 Sean & Shannon Testa - Sean and Shannon | All Comments |
Comments | |
| 30th October 2009 Dave | - From: 3 Years, 8 Months, 21 Days How horrifying it is to realize that almost anyone is capable of such evil... Let this be a lesson to those who would disarm civilian populations! Never again |
| 22nd July 2009 Michaela Maestas | Awesome , I'm a Baltic Lit, in the USA - From: Baltics: Back From the Brink thanks for the nice photos you posted !!, any of windmills ? thanks Micha |
| 7th March 2009 avinash | best pics - From: You Want Camel Ride? i love pics and i work on it... so thanks |
| 18th October 2008 Chriscross | Petra - From: The Adventures of Sean and Shannon in the Rose Red City I have just returned from Egypt and Amman and I have just relived my journey through the siq in Petra by reading your journal. I found it an amazing place and am in awe of the architecture and brilliance of a civilisation that existed so long ago. Thank you for and awesome account. My blog was no where near as detailed.. love reading others accounts. Happy travels |
| 6th October 2008 Dana | Parliament Palace, also known as the House of the People - From: If It's Sunday...It must be Bucharest With a surface of 330.000 m², structured on 6 levels and having an 84m height, the building is registered in the Guiness Book of Records as the world’s second building after the Pentagon. They said it.. |
| 10th July 2008 Dean | A Great Read! - From: You Can't Hide Your Irish Eyes whats up little bro? loved reading your stuff! man, you coulda substituted a brother and taken my fat ass with you since richie couldnt go! love you Sean, tell Shan i said hello. let me know if you ever make it to Dallas, i'll show you a honky tonk good time! visualize whirrled peas! Deano |
| 2nd May 2008 Adina | Lovely! - From: The Adventures of Sean and Shannon in the Rose Red City Petra looks amazing! Great trip you had! I don't agree with Alison. It's better to see the place that people don't get the chance to see too often. We can all see the capitals, but we can't all see what lies behind them....so we should praise & respect history and discover it more! Way to go guys! Adina (Romania) |
| 24th March 2008 Donn Barrett | Ballinalee Village - From: You Can't Hide Your Irish Eyes Hello Sean & Shannon. I just found your web ste about your visit to Ireland, specifically Ballinalee. My wife and I own a cottage on Black Island Road, Kilshruley, Ballinalee. Distant relatives of mine (O'Mullally) once owned the cottage. We were fortunate to purchase it in 1997. So now it's back in the family. My great grandparents were born (1848 & 1850) in the townlands of Glenoghil and Cavan respectively. Very near the village. My great grandfather served mass on Sundays at St. Barthomew in the village - the site of the present day Holy Trinity Catholic Church. Our cottage was the scene of a gun battle on the evening of January 7-8, 1921 between a small contingent of IRA led by Sean Mac Eoin, the "Blacksmith of Ballinalee' and a troop of Auxilliaries & Black and Tans, led by District Inspector McGrath. I discovered mention of the incident in 12 books (and counting) on contemporaty Irish history. We go 'home' each year to tend to a bit of our Irish history & heritage. My great-great aunt (great grandfather's older sister - only sibling) was married at St. Mat's in November 1868. Hope you had a chance to imbibe in each of the pubs. Farrell's - owned by Martin & Mary; Stag's Head - owned by Jerome Reynolds, and Rawle's - owned by Stella Rawle. Glad to hear you enjoyed yourself. Regards, Donn Barrett Portland, Oregon |
| 9th March 2008 dave | Budweiser - From: If It's Sunday...It must be Bucharest The Budweiser: when you say it seems the czechs have "their own version" what you actually mean is the americans have "their own version" as czezh budweiser was in production decades before the american copy. the idea was stolen by an american and put into production before the czechs had copyrighted their own original beer and legally no action could be taken. it is far better than the american rip off! |
| 7th March 2008 Stephen Paul | Great Pictures - From: The Blog of Peaceful Tranquility and Divine Harmony Concerning our Righteous Adventures I could learn a thing or two from you guys. Ive learned that posting just the best pictures from 14 days lends itself to one fantastic set of pictures! Look forward to the rest of your posts... are you sure there was no cardboard in those "meat filled buns"? :) |
| 11th July 2007 Lloyd West | Sick First Picture - From: Bobsledding with Bolsheviks See above! |
