( culture / writing / travel / blog ) Just getting the rental car (minivan) in the first place was a bit of an adventure. Because we were leaving Monday morning, we wanted to pick it up Sunday night, but all local Enterprise offices are closed on Sundays (which I find weird, given that travel-and-leisure-related activities happen, more often than not, on weekends. Any ... read more
( culture / writing / travel / blog ) The drive from Spring Hill, Tennessee to Valley, Alabama was uneventful... until we were almost there. So close. That's a fairly generic name for a town, though, isn't it? Valley. It's like finding a good spot for a town, planting your flag, and naming it River or Forest or Hill. I know, that i... read more
( life / travel / covid / travel ) There are very few places a person can go, at the moment (April 6, 2021), without worrying about officials and their ridiculous health requirements, making you spend several days in quarantine (hopefully, at least in your hotel, not the airport luggage carousel). Of course, returning to your coun... read more
( life / travel / airlines ) Never mind, their website no longer works. Bummer."Welcome to FAFTA the acronym for 'Freedom Airway & Freedom Travel Alliance.' We are a Travel Freedom Membership site and our areas of focus are helping you find the best in freedom travel in the hospitality and tourism arenas, in addition to p... read more
( life / travel / airlines ) Legally, they apply ONLY to that executive's employees and any property under their legally-limited purview. Here's an open letter to all airlines...I thought I would educate you on the federal law you cite as justification for your mask policy."Are Executive Orders Law? The Short Answer: ... read more
( life / travel ) "More than 80 miles of the Great American Rail-Trail are in development right now across 10 states from Washington, D.C., to Washington state, adding roughly 50 miles to more than 2,000 miles of pre-existing trails across 12 states. The project, which bridges about 95 gaps between more than 14... read more
( life / travel / advice ) If you're looking to get away from it all, here is some hopefully useful information. If you're primarily English-speaking (maybe looking to move permanently), here's a list of countries (whose primary language is NOT English) ranked by English Proficiency Index for their English skills. The top 1... read more
( life / travel / transportation ) I've seen this gyrocopter taking off and landing from the John C. TuneMetro airport. Maybe he's doing sales demos or something. Pretty coollooking. See autogyrousa.com/ ... read more
( family / holmes / travel ) The headline is purposely misleading (a la my old newsletter), just because I can. My brother and his wife just returned from their 16-day trip to Dubai, Egypt and Jordan. It was a great trip and at no time did we feel unsafe (except in the crazy traffic). In Egypt, we had a tour guide and a sec... read more
( life / travel / airlines / pets ) "The regulation is set to put an end to airlines discriminating against service dogs based on their appearance or breed, particularly pit bulls." goodnewsnetwork... read more
( life / travel / transportation / auto ) From: AnonymousSee Electric-Cars..."At a neighbourhood BBQ I was talking to a neighbour, a BC Hydro executive. I asked him how that renewable thing was doing. He laughed, then got serious. If you really intend to adopt electric vehicles, he pointed out, you had to face certain realities. For ex... read more
( life / travel ) This article is dated December 2018, and it's based on 2017 data, but whatever. :) RoadSnacks has a similar list here, and here's USA Today's."This list was created based off information from the FBI's crime statistics which were gathered from US cities with a population over 100,000 between Ja... read more
( life / travel / advice ) The Hobo Traveler tells it like it is: don't rent a car, some cultures dishonest, police dangerous.See youtu.be/GNBfZ6oX73w"What Countries Give You The Most Respect, The Least?"... read more
( life / travel / sacramento ) Cool international cost-of-living comparison site: expatistan.com/cost-of-living. If you're thinking of moving from Sacramento, CA to Lisbon, Portugal, for example, go to cost-of-living/comparison/sacramento/lisbon... read more
( life / travel / sacramento ) Observations while walking around Old Sacramento with Elizabeth:Jul 14, 2018 2:38pmAs I sat on a bench in touristy Old Sacramento, a little boy walked by and asked "Are you a statue?" I had to laugh. There was a statue/wooden carving of a man on the next bench over.Jul 14, 2018 3:47pmHomel... read more
( life / travel / photography ) I was having a hard time converting a digital photo down to the correct 2x2 physical size. Then I found this article: take your own passport photos. At first, I was thinking Tell me something I don't know. Then I saw the link to the State Department's own online passport photo editor (photo tool... read more
