Aside from traveling for business or because of family obligations, there are many reasons to travel.  However, with the threats, the delays, the escalating costs, it would sometimes appear that it would just be easier to stay at home.

So, again, why travel?

Pleasure is a major factor.  Honeymoons come to mind.  Vacations are another reason to travel. Go on vacation and see a new culture, country, environment.

Even the most fabled, luxurious vacation site has something new to learn, people to meet, experiences to know.  Travel can change your life.

Example: The current disaster in Haiti is changing many people’s perception of suffering and what other human beings endure.  As with Katrina and New Orleans, nothing is ever the same after you have experienced a tragedy of this magnitude.  New Orleans is personal to me since I’ve visited there twice – it’s more than just a spot on the map.

In more normal circumstances, travel can broaden you – and not just your hips from pigging out on food.  New places, faces and spaces can give you a profound respect and understanding of other ways of life.

Example: Many years ago, I Iived in Southern Germany.  Before I traveled there, I barely had time to get a passport, let alone learn the language, customs and culture.

My neighbor in Germany was a Swedish woman who was a very easy-going and well-educated person.  Another neighbor I had met, while in the local market, was a native German woman.

A custom of our host country was that people only called their close family members by their first names.  I was unaware of the custom, so when I met the German neighbor, I asked her first name. Startled at what she perceived as my rudeness, she told me.  I could tell that she was uncomfortable, but wasn’t sure why.  After all, Americans are very casual, know and use each other’s first names and rarely use last names except in extreme situations of deference.  Many people don’t even know someone’s last name.

At a luncheon that our Swedish neighbor hosted for the three of us, the German woman (whom I’ll call Frau Hoff), Ingrid Swenson and I wound up dealing with an extreme awkwardness.  I called myself by my first name, Ingrid introduced herself as “NIni,” and the German neighbor remained Mrs. Hoff.  What complicated things was that “Nini” was the oldest of the three of us; I was the youngest.  The luncheon had some of the most difficult silences – and those were not due to the language differences. (Both of them were fluent in English.)

Things never did warm up with my attempted friendship with the German neighbor and I did not find out the reason for many months.  My neighbor was offended by my, what she perceived as, unnatural intimacy by using her first name.

Moral of the story: Learn about where you’re going to have the best experience.  Know major phrases (won’t you want to know where the restroom is and be able to ask that and understand the answer?) I made a point of learning some key phrases and questions.  My biggest difficulty?  Understanding the answers of those who were kind enough to respond with directions I requested or other answers.  So, it didn’t help me that they answered me – for the life of me, I didn’t know what they were telling me – because they didn’t respond with the guidebook’s phrases in the exact words.

Other things I learned were the German advanced approach to conservation of energy.  They turned off lights they were not using and reused long before recycling became a common thing in the United States.  They packed their own groceries at the store.

When I returned to the United States, I was changed.  I expected to bag my own groceries and had become more aware of all of the waste.

Even if you don’t travel to a foreign country, you can learn new things about yourself and those around you.  On a snowy trip to my family’s new home in Minnesota, we stopped in a small city in Wisconsin named Eau Claire.  It happened to be Christmas Day and the only food we had with us was one loaf of raisin bread.  No stores appeared to be open.  My family of five was hungry, tired and needed to get off the road.  It had been a long day and it was already mid-evening.

We found a hotel open that provided food for us, even though the restaurant was officially closed for the evening. We had beds, a place to sleep and a friendly smile from the hotel staffer.

That one act of kindness has always predisposed me to have fond memories of Wisconsin.  I haven’t been in Wisconsin for years, but I think of the state as a place of kind people.

What did I learn?  That people can be caring, unselfish and help strangers; That a family can be together and manage, even in tough situations.

So, travel.  See the world, learn about others – and, even more, about yourself.

Next week:  Visit the Wild West, some majestic cacti and a B & B with a great view.

And, don’t forget to check out our shop where you can buy your own little piece of the scenic places we’ve highlighted.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself…

My guide for the hunt was Councilmember Carl Diedrich from the City of Maricopa, Arizona.  Using his computer, he first searched for possible geocaches in our area in Arizona.  Once we located one that sounded interesting – “Santa’s gonna come in a stagecoach” – we entered the coordinates in his GPS, copied the other clues and headed out.  The clue referenced the fact that the destination used to be an old stagecoach stop.

