I’ve got a big round the world trip planned. So far, the plan is to fly into China, take the train down to Hong Kong, fly into Cambodia, jump on a bus to Thailand, and then swoop over to Dubai via Jordan. However, my schedule after the Middle East is open, and rather than...
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Before I knew what was happening, my friend shifted to the right, formed his hand into a tight fist, and brought it crashing down on my chest to make a muffled drum sound. Such is the power six Czech beers can have on a particular Bulgarian during happy hour. Writing off his behavior as...
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This story is going to take a different turn from those you usually read. To most readers, travel is this ephemeral experience where time and space don’t exist, money lasts forever, and everyone has a good time because they post an Instagram picture of a beer in their hand as the sun is setting...
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Finally, a unique trip. Though I’ve done quite a bit of traveling the last two years, many of my destinations were repeat trips or places that didn’t really challenge me, like Paris, London, and Prague. Stepping out of the arrival doors of Beijing airport in 2002 was such a rush; despite being accompanied by...
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If you’re like me – American, with a minimum of a high school education – then your knowledge of Prague in history class may have been limited to three facts: 1. The Velvet Revolution. As communism was slowly dying out across eastern and central Europe, Czechoslovakia ended Soviet control in their country with a...
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The challenge in the Czech Republic, to those than even have a few hours in the airport, is not consuming beer. For a mere 23-25 CZK (~$1), you can easily get 300 mL of some fine Pilsner at any pub in Prague. In all honesty, I’m not much of a beer person, but with...
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I can’t remember when exactly Europe started to “wow” me with its very presence. As an American, I don’t often appreciate the aesthetics in our big cities. Certainly, San Francisco is a superb mix of nature and urban, water and land, old and new, but the old only goes back 100 years, if that....
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Security at Paris Orly can rest easy tonight knowing they’ve confiscated a dangerous quantity of moisturizer from me, a truly radical traveler hell bent on world domination. I normally don’t let things like this get to me, but I’ve never had that appropriately sized bottle questioned at any major airport, which reinforces my fear...
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As many of you who follow me on Facebook and Twitter know, I used this Paris trip to cash in my Hyatt free nights’ awards at the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome. I was going back and forth as to whether I wanted to use them both in one location; there are plenty of Couchsurfers in...
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The quality of my room doesn’t matter. The fact that I used my free nights’ rewards from spending with my Chase Hyatt Visa for two days in the Park Hyatt Paris Vendome is irrelevant. The fact I was given a free upgrade to a suite which costs upwards of 1000€/night means nothing. As do...
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