Singapore and the laws governing, among other things, the consumption of crackers with poppy seeds, provided an interesting introduction to the concept of a Nanny state and governments – including those of San Francisco and New York – where laws govern more ‘sinister’ actions such as smoking. On a related note, he compares the War on Drugs to Prohibition and while I wouldn’t have made that connection, I can see it.

It’s also interesting to see how some things have changed since this book was written. When speaking of the then-new ban on cigarette smoking in New York City, he interviewed an Englishman who stated that, ” …in London , you would never dream of asking an adult to extinguish a cigarette in a drinking establishment intended for other adults.” (Grescoe 164). I was in London this summer but prior to when the ban took place and I have to say, the prevalence of smoke annoyed me. I thought after my time in Asia, I was immune to smoke but its presence is strong once you’re accustomed to a relatively smoke free environment.

Overall this is a really good book. I have The End of Elsewhere on Mt. TBR and hope to get to read it soon.

On another reading note, I’ve done quite a few reviews lately for Front Street:

Private Scars – Brenda Youngerman
I Hear Your Cry – Veronica Shaffer (loved that the author signed my copy of this book)
The Pawn – Steven James
A Merger of Equals – Debra James
Olga: A Daughter’s Tale – Marie-Thérèse Browne
The End of Sorrow – JV Love

and an as-yet unposted one for Spontaneous Tourism since the book hasn’t yet been officially released. I enjoyed that one, and think it’s very cool that the author is wild releasing his own book on BookCrossing.

ETA: Interesting article in the New York Times by Taras Grescoe: Catfish with a Side of Scombroid

Not a bad week at all, just crazy. We had the PGAV/Gettysburg Foundation presentation on Tuesday and I think it went well. All parties seemed happy and I think we, both as a class and as six teams targeting six segments, did a very good job. I loved the fact that we were able to take what we learned and apply it in real life situations, it’s part of why grad school seems so much more real than undergrad. I’d upload the PowerPoint but I don’t even have a copy of our final segments. The one for . . . → Keep Going: One hell of a week…]]> but it’s over.

Not a bad week at all, just crazy. We had the PGAV/Gettysburg Foundation presentation on Tuesday and I think it went well. All parties seemed happy and I think we, both as a class and as six teams targeting six segments, did a very good job. I loved the fact that we were able to take what we learned and apply it in real life situations, it’s part of why grad school seems so much more real than undergrad. I’d upload the PowerPoint but I don’t even have a copy of our final segments. The one for education didn’t even work properly so I winged (wung?) it. Now just have the marketing plan for GRO to finish for Monday, a final paper for Wednesday and a final exam for the 7th and I’m done…until the 28th anyway

Oh, and I added another “destination” to this summer’s wanderings, though it’s not really new. I was going up to Rochester anyway for Beth’s graduation and was not looking forward to driving ten hours in two days. Had ruled out flying because everything was coming up ridiculous…and then I found a continental flight through Orbitz: $133 into Rochester on Friday night and out of Syracuse on Sunday morning. Yay!

Last weekend the NY Times had an interesting section on budget travel which started with an interesting article on budget airfares.

Where had I just been? Where was I going? I wasn’t really sure anymore — all I knew was that getting there wouldn’t cost much more than my sanity.

Although the author is talking about a week-long trip across Europe on various budget carriers, the same pretty much applied to by trip on the big grey dog across Australia. Most segments were fine but some (Darwin to Alice Springs – ~20 hours on the Stuart Highway; Coober Pedy to Charters Towers – 36 hours via Tenant Creek and Mount Isa on the Stuart and Barkly Highways and then on to Townsville and Cairns) were bewildering to say the least. But I accomplished my goals: to see the country in a way I couldn’t from the air and be able to guarantee I’d be able to finish my trip. I ran into far too many people over the course of my trip who were ‘stuck’ somewhere, having to fly or change course because they couldn’t find a ride–I wanted to be able to get back to Brisbane, and I did–some four months later.

