I have an apology to make. Not only did I nominate Bon Bon for the judging of the “I’ve been to Azerbaijan and all I got was this lousy red splodge on a map” competition without her consent, but I also did so without giving her any warning whatsoever. As a result she was unable to provide any of her judging criteria before the entries started poring in.
She has now posted up an excellent guide over at her site, and I thoroughly recommend you go and have a look at it. Everyone’s entry is still valid of course, but if you fancy adding any additional info to it then that would be fabulous. You could either do that in the comments for this post, or on the original one. And again I emphasise that it doesn’t matter if you don’t think you’re going to win, it’s all about the taking part. There is quite a nice little community developing here which I had never anticipated but really value, and little games like this can only help people to get to know each other better.
Bon Bon has very generously offered to supply a prize for the winner; she’s even buying it rather than using some old tat that she has lying around the house like I usually do.
We’ve decided to set a closing date of midnight (GMT) on Sunday the 17th of December in order that people get their entries in. I’ll be posting regular reminders until that date, because I’m annoying like that.
To start us off I’ve written a bit more about my own globe trotting exploits. If you fancy putting a bit of extra info with your entry it doesn’t have to be all inclusive, just a few highlights will do.
Australia
My mum is Australian and when I was around four or five we went back for a visit for a few months. I remember very little of it other than it was my first encounter with streets laid out in square blocks and that my sister ate some dog food.
China
My mother took my brother, sister, Kerry and myself to China this time last year. I blogged about it a few weeks ago.
Czech Republic
Kerry and I went to Prague with her parents and her brother for a long weekend back in December 2002. It was very cold indeed and I bought a woolly hat that gave me a rash. Other earth shattering events that occurred on the trip can be seen here.
France
I’ve been to France twice. Once on a family holiday when I was about 10 which was pretty uneventful. The second time was the school trip to Paris during which the infamous urinating in the bidet incident occurred. That trip was also responsible, alongside a multitude of Parisian street traders, for instilling in me the belief that all French people play cards with decks which have pictures of half naked women on them; this belief has yet to be disproved.
USA
I hereby claim the fact that Kerry and I got married in the tropical house at Central Park Zoo in New York (and were the first ever people to do so). This claim excludes all other claims and therfore means that my wife, who is already beating me by a considerable margin, is not able to use it to her advantage. To be honest I’m disgusted that she would even consider tainting our sacred vows in that way anyway. I think you should dock her some points Bon Bon.
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It is only now when I’m writing all this down that I realise that, aside from the school trip, I have never left the country without being in the company of either my own or Kerry’s parents. That’s pretty pathetic. On the bright side I have also realised that I have never actually paid for any of my foreign jaunts either; marvelous!
All that’s set to change soon though as Kerry and I plan to got to Chicago in March, and this time I’ve saved up my pocket money and I’m being allowed out on my own. If I can ever get hold of my manager to ask for the time off that is.
I’m looking forward to hear about your own little trips.
No related posts.
When I started my international traveling, my air travel experience consisted of one airplane ride in a small four-seater plane.
The next time I was in a plane, it was a 747 traveling from Chicago to Amsterdam. It was January and snowing like crazy and our flight was delayed about two hours. We spent a chunk of that time at the gate, were deiced, then sat on the runway for another chunk of time.
The snow was coming down in clumps and we had to be deiced again at the end of the runway before we took off. Bonbon, does near-death travel give extra points?
We flew from Amsterdam to Athens. This was in 1986, and two weeks before, a nut had opened fire and killed several people at the El Al airline counter at the Athens airport.
Greece was amazing, especially the day cruise of Greek islands. Then we took a ship from the coast of Greece to the coast of Italy. Italy was beautiful and had, by far, the best food. We went to Rome (including Vatican City) and Florence.
From Florence, we took the train through Switzerland to Paris and spent several days there. I had been away from home for about 16 days by this point and I admit that I was ready to head home. Paris and Chartres were amazing (for another 5 days), however.
We drove from Paris to Brussels, Belgium, and then flew back to Amsterdam. That little flight from Brussels to Amsterdam was the worst of my life—then and since then. It was very rough and numerous people threw up (but just barely not me).
I took a driving trip with my parents to Ottawa, Ontario a few years later, and I’ve also been to Vancouver in Canada. Until these trips, I didn’t know that Canadians ate so much vinegar.
Greg and I went to England and France last year (before we met Dan, unfortunately). We saw London and did a day trip through the Cotswolds up to Stratford. It was beautiful countryside and made Greg eager to try driving on the wrong side of the road (we were being driven in a van).
We went through the Chunnel to France and it was wonderful to see the city of Paris again with someone I love instead of a college group.
Greg and I are talking about going either to Ireland or Hawaii next year—some island somewhere, I guess!
hmmm, well Deb, near-death will probably add to your total, however, i didn’t catch the part where your plane lost an engine, so no.
i’ll add my own travels to the mix even though i’ve already won because i’m buying TWO prizes…
first off, i’ve been to 26 states. sure, they’re all in the usa, but compare that visually to those tiny european nations. i lived for two years in california, experiencing a handfull of earthquakes (added for dramatic effect). i’ve been to mexico, but in all honesty, it was only over the border into tijuana for a day. their idea of excitment there is driving their cars on the sidewalks.
i’ve only been to canada twice, considering i’m from wisconsin. my parents would travel there regularly when i was growing up for their annual fishing trip. so, i guess in my naive, under-developed brain, canda=lakes. two years ago, glenn and i attended the toronto film fest which was rather fun. we saw several celebrities while there, but that’s a prior contest…
when my two boys were the ages Amy and Evan are now, my first-husband was stationed in okinawa. i flew alone with those two babies (one straped to my back) in a military plane (no windows, and you had to enter it by ladder) for a 15 hour flight! of course, i got sick and there was an overnight layover in tokyo. ugh. we lived there for 7 months, and Cub took his first steps there. i made my ex fly back with me as far as san francisco when we returned. i wasn’t about to do that again.
glenn always wanted to see london, so we did that in 1999. we had a wonderful stay, but on the final day glenn became ill. by the time we were back home, he was checked into the hospital. we’re still not sure what it was. quite possible food poisoning. he thinks it may have been the wallace and gromit wensleydale he let sit in our room a day before eating.
finally, in 2001 italy and france, but again, i would give myself no extra points as a) all we saw of italy was the milan airport, and paris was just beautful and romantic…like that’s not enough.
look forward to reading more from everyone! your stories could sway me (and others) into picking that locale for future travels!
fin.