Lives of Wander

Jeff March 9th, 2008

Before you get into this eye candy, if you haven’t voted on how we should see the Amazon, head to Theresa’s post just below this and give us your thoughts.

Since I don’t have my own separate blog, and since this is vaguely travel related, I thought I would share it here. This weekend we had a rare nice day in Stockholm, and so I took the opportunity to wander about the city with a camera. Here are some of the images I was happy with.

There’s plenty of color splashed onto apartment buildings.

It’s coming up on Easter, which in Sweden means you tie feathers to bare tree branches. Mom, you want to explain that one? It does look nice in big bunches though.

A row of Swedish fruit drinks outside a store. I like that you can see the buildings across the street.

An empty pier. It is winter after all.

An interesting building with Stadshuset (City Hall) and it’s Tre Kronor (three crowns, the national symbol) in the background. Here’s another of one corner of Stadshuset. It kinda looks like it needs to be in a Cingular commercial.

And I just thought these last two looked kinda cool. Feel free to disagree.

• Non-RTW Travel , Photography , Sweden
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Jeff March 4th, 2008

A few of you have probably heard that I’m back in Stockholm now for about a month to tie up some loose ends, finish up my classes, etc. The trip over was, as usual, uneventful, but I think I’ve finally given up on trying to sleep on flights over to Europe. It never seems to work. I’m better off just staying up the whole time, making sure I stay up the next day no matter how tired I am, and get to bed at a normal time and all is right with the world on day 2. So be it. It means I can watch more movies (I got to check out the Oscar contenders Michael Clayton and Atonement on the way over … they were both excellently done … planes may be the only way I see movies anymore).

But anyway, thats not what I really wanted to discuss. I wanted to continue the trend of food related posting. It’s often a goal of the backpacking types (i.e. us) to cook meals while on the road to accomplish a couple of things: reduce costs, feel more like a local and at home, venture into some “less touristy” areas, etc. I think reduce costs might be the main one. Now I have always kind of gone along with this mantra, but really thought of it in the more idealized sense (kind of like many Americans treat cooking their own food … a rarity).

But I’m proud to say that with minimal ingredients and minimal effort (and minimal costs) I have managed to do my own cooking so far over here and been very pleased with the results. And we’re not talking ramen here. I’ve been having salami and brie sandwiches for lunch (one of my favorites ever). Last night I prepared some pasta with some homemade sauce combining crushed tomatoes, brie for creaminess, arugula for spice and meatballs for, well, meat. I had a delicious spinach and arugula salad two nights ago. Tonight I made tacos (though I was missing mexican cheese … ’twas a shame). And I’ve got some barbecue pork ribs and our chorizo soup in mind soon too. All easy to make and without needing many ingredients or time to prepare. And a lot cheaper than eating out in Stockholm, where meals start at $25 and McDonald’s is at least $10. I just thought I would share my success with all of you. I’d have taken pictures for some nice food porn for everyone, but I was too busy eating =).  Point is, it’s a very doable thing, me being able to pull it off proves that beyond a doubt. We’ll see how well it carries on over the whole month though, my enthusiasm for cooking has been known to wane quickly.

The one issue I’ve noticed, though, is what to do with leftovers. Fortunately, there’s a fair bit of tupperware around here for me to put my things in, but that’s not likely the case at hostels/budget hotels. I guess you just have to eat it all in one sitting. Or carry around a big plastic case with you. Or give it to all the poor, dirty and hungry fellow travelers.

The other thing I’m enjoying about staying here right now is that any time of day or night I’m literally steps away from a machine who’s sole job it is to make me a cup of delicious hot chocolate (it makes coffee for the Swedes, but I don’t drink that stuff). So culinarily, I’m living pretty good right now.

• Food , Non-RTW Travel
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Jeff February 14th, 2008

For our second installment (see part one here) of our intermittently updated series rehashing our past travel adventures, we’re going to take you all back to our honeymoon with us. This was one of the few wedding tasks I was charged with (along with music selector and food taster) and it was a bit of a dilemma. My original decision divided between Portugal and southern Spain and Belize. To be honest, I can’t tell you why I chose these two to choose between. I wanted to go somewhere atypical and unique, and yet, at the same time, it was our honeymoon, so I wanted to go somewhere where we would be completely comfortable. As a person who generally travels very modestly with cost as a high priority, it was the one time I was going to splurge. But I also didn’t want to be stuck in a stuffy, dull resort. So to harken back to what I said about last week about adventure vs. comfort, I wanted somewhere that would provide us with a perfect combination of adventure and classic honeymoon relaxation. It was with this goal that we ventured to the beautiful cayes and raw jungles of Belize.

