English anyone?

One of the joys of being English speaking is that we can almost travel anywhere and expect to find the local people fluent to some extent in English.  The summer of 2008, we visited Austria, the Czech Republic, and Hungary and had not issues talking with people (well, actually we had a little communication problems, but nothing major).

Now, we were not just whisking off to Europe as solely English speaking, between the two of us, we speak some German and a little French and Spanish.

We ate in small mom and pop restaurants and we ate in gourmet 4 star restaurant in all three countries and had little to no problem order food.  Riding the trains were a little more complicated especially en route to Prague and Hungary … English was scarce.  A couple of tour companies also sparsely spoke English.  All the tour guides spoke English quite well.  Of course, all the hotels had fluent English speakers.

Despite the criticism of being arrogant, because we speak English in non-English speaking countries, I remember (actually, I was not born) that prior to English, there was another international language … French.  We have hundreds of dialects throughout the world and dozens of major languages.  It makes sense that we have an unifying language, and right now, it is English, but lets not get too arrogant … there have been other standard languages in the past.  By the way, who speaks Latin these days?

My day trip to Salzburg

One of the things we like to do when we travel, especially internationally, is to take day trips outside the major city that we are visiting.  While Salzburg is a travel destination itself, when we were in Vienna, we visited the city for the day.  We took a train too … when in Europe travel the European way.

Salzburg was absolutely wonderful and it absolutely added to our memorable holiday.  Unlike German and other Austrian cities, Salzburg was largely spared large scale destruction.  Thank goodness, the city has building dating to the fourteenth century, not to mention that it is the birthplace of Mozart.

Prior to arriving I had arranged a city tour with Salzburg Sightseeing Tours, which was a good choice.  We learned and saw so much on this tour.  We also learned that the tour could have been called the Sound of Music and Hapsburg tour.  The tour was very good with a good mix of coach and walking.  Interestingly, the tour operator offers a “Sound of Music” tour, but we thought could there be more.  For a while we thought that we were on the “Sound of Music” as our tour guide repeated mentioned that “this building/palace/castle was in the movie.

Visiting all the site that belonged to the Hapsburg makes me want to be one.

In addition to the “Sound of Music” and Hapsburg presence, Salzburg is abundant with beautiful gardens and statues.  And if you visit Salzburg, you have to visit the churches and monastery and the castle.  While we were only there one day, it’s probably a two day visit if you just want to sample what the city has to offer … which is much.

Eastern Europe 2008 … History comes to life!

We just recently returned from Austria, the Czech Republic, and Hungary and if you like history and you haven’t been to these countries, they are must visit destinations.

As much as I would like to take credit for planning such a historic-rich trip … it was happenstance.  As one who loves history, and is aware of the close relationships among the Austrians, Czechs, and Hungarians, I completely was not thinking of this when I made the arrangements.  Visiting these three countries really pulled all that history together … the Austrian-Hungarian Empire!

These three countries, despite being part of the Austrian-Hungarian, are quite culturally different.  Vienna is quite different from Prague, which is not like Budapest.  Of course, prior to the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, these countries and their territories were distinct and the Empire did little to change that.

In summary, Vienna is probably culturally west.  Prague is very old and the western edge of Eastern Europe.  Hungary, a culturally rich eastern European country, is proud of its historical role in stopping the advance of the Turks.

A visit to one or two of these destinations would be incomplete.

It’s leap year!

I couldn’t resist posting on leap year.  I would have to wait 4 years, if I don’t post today.  Well, I am not sure why leap year is such a big deal, I don’t feel any different, I didn’t make any more money, and I’m not getting any younger, I’m not traveling this weekend, and I’m not going to any parties.

So, what’s the big deal about leap year.  In fact, I hear that it is bad luck to travel on leap year, dating back to antiquity.  The ancients who used the day more or less to balance our slightly more than 365 day rotation around the sun.  This extra day day was a day to give thanks to the Gods and pray for a fruitful crop in the spring.  Any celebration would be an affront and insult.  You stayed home, made your offering to the Gods, and went about your day.

Today, we have to make a big deal about everything … soon, we will have leap year decoration that will adorn our houses and offices.  There will be lots of stuff to buy too and we will say “This is how the ancients celebrated leap year.”  I say humbug!