| 3rd July 2007 Adalbert Reinhold | Hm. - From: Two Americans Walk into a Polish Bar... You sound like a programmed robot - writing in a totally monotonic type of way, just repeating the ignorant nonsense you have been told in school. We never gassed anyone and research onto this issue has shown that we never did so - however, the engineers, chemists and other specialists are sent to jail. See http://www.germarrudolf.com and http://www.vho.org/ for yourself. |
| 22nd June 2007 L | - From: Revelations on the Road to Damascus Interesting blog! And beautiful photographs, especially when stumbled upon by a somewhat homesick an Aleppine Brit. Regarding your question re: women - we have far more choice than you would think. Actually, especially nowadays, few marriages are as orchestrated as that man you encountered seemed to suggest in his (pretty simplified) rendition of courtship. It's a lot more like blind-dating, and you do a LOT more talking/getting to know each other rather than just 'looking' as he implied, and women actually tend to be the fussiest in a couple with regards to who they want and what they want... isn't that a general rule the world over, though? (*Is female - and from a conservative family - hence can't be accused of chauvinistic girl-bashing/bias due to a particularly progressive background!*) Also, both parties often back out regardless of how far they are into courtship... from a sociological POV, I think the general trend is such that the longer pre-marital courtship goes on for, the more likely it is for someone to back out - a statistic that interestingly is also seen in Western-style relationships with respects to certain levels of courtship. Oh, and while parents are often the matchmakers, much of the time it's also friends, relatives, general acquaintances... big giant social match-making network, if you like. And I can't quite agree that you often end up marrying a distant cousin/relative; it happens fairly regularly, but hardly a 'most often' scenario. Actually, having spent most of my life in London but also being strongly Syrian, I would really compare the entire courting process to the online dating/speed group-dating bug that seems to be catching on (at least in Europe) & spreading like wildfire here with appealing and shy/awkward circles alike... a main difference is that people insist on the presence of a chaperone to protect a person's honour/virtue/reputation, which is obviously very sacred in Muslim societies (for both sexes, despite what people may think!). All in all, judging from the impressions you took away from it, I think the account you were told was quite misleading as a general one at least. Hope this helps! Thanks again for pleasant read : ) |
| 29th May 2007 alison | amman jordan - From: The Adventures of Sean and Shannon in the Rose Red City why didn't you cover life in jordan's capital as well, it's a bit boring to see just historical places, when amman is a modern city and there is alot going on there nowadays. why are there just pictures of bedouins and no modern young arabs from the capital. you can get the impression all are living in the desert! sorry my kids get annoyed about this. |
| 15th April 2007 Dorota | Awesome! - From: I Love the Smell of Coffee in the Morning Your memories are great,I'm jealous of your experiences;)I enjoyed the polish yournal,because I'm from Poland:)How does jour present life look like? Greetings |
| 7th April 2007 marija | thanks - From: Lake Titicaca…Don’t Laugh we are heading for lake titicaca next month. i loved reading your blog. |
| 16th February 2007 Anne Yang | Merci - From: [i]Sabaidee![/i] Bonjour Sean&Shannon, Merci bcp pour vos photos, elles sont très jolies. |
| 23rd December 2006 Paulina K. | Lithuania - - From: Baltics: Back From the Brink Glad you had a great time in lithuania [or so it sounds like it] I'm actually from lithuania myself and i was born there. Oooh yeah and i must admit, the hill of crosses is an amazing place, i was there when i was 7 [only about 5 years ago], its sagnificant ! thought you might be interested that one of the reason the hill of crosses began was because lithuanians BELIEVED that one day their country shall be independant and all the misfortunes that the russians and other countries have caused would go away. but lithuania was once a VERY strong country, if you've ever searched "ancient lithuania" under google images you'd see that lithuania once extended all the way out to the black sea dominating the now so called belerus,poland and so on, the people of lithuania were very strong warriors/knights. Anyways just thought you'd like to know =p any questions.. contact me on dirti.lil.secret@hotmail.com |