Destination: Honeymoon, Belize. Four nights on Ambergris Caye followed by three nights in the inland Cayo district

Date: August 1 - 9, 2005

Travel Partners: Just the newlyweds.

THE HIGHLIGHTS:

1. The beautiful views off of Ambergris Caye. Here’s what we saw basically out of the back of our room. Not too shabby.

2. The Mayan ruins at Caracol. While we also went to ruins at Altun Ha, they paled in comparison (see Lowlights #2). Caracol lies two hours down a gravel road (with the last mile or so oddly paved) and deep in the heart of the jungle. It creeps in on all sides and the howler monkey’s chatter only adds to the ambiance. The tallest temple tops out above the trees leading to an incredible view of the surrounding valley.

We wandered right through a research camp that was closed for the season, and save for one other pair, had the entire ruins to ourselves. Most amazingly, they said that much of the ruins of the city are still hidden in the jungle. Definitely made me feel like Indiana Jones.

3. Snorkeling at Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Shark and Ray Alley. We started by snorkeling through the Marine Reserve, a vibrant and colorful coral reef teeming with fish. We enjoyed snorkeling and free diving through tunnels, though we were a bit jealous of the divers further down below us (see Lessons Learned #3). Then our guide steered us into the aptly named Shark and Ray Alley, where we jumped in with rays and nurse sharks drawn by the chum we were throwing overboard. I touched both before I got a face full of bonefish that got excited by the chum that landed much too close to my noggin.

4. Hiking to many waterfalls surrounding Hidden Valley Inn in the Cayo District. There’s nothing quite like a refreshing, cool pool beneath a waterfall after a hot hike, especially one this tall. And who can beat having your own private waterfall for the day, complete with catered meal and bottle of champagne (part of our honeymoon package)?

5. The Belize Zoo. This small but well-done zoo is home to wild animals, all native to Belize, that were either injured or had been domesticated for documentaries. It’s a difficult zoo to explain, but so totally unique and interesting. I’ll start with this picture.

Now take that same poetry and sense of humor, expand it to each exhibit and envision the paths through them so narrow you feel that you are in the exhibits themselves. It’s a very cool experience. My favorites were the jaguars and the howler monkeys

THE LOWLIGHTS:

1. Getting Peed on by a Tapir

This was the tapir that peed on Theresa, just after this picture was taken. He got close to the fence, raised a leg, and got good distance on his spray. I was fortunate enough to avoid the calamity. Theresa, ever the trooper, went on like nothing had ever happened, after a few brief squeals of disbelief, of course.

2. The no-see-ums on Ambergris Caye and the mosquitos at Altun Ha. No amount of bug spray was enough against these tenacious bugs. One afternoon on Ambergris Caye, we thought we would walk from our hotel to the main town, San Pedro, a distance of about a mile. We made it all of 200 feet down the road near the beach before we were both doubled over swatting insanely at the air around our legs. Fortunately, a passing taxi, complete not just with driver but also with the driver’s wife and two kids, picked us up and drove us to town. At least there the bugs had other people to eat too. At Altun Ha, the sun was blaring down, but the shade was even worse. The mosquitos literally formed a wall at the edge of the shadows, and if you walked in, the whole world turned black. We could either bake in the sun or get eaten in the shade. It was a no win situation.

LESSONS LEARNED:

1. We are not relaxers. I believe we lasted a whole of one day, fresh from the insanity that always accompanies weddings, laying on the beaches of Ambergris Caye next to the pool at our posh resort before we were ready to claw our eyes out. This was the first day after arriving, when we were still declaring how ready we were to kick back, relax, and not do anything for the entire time on Ambergris Caye. Fortunately, the resort was equipped to arrange the snorkeling and ruin trekking trips for us.

2. The “rainy season” is not always rainy. We went to Belize in the offseason. The only rain we saw was a few drops the first day, and a little overnight in the Cayo district. The weather was beautiful, and everyone said it was cooler (though it sure felt hot!). Better yet, accommodations were cheaper and the places we wanted to go weren’t crowded.

