Here are clues to our next destination:
MUDDY ESTUARY,
BIRTHPLACE OF CROUCHING TIGER,
HOME TO #1 IN 1999, TODAY #3
Jen and Marshall's adventure around the world... a cross between Carmen Sandiego (minus the international criminal aspect) and Matt Lauer (minus NBC's private jet)
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Destination five clues
Cambodia by the numbers
A few interesting numbers from our last few days in Cambodia:
17 million--population of Cambodia,
99 million--seemingly the number of motorbikes on the streets of Cambodia,
5--most people we saw on a single motorbike,
6--number of 50lb bags of rice we saw one person transporting on a motorbike,
8--number of live pigs we saw being transported by a motorbike,
4000-- # of Cambodiam Real to the dollar,
.5--number of dollars to buy a beer,
12--average number of offers for a tuk-tuk ride we received in a one block walk,
37--years it took to build Angkor Wat beginning in 1125,
30,000-- people our guide said it took to build Angkor Wat,
2000--elephants our guide said it took to build Angkor Wat,
50/50-- confidence I have in the stats provided by our guide (our Ankor Wat tour was very reminiscent of the Taj Mahal scene from Slum Dog Millionaire--lol.)
And a few more serious #s:
2-3 million-- number of Cambodians estimated to have died during the Khmer Rouge genocide in the late 1970s,
600,000--# of Cambodians estimated to have died in the bombings by the US in the early 1970s (estimates vary),
40,000--# of amputees from landmines in Cambodia,
Cambodia has been a fascinating country to visit. We have enjoyed not only the 50cent beer and $2 tshirts and sunglasses, but also learning about the history, culture, and politics.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
View from the bus
This is the view from our $13 six hour bus ride. The bus is nicer than any DC to NY bus I have rode (even more leg more and much better scenary than the jersey turnpike)... And, remarkably, WiFi on board.
Another hint to our location... There is no McDonald's in this country.
Friday, July 27, 2012
sad news
Marshall and I received some very sad news this morning. One of Marshall's dearest friends from childhood passed away unexpectedly. As we try to cope with this loss, thank you for understanding that we are not in the mood for blogging.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Cleanest city ever?
Singapore might have the cleanest subway ever... And this might be part of the reason why...
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Singapore
If you guessed Singapore, you were correct! Those of you that know me know that this is actually my 4th trip to Singapore, the other three were as a chaperone for my high school students (my school does an exchange with a school in Singapore)... and if you know me well you are probably not surprised I made my way back to Singapore... I love this city, its delicious food, its ultra-modern architecture, and its shameless love for shopping.
Many Americans know little more about Singapore than that they have harsh penalties for drugs (your entry card assures you that drug traffickers receive the death penalty) and fines for things like littering and chewing gum (though I can't find anyone who will actually admit to receiving one of these fines)... a popular tourist t-shirt proclaims "Singapore: A Fine City" and proceeds to list fines for various offenses such as jay-walking and vandalism.
Singaporeans take great pride in their food, which represents the mix of Chinese, Malay, and Indian cultures present in Singapore. Famed American television personality and food-travel-guru Anthony Bourdain (or Tony B. as I refer to him in the clue) calls Singapore his favorite city; I would consider his episodes of "The Layover" and "No Reservations" essential viewing for any American traveling to Singapore.
Singapore has four official languages: English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil. English is considered the common language between the people, the language of commerce, and is the first language taught in Singapore schools. In addition to English, everyone also learns their "mother tongue" language... for the 75% of the population that is ethnically Chinese, that means learning Mandarin (or another Chinese dialect).
I am looking forward to eating some of my favorite Singaporean foods, seeing some teacher friends, and then eating some more.
Many Americans know little more about Singapore than that they have harsh penalties for drugs (your entry card assures you that drug traffickers receive the death penalty) and fines for things like littering and chewing gum (though I can't find anyone who will actually admit to receiving one of these fines)... a popular tourist t-shirt proclaims "Singapore: A Fine City" and proceeds to list fines for various offenses such as jay-walking and vandalism.
Singaporeans take great pride in their food, which represents the mix of Chinese, Malay, and Indian cultures present in Singapore. Famed American television personality and food-travel-guru Anthony Bourdain (or Tony B. as I refer to him in the clue) calls Singapore his favorite city; I would consider his episodes of "The Layover" and "No Reservations" essential viewing for any American traveling to Singapore.