Flylc.com is another wonderful site, second only to kayak, which was where I found my cheap flight last night. I love them both because they eliminate the need to punch your details into umpteen different sites. I was somewhat limited in choosing my flight home from Europe because I was looking to see where easyJet flew, but I hate to think of what other options I’d have considered if I knew about flylc. Oh well, I’ll have several weekends while there and there’s always next time. Plus, I think Switzerland will be wonderful. I haven’t ruled out flying from Prague to Geneva and then taking the train around Switzerland. I do need to make a decision soon though.

I know I’m definitely going to be making good use of the Prague guide. I’m glad I’ll arrive on Friday. I’ll go from wherever I stay on Friday night to the apartments to make sure I know how to get to class on Monday. Will be nice to putter Prague for the weekend. Almost one year back in the US, I’m getting itchy feet again.

exploded (last 5 under non-fiction)! I haven’t finished it yet, but it’s short chapters are the perfect length for reading at the gym. He’s got some oddball ideas about how to get a free second dessert in Paris, but he’s also got some good ones. I completely agree that a few phrases can go a long way when traveling overseas. I know I’m going to sound like Tarzan in Czech since I remember so little, but I can’t . . . → Keep Going: Offbeat Travel Tips]]> This was one of the books that really caught my attention yesterday at the library when my current Mt. TBR

exploded (last 5 under non-fiction)! I haven’t finished it yet, but it’s short chapters are the perfect length for reading at the gym. He’s got some oddball ideas about how to get a free second dessert in Paris, but he’s also got some good ones. I completely agree that a few phrases can go a long way when traveling overseas. I know I’m going to sound like Tarzan in Czech since I remember so little, but I can’t imagine not making the effort. I found a copy of Teach Yourself Czech (minus the CDs) and am seeing what comes back, but I really need to find a dictionary.

Back on the book, so far it’s not blatantly obvious that the book is 25 years old. If it’s true what they say about common sense not going out of style , I guess the same could apply to off beat sense. More when I’ve finished.

As far as travelling goes, I want to know where manners have gone. Out the window, I think. 28 pages of people showing an utter lack of respect for one another. It’s sad, but I’d hope that people of any size have more respect for one another in face to face situations rather then on anonymous message boards. Personally, I think the fact that 40% of respondents “HATE” sitting next to people due to their size is pretty sad.

I’ve started to look at flights for Prague and that’s being made much easier with Booking Buddy. How is it that I didn’t know about this site before? I’m not flying directly to Prague (or even via Amsterdam) because it’s insane. Don’t know when that changed. I’m tossing up flying to and from London, Madrid or Dublin and flying to Prague on easyJet. I did it before when I went from Prague to Madrid and it was pretty easy. It’s just not worth wasting the miles for a flight that can be done quite easily. And then I really need to book this. I think I’m going to be in the air more than on the ground this summer. Of course that’s not a *bad* thing

Oh and this was a link I meant to mention earlier before I got sidetracked on the 10 books… 5 Reasons the Lost Girls Can Afford to Travel the World I think it’s one of those things you only understand intuitively if you’ve done it. To the rest, travel seems prohibitively expensive. For short term trips, that can be true. You’re in such a rush to get from A to B in a limited time that it’s not always possible to price things out. I know I ran into this in Japan and have heard other stories. On the other hand, my entire trip from 27 November 2004 – 5 November 2005 cost less than half of what I made annually while living here. Some of that went on Visa (almost paid off, yay!), some was savings earmarked for this trip and some came from earnings, but either way it was far cheaper than I’d be living at home. Some aspects that made it cheaper:

• spent time staying with friends, family of friends or friends of friends where costs ranged from $0 to paying for food to $50 per week
• I travelled most of the country by bus with a great deal on a bus pass which also offered some free nights at YHA hostels
• I eat cheapy and don’t spend a lot on entertainment

I definitely didn’t do a bare bones budget trip-I’m too much of a bookworm and I need creature comforts. There were also expenses like car hire for the trip south of Perth, the trip to the Bungle Bungles and other day trips to the Reef, etc. All well worth it and, as I rationalized it, cheaper than flying back to NY and then trying these places. I knew I’d go back to Australia but that this trip was likely my only opportunity to see the NT and WA. So worth it. Every penny.

“Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of
arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather
to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body
thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming ‘Woo-hoo what a
ride!’”

From this book, which I could not agree with more.