jetsetter

As you travel more and more you’ll realize when you visit the far reaches of the globe that there’s nothing new under the sun. The excavations that are not kept secret from us show that the ways of life of human beings were pretty much the same ten thousand years ago as they are now. The social structures, the taboos, many of the laws — the same. One site in particular that is very famous is Pompei in Italy. A friend and I were discussing the aqueduct technology and architecture that was preserved by the molten ash thousands of years before Christ. Its amazing to see that things have not changed all that much. The ancient drawings and sculptures of airplanes and UFOs lead me even further into the belief that there is nothing new under the sun. Think about how many life cycles this planet has gone through. Before great cataclysms of ancient history, who’s to say there were not automobiles and flying crafts and even COMPUTERS–one find suggests this exactly. So when you marvel at a new invention or a technological breakthrough think of the possibility that it has all been done before. This should actually make you appreciate it that much more since it can and will eventually all vanish again…

I’ve been watching videos about South Africa and other countries in Africa fairly often lately. More and more often, the videos I see are Christians doing so-called “missionary” work in these African countries. The same Christians that appeared about five hundred years ago and pillaged the land of its resources and people via blatant theft and the slave trade. So now when I see “missionaries” professing to be saving the souls of these “poor Africans” it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I am not anti-Christian. I’m not anti-any religion. But I do tire of seeing the haughty Christians from the U.S. and Europe saving everyone but themselves. These missionary trips strike me as pretentious and unnecessary. Now the help that some of these religious organizations provide is great and I admire anyone who seeks to GIVE anything. But does this assistance have to be paired with religious conversion? Its just strange to me. And remember, the knights in the crusades called themselves “missionaries” as well. They just convinced people to convert to Christianity not by giving them food and building infrastructure but by burning babies and impaling naysayers.

Until next time,

Sirius -C-

Nothing is more lame than going to a beautiful country and (a) taking no pictures at all (b) taking lousy pictures OR (c) appearing in absolutely none of the pics. This is exactly what a buddy of mine did when he went to Germany. He took about eight pictures total, six of them were horrible pics, and I think he actually appeared in one of them. Now I’m not saying you have to be a photographer–but there are some photography pointers one can quickly research to enhance their picture-taking skills tremendously. Your camera absolutely DOES NOT MATTER. The first time my wife and I went to Santorini, Athens, and Rome we used about six DISPOSABLE Kodak and Fuji cameras. The pictures turned out to be phenomenal.

And lets not forget video. In the past maybe you couldn’t afford the smallest digital video camera. Today the Flip HD is the size of a cell phone and in some cases costs less than one. No more excuses for not capturing the memories of one’s life. But there’s something about taking pictures that will always be my favorite. They allow a snapshot of the moment and the subsequent embellished memory to take shape. A video shows EXACTLY what happened and offers no latitude if the memory is not perfect. I still say–use both whenever possible.

On second thought–there’s no such thing as a bad photo. Just takes a thousand pics and throw away the blurry ones unless it looks cool. The beauty of the art is always in the artist’s mind so igmore my “horrible pictures” comment from above.


Until Next Time–Happy Travels.


Sirius -C-

Remember seeing those old movies where the rich people would take trips with seven different bags of luggage and all kinds of obtuse trunks and such? Casablanca comes to mind for some reason. Or even the old video footage of celebrities in real life with handlers carrying tons of suitcases and other junk onto commercial flights? There is absolutely no excuse for the modern Jetsetter to carry too much crap unless he/she is getting on their very own G5 (which these days is not uncommon).

The new travel etiquette rules are these: (1) be stylish but comfortable/durable (jeans or linen pants) (2) travel with one nice carry-on duffel and a computer bag (3) stay connected — internet is available on planes in 2009. There is nothing worse than the person going on a 3 day trip that carries 3 suitcases to check-in, 2 carry-ons that are too large, and wears a dress that gets caught on every seat as she walks the isles on the plane. This is not the 50s– you don’t have to carry your whole life with you on a vacation. I swore back in 2005 when my Greece wedding had to be pushed back 2 days because my mammoth checked bag was lost by handlers in Italy, that I would never check bags again no matter how long I was staying. And I have kept my word. Three days - ONE bag. Five days - ONE bag. Ten days - ONE bag! I kid you not. All you need is 3-4 days of clothing, then utilize the laundry service at your hotel.