Singapore has four official languages: English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil. English is considered the common language between the people, the language of commerce, and is the first language taught in Singapore schools. In addition to English, everyone also learns their "mother tongue" language... for the 75% of the population that is ethnically Chinese, that means learning Mandarin (or another Chinese dialect).
I am looking forward to eating some of my favorite Singaporean foods, seeing some teacher friends, and then eating some more.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Destination #3 Clues
Departing from Frankfurt Airport (the busiest in mainland Europe) means we could end up just about anywhere, here's some clues...
A FINE CITY
TONY B.'S FAVORITE CITY
ENGLISH IS ONE OF FOUR OFFICIAL LANGUAGES
A FINE CITY
TONY B.'S FAVORITE CITY
ENGLISH IS ONE OF FOUR OFFICIAL LANGUAGES
Guten Tag!
If you guessed Frankfurt, Germany as our second destination, you were correct!
(According to Delta Skymiles Magazine) Frankfurt is named after the pork sausage in a bun that they have serving there since the 13th century. Nearby Main-Taunus-Kreis is the "sister county" of Loudoun County, Virginia (and a high school there does an exchange with Dominion High School, where I teach). Frankfurt is also renowned for their Apfelwein, or apple wine. Our 5 hours in Frankfurt incorporated all 3 of these clues as we meet up with our "German Son" Mortitz (a wonderful teacher we hosted this spring when his school did an exchange at my school), ate some lovely sausage, and Sampled the apple wine.
(According to Delta Skymiles Magazine) Frankfurt is named after the pork sausage in a bun that they have serving there since the 13th century. Nearby Main-Taunus-Kreis is the "sister county" of Loudoun County, Virginia (and a high school there does an exchange with Dominion High School, where I teach). Frankfurt is also renowned for their Apfelwein, or apple wine. Our 5 hours in Frankfurt incorporated all 3 of these clues as we meet up with our "German Son" Mortitz (a wonderful teacher we hosted this spring when his school did an exchange at my school), ate some lovely sausage, and Sampled the apple wine.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Destination #2 Clues
Off to our next destination...
PORK SAUSAGE IN A BUN
LOUDOUN'S SCHWESTER
I LIKE THEM APPLES
PORK SAUSAGE IN A BUN
LOUDOUN'S SCHWESTER
I LIKE THEM APPLES
23 Hours in Paris
If you guessed Paris, France, last stage of the Tour de France, as our first destination you were right!
There are 22 teams in the Tour de France, 20 stages of the race and the winner gets to wear a nifty yellow jersey (though I personally prefer the 3rd place polka dotted jersey).
Through diligent travel blog and frequent flier rule reading, Marshall discovered that you are allowed unlimited connections of less than 24 hours on some frequent flier tickets... thus our 23 hour visit to Paris. We realized after a quick scan of hotel prices after booking our ticket 11 months ago that something was up in Paris on July 21st... and quickly figured out it was the last day of the Tour.
Off the eat some croissants!
There are 22 teams in the Tour de France, 20 stages of the race and the winner gets to wear a nifty yellow jersey (though I personally prefer the 3rd place polka dotted jersey).
Through diligent travel blog and frequent flier rule reading, Marshall discovered that you are allowed unlimited connections of less than 24 hours on some frequent flier tickets... thus our 23 hour visit to Paris. We realized after a quick scan of hotel prices after booking our ticket 11 months ago that something was up in Paris on July 21st... and quickly figured out it was the last day of the Tour.
Off the eat some croissants!
Friday, July 20, 2012
Clues to the first destination...
As I embarked on clue writing, I realized there was another factor (in addition to the three I wrote about last week) making this process difficult. Unlike when I would search feverishly through my World Almanac playing the Carmen Sandiego game on my Tandy computer in the early 1990s (most likely while wearing my hammer pants and blossom hat), today there is something called the INTERNET and this other thing called GOOGLE that make finding information a lot easier. So if these clues seem tough, it was because I am trying really hard to make them "google-proof".
With that said, here's some hints to our first destination:
OUR FIRST DAY IS THE LAST DAY
THE 20TH FOR 22
GOING FOR THE YELLOW
Feel free to guess in the comments below... unless I've already told you my destination... then guess something else to throw everyone else off.
We depart tomorrow and I'll reveal our location shortly after our arrival.
With that said, here's some hints to our first destination:
OUR FIRST DAY IS THE LAST DAY
THE 20TH FOR 22
GOING FOR THE YELLOW
Feel free to guess in the comments below... unless I've already told you my destination... then guess something else to throw everyone else off.
