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Moving (Past Big Sky)

Moving

10:15/Saturday Night: Augusta

That was a long way.

Smack, crack, bushwhacked.
Tie another one to the racks, baby.

What if I ride? what if you walk?
What if you rock around the clock?
Tick-tock. tick-tock.

Weekend Music: Road Trip Edition

There’s a roadtrip in my (very near) future, and of course this requires roadtrip music.  Something with motion, maybe a little poppy, and yes - something you know (most of) the words to.  I have hundreds in my all-purpose roadtrip playlist - this is what a random sample (of YouTube available songs) turns up:

Guns ‘n Roses/Locomotive

The Cure/In-Between Days

Divinyls/I Touch Myself

Building a Better Guidebook

I’m a fan of the Lonely Planet, but I’m always looking for improvements on the usual guidebook model.  This has me keeping an eye on the electronic efforts.   Some have worked - I’m a long-term subscriber to Vindigo, which focuses on US cities (not exactly a guidebook replacement, but it’s pretty good).  Still looking for something that would let me replace that 4lb Lonely Planet I dragged through India, however.  I recently came across this comprehensive review of an effort to do just that by Lonely Planet and Nokia, where (some of) the LP content has been reformatted and made available through the Nokia Maps application.   In the end, it’s more supplement than replacement, but it’s a good start.

Akihabara: Lost in Trancelation

I have been lucky enough in my life to have traveled a fair bit, and never do I enjoy it as much as when I feel like I’ve been thrust into an entirely different world.  My passage through Akihabara definitely qualifies.  Beyond writing about my extraordinary hotel, I’d never really planned to write here about my (brief) time in Tokyo.  This piece on Akihabara, however, caught a specific portion of it rather well (there is more to it, of course, but the writer captures a central characteristic), and I just had to share it.  I’m going to quote you this bit:

Now we have some serious business to attend to. Kay wants to buy a waterproof DVD player that she can hang in her shower, so she leads us into one of the electronics stores. It’s like a giant carnival midway, a bombardment of flashing lights, posters, banners, screens, loudspeakers, and hucksters with microphones, creating sensory overload that reminds me of the slots section of a Las Vegas casino. The store has an advantage, though, in that its Japanese-sized patrons are only half the size and weight of American consumers. Thus, the aisles can be minimized, allowing less room for people and more floor space for flashing, screaming, blinking, booming, chanting, blaring audio-visual and computer-driven devices.

But it’s the sexual vibe that the author captures so well.  If you’re at all curious, check it out.

Photos from my 2004 visit.

A Hard Earned Sunset

A little over five years ago, I spent a little hard-earned time on Ireland’s southwestern coast, on the Beara peninsula.  This view from Healy Pass was one of the achievements of that trip:

(Not Quite) In-flight Suites

I’ve only slightly hinted, here, at my weakness for interesting hotels (the less kind would call me a hotel whore).  It’s a little embarrassing, for sure, and I’ve been fairly successful in keeping it under control of late.  But this?  This makes me want to fly there next weekend and stay until Friday.

Weekend Music: British Columbia Edition

Some day, I’m going to catch up.  Just not today.  This weekend’s musical theme?  A last minute (and desperately needed) road trip that found me and a friend in Vancouver and Whistler, a few years ago.  One of the highlights was a day out on the water (during which I only narrowly managed to avoid causing thousands upon thousands of dollars of damage in a Horseshoe Bay marina).

Really, aside from a rather unpleasant lesson in exactly what a Bloody Caesar is (clamato?  are you kidding me?), it was a fantastic trip.  This is part of the Sea to Sky Highway soundtrack:

Tegan & Sara’s Back In Your Head

Poe’s Angry Johnny

Cowboy Junkie’s Sweet Jane

(Sweet Jane is one of my favorite songs of all time, and hangs so very perfectly on Vancouver)

Heading to the EU from the US? Bring Cash.

And I’m not even going to make the “and lots of it!” joke. *  Interesting article concerning Europe’s credit card companies completing the transition to a “chip and PIN” system for their credit cards.   That is, Euro-issued VISA/Mastercards/etc. now require a PIN to complete a transaction (much like an American bankcard).  An ever-increasing number of retailers have begun to accept these types of credit cards exclusively, which leaves American travelers trying to pay with plastic out in the cold.   Something to keep in mind your next time over.

*Because.