3. We want to get PADI certified. It was fascinating to look down on the scuba divers from our sea level perch with our snorkels. I kept wondering what they were seeing. I had a similar revelation in the Red Sea, where we went on a similar trip. We hear the certification done well and cheaply in Thailand, so we will try that. Theresa is a little worried about the claustrophobia that comes with all your air coming from a tank, but I have a feeling we’ll both find it exciting.

4. When you’re at a prison and a man (not clearly a guard or an inmate) walks by with a live chicken in one hand and a machete in the other, be ready to leave. What were we doing at a prison, you ask? Well, on the way to Hidden Valley Inn, we passed the prison and saw the sign (in the picture below) advertising a prison gift shop, so on the way back we stopped to check it out. You didn’t really think we could pass it up, did you? After browsing and buying a nice picture frame, we were headed back to the car, when the machete- and chicken-wielding man came toward us. You’d be impressed with how quickly we got in the car, locked the doors, and got out of there. This was more a reaction than anything, but it’s good to know my common sense won’t abandon me on the road (unless of course you consider visiting a prison gift shop not a good idea.)

5. Take time to explore the local areas. We spent all of one afternoon walking through San Pedro just searching for the local areas. We found the cemetery, ate at some delicious “local” restaurants, and sauntered along the local’s beach. We happened upon some great kids that loved the camera too.

People here are not wealthy, but they’re not terribly poor either (though Americans buying property there and driving up prices is making things more difficult). It was just very interesting to wander through their haphazard mix of English, Caribbean, and Creole culture and just soak it in for a while. It’s a good lesson that it’s not always about checking another sight off the list, but also about enjoying the culture and exploring local life.

• Non-RTW Travel , Travel Take Two
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Jeff February 4th, 2008

The weekend was update-free here at LOW due to a trip down south, back to the alma mater, Rice University. It was the fourth biennial Rice Baseball Alumni Game. It’s always great to catch up again with all of the guys, seeing what they’re up to. New this time around was how just about everyone was now married and having children. Most of the guys I played with had pregnant wives or were already taking care of little ones (or both!). This is a strange duality to me because up here in DC, at 26, we are still considered very young to even be married. (On more than one occasion my ring has elicited a “weird …”.)

But as everyone was catching up, my future plans came up a lot when I mentioned I was finishing in the fall. (Theresa tells me I have to state this as a fact instead of saying “hopefully” or “if everything works out” or “I plan to.” I get the feeling she’s not interested in staying here too much longer …) And so I launched into our plans of world travel and exploration. Which got the same kind of response that I get when I say I’m married in DC. In all fairness, one kindred spirit had recently finished his own round the world trip (and we had a great conversation with him), so the response was not completely unanimous.

A lot of the guys (and girls) responded by saying they had never even left the country, and didn’t really understand why you possibly would. Now some of this comes from the typically Texan idea that nothing could ever be better than Texas, but it also was about security, family and comfort. It was pretty clear that we were currently on two different paths. Theresa likes to talk about wishing she could run two parallel lives … well this was it, exemplified. All of my Houston friends had married, settled down and were starting families. They had support networks of family, lifelong friends and good jobs (at least well paying if not completely satisfying). They knew which restaurants had the best steaks, and where to go for fajitas. They never got lost driving around the city, nor did they have to deal with the hassles of public transportation. Meanwhile, here were Theresa and I, who couldn’t wait to quit our jobs/finish our programs and leave all that comfort and security behind so we could run around the world with only what we could carry on our backs. Now who are the crazies? You have to admit, at times staying put makes a pretty compelling rational argument.

The point is, I guess, that it is all a matter of personal preference, and really has little to do with rationality. (This is probably much too tolerant a statement to put on the internet.) My friends would be happy staying right where they are, in the same house, in the same neighborhood, in the same city, the rest of their lives. They have no desire to wander. And there are times when I wonder why that isn’t enough for me too. But for whatever reasons, that just doesn’t cut it. I need to explore. Deal with getting lost. Have the enjoyment of “discovering” the best restaurant in a new place. Slowly and painfully come to understand a completely different culture. Befriend all the wacky and interesting people you meet. Survive the bizarre events that inevitably occur. And feel invigorated by it all. Because a routine just does not inspire me the way an adventure does. So, anyway, thanks for listening while I justify how I am. I hope it made some sense to you.

