Viet Nam on My Own

by | Apr 1, 2008 | 0 comments

Only one amongst you patient readers, are likely to know (or care about) the trade acronym F.I.T. which obviously is in the title of this piece. My eldest son J. could probably give you a more precise definition of this sub-segment of the travel industry than I, but I’ll give it a shot anyway, because I am one of them, I think.  That is to say that I eschew traveling as a part of any group for any reason.  I’m happier to have a bad meal at a restaurant of my own choosing in (name any town anywhere in the world) than a good meal with any group large or small not of my own choosing.   I’m perfectly happy to be lost in a strange town rather than be following a...

Monkey Business in Costa Rica

by | Mar 20, 2008 | 0 comments

There are many things to like about Costa Rica, but it’s the monkeys that get most of the attention from the tourists.  On several occasions I saw small groups of people gathered beside the road pointing cameras into the rain forrest or at a solitary palm tree. In Costa Rica that means they had spied a group of either White Faced or Howler monkeys, two of the four breeds that populate the country.  Howlers are easy to identify because they, well, howl.  I mean they really howl.  There’s no mistaking it.  And the White Faced monkeys are likewise easy to identify because they have, well uh, white faces.  If only all naming conventions so…..uncomplicated....

How Do You Say It in British?

by | Mar 6, 2008 | 0 comments

Having lived in London for several years, I’ve been up close and personal with our cousins, the Brits, and with the perfect clarity provided by time and distance I can now say definitively that perfect enlightenment regarding their character is in knowing that one will never know them. A recent article which prompted this piece and from which I will quote extensively (one can never be to careful with all the literary lynch mobs roaming the streets looking for budding plagiarists) reported on a nascent effort to create the perfect motto for the the United Kingdom, or was it Great Britain, or maybe it was England, or possibly the British Commonwealth.  Come to...

It’s Not So Easy Being Green

by | Feb 16, 2008 | 0 comments

OK.  I’ve finally had it.  I could go along with being ecologically friendly.  I could even go along with sitting in a darkened theatre while Al Gore intoned on man’s quest to destroy the environment.  But when D Magazine devoted an entire issue (and no telling how many trees to create the pulp required for the 112 pages of seven color glossy “green” tips), I finally crossed over.  My conclusion followed my normal contrarian philosophical bent.  Anything getting this much press, becoming this politically correct, requiring this much ink and other media attention must have a dark, or at least suspicious, underbelly. So where did the notion of “green” come from...

Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say

by | Feb 12, 2008 | 0 comments

By this time late in the news cycle every sentient being who has even the faintest interest in politicos and their fellow travelers knows that David Shuster of MSNBC has been suspended, sacked, fired, reprimanded, savaged, or muzzled.  All this at the hands of Hillary or Bill, or a surrogate or all of the above. And of course we all know the reason.  In an otherwise sane, but boring dialogue with Bill Press on one of the interminable talking head shows that pass for new/entertainment, Shuster opined, “but doesn’t it seem like Chelsea’s sort of being pimped out (emphasis mine) in some sort of weird way.”  Press ran for cover before the sound waves had died, but...