( life / travel ) Interesting."Of Moscow's 35,000-odd stray dogs, about 20 are thought to travel regularly on the city's underground rail system. These dogs seem to be able to identify which trains to board, and where to alight. It appears that they can recognise humans who will give them a treat or a pat - and ... read more
( life / travel / traffic ) Don't you hate it when you take an alternate route to get away from a slow driver only to have them end up in front of you later?... read more
( life / travel ) A list of must-see sights around the world. Less obvious places, such as Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory in Vermont, or the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, etc. Hopefully fun, interesting, different sorts of touristy things that people might not have thought of.Sundial Bridge in Redding, CA - J ... read more
( life / travel ) Travel Picks: Best Places to Go in 2013 : Condé Nast Traveler.Nashville made the list! Here's what they say about it:"The new Nashville offers two things worth traveling for: a hot, trendy new food scene and its famous, funky music scene. The haute southern cuisine is flourishing in Nash ... read more
( life / travel / nashville ) Some of these are in the general area, not Nashville, proper.Adventure Science CenterAlpha Mom (list)Andrew Jackson's HermitageCentennial ParkChaffin's Barn Dinner TheatreCheekwoodCountry Music Hall of FameDelvin FarmsDiscovery Center of MufreesboroFamily Days Out (list)Franklin on FootGentry's Farm ... read more
( life / travel / nashville ) Elizabeth and I played tour guide to my sister Jeannie, her daughter Tiffany, her husband David, and their kids Shayden, 9, and Skyla, 1½. We started with a late breakfast at Cracker Barrel one exit east of the airport. My brother Don wanted to go to Shoney's - like when our other sister, Lucy,... read more
( life / travel / politics ) Go to judicialwatch.org"While the Department of Homeland Security investigates a commercial airline pilot for exposing security flaws at a major U.S. airport, it fails to protect America against terrorism by not screening passengers and cargo on thousands of planes that fly over the country ea... read more
( life / travel ) "While the government agency responsible for securing the nation's transportation system harasses honest citizens with invasive, genital-groping personal searches, guns and bombs regularly get past inept Homeland Security screeners.At major airports throughout the United States, undercover agen... read more
( life / travel ) Despite a $98 million infusion for state-of-the-art baggage screening machines, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) somehow missed a suitcase filled with explosives that blasted after a three-hour domestic flight.The shameful gaffe is simply the latest of many for the beleaguered Homela... read more
( life / travel / weather ) Christmas night, Diane, on the way to a party, found herself in the fast line of the freeway with a car stopped in front of her and the brakes not working due to a patch of black ice. With cars and trucks honking on the right side, she had no choice but to steer for the shoulder, running over not on... read more
( life / travel / health ) Airports to avoid, if at all possible:Which airports have body-scanning technologyAt least my airport, Nashville Int'l, uses the less dangerous model.... read more
( life / travel ) "Preikestolen is one of Rogaland county, Norway's most visited attractions, and one of the country's most spectacular photo subjects. It has been named one of the world's most spectacular viewing points by both CNN Go and Lonely Planet. It rises 604 metres above the Lysefjord."Read the re... read more
( life / travel / politics ) TSA - Sexual AssaultIf I do have to fly, I'll try and make all connections through New Jersey! See the next link:New Jersey moves to ban full-body scanners... read more
( life / travel ) Currency converterPosted on 23 Feb 2008A Flight Attendant's reportby a flight attendantOn the morning of Tuesday, September 11, we were about 5 hours out of Frankfurt, flying over the North Atlantic. All of a sudden the curtains parted and I was told to go to the cockpit, immediately, to see the cap... read more
( life / travel / holmes ) Some pictures as we arrived in the airport. There was a great welcoming party there! We've never had an airport welcoming party before! ... read more
( life / travel ) We visited Evelyn's family in Guatemala, hence the title of the post :) and ate like the pigs that we are. Bijou had fun. I guess the highlight was going to the cemetery. Believe it or not, it was really Gothic, colorful, historical and very interesting, in general. We didn't have much time for si... read more
( life / travel / kansas ) Kansas. What an incredibly boring state. Tara, her sister Sandie, niece Destiny and I flew from Nashville to attend her youngest sister Stephanie's high school graduation in Council Grove, Kansas. Tara and I figured we'd find something to do that night upon arrival in Kansas City, followed by some... read more
