On Wednesday of this week, Koreans celebrated their own version of Thanksgiving. Called Chuseok, it is the most important holiday of the year and combines a harvest festival with the vestiges of ancestor worship. There is also a great deal of booze involved. While Chuseok proper was on the 22nd, it’s a three-day break from work. [...]
Posts Tagged ‘gnomeless’
Thanksgiving Korean Style
Posted in High Feast Days, tagged Chuseok, family arguments, gnomeless, gnomes, Korean culture, Korean Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving, travel Korea on September 25, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Europe 2010 MVP
Posted in Random, tagged Europe 2010 MVP, fold-up stroller, gnomeless, gnomes, traveling in Europe, traveling with toddlers on September 18, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
We’ve been back in South Korea for about a week now. How long we’ll stay this time is anybody’s guess – anywhere from one month to one year. It’s good to be back, too, because there is still so much left to write about. But before I get to all that, I feel I must give props to [...]
Score One for the Scots
Posted in Things That You Eat, tagged England, gnomeless, gnomes, haggis, Scotland, Scots on August 31, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Regular readers of this blog, of whom there are a few, will remember that I once made a crack about the Scottish thinking Haggis is food. Well, I tried it the other day and must now reach deep down into my soul to find that last shred of integrity I’ve been hanging on to and [...]
Sofia vs. Ohrid
Posted in Local Culture, tagged Bulgaria, gnomeless, gnomes, Macedonia, Ohrid, Sofia on July 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
For the past week, we have been in Ohrid, Macedonia. For a week before that, we were in Sofia, Bulgaria. Both cities are in the Balkans and both spent decades under Communism. However, that’s about all these two places have in common. Whereas Ohrid is dynamic and thriving, Sofia gives every indication of needing a [...]
The Best Little Hostel in Sofia
Posted in Places We've Stayed, tagged gnomeless, gnomes, great places to stay, hostels in Bulgaria, hostels in Sofia on July 24, 2010 | 1 Comment »
I’ve stayed at a lot of hostels over the years. Many are just places to sleep and many others are great places to meet fellow travelers and swap stories and travel tips. The most rare type of hostel, though, is my favorite: a place to meet other travelers as well as lots of local people. [...]
Welcome to Bulgaria!
Posted in From A to B, tagged be careful in Bulgaria, gnomeless, gnomes, taxi scams, tourist scams, travel Bulgaria on July 18, 2010 | 3 Comments »
For a heart-stopping moment, I thought the taxi driver was going to drive away with our stuff. I began banging on the trunk, yelling, “Get back here!” while I started to memorize his license plate number. Thankfully, the taxi stopped. I stepped aside and he backed up to the curb. I stood in front of [...]
How to Simulate ADD
Posted in Random, tagged ADD, attention deficit disorder, Caravaggio, gnomeless, gnomes, Rome, Santa Maria del Popolo, The Crucifixion of Saint Peter, travel Italy on July 13, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I’ve just done about twenty-seven seconds’ worth of research, and here is what I’ve got to show for it: About three per cent of people have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Simple math says about 97 per cent of the population does not live with this condition. Well, if you’ve ever wondered what ADD is like, [...]
Very Civil Unrest
Posted in Random, tagged gnomeless, gnomes, Rome, transit strike in Rome, travel Italy on July 11, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
There was a one-day transit strike in Rome on Friday. That in itself is nothing remarkable, of course. Transit strikes are common around the world. But this one was different from others I’ve experienced – bus, subway and commuter train drivers actually showed courtesy to the citizens who would be affected. We’re staying at Camping [...]
The World’s Worst Airport?
Posted in From A to B, tagged bad airports, gnomeless, gnomes, Russian airports on July 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
It is a curious fact that Russia produces plenty of chess grandmasters but is apparently unable to find anyone who can manage an airport. We learned this on our trip from Seoul to London on June 23rd, which included a three-hour layover at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. I’ve been to quite a few airports over the [...]
So Long, Yangsan!
Posted in From A to B, tagged backpacking, backpacking with children, gnomeless, gnomes, travel Korea on June 21, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Well, the time has come to say goodbye to Yangsan, our home in South Korea since March 24th. And now the real backpacking begins. Three-month stays in comfortable houses are a thing of the past for us. From now on, my wife, our baby and I will be moving about much more frequently and relying [...]
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Jeff Melland