Now, all that being said, my friends, the ones perfectly happy to never leave their hometown, are exactly the ones we need to convince to travel. As a case in point, one of our friends didn’t realize there were not feeder roads off of every highway (Houston is pretty much the only city I know that envelops every highway with another two lanes of “local” traffic on each side). It’s both interesting and useful to be exposed to a number of different ways to solve problems, mainly that there are other ways. You start to see things from other perspectives. And if you still like things like “home,” you appreciate it more. So it enriches your hometown as well. I know when I travel, I appreciate all the little things I often take for granted when I return (everything from free public restrooms to a good hamburger to signs in English). So we did our best to convince everyone that it would be great idea to travel themselves. I think we convinced nobody. But whaddya gonna do? They all have little rugrats running around. That’s why we’re still on the rolling five year plan with kids. We still have too much wandering to do ourselves.

• About Us , Inspiration , Non-RTW Travel
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Theresa January 20th, 2008

Welcome to the first entry in what we plan to make a recurring series here on Lives of Wander in the run-up months to our actual departure. I mean, you did come here to read about travel, didn’t you?

What we’ll be doing in our Travel Take Two series is take a second look at some of the trips Jeff and I have gone on together. We’ll recall the highlights—the events that make travel the wonderful adventure that is. We’ll also remember the lowlights—the moments when you want to say screw it and jump on the first plane home. And we’ll see what kind of lessons we’ve taken away from each trip, lessons that hopefully will help us maximize the highlights and minimize the lowlights on our RTW trip.

Destination: Egypt—A 7-day tour through Cairo, Aswan, and Luxor with a sidetrip to the Red Sea.
Date: June 10-17, 2004
Travel Partners: My brothers Gregory and Mark accompanied us on this trip. We also spent two of our days with friends Kate and Ben

THE HIGHLIGHTS:
For me, the most amazing thing about Egypt was that it was just as incredible as I thought it would be. When you’ve spent your entire life imaging a place, you often find that when you get there, it doesn’t live up to your expectations. This was not true for Egypt. I think I spent the entire trip walking around wide-eyed and slack-jawed. So what did I love?

1. The Pyramids of Giza. Completely awesome in person, it was phenomenal to wander around the only surviving ancient wonder of the world.

2. Luxor Temple. We explored this temple at night, when it felt absolutely other-worldly. The avenue of sphinxes glowed, bats flittered around, and robed men would pop out from behind columns looking to get a tip by explaining something or pointing something out to you.

3. Tour of the West Bank—Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, Temple of Hatshepsut. It was cool to get to go inside the tombs, and it was nice to have a guide who gave us little history lessons at each site and explained art work, hieroglyphics, and ancient Egyptian religious beliefs.

4. Local food. The steak shish kebabs at Amoun Restaurant in Luxor and the chicken fatta at Cafe Riche in Cairo (each maybe about $2) were awesome.

5. The Egyptian Museum. It was like a huge warehouse of treasures. You couldn’t turn around without seeing something amazing, but the mummies and the Tutankhamun exhibit were the best.

6. Just exploring Cairo. The city was a cacophony of sounds, sights, smells. Wandering along the Nile, hearing the call to prayer blasting out over the city, being out on the streets after dark when it seemed the whole city would come out with huge crowds at sweets and icecream shops, exploring the confusing alleyways of the market, dancing in the back seat of a taxi with a very enthusiastic driver…it was a mad, mad city but in a completely intoxicating way.

7. The friendly people. Almost without fail, everyone we met was friendly. I can’t even count how many times we were told “Welcome to Egypt” from people we simply passed on the street.

8. Getting to travel with my brothers. The combined trip to Greece/Egypt was both Gregory and Mark’s first major international trip, so it was really cool to get to share the experience with them. We’re hoping that family and friends will meet up with us at times on this trip so we can share the adventure of travel with them.

THE LOWLIGHTS:
While there were certainly “lowlights,” I have to say that in the big picture all of them were rather minor and had little effect on our enjoyment of Egypt. I think that all of my travel companions would agree that this was a fantastic trip that we’d all be happy to do over.

1. The bus ride to Hurghada. The air conditioner didn’t work for the majority of the trip. A young girl threw up in the aisle. A Bollywood movie was played at absolute top volume and involved multiple women screaming in the most shrill voice I’d ever heard. In general, it wasn’t a pleasant trip.

