Three cities. Eight cab rides. Eight cab drivers that relied solely and completely on their GPS to find my destination. In five out of the eight cases, if I had not come prepared with a printed Mapquest map and detailed directions, I would still be circling the Atlanta suburbs or be hopelessly lost in downtown […]
I now have my fingerprints on file. This might be a good thing in case something bad happens to me (and a note to all: if the basement floor looks recently enrobed in concrete, please ask some questions). On the other hand I now have my fingerprints on file, which places certain constraints on future
Private eyes are watching you Read More »
Unfortunately there has been no glamour in air travel for a very long time. This is even more unfortunate for those of us who spend a lot of time on planes. The current state of airports and airlines has created a siege mentality, where it is important to fight to retain at least some shred
Fly me to the moon Read More »
There was a cold snap in California this week, which also happened to correspond to the week that I was there. Which is typical. The most common sentence I hear in my travels is “you should have been here last week”. For example, the last time I was in Arizona, a place where it is
It never rains in California Read More »
I was hanging out in the lobby of the Metropol Hotel (rooms from 7450 Rubles) in downtown Moscow yesterday. This is a fairly grand hotel, located right next to Red Square. It was built in 1901 at the very beginning of the rein of Czar Nicolas the 2nd. I am not purveying this information in
Nyet nyet Soviet jewellery Read More »
I am once again spending lots of quality time in the U.S. and once again I am noticing the not so subtle differences introduced by the invisible line along the 49th parallel. Here are some of my observations. I do admit that I am mostly relegated to the suburban edges of the metropolitan areas (Redmond
I just discovered I have missed the Broadway ‘revival’ of Glengarry Glen Ross, starring Al Pacino as Shelley Levine. This is a huge bummer. Not only do I love David Mamet in general, but I am especially fond of the lads of the swampland in Florida real estate agency. The thought of actually seeing Al
I’m in a New York state of mind Read More »
Actually, I did little to no walking in Memphis. That’s because I was in greater metropolitan Memphis, such as it is, at FedEx’s headquarters at the intersection of two major highways. FedEx’s centre of world shipping domination is situated on South Shady Grove Road. In the true manner of all suburban street naming subterfuge, it
Walking in Memphis Read More »
Apparently hotels can’t build suites fast enough to keep up with the demand. I guess the Russian mafia is still solvent and rock stars will always need enough room to house their entire entourage as well as the model(s) du jour in the manner to which they have become accustomed. Those of us who do
You learn a lot by travelling by bus. Okay, you could probably learn the same things when travelling by car, but you just don’t. That’s because when you travel by car you don’t have to pull off the road every 40 km or so to pick up or drop off passengers at places like Trout
Country comfort’s any bus that’s heading home Read More »