( life / travel ) I'm home after a long trip to Roanoke, VA and back. It was quite an experience overall. The 1-3/4 hour drive to SMF was punctuated by the puppy screaming and howling in the crate behind me in the van. She messed the newspapers once and I stopped and changed them. Once I got to the airport, I put her... read more
( life / travel ) It's over, for me, anyway. I rode two days in and that was enough. As I expected, it was nice to ride with 10,000 other cyclists and the party-like attitude of the riders and the people in the towns was really nice. The problem was that it took place in Iowa. I was glad that when I rode, it was over ... read more
( life / travel / canada ) Our trip was great. Here's a very short story. We left on 8/11 from my work. My boss made me attend a meeting that day which ended at 2:30, whereupon I joined June, Brian and Andy who were in our van, waiting in the parking lot. Boy, did I need a vacation! We arrived at Jeannie's that night, staye ... read more
( life / travel / charleston ) Charleston, SCWe drove ... and drove ... and drove - 10 hours or so- from Nashville until finally reaching Charleston, South Carolina. Along the way, westopped in Asheville, North Carolina at the Biltmore Estate because Tara had forgotten toget postcards when we were there a couple years ago. That's ... read more
( life / travel ) We flew into New Orleans about noon time on a Friday. Since the room wasn't ready for such an early arrival, we walked four blocks to the pier and decided to ride the paddle wheel boat Natchez. It basically goes a mile up the Mississippi, then heads back. You'll see a lot of other international ca ... read more
( life / travel / california ) Before we left, I took Austin to his GrandmaJoy's house. We had a good visit and he took to her immediately. I left him on Fridaymorning and drove back to Nashville. I was supposed to get my eardrums cut open for theplane ride because I had ear infections, but the steroids and antibiotics had put an... read more
( life / travel / florida / horseracing ) I went to Ft. Lauderdale for the Breeders Cup horse races at Gulfstream Park (actually in Hallandale, FL). It was fun just being there. I'd never been to south Florida before. Southwest had given me a free round-trip ticket for some reason (I don't remember why), and I was taking advantage of it. ... read more
( life / travel ) I've always heard people use the words wilderness and Alaska in the same sentence. It didn't mean a lot to me until recently when my wife Carla and I cruised the Inside Passage of Alaska. The state is huge, but it still takes a good seven days (round trip) to cruise up and back on the western co... read more
( life / travel ) Tara and I made a quick trip (if you can call a five-hour road trip "quick") to St. Louis over the Labor Day weekend. We visited their historic district ("old town") along the river where they were hosting the Big Muddy Blues & Roots Festival. That was just good timing on our p... read more
( life / travel / chicago ) Tara and I left Nashville for Chicago on a Thursday morning. At the last minute I decided to let my cat Myca out. I figured he would return shortly after doing his "business" in the neighbor's bushes, as usual, and I could then lock him in the house for the duration of our trip. When he di ... read more
( life / travel / atlanta ) Tara and I just got back from a long weekend in Atlanta. Itwas nice to see the town. I'd passed through before, but had never stopped tolook. The first touristy thing we did after eventually finding our hotel - thedowntown Courtyard-by-Marriott, picked out by Tara, which was much better than the ... read more
( life / travel / europe / portugal ) How I Spent My Summer Vacations (Portugal to Hungary) from 1992
Portugal/Azores
On Sunday, July 12th, I woke up ... but while getting ready for the flight to Portugal the next morning, I never went back to sleep. In Lisboa, my 2nd cousin Teresa Rocha Homem and her husband Antonio Melo met me at ... read more
( life / travel / canada ) Roving reporter returns from East(September, 1989) - Bill returned from his trip to eastern Canada a few weeks back. He was supposed to seek out and capture Wild Man Doug. Remember? Well, he's back. Bill, that is. When asked to report his findings, however, Bill said, What? You never said anythin... read more
( life / travel / europe ) Nashville - June, 1996 I planned everything in advance. Or so I thought. I bought my round-trip plane ticket three months in advance. I "surfed The Web" and researched whatever I could find regarding my destination cities and countries. I bought renter's insurance for the apartment, a vid ... read more
( life / travel ) You can watch it here: vimeo.com/3271045I was in Bratislava, Slovakia for Doug and Jana's wedding, but this doesn't include the wedding itself. That was filmed by a professional. This video is so badly-done it's almost funny.There's also some footage on here from Budapest, Prague and Berlin!... read more
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