2. Hurghada. Hurghada was our access point to snorkeling in the Red Sea. While the snorkeling was good (though the waves at our last stop were a little much for me), the hassle of Hurghada was annoying. The town was rather dumpy and quite the tourist trap. No one would give us a straight story when it came to organizing a trip, and the hotel rooms we reserved were not what we were given. We were happy to spend the whole day out on the boat and away from this town.

3. The unexpected stop on the bus ride from Hurghada to Cairo. Somewhere in the middle of the desert, in the pitch-black, our bus stopped, and we (the only non-Arabs) on the bus were made to get off and talk to a soldier with a big, scary gun. It was a bit nerve-racking, but it turned out fine as they just wanted to know where we were going.

4. The constant requests for baksheesh (tip). Wherever we went, people called out for baksheesh. I have no trouble tipping people if they provide me with a service, but I find it frustrating to have people ask for a tip for doing something like showing me where a McDonalds is when a) I didn’t ask them to, and b) I have no interest in going to McDonalds. That’s not a service. That’s an annoyance. It’s hard to always say no because you know these people don’t have much money, but just handing out money indiscriminately isn’t the answer.

5. The 25 mosquito bites between my elbow and wrist that I received in one night at the Africa Hotel. Overall our hotels were not so great, except for the New Radwan Hotel in Luxor, which with its pool and air-conditioning (at the crazy rate of about $14 a night) was a true treat.

LESSONS LEARNED:
Egypt was a new experience for us in many ways. It was the first predominantly Muslim country we’d ever visited. It was the first time we’d visited the African continent. It was the poorest country we’d visited. There was a lot to learn.

1. Not all jellyfish sting. Who knew? Until I swam through an entire swarm of them, I had no idea. I guess the big takeaway point here is that what is true at home may not be true elsewhere. Be open-minded. Be daring.

2. It’s important to maintain perspective when haggling over prices. When we were in Hurghada, we were trying to find the best deal on a snorkeling trip. We’d walk into a place that had a price listed on the wall, but when we’d ask at the desk, they’d always say that price wasn’t right and quote us something a little higher. This was really frustrating, and we spent some time haggling, before realizing that we were really arguing over the equivalent of a dollar or two. It wasn’t worth it.

3. Always ask to see a room before you commit to it, and don’t be tempted to book multiple nights before you’ve stayed at a place. It’s good to have a place booked for your first night (especially if you arrive at 3 a.m. as we did in Cairo) but don’t commit to more than one night without having seen the place. In the morning, you can book another night if the place is good, and if it’s not, you can find somewhere else where you can ask to see the room first.

4. Agree on a price before you get in a cab. Most of the world’s cab drivers don’t use meters…or they don’t use them properly. So it’s important to find out how much a trip should cost by asking a local or checking a guidebook and then agreeing on a price before you get in the cab. Oftentimes, the cab driver will try to raise the rate when you get there, but stick to what you agreed, pay, get out, and walk away. Ignore the cab driver yelling at you as long as you paid what you agree. If, however, by some accident you should realize that you actually stiffed the guy, then run back to the cab as fast as you can, pay up, and add a nice little tip to the top to make up for your mistake. (Real life experience speaking here. Ooops.)

5. Eat local. We ate almost every meal at local restaurants and never once got sick. We then went to a McDonalds one day when we were in a hurry and we all got sick. Yuck. (Bonus tip: Carry toilet paper with you at all times in the developing world…chances are the bathroom won’t have any and I don’t know about you, but I have no interest in learning the left hand method so popular in that part of the world.)

6. If you’re only going to have a short time in one place, have a plan for what you want to do. Just exploring and stumbling across things is great when you have lots of time, but isn’t the right way to approach only one day in a place. We didn’t get the most out of our time in Aswan, because we didn’t really have a plan.

7. Bring ear plugs. Those Bollywood films are really, really painful. Ear plugs are necessary if you plan to maintain your sanity.

8. Dress appropriately. When we were at the Valley of the Kings, a tour bus pulled off and a number of tourists got out wearing clothes that were entirely inappropriate—bikini tops and cut off shorts, men’s tanktops, etc. Egypt is a Muslim country, and while no one expects you to wear a burka or shalwar kameez, it’s only considerate to wear conservative clothing. Not only is this a simple matter of respect, it also protects you from unwanted attention and/or harassment. The same is true if you’re visiting a Catholic Church in Italy, a Buddhist monastery in Southeast Asia, or your new boyfriend’s grandma right here in the U.S.