| 19th December 2006 Scott | What a trip! - From: I Love the Smell of Coffee in the Morning Great journal guys! I'm glad I could follow along on all of your adventures and hear your opinions on so many of the places I want to go. But I guess all good things must come to an end. It sounds like you are ready to wrap things up and join the real world again - until next time that is. Thanks for sharing! |
| 8th December 2006 Paula Peer | Miss you! - From: The Oliphant on the Opium Trail Hey guys! I am so excited for you both. John and I were JUST talking about you yesterday and then looked up your blog. We certainly miss you and hope you are having the life-changing experience that you envisioned. (We are alittle jealous, too!....okay, alot. ;>) It looks like you are having more fun than can be had here, dealing with the misc. N.O. post-Katrina warzone issues. You MUST tell us when you come through town to get your stuff. In the meantime, we wish you both a happy and exciting holiday!! Love ya, Paula and John |
| 28th November 2006 ruby | this thing its kool - From: The Blog of Peaceful Tranquility and Divine Harmony Concerning our Righteous Adventures kool pics love Xi'an at night it looks so beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
| 28th November 2006 Jean-Marie Akkerman | propaganda is everywhere - From: The Oliphant on the Opium Trail hello, I read most of this large webblog, as I just finished mine from Vietnam and Bangkok, just wanted to make a comment about the ones you tow make about the Opium museum, you mention how the Thais avoid any information relating them to this drug misuse! well I can say that that kind of propaganda happens everywhere, just having returned from Vietnam the lies told there about history of their country is increadible, specially when it talks about the US war, in spite of everybody knowing that indeed the US did atrocious things there, their government educates them into believing even worse things! I guess all countries do so, The English like to give themselves the notion of having created much of capitalistic culture whilst the truth about the Capitalist system was created in the netherland whilst under the rule of King William of Orange who made England ( dont tell the English this as they'll deny it) a province of the netherlands under the greatness of the tulip trade...and m,erged theDutch banking system to Britain and Britain becoming the larger colonist in time took the notion of capitalism to its colonies...in the same way...Propaganda is something the USA is very guilty off and denies much of its realities concerning the destruction of Native American people's animals, biospheres, and War atrocities, including modern day ones, which I hope you two as U~S citizens are aware off whilst traveling the world and hopefully realising the unsympathy that there is Against Mr Bush!!! for just that... All the best in your travels JM Akkerman http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/J-M--Mickey/ |
| 27th November 2006 Jackie | fantastic - From: The Oliphant on the Opium Trail Fantastic blog and the photography is really good. Have really enjoyed this I love thailand back again in december can't wait. |
| 12th November 2006 Kali | - From: 3 Years, 8 Months, 21 Days Guys, this is just amazing writing. I feel like I'm there with you. Your earlier entry about Auschwitz & this one about The Killing Fields is moving and extermely educational. You find out and report back on everything I would want to know if I was there too. Great job you guys and we look forward to having you back in the Emerald City in a little over a month. |
| 4th November 2006 anonymous | Nice... - From: A Treatise on Coups and Khmers Really like your cambodian blog. Just exactly how i felt after my recent visit. Cambodia is a great for the temples, but really sad when looking back at their history and the people's life now. |
| 4th November 2006 Reet | Cambodia - From: A Treatise on Coups and Khmers Hi guys, loved your blog, heading to Cambodia in Jan & still wondering how to handle the poverty... I am a huge softy! Your experience with the little boy and the noodles bought a tear to my eye... your analogy of the situation inspiring. Safe travels. xx |
| 3rd November 2006 RocknRoll Rich | Amazing Photos - From: A Treatise on Coups and Khmers I must comment on how great all of your photos look! Granted, throughout all of your very impressive travelblogs you have some very nice photographs, but I have seen growth as a photographer and as an artist as the blogs go on. I can only assume that this magic eye belongs to Shannon as Sean appears in most of the shots. Shannon... very well done. Even some of my co-workers have commented on how the pictures (even the food pics) look like they were snapped by professional shutterbug. I tip my cap to you and thank you both for teaching me about parts of the world that I may not have a chance to visit myself. Your blogs look and read so wonderfully. I'm really stoked to see you both in 7 weeks! Be safe! Love, Rich |