Starting with 16 miles to reach the coordinates of our destination, we eventually left the local highway, headed south.  After several miles of travel, we hit a dirt road, as the directions predicted.  We were in the middle of the desert with just brush and cacti for company. Then, suddenly, we saw a gate.  Miraculously in the middle of nowhere, the sign for 99^th Avenue appeared, also on our list.

Continuing a little further as the miles narrowed to our destination, we saw a small, old stone building in the distance.  Arriving at the building, now it was time to find the cache.

Old stone stagecoach stop - our destination

My host, his son and I began our search.  The person who hid the geocache was witty.  Another clue was an old Hollies song, “Look through any window, yeah, what do you see?”  We looked through all four windows.  We didn’t find anything.

We poked around, trying not to have any critters find us, and thought we’d looked everywhere.  Suddenly, Carl noticed that some rocks didn’t “look quite right.” Under a heap of rocks was the geocache.

Carl and Nate search for the treasure

Hurrah!  He was the “FTF” – first to find – the geocache.  In the metal box was a $5 bill, a small spiral pad to record the find with a pen, a travel bug (a token that has a number for recording online and tracking) and some children’s trinkets. The $5 was Carl’s reward for being FTF.  Carl left behind his own team coin, stamped the pad with his team insignia, took the travel bug to record it and move it along, sealed everything up and we were on our way.

Carl's the first to find this cache

The old stone building was an old stagecoach stop from the 1870s – a true historical site that we didn’t know existed only 16 miles away!

Anyone can go online and find locations anywhere in the world to spend a few minutes – or hours – in a geocache adventure.  Those who hide the treasures can be wily and resourceful.  It all comes down to using your wits and a GPS.

And, when you get good, you, too, can leave some treasures for others to find.

See geocaching.com to learn more about this adventure that has thousands looking for modern treasures.

Later this week…Whale watching adventures!

Traveling in Germany with a friend, neither of us was fully conversant in the German language.  So, it is no surprise that we saw a number of “Einbahnstrasse” signs and did not register what that meant. 

My friend Pam and I were heading down the Einbahnstrasse (ONE WAY STREET) – she claims she was driving – and we came head to head with a bus. The bus was front to front with our little vehicle.  They wouldn’t budge.  And, we were so close to the end of the street!

Meanwhile, a crowd had gathered at the wurst stand on the side of the street.  They were cheering us on!

The bus, however, would not back up so we could get to the end of the street and on a street facing the correct direction.

Carefully, we backed up about 75% of the street’s length with the bus following us.  We returned to the proper direction, with the wurst stand crowd cheering us the whole way.

We never did that again!

Scotland – - Fall – - 2009

It’s been a week since my first installment of planning a trip to Scotland on my own.  Have I come to my senses and handed it over to a travel agent yet?  Have I scrapped the whole idea and decided to sit on my sofa the entire time talking to people at my office on the company provided cell phone? 

Absolutely not! 

Actually, I’ve been on line looking for a kilt to wear to one of the Whiskey Week dinners!

I know where I want to go: Scotland ?

I know when I want to go: September ?

I’ve checked the weather: Not too bad to iffy by the end of the month ?

I’ve checked the calendar for things to do: Events winding down,  fewer tourists ?

Now I just have to figure out how I am going to get there …

I am going to have to rely on the two most reliable methods of crossing the Atlantic.

SHIP

You betcha! You can still catch the Queen for a six day sail from New York. Quicker than you can say Christopher Columbus discovered Columbus, Ohio you’ll be in Southampton, England. 

Suffice to say, you’ll probably eat better than the Queen herself, and not lack for things to do, but there is the time factor.  But, if you’ve got the time, and of course the extra cash, it’s certainly an option.

Queen Mary 2                        Approx. $1395.00 Per Person (Inside Cabin)

Remember … that’s one-way!

www.cunard.com

** And, for a sign of the times, be sure to read the very fine print about their right to charge you $9.00 per person, per day if oil goes above $70 per barrel … even if you’ve already paid your fare.

AIRLINES

Of course most of us are in a hurry to get places, and flying is the only option.

