In the past five hours I've managed pretty well, so far I bought a charger and minutes for my French cell phone, drank a macon village and ate olives at a little cafe, got lost and asked for directions thrice (or more), caught two trains, and bought a six pack of water bottles, wiping out the guy's entire stock. My dear friend Ashley was kind enough to give me (while I stayed on her couch after I missed my flight) her "Paris for Dummies" book. I already have a couple great France books thanks to Gary, but this was a nice [View Full Entry]

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You know the feeling when your boyfriend, or child is a participant in a sporting event? There's even a phenomenon bred out of that feeling...Soccer Moms. They have their own cars and everything. My first time to Fenway Park felt like I was watching 9 of my own children or boyfriends playing in the biggest game of their life. All season I had to hear about each Red Sox player: their nick names, their stats, their strengths and weaknesses, their personal arguments, even personality quirks that have no effect on their game. "Pedroia the Destroya" was Rookie of the Year last [View Full Entry]

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Not quite the worst of times, but this Grand Adventure of mine could have had a better start. I recently read in National Geographic Traveler magazine (yes, cliche, I know) that there has been a spike in filed complaints against the travel industry. The article speculated that there is a directly proportionate relationship between travel mishaps and online bookings. While my travel problems were somewhat caused by booking online, they were more affected by incompetence in airline workers. Ooh, so mad at Hawaiian and Delta airlines. Unfortunately, due to my online bookings, it's hard to bl [View Full Entry]

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Lion dances, street fairs, fireworks, plus 2,008 performers (per event!) in Beijing, all for Ashley's birthday!! I tried to capture some shots of the cute little kids as lion dancers, but darn them, they just wouldn't stay still, and my camera doesn't have an action setting. The opening ceremonies of the Beijing olympics were playing, but the stubborn rain and tar-y smoke from some Chinese cigarettes made it hard to appreciate. Lucky for me my mother taped it all so I could watch it from the comfort of my own couch. Or maybe it wasn't luck, it was just the auspiciousness [View Full Entry]

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Granted I'm only 24 (it's not too late to send birthday presents, in case you forgot), yet I see more and more of my peers resorting to the unthinkable: internet dating. Not that there's anything wrong with match.com, if you're ugly and have no social skills (no offense Adam), but we're so young! Isn't finding that one perfect match the reward of years of torment making the wrong choice? However, I digress. The point is, my friends who have gone on dates with people they meet online always report back that the profile picture of their computer Casanova is g [View Full Entry]

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I'm just testing this site out, I'm not even close to departure. I'm starting to feel very type A; I have nearly a month and a half before I fly out of my home country over the pond, and I've pretty much planned out every last detail. I've even printed out train schedules and timetables from points A through D. It's funny, every time I take that personality test, I show up type B, but only by a point or two. But how accurate are those tests anyway? The majority of my trip's planning has been through helpx.net (and craigslist...) and [View Full Entry]

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