We depart tomorrow and I'll reveal our location shortly after our arrival.
16 pounds
My backpack officially weighed in at 16 pounds. I think we are flying one airline that requires carry-ons to be 7kg (15.4 pounds?) or less... so I guess I will have to wear a few extra layers that day to avoid the checked baggage fee.
My sister-in-law Kanoa's years as a boy scout and cub scout mother have clearly served her well in coming up with her estimate of 18 pounds. In fact, there is probably a good chance I'll think of another couple things I should take and the final weight will be 18 pounds... great job getting the weight exactly right, Kanoa!
My sister-in-law Kanoa's years as a boy scout and cub scout mother have clearly served her well in coming up with her estimate of 18 pounds. In fact, there is probably a good chance I'll think of another couple things I should take and the final weight will be 18 pounds... great job getting the weight exactly right, Kanoa!
Thursday, July 19, 2012
22 days of stuff...
I used this same backpack in the summer of 2001 for 4 months in Europe. That trip it was about to burst; this time I left plenty of extra room to buy stuff along the way.
Anyone want to guess how much it weighs?
Anyone want to guess how much it weighs?
Friday, July 13, 2012
Where are you going first?
Much like Carmen Sandiego and Matt Lauer, my plan is to give you clues to each of our destinations. This is going to be kinda tough because A-- my friends and family are really smart (so it will be hard to write clues that are tricky enough); B--Marshall and I have told some of you about our trip, or at least parts of it... so, forget what we told you... after all, maybe we were lying to try to throw you off; and C-- I have no idea if anybody will really play along.
I figure this is the closest I will ever come to my lifelong dream of being Carmen or Matt, so thank you for indulging me by reading along and providing your comments/guesses to our next locations.
I'll post the first clue next week : )
I figure this is the closest I will ever come to my lifelong dream of being Carmen or Matt, so thank you for indulging me by reading along and providing your comments/guesses to our next locations.
I'll post the first clue next week : )
How are you doing this?
How do a teacher and a bureaucrat afford to travel around the world? The short is answer is through obsessively collecting frequent flier miles and planning 330 days in advance for the best opportunties to redeem them. A longer answer is outlined in this Washington Post article by a guy that did a similar trip... though I have some philosophical differences with Mr. Wile (yes, there are philosophies of collecting and redeeming frequent flier miles)... he generally uses a lot of same strategies that we used. Some of our best strategies have been:
1. Sign up for credit cards with big mileage bonuses. Don't settle for 25K or 30K bonus miles. There are plenty of offers out there for 50K, 75K, and every now and again even 100K miles. We've earned several hundred thousand miles over the past seven years utilizing this strategy (and yes, without wrecking our credit scores).
2. Volunteer to get "bumped". Most of the flights that we do "pay" for, we do so through airline vouchers that we have earned as a result of volunteering our seats on oversold flights. In five years we have earned thousands of dollars in vouchers on four different airlines.
3. Book mileage tickets 330 days in advance. Most airlines open their ticketing, including their mileage tickets, about 11 months ahead of time. Booking as far out as possible (for us, often the day ticketing opens) is key in getting one of the few seats that is available through frequent flier miles.
I know these strategies won't work for everyone. We are more flexible with "getting bumped" and more obsessive about planning our travel ahead of time than most people are able to be... but the tradeoff is a lot of fun adventures and getting to see a lot of the world that we wouldn't otherwise.
1. Sign up for credit cards with big mileage bonuses. Don't settle for 25K or 30K bonus miles. There are plenty of offers out there for 50K, 75K, and every now and again even 100K miles. We've earned several hundred thousand miles over the past seven years utilizing this strategy (and yes, without wrecking our credit scores).
2. Volunteer to get "bumped". Most of the flights that we do "pay" for, we do so through airline vouchers that we have earned as a result of volunteering our seats on oversold flights. In five years we have earned thousands of dollars in vouchers on four different airlines.
3. Book mileage tickets 330 days in advance. Most airlines open their ticketing, including their mileage tickets, about 11 months ahead of time. Booking as far out as possible (for us, often the day ticketing opens) is key in getting one of the few seats that is available through frequent flier miles.
I know these strategies won't work for everyone. We are more flexible with "getting bumped" and more obsessive about planning our travel ahead of time than most people are able to be... but the tradeoff is a lot of fun adventures and getting to see a lot of the world that we wouldn't otherwise.
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