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December 3rd 2008
Published: December 3rd 2008
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La Tour EiffelLa Tour EiffelLa Tour Eiffel

How could this not be called the city of lights?
Well another trip has come to an all too soon end. It was glorious, I must say and put me in the Christmas spirit too.

I will say that I hope when my friends travel the world they attack it much like I do. I make every effort to immerse myself in the culture. I go to restaurants and struggle with menus that aren't always in English, I take chances and depend on the kindness of the people whose country I am visiting.

It continues to sadden me that I find things like a Disney Store on the Champs Eleysee, a McDonalds near the Louvre, etc. Can we not survive outside our country without these?

I over heard a woman in the line at passport control in Dallas yesterday that summed up my fears, she was saying how she found it interesting to realize that all the people speaking a foreign language around here didn't think it was a foreign language. Are we that Ameri-centric? WOW.

I was giving the gift that is travel abroad when my parents put me on a plane, by myself, with our church group at age 13. From that point on I traveled easily and even today at 46, after being up for 24 hours straight yesterday as I flew home, I am dreaming about where to go... tomorrow if I could.

The world should be explored with expectation of finding treasures unknown, not a Burger King. As my best friend Kenneth said in his blog about our trip, restaurants don't serve food that kills people. And it wouldn't hurt us if we traveled with a little humility about who we are. BTW, we as Americans are the new kids on the block. Barely 200 years old. In the grand scheme of things, we are infants. We need to stop behaving as infants however and grow up and explore!


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