The Curmudgeon

Doomed to success? Visiting the Galapagos …

When is a good thing too good?  Each year the Galapagos Islands seem to get more and more popular.  At one time, there were only 60,000 visitors to the islands, but it has grown by tens of thousands.  Recently, a five star hotel opened, appropriately $400 – 500 per night the last time I checked, which is about the cost of the Explorer II.  This is just one example of how the islands may be doomed to their success.  A five star hotel takes a lot of construction and creates more traffic and pollution … you can only be so eco-friendly.  This cannot help but change the islands.

One thing that I learned on my trip was the islands were not always protected.  In fact, they have a storied past.  After Darwin’s  discovery, there were several attempt to colonize and exploit the islands.  Mainland animals like horses and goats were imported and competed with native animals.  You would not believe how the islands got rid of the goats … they herded them and shot them!  What about taking them back to the mainland?

This time, instead of trying to colonize the islands, are we going to tour it to death?  Not to sound like a hypocrite because I have already been to the island, but I was glad to hear that Ecuador was going to reduce the number of visitors to the island.  My compliments to Ecuador.

By the way, despite earlier attempts to colonize, I was glad to see that islands appeared pristine … mostly.  There were no toilets, waste bins, or anything human that stayed on the island … other than footprints.

JNB … the worst airport in the world! Part III

I have been very critical of Johannesburg airport and they deserve it, but the problems with their airport runs much deeper than confusion, lack of organization, and rude incompetent employees.

While in South Africa, I learned that the country has a quota policy for employment where blacks are at the top of the quota system, followed by colors [which is not considered pejorative like in the United States], and finally whites.  The intent of this policy is to reverse and remedy the generations of apartheid.  So, what the country is experiencing is a degree of white flight by whites who can leave or don’t have so much invested in the country that they don’t want to leave or don’t have to leave.

So, a lot of blacks who were denied equal education are getting jobs that they are not qualified to do.  Not jobs that they can’t do, but jobs they have limited training to do.  Does this mean that the country should do nothing, but displacing whites before blacks can be trained is not the answer.  The result is a brain drain … a la Zimbawe. 

The airport is just one example of the disastrous effects of displacing capable workers with people who have not been trained.  This also further divide people.  The quota system also has the effect of creating a feeling of entitlement.  The majority of the airport employees that we encountered were rude, disinterested in what they were doing, or seemed completely overwhelmed.

I certainly think that South Africa should remedy the legacy of apartheid, but is this the way?

My compliments to Grayline tours

One of the hardest decisions to make when traveling is what to do when you get there.  Do you explore on your own or use a tour company?  Well, it depends.  On our trip to Ecuador where language was an issue, we decided to use a tour company, but which one?  I’ve used Grayline for several other tours and learned that they have a presence in Ecuador, so I went with them.  The tours were wonderful.

Our first tour was a City and Equatorial Tour.  Here, we toured by bus and foot the wonderful cathedrals and churches of the city, including there Notre Dame and the famous San Francisco.  Several, we were able enter and marvel at the architecture and ornateness which belie the wealth of the country.  Throughout the tour, we are getting a history lesson.  We conclude the city part of the trip with a spactaculous view looking down on the old city.  While not part of the equator trip itself, our guide took us to the actual location of the equator in addition to the equator monument.  At the actual location is a small museum (and fee) where there are experiments and archaeological digs.

We also used Grayline to visit the Indian market Otavalo.  We took a private tour, because group tours are only offered certain day.  Along the way to Otavalo, we made several stop at local markets and scenic outlook.  While the day that we visited the market was not busy, it seemed not to deter the vendor.  This is a must visit place in my opinion, even if you don’t like to shop.  After Otavalo, we visited a small town known for its leather goods.  Advice … take a lot of money, while the products are not expensive by United States standard, you really get caught up in the bargaining.

The last tour was  to Cotopaxi and an hacienda.  While we had no intentions of climbing the volcano, the natural beauty of the area is incredible.  We were lucky in that we got to see the snowy tops of the volcano.  Because the day was somewhat clear, we drove to the base parking lot for climbers.  This was not part of the tour.  You better be adventurous and trusting.  A good part of the drive is quite foggy and the rode is curvy and not paved and there are no guard rails!  A word of caution for those who suffer altitude sickness … I thought that my head was going to explode.  The choice of hacienda was excellent.  Too bad it was raining.

Last word, while we could have explored these places on our own, there were lots of places on each tour where we stopped that we would not have known to do.  Also, we learned a lot about the history and culture of the places we visited.  Our guides made the experience personal and enjoyable.  All were professional and seemed to like their jobs.