An airline representative picks up the loudspeaker hopefully to announce I will be boarding any minute. She explains that there is bad weather at our destination and the pilot instead will be landing in Wichita. “Don’t worry. We won’t leave you in Wichita,” she says as she puts down the microphone. What? Wichita? New travelers tend to panic in instances like these, frightened that their travel plans are not following the print-out itinerary. As I boarded the plane, I accepted the fact that I would probably be spending my Friday night in Wichita. I was actually half excited to call home and Continue Reading
What They Should Teach You in School: How To Travel
In pre-kindergarten, you get to play all sorts of games that are supposedly educational, but really it is just one giant daycare. Most of us played the game “corners” or some variation, where you would play at different stations throughout the room. One station would have a kitchen set. Another one featured blocks to build towers. Another station, and probably my all time favorite, allowed for lounging on beanbags while looking at picture books. Needless to say, this is what that game of corners did not teach me: how to travel from corner to corner. I remember Mrs. Gold yelling “Switch!”, Continue Reading
Where are you going? Crossing off countries by stopping in one of the smallest, San Marino
When you travel with someone crazily intent on knocking off all the countries in Europe, you can bet even San Marino is on their list. My traveling companion today is that said person, almost unhealthy focused upon having his feet stand in every country in Europe. Most people have never even heard of the Republic of San Marino. It is easy to see why. San Marino is the third smallest state in the world. You could miss the country and not even know it, being only 61 square miles in area, only one-third the size of Washington D.C. Landlocked by Italy, San Marino’s foreign policies align with Continue Reading
I found Papier-mâché Paradise at Carnevale in Viareggio
A woman with a plunging neckline welcomes visitors to Carnevale in a Tuscan town. As if her dress does not showcase enough free spirit, her billboard hands flail in the air, hinting at the mandatory carefree atmosphere that surrounds. Confetti covers La Passeggiata, a long stretch in the seaside town of Viareggio. Papier-mâché floats conquer this stretch throughout January and February as people come from all around the world to dress up in outrageous get-ups. Shots ring out. These are not gunshots but rather quite the opposite, innocent shots of silly string. Children and adults with silly Continue Reading
Where are you going? Off to find harmony at Schloss Eggenberg in Austria
On the western outskirts of Graz, Austria, Schloss Eggenberg can be heard squawking for attention. Peacocks roam the palace gardens and grounds screeching in loud high-pitched tones. I squawk back to see what these birds will do. I guess I must sound a lot like a peacock as a few of Schloss Eggenberg’s birds respond to my ear covering song. On a partly cloudy day in Austria, I lay down on one of Eggenberg’s many benches scattered throughout the gardens. The grass is unbelievably green, making the sky even bluer. A few sounds of thunder ominously grumble, hinting at rain heading towards the Continue Reading
Part 2 of Travelers, What are your rights when detained by TSA: Where does this leave travel?
Most of us walk up to that TSA officer with our passport or ID, a little anxious, not knowing what we will be subjected to on the other side of the counter. Recently my sister came back from France. When she went through customs in the U.S.A, they wanted to know what she did for a living. Why does the TSA need to know that my sister is an artist? Is she a threat somehow? Furthermore, it is a question that does not pertain to her travel itinerary, her citizenship, or what she has packed in her suitcase, the questions TSA can ask. Who gets punished for the underwear bomber? We do, those that Continue Reading
Part 1: Travelers, What are your rights when detained by TSA
Over the past few months, interviews at airports across the U.S. by Homeland Security have gone a little nutty. Well maybe they always were post 9/11. War reporter Michael Yon was recently detained in the Seattle airport, practically arrested by the TSA when he refused to answer personal questions about his income that bore no relation to national security. Then we have Steve Bierfeldt, a Ron Paul Campaign for Liberty treasurer detained and hounded by TSA back in March of 2009. Bierfeldt was stopped for carrying cash and Ron Paul campaign material, despite the fact that there is no limit to Continue Reading