9. “Just close your eyes, pray to Allah, and go.” As we were standing across a huge intersection from the Egyptian Museum, staring at buses that didn’t ever stop but only slowed enough for passengers to jump out of, cars that paid no attention to lane lines, and automobiles that used their horns instead of their brakes, wondering how in the heck we were going to get across, a local man approached us and gave us that advice. He then grabbed us by the hand and led us through the traffic, dropping us off right in front of the museum, then wishing us a good visit and disappearing into the crowd. His advice has stayed with me. Sometimes to have the experience of a lifetime you just have to set aside your fears and go.

• Africa , Non-RTW Travel , Travel Take Two
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Jeff January 10th, 2008

When I was in college, we went to Sweden one summer, not unlike a number of other summers of my childhood, since my mother is from a small town in central Sweden. On this particular trip, however, my mom, dad, sister and I all stayed for three weeks in one hotel room in Uppsala, while my sister and I took a language course. With European hotel rooms being what they are and at that time in my life, let’s just say it was difficult to be confined in such a way. To boot, we were right on an intersection that, while not seeing much traffic, is friendly to blind people. Meaning it beeps. Loudly. Alternating between quickly when the pedestrians have a walk signal, and more slowly when they do not. So all through the night, my brain would rattle with a bee-bee-bee-bee-beep … beep … beep … beep … bee-bee-bee-bee-beep. I longed for mere Chinese water torture.

The carrot for enduring this temporary loss of sanity, along with a few more bureaucratic hoops, was permanent Swedish citizenship, which these days translates to EU citizenship. This has already been very useful, affording me flexibility in work trips to Sweden while my classmates fiddle with visas. (And since Theresa is married to me, she can easily get a work visa should we ever desire to move to Europe. Nice option to have, and one that many others would kill for.)

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy being Swedish for the culture as well. I see a lot of how I am in the way the society works, both in good and bad ways. I feel I understand and fit in with both the timidity I disdain and the thoughtfulness I appreciate. Swedes have a very egalitarian perspective on society (as their government reflects … or is it the other way around?). And Stockholm manages to be the cultural center of Sweden while still feeling small and walkable.

But now there’s another new reason now to be pleased about being Swedish. When we looked up the visa requirements for all of the countries we were interested in visiting, we saw that many countries charge EU nationals substantially less than U.S. nationals for visas. I mean, check out the chart (click here to see a full-size version). At least Vietnam, Zambia, Brazil, Chile, and Bolivia all charge way more for U.S. visitors than Swedish visitors. I figure in total, my visa fees will be less than half of Theresa’s. So that’s useful.

I guess what I’m getting at is, thanks mom for pushing me to get my permanent citizenship. It’s an invaluable trait to have in an increasingly connected world. While my Swedish nature leads me to desire citizenship even without any benefits, saving a few bucks on my visas sure doesn’t hurt.

• Money , Non-RTW Travel , Planning
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Theresa January 7th, 2008

Whenever Jeff and I travel—whether it be a weekend trip to a nearby destination, a week-long vacation around the U.S. or abroad, or our upcoming RTW trip—we always devote some time to figuring out what it is we want to do at our destination. Skimming guidebooks and scanning websites, we make lists of attractions that interest us and take notes of restaurants others are raving about. Lord knows we don’t want to visit a place and miss the best spots.

Funny then, isn’t it, that you can live in a town for years and still never see some of it’s most worthwhile attractions.

Jeff and I live in one of the most touristed cities in America. (Trust me, having worked at the Smithsonian and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, I am well-versed on “tourist season” in D.C. I try to have patience. Really, I do. But for the love of Pete, could you please move to the right side of the escalator if you don’t plan to walk!)

We’ve been here for multiple years (4.5 years - Jeff; 3.5 years - Theresa), and there are still plenty of things we haven’t done. But I don’t think Jeff and I are alone in this. I’d wager that the majority of us rarely take the time to be tourists in our own backyards.