UK Based Airlines: British Air – Virgin Atlantic – BMI

I’m a big proponent of flying on a carrier that’s actually based out of the country I am going to.  It adds to the cultural experience.

If you live on the east coast you can hop on a British based carrier in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, etc. and not have to connect to London.  But, from the western U.S. there are few options for direct flights to London and vicinity.  That’s why I fell off of my chair when I found out that British Airways (BA) offers a non-stop 747 flight from Phoenix to London Heathrow seven days a week.

At $784 per person coach, I was impressed.  I could drive, or take a shuttle to the airport, hop on the plane in the evening, and step off in London the next afternoon.

Then I saw the catch.  I went on the major airline seat configuration website to check out the plane:  www.seatguru.com

Tips on choosing where you’ll be sitting

Sometimes it’s the little things, especially when you are traveling with someone.  What I saw was not going to add up to a happy conversation, especially after the last flight I was on.

It seems that either configuration of BA’s 747 fleet is a 3-4-3 seat configuration in World Traveller class (economy).  I like to sit by the window and my wife the aisle.  That leaves that pesky middle seat for a single traveler to help balance the load.  And the last flight we were on, they wanted to balance the load!

(The old trick of buying up the window and aisle seat and then hope no one books in between is becoming more difficult with airlines jamming customers into planes while they cut service).

Thus, I was extremely disappointed at the 747 seat choices.

So, I tried Virgin Atlantic … same problem with their 747 fleet, plus we needed to catch a ride to Las Vegas, or Chicago, or …

BMI … same problems, smaller plane, and an even weirder connection in Sanford, Florida (try getting there from … anywhere). 

www.virgin.com

www.ba.com

www.flybmi.com 

Am I going to have to give up on my cultural experience?  I reluctantly went online to see what the consolidators would dig up for me.  At www.cheapseats.com,  I found a one-stop US Air flight to London’s Gatwick airport.  The first thing I did was look at the seat configuration.  We would have to put up with an Airbus 3-3 configuration to Charlotte, but then it was an Airbus 2-4-2 setup to London!  That was great, at least 60% great!

Then I looked at the US Air price … and then the price of the BA flight again from the quote I had printed out.  I couldn’t believe it! US Air would save me a whopping $7.00 for my trouble!

$1562.00 US Air vs. $1569.00 British Airways

So, it was no longer about the price, it was about the convenience. Non-stop vs. one-stop & a plane change.  The seat configurations might have to be dealt with by a really good pair of noise canceling headphones …

So I am holding off on the decision.  In the meantime, I am going to see if either carrier can give me some type of a package deal … air/hotels … air/car, or both. 

Next time: Are independent traveler’s packages really worth it? 

While living in Germany, I had occasion to rent a furnished corporate apartment.  Notice, I said furnished.  To me, that meant it was fully equipped.  When all I found were two small towels in the closet, I assumed they were for the kitchen.  It turned out that they were the towels for our bathing!

Another deficiency was that there was no towel rack or bar to hang towels in the bathroom.  With no shower, just a bathtub, we just didn’t know where to put our towels.  Our quandary was that we really weren’t supposed to attach things on the wall in the rented apartment.

So, I called Fraulein Berger, the concierge for rentals.  In the nicest possible way, I requested a handyman to do a few things to fix up the apartment. She agreed.

On the day the handyman came, my friend Pam was visiting, so I have a witness who will swear to what ensued.

Despite using my German-English dictionary, we just couldn’t get the handyman to understand what I was seeking in the bathroom.  A simple towel bar seemed to be beyond understanding. 

Ah ha! Pantomime – that would do it!  So, I led the little grandfather-like bald-headed man into the bathroom to show him what was required.  He still did not understand.  Still fully clothed, I jumped into the tub, shivered and reached out for my non-existent towel – but none around.  I truly felt my pantomime exhibition was masterful and would make our need clear.

No, to the handyman, my demonstration was frightening!  A look of terror came over his face.  He screamed in fear.  He ran out of the room.  My friend and I never saw him again. 

We laughed – a lot!  I later decided to perch our towels on the edge of the sink, which did require a moment of shivering before you could reach them from the tub.

I hope I didn’t give the man a heart attack!

International relations and customs can be very perplexing.