| 29th September 2006 stucros | - From: [i]Sabaidee![/i] hey, i did the China Laos border a year ago and totally know what you're talkiing about!!!! |
| 27th September 2006 Laurent & Virginia | Kaixo (Sabaidee in Basque) - From: [i]Sabaidee![/i] Glad to read that you loved Laos, it is always in our top three when people ask us what was our favorite country. Sean, you need to work on your tan and drink less Beer Lao. Shannon, you will have to give me some photography tips because your pics are worth the National Geographic interest. Warmest Regards from the now sedentary people. Agur (Good Bye in Basque) |
| 19th September 2006 Scott | Terracotta Figures - From: The Blog of Peaceful Tranquility and Divine Harmony Concerning our Righteous Adventures I first read your story about the mini figurines when I was in a small internet cafe in Brisbane, Australia. As I walked out, not even 2 minutes after reading the story, I stumbled across a stand in Chinatown selling the exact same set for $15. I was so tempted to try to bargain them down, but I don't think I could have gotten the same price you did! |
| 24th August 2006 Rich | Hey... It's a picture of Shannon! - From: The Blog of Peaceful Tranquility and Divine Harmony Concerning our Righteous Adventures Hey... It's a picture of Shannon! Wait a minute... this could be her in Seattle- cut out and photo shopped into the 3rd picture on this journal entry. lol. Great job, still. This journal has taught me more than Globe Trekkers and the Discovery Channel put together could ever convey about these exotic destinations. Plus they rarely ever-so-casually use words like proselytizer or plethora. Here's a question... I know Sean is an avid runner and usually runs many miles at least a few times a week. Has he put his running routine on hiatis while travelling? Be cool...and don't get knifed... -Rich |
| 18th August 2006 The Travel Camel | Hawker Banter - From: You Want Camel Ride? My goodness, I laughed when reading the banter section of this blog about the camel ride - did you have a tape recorder going, or did you hear it that many times? Probably the latter - for it sounds exactly like the banter I received from feluccas owners in Aswan, perfume sellers in Cairo, and shopkeepers in Luxor. Perhaps they all attend the same course on sales techniques? Keep up your great blogs! |
| 12th August 2006 Edith Prince | Visiting Scott - From: Giving It Our Heart and Seoul I, too, visited Scott in Jeonju and had a wonderful time - unlike you, however, I never did get used to the Spicy Korean food. Scott loves it, but tried to find things for me that weren't spicy - hard to do in Korea!! Thanks for the nice comments about my son. I am enjoying very much reading about your travels. |
| 3rd August 2006 Sheri Mace | Where's Shannon? - From: Giving It Our Heart and Seoul Since I was assured that there would be more photo shots with my lovely sister in them, I can only assume since I haven't seen any that (1) Shannon took off and went to Rio or (2) this is a Testa version of Where's Waldo and I'm not looking closely enough. I give up. I didn't find any of the Shannon shots! |
| 25th July 2006 Laurent & Virginia | News from the Basque Country - From: Czeching Out of Europe Sean, Shannon It looks like you are making the most of it as usual, we think of you quite often here in the Basque Country. Last week, the french couple we had met in Aqaba paid us a visit for a few days on their way back to the motherland. Virginia found a job and I am enjoying the summer in San Sebastian... Kind regards |
| 15th July 2006 D.O.D. | dEM bONES, dEM bONES - From: Czeching Out of Europe Great Blog, as usual. You are spoiling us with your fantastic writing and interesting photography. And now you are adding camara tricks! Are you saying my son is becoming transparent? (Hopefully, he will lose the "trans" soon after your return!) Found a website that sells pics of the Church of Bones: http://www.artgraphica.net/art-shop/prague-kutna-hora-bone-church.htm Love and kisses, Dear Old Dad |
| 7th July 2006 virginia | Confirmation - From: Two Americans Walk into a Polish Bar... I have heard about Krakow and environs you have made my mind up its on my list to visit. I am in Portugal July 15th -29th dont forget . |