Travel light. It feels so good NOT to have to go to the carousel!


Until Next Time — TRAVEL LIGHT & Easy.

Sirius -C-

US Airways seemed to be a pretty cool airline. We got great priced tickets out of the country via Travelocity flying with US Airways. We arrived at LAX 3 hours early and stood in line 3 hours for international flights as this post 9/11 society has taught us to expect (even with NO checked bags). When we were finally through ticketing and removing our shoes at the security checkpoint, I kept getting the faint notion that my name was being called. The machines and conveyor belts are buzzing away. There are people complaining about the process. There is general noise. In the back of mind I was picking up something deep in the background. I shrugged it off and finished the process.

Well when we arrived at the terminal it looked strangely empty with a dozen or so people looking really angry and taking turns yelling at the people behind the information desk. I walk up to see what the problem is– the plane left 10 minues early. What? Did I hear this correctly? I smile the “I’m about to explode” smile to my wife.

The US Airways personnel explained that they had called my name and the names of these other dozen people over the loud speaker several times. “Wow, really? So would they have rushed me through security to catch the plain?” Of course not. We were pissed but calm. After being given a first class upgrade we were told that we could not get another flight to Mexico until the next morning. We spent a whole day of our vacation in a Super 8 motel close to the airport because our airline decided to LEAVE EARLY.

US Airways SUCKS !!

Until next time—get there even earlier!

Sirius -C-

So a few years ago, France was REALLY unpopular here in the states. We even started calling French Fries “Freedom” Fries— do you remember that? Well, that was pretty much one hundred percent media driven. France is a really great country if you can get past stereotypes. (1) The French don’t smell any worse than Americans. (2) I guarantee we can find our share of hairy pitted women in the good ol’ USA. (3) The people of France are not mean.

Immerse yourself in the culture of France. A beautiful language that sounds great even when they curse at you. Check out the Eiffel Tower.

Visit the Louvre Museum.

Get lost in the Palace at Versailles.

There are plenty other sites that I just don’t have the space to list. Seriously, if you neglect to travel to France because of out 2001-2006 issues with France you will be doing yourself a great disservice. Think of all the icons who were of French origin:

Napoléon Bonaparte

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Claude Monet

Pierre Cardin (I have on a Pierre Cardin scarf right now! lol)

Marie and Pierre Curie

If you don’t know who those people are—Google.com is only a click away.

Until Next time–Happy Travels,

Sirius

I have a great friend from college who I speak about whenever the subject of travel happens to surface  at a dinner party or in casual conversation. We’ll call him the “Travellin’ Man” since I’m sure he wouldn’t appreciate me using his real name on this Blog. I am definitely envious of his travel experience. Its really difficult to name a place TM hasn’t been.  After speaking with him recently, I learned that he’s actually kind of burned out on the whole — around the world non-stop — life. At first I looked at him like he was crazy. But after thinking about it for a moment, I understood completely.

You see, TM started this travel thing about ten years ago when we were college freshmen at Morehouse in Atlanta, GA. After he escaped the Navy ROTC program before the rest of us, I think he enrolled in the Arizona BIOSPHERE program and he was gone by 2nd semester.

The next time we saw him the following semester he was full of stories and had already gained more of a perspective than any of us who had our run of the mill experiences on campus and nearby. There was just something different about him that none of us could quite put our finger on.

After that, we rarely saw TM. He participated in Semester at Sea and visited countless countries and sites around the world. One particular summer he came back to campus to be a counselor  for the Prospective Student Seminar for incoming freshmen. I happened to be interning in the Neuroscience Dept. that summer so I was on campus. We spent alot of time talking about the world and what he had seen. He felt a little disconnected being gone so much and not really having a home to speak of besides the ship. I couldn’t help but think of how I wanted to be disconnected from some of the madness in the US. That feeling still pervades my psyche.

As TM prepares to bring an end to his almost eleven years of constant travel, my travels began much later. My travels are not constant. They are sporadic enough to help me appreciate each locale. I think it was ingenius to travel so young and so often. I wish I would have listened when TM said “you should sign up for Bisophere II man.” At the time I was too wrapped up in campus life to know that the world awaited.