For Jeff and I, the start date of our RTW trip will be the end date of our life in D.C. We won’t be returning here. Where we’ll end up, we don’t know, except that it won’t be here. As we prepare to say hello to the world, we must say goodbye to the only place that we, as a married couple, have called home. To make the most of it, we’ve compiled a list of things to do before we go. In between trips to the REI, we’ll be squeezing in as much as we can.

1. Ascend the Washington Monument. The first few years we lived in the area, security concerns closed the Washington Monument. Restoration work kept it closed even longer, but it has since re-opened, so it’s time for us to go check out the view.
2. Make a few more trips to Eastern Market. I love markets of any sorts. You can be sure that I’ll be checking them out in cities around the world. Eastern Market is the best in D.C., and wandering the food, craft, and flea market booths is a great way to pass a weekend morning.
3. Tour the Smithsonian museums that we have yet to visit. I’m ashamed to admit that even as an employee of this venerable institution, I have yet to make it to all the museums (African American Art, Postal Museum), and others I have just made rather cursory visits to (Freer & Sackler, Hirshhorn). I will correct this before we depart.
4. See the Supreme Court in session. This is a bit hard for us to do, since it’s in session on weekdays, but I think we can manage to squeeze in one visit. If not, we should at least take a tour.
5. Enjoy Kenilworth Gardens. These aquatic gardens have been on my list for a while but I haven’t yet made it there.
6. Rent a pedal boat and paddle around the Tidal Basin when the cherry blossoms are in bloom for a prime view of the beauty.
7. Attend a Nationals game at the new stadium. It’s set to open this season, and it will be one more stadium Jeff can cross off his list.
8. Explore the National Archives and Library of Congress. I think Jeff and I have both been to these at one time or another but not recently. I think they’ve both been improved since we last set foot inside.
9. Check out the National Building Museum. I’ve meant to do this forever but never have.
10. Make a pilgrimage to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. It’s the largest Catholic Church in the Western Hemisphere, and is supposed to be quite visually stunning.
11. Take part in a protest. How is it possible that we’ve lived in D.C. this many years and have yet to protest anything?

What have we missed? If there’s a D.C. spot that you think we might not have made it to but absolutely must, let us know. And what about you? What backyard spots have you yet to visit?

• Non-RTW Travel
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Theresa December 2nd, 2007

We all have our own travel style. Some of us find that one place we love and go back to it year after year, while others of us can’t imagine going back to somewhere we’ve already been when there’s a whole world of places we haven’t been awaiting us. Some of us like the luxury of a star-filled sky as viewed from the tent we pitched in an isolated wilderness, while others of us prefer the luxury of a down-filled pillow as experienced from the bed of the Ritz in a bustling city. Some of us brave the revenge of Montezuma to consume local street chow, while others of us search for a restaurant exported directly from America. It all depends on what you’re comfortable with and what you want to get out of your travel experience.

Recently, while perusing the Washington Post’s Travel Blog, I became aware of a man named Stanley Plog, who has spent decades doing market research for the travel industry. He’s made finding out your travel style his job, so that companies can market to you and ultimately get you to invest your dollars in their products or services. As part of the process, he’s created a fairly standard bell curve of six categories into which travelers can be classified. Let me give you a brief synopsis.

• Authentic Travelers (3% of the population): Prefer to go to places with established reputations, with similar amenities to home. Prefer group travel and often book tours. Prefer chain hotels and restaurants and often return to the same location. Travel less than other groups.
• Mid-Authentic Travelers (17% of the population): Like Authentics, prefer to go to popular places and often return to the same place thought you’re slightly more likely to change things up. Prefer to drive rather than fly. Prefer good weather locations. Often prefer to stay at home and enjoy your own backyard, bbqs with friends, and other activities rather than travel.
• Centric Authentic Travelers (30% of the population): Fairly broad travel interests but more middle-of-the-road. Prefer safe instead of the unknown. Like outdoor activities, but not necessarily adventure activities. Family travelers seem to fall in this category most often. Enjoy beaches and good weather destinations. For foreign travel, may prefer to do a tour.
• Centric Venturers Travelers (30% of the population): Tends to mix things up–will travel by car or plane, stay at a mix of lodgings from B&Bs to motels to top hotels, etc. Enjoy going to cities with a fairly well developed infrastructure but doesn’t like over commercialized places. Returns to favorite places but only after a few years. Flexible, adaptable, and enjoys a diversity of places.
  
