Blogs from Arlington, Virginia, United States, North America - page 3

One Friday evening in fall 2010, Susan and I had the pleasure of dinner with Valene L. Smith, a long-time travel friend of mine. Valene is a very remarkable woman and traveler. An anthropologist and geographer, she has had a career as a university professor, researcher in Pakistan, Alaska, and the Southwest, documentary film maker, museum founder, travel agent, and tour leader and courier. She is one of the founders of the Anthropology of Tourism field of study. (The discipline studies of the impact of travel and tourism on host cultures and on the guest traveler, i.e., Hosts and Guests, from the title of her book.) Travel is her true passion. Her travel tales are legend. She drove across Europe and the Middle East in 1952, spent two years teaching in Peshawar, Pakistan in 1953-1954, led ... read more

Well first I will apologize for the long delay in getting back to the States and posting my final post. First, I had to let the carpel tunnel from the blackberry wear off; second, I had to TRY to catch up on my work and school lives (which is easier said than done); and lastly... I really wanted to let the trip, the experience, and everything else I had the opportunity to see and do sink in so I could do them justice. And prepare yourselves here, this in direct contrast to my normal quirky posts with funny stories and crazy anecdotes. This one is all business, and that should tell you something... This was probably the best trip I have ever taken. I'm not sure any of the multitude of places I saw would be ... read more

Hello again, This will be the last blog of the DC metro area as our farewell party is Friday in DuPont after which we decend further south to the land of Jefferson Davis to Roanoke to visit with Laura's parents and to drop off the last of our "5 week supplies." By 5 week supplies I mean after putting our belongings into storage at the end of March we were to keep the vital essentials to tide us over at work and school. Well apparently we cannot fit these essentials into my compact Civic. As such we have enlisted the help of our friend Lyssa who is flying in from Italy for the farewell party. So our caravan will crawl south departing this Saturday. On Sunday a possible trip to the Monticello or a vineyard await. ... read more

New day, new game! First look out of the window onto a very white world. It had snowed over night, a massive blizzard had just swept over us. We got up and ready in a slightly anxious mood, not knowing what to expect today. Plan: tip “New Orleans” in the Nüvi and see how far we get. We ate what we'd bought last evening: Rice Crispies and Kellogs Cornflakes with fresh milk and coffee. Still we had no internet access, so we just kept on writing on our notebook hoping to be able to upload something soon. Then we had packed and were all sorted to meet the icy cold outdoors. It turned out to be not so bad after all! It wasn't snowing anymore, the wind was blowing the fresh powdery snow about, everything was ... read more

So I'm off on another adventure tomorrow! I'll be spending a month in Seoul, South Korea taking Korean language classes at Yonsei University. I still haven't packed, but I think I have all the supplies necessary strewn about my floor. And I'm sure it will get messier. So I'm going to stop procrastinating and get packing! Check back here for updates on my classes, travels, insights, questions, funny stories and musings on life, Korea, and soju.... read more