Until Next Time,

 Sirius

 Maybe you already know this, maybe not. But if you got your passport after 2005 or so, you’re probably walking around with an RFID chip. RFID stands for “radio-frequency identification.” Passports with RFID chips store an electronic copy of the passport information: your name, a digitized picture, etc. And in the future, the chip might store fingerprints or digital visas from various countries. By itself, this is no problem. But RFID chips don’t have to be plugged in to a reader to operate. Like the chips used for automatic toll collection on roads or automatic fare collection on subways, these chips operate via proximity. The risk to you is the possibility of unwarranted access: Your passport information might be read without your knowledge or consent by a government official trying to track your movements, a criminal trying to steal your identity or someone just curious about your citizenship. 

  Any way it goes, if you have a passport with an RFID chip you are at risk. Although popping your passport in the microwave will disable the chip, the shielding will cause all kinds of sparking. And although the United States has said that a nonworking chip will not invalidate a passport, it is unclear if one with a deliberately damaged chip will be honored. And get this–its called the “e-Passport.” Everybody knows that all you have to do for generation X is put an “e” or “i” in front of anything and we gobble it up without question. “e”mail, “e” tickets, “i”phone, “i”mac, etc.  I guess getting this Passport is going to be a necessary evil. I don’t have to get mine until 2014. Maybe when I do finally get it in 2014, I’ll microwave it or something. Or maybe I’ll land on it with my flying Maserati (I’m serious). Until next time,Sirius -C- 

When my wife and I were thinking of making the roughly three thousand mile move from Atlanta, Georgia to Los Angeles, California we were told so many horror stories about California. We were warned that the gangs were constantly on the prowl robbing and murdering random people at every turn. We were told that traffic was so bad that you’d have to leave three hours early for a destination ten miles away. We were even cautioned not to wear certain colors in the day time. I am glad we possessed the wherewithal to take the outlandish cautionary tails with several grains of salt. All of the people that fed us these horror stories had one thing in common — they had been confined to the very same state in the very same country for several years. They were prisoners by choice, afraid to experience the culture other locals had to offer. We eventually found out that California is not much different than Georgia when it comes to clear and present danger.

When my wife and I prepared to leave for Greece (where we were married) the same Xenophobic naysayers appeared out of nowhere to warn us about the notorious pickpockets, purse thieves, and European gangsters that we would doubtlessly encounter. Although I’m sure these people were there lurking somewhere, our experience produced none of these characters.

They gave us the same song and dance about Mexico which we discovered to be untrue. Mexico was filled with beautifully polite people who are doing their best to get along in the world just like anywhere else.

So the time has come to visit the Motherland–Africa. Durban, South Afica to be specific. People have come out of the woodwork to tell us how “dangerous” it is there. We have been warned about the killing of foreigners due to a dire job situation. We’ve been warned about diseases, water, randon violence, etc. While we have not yet visited, its not hard to see through these people’s seemingly matter-of fact anecdotes and into their FEAR. We have great friends that live in Durban who report a beautiful coastal city with a modern infrastructure. Who should I believe? The closed-minded California-trapped twenty something year olds or fellow global citizens with more experience in their little finger than most people gain in a lifetime?

My point is this: do your own research before traveling. Talk to several people who have actually been to the place you are visiting and make your own conclusions. Don’t allow someone else’s FEAR and myopic view discourage you from your own personal growth.

Godspeed–Until next Time.

Travel the World !!!

Sirius -C-

I like to think of myself as a GLOBAL citizen. Though the international travels of my wife and I are limited (Malpensa, Athens, Santorini, Puerto Vallarta, Bahamas) we have been to a few more places than most of our friends. Over the years, it has become increasingly obvious to us that international travel can be easy as well as inexpensive. Our recent trip to Puerto Vallarta for example was only $1400 for a marble-floored full suite, food and alcohol inclusive, airfare and all for 2 people.  We were amazed at the price as well! And if we didn’t have to have suites it could have been around $1000 total. It sounds unbelievable but you’d be surprised what you can find when you scour Travelocity, Priceline, Google, Expedia, and Cheaptickets round the clock.  So as an introduction I would like to encourage everyone who reads this block to get your passport, TRAVEL,  and experience life in a way that not many others do. The most learned and ingenious people on the planet all have one thing in common– they are thirsty for travel. When you’re immersed in surroundings that are completely new, your brain and mental faculties have absolutely no choice but to expand and adapt. You will be smarter, calmer, happier and more interesting after a few of these worldly experiences. Godspeed–Until Next Time, Sirius -C-