travel awards

January 13, 2009

Some quick awards from my previous travels…

Favorite City = ISTANBUL

Favorite Country= INDIA

Favorite Airline= JET (THE ONE IN INDIA)

Most Physically Beautiful Place= RIO DE JANEIRO, SANTORINI (tie)

Most Remote I’ve Ever Felt From Home= BEKAA VALLEY, LEBANON

Biggest Change Seen Between Two Visits= EAST BERLIN (from August ‘89 to January ‘91)

Where Money Goes a Very Long Way= SYRIA

Best Hospitality= JORDAN!, easily

Most Dangerous Experience= none, really, except that in Port Blair in the Andaman Islands, a giant tarantula-like spider came up from under the desk and onto my computer screen; not sure if it was poisonous or not

Best Food= INDIA

Best-Mannered People= JAPAN

Most Tense Place= KOREAN DMZ

Rudest 10 Minutes= HAMBURG, GERMANY (mocked by a crowd at the train station for how I was carrying my luggage, then immediately shouted down by the taxi driver who was angry that I didn’t go further than I did)

Underrated= SOFIA, BULGARIA

Weirdest question I was ever asked while traveling: “Excuse me sir, are you a Jesuit?”, KRAKOW, POLAND