• Mid-Venturer Travelers (17% of the population): Seeks out new places, prefers each trip to be different from last, enjoys historical locations. Likes adventurous travel but at night prefers a hotel room and restaurant to camping. Prefer to have an itinerary with places to visit and a schedule.
  
• Venturer Travelers (4% of the population): Like to visit unknown and uncommon destination. Do not like tours or rigid itineraries. Attracted to unique cultures and adventure travel. Travel more often to more places than other people.
  

Aside from the face that the percentages add up to 101% (I’m sure some rounding was involved), it sounds pretty plausible. The question is where do we fit into it? Perusing the categories, I’d say that Jeff and I most likely fall somewhere between Mid-Venturer and Venturer. We seek out the new, the exotic, the unknown. We like adventure travel. We travel frequently. We don’t need hotels or restaurants and in fact, love to camp. All of this seems to put us in the Venturer camp. I will admit, however, that I am not completely free-spirited and do love me a good list, which would move me a bit in the direction of Mid-Venturer. And if all travelers are supposed to fit in this grid, I can’t imagine that we’re in that tiny 4% of the most adventurous travelers. After all, we aren’t those super hardcore people you read about in Outdoors Magazine or National Geographic Adventurer–the crazy people who heli-ski, scale the entirety of Mt. Everest, swim the length of the Amazon, take a dip in the waters of Antarctica, etc.

So that’s what I’d speculate. To find out for certain where I fit, I went to Mr. Plogs website and took his supposedly very scientific survey, which asks me to use a scale of 7 options from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree to reply to 15 statements and then uses a logarithm to determine into which category I fall. As it turns out, I’m a Mid-Venturer. Though some of the statements don’t really sum me up very well, it seems to be a relatively good fit. It was then Jeff’s turn to take the quiz, and I figured (wrongly) that he’d be the same. He actually ranked as a Centric Venturer, which neither of us thinks is a very good fit for him.

I find it a little silly to think that something as simple as 15 questions can determine what kind of traveler you are, especially 15 questions that don’t have a simple yes/no answer but require you to self-rank of a sliding scale. I’m a person of extremes, so most of my answers were either strongly agree or strongly disagree or the rank right next to those. To me, the middle numbers on the scale make little sense. Jeff, on the other hand, doesn’t self view himself as extreme in any measure so he hung close to the middle for almost all answers. If we actually discuss the statements outloud, however, we have very similar viewpoints. (I’d say our major difference would be in the questions about level of socialness as he is certainly much more outgoing than I am.)

Anyhow, the whole idea of it is interesting, even if the results aren’t, in my opinion, all that exact. I guess it would be unwise to expect more, considering the whole idea is to generalize the entire population into 6 categories. There’s always going to be some outliers.

So now for your assignment: Go take the survey (Plog Travel Personality Quiz in the middle of the banner toward the top), then come back and post your results in the comments along with your opinion about whether or not you think it’s a good characterization of you. And no one is excused from this assignment…that means all you lurkers too…ahem Inga.

(In all seriousness, if you read our blog, we’d really appreciate it if you would leave comments, regardless of whether we know you or not, whether you comment on other blogs or not, whether you’re scared I might bite… We’re trying to create a dialogue here, so please share your thoughts.)

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Jeff October 27th, 2007

As you all may or may not know, I’m over in Stockholm for only five days (my shortest trip here ever) for a conference. I thought I might enlighten you all with some of the things that are bouncing around my head here.

- I think the more you travel, the less of a problem jet lag seems to be. I haven’t noticed any problems this trip, even though I didn’t sleep at all on the plane over here. Does anyone have any good theories about why this is? Is it just that you know what to expect?

- As another sign of how connected the world is now, I was walking through central Stockholm, hopping on buses and trains, all the while talking to Theresa in DC on our cell phones. Total cost for this convenience? ~15 cents a minute. Impressive.

- I am strongly anti-pay toilet. Especially when you don’t even have change so it’s not even an option (though even when I do refuse on principle). That McDonald’s always has free toilets is the only thing that makes them worthwhile. (By the way, pay toilets were apparently common in the US until the Committee to End Pay Toilets In America (CEPTIA) was successful in the 1970’s. Hooray Wikipedia. Now that’s a cause I can get behind.)

- Fondue is awesome. I had dinner tonight with some family friends Hasse and Lena, and we had beef broth fondue. Delicious! And fun!

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