| 4th July 2006 Alexis | Thanks - From: Two Americans Walk into a Polish Bar... Thanks for your detailed blogging regarding Auschwitz, its history, and your experiences touring it. I have learned a lot about Auschwitz in school and via the media, of course, but I hadn't heard a firsthand account of visiting it in modernity. I appreciate the time you took to describe your visit. Reading about the history in context with what you saw there made the entry very enriching. |
| 6th June 2006 Carlos from Peru | NICE FOOD REVIEW - From: Lima is for Lovers Sean and Shannon Im glad you enjoyed your visit to Lima, an ugly city with excellent food and restaurants and a beautiful ocean view. I am Peruvian and I agree with your reviews. Pisco is a poor town like most of places in Peru lacks of more ambicious urban design because of the centralism government of Lima. However, Im sure you met the friendliest people outside of Lima. ps- To the peruvian reader who wrote CuZco with Z, the correct spelling is CUSCO with S, and also Pisco people don't behave as wolves, what is wrong with you? |
| 29th May 2006 erin | cha cha cha chilled - From: Life at Four Knots eat, sleep, cruise and open locks at the same time! wow you guys are skilled. this looks amazing. i love canals and bridges and stone buildings. a great family and friends trip. interesting chilled contrast to cigarette/liquor border crossing. no need to carry liquor on the canals when there is a pub at every mooring!! woo hoo fun by the pint. keep in touch. let rod and I know about S.E. Asia. love, e |
| 29th May 2006 erin (go bragh) | black goodness - From: You Can't Hide Your Irish Eyes i want some black pudding. i had it in scotland, battered and deep fried... this awoke the greasy new orleanian in me.it's kind of like boudin. rodney and i brought a hagis back from there. yum. |
| 29th May 2006 Tamara | - From: Life at Four Knots Hi guys Another great Blog entry. You're certainly the envy of all us folk who read your blogs while we're at work...wishing we were traveling too. It's even more amazing that you're getting to share such great experiences with family. Treasure your time. Tamara |
| 28th May 2006 Nona | Commander Ron - From: Life at Four Knots Love the shot of Ron in the background in "Don't Mess With Aunt Nancy". Looking for submarines? Keep up the great work! Love, Nona |
| 22nd May 2006 frank Sisti | - From: You Can't Hide Your Irish Eyes great photos Sean, A place I need to visit |
| 20th May 2006 Ibo | Unfinished buildings (& mosque) - From: Revelations on the Road to Damascus In many countries one does only have to pay taxes on owning a dwelling when it is finished. This is one reason why construction on so many buildings never seem to end. A second reason is people gradually extend their houses as they get more children or to host elderly. It's a cultural issue too, not just a tax issue. Regarding the unfinished mosque in Syria. It are the people (Muslims) who pay for the construction of the mosques in Syria because the government is not (at all) islamic. So things go gradually: when money comes available construction will continue. Note: There is a mosque in Halab (Aleppo) that was build by Lebanes (Christian) cassino owners during the war in Lebanon. When it was finished the Muslims paid whatever to get rid of the cassino even before it opened. It is now the most fancy looking mosque of the city. Ibo http://www.nomadtribe.net/ |
| 20th May 2006 Grace Kiernan | This was fun - From: You Can't Hide Your Irish Eyes It was wonderful taking this trip with you guys. I love you, have fun in your travels. |
| 12th May 2006 ravenlynne | Beautiful! - From: The Adventures of Sean and Shannon in the Lost City of the Inca I have to add peru to my list of places to travel. I've never wanted to go before but Ya'll have made it look interesting...Gina |
| 12th May 2006 ravenlynne | From a fellow new orleanean - From: Hurricane Katrina Part 1 That was a bad time for all of us down there. Glad to see ya'll made the best of it. |
| 9th May 2006 Laurent | Romanian crooks - From: If It's Sunday...It must be Bucharest We feel bad for what happened to you in Bucharest, be careful in Russia it will worst. |
| 8th May 2006 Rock and Roll Rich | Tamara... you were less wrong than I was - From: If It's Sunday...It must be Bucharest Apparently I was way off. I forgot about Boeing. That's a shame because that particular building is only about 3 hours drive from where I'm at... and my step-mom worked there for a long time. And it appears it's not, in fact the largest. I guess millions and millions of flowers require more space than airplanes because the Netherlands wins the title. Anyway... you were more the winner than I was. So... if you are ever up in the U.S. Pacific Northwest... I'll buy you a drink. |
