Welcome

CURRENTLY VISITING HAWAII!!

Hawaii

Hawaii
Akaka Falls

See the World for Free

The idea here is to TRAVEL THE WORLD regardless of time or budget. It dawned on me one day that even if I had unlimited time and money (which I definitley do not), I still couldn't see everything in the world that I'd like to see--I'm simply not going to live long enough to do it.

But I had a bit of brain wave and soon after the travel envelope was born. This is an actual physical envelope. I typed the name of every country in the world, plus every state in the US on little slips of paper which I then put into the envelope. In the beginning we (myself, my husband, Dave and daugher Catherine) would draw out a slip at random at the beginning of the month and that's where we would go---at least in our minds. We grab some books about the country from the library and put them in our bathroom to look at. We also check out some videos about the country if any. We check it out on googleearth, listen to the music, try the food, maybe even attempt to learn a dance or celebrate a festival.

After the first two years we discovered that even virtual traveling can be tiring, so we travel now whenever I happen to be in the mood.

It's great fun. I especially love it when people I meet have been to the place I'm "visiting" in real life, or get excited and have some virtual adventures of their own. I hope that anyone who comes across this blog will feel welcome to come with us on the trip!



You have a standing reservation to see it all!

Mar 20, 2012

Customs in stereotype

HILARIOUS article about the customs in Uruguay at explore-uruguay.com/uruguay-customs.html. It starts off with this interesting revelation about France:

For instance, it is widely known that the people of France do not respect those who insist on speaking English or other languages; French custom dictates that their official language be spoken at all times.

Okay! Bearing that in mind I guess we'd better get our facts straight when we visit Uruguay. The people of the country like meat, so if you don't it's best not to go shouting that fact from the rooftops lest you offend. Also, the article informs me that Yerba Mate, a tea made from the yerba mate tree, is the national drink. Here too, one should be discreet, "if it looks or smells unusual to you, do not make a scene!"  Also it is good to know something about soccer before you form opinions about the national teams. 

Happily the people of Uruguay do not demand perfection from the tourists, so you can relax a little because, "When interacting with the people of Uruguay on a daily basis, you don't need to worry-they do not get offended as easily as the French!"