robertreid

Washing Hands Sinaia's Hotel 11 Euro -- which costs about 20 euro a night -- is so proud of their 'employees must wash hands' rule, they put it smack dab in the brochure.

Dumb in Bulgaria

It was the day before my birthday and I was ready to go home. I showed up to the Sofia airport about four hours early. Then realized waiting through an empty Air France line I made the classic mistake -- read the military time wrong. I interpreted something like 1530 as 5:30.

The airplane was outside the door. I could see it. It had been boarded, but hadn't left. I pleaded to get on, essentially offering bribes and ran up to administration. Nope. I watched it take off about 25 minutes later.

Had to pay a $200 penalty and got another day in Sofia.

My Dumb Self

Probably the most dumb thing I've done is getting fooled too easily in a Mexican bus station. One guy distracted me, by nicely engaging me in a conversation ('where you from?' 'California?' 'your Spanish is great' -- it wasn't), while another yanked my small bag from between my feet. No worries, they only got my favorite jacket, about $200, a camera, my passport and -- sacre bleu -- my guidebook. Passport in a backpack, really Robert?

I've posted 46 more here if you're interested:

http://reidontravel.blogspot.com/2009/07/47-or-so-dumb-things-ive-done-traveling.html

Daughter in Gettysburg At five months, my daughter's flown twice, spent July 4th watching a parade in Philadelphia, a trip to Pittsburgh, spending a couple four-day trips at a rental home in New York State's Hudson River Valley AND this shot from the re-enactment of Gettysburg. Lots of beards, too much sun. Had to break from the shade-free battlefield after a couple hours -- I returned solo for the afternoon 'Picketts Charge' where I counted, sadly, only a few 'deaths' in the mass of gunfire.

Ask to speak with the curator + 43 more ideas

Great thread here. I always like going to small town museums -- sometimes devoted to people or things I didn't know about before -- and see if the curator will walk me around. At a dinosaur museum in North Dakota once, the fossil collector was there and talked about how he discovered the bones on display. I don't look at fossils the same way anymore.

I posted 44 of my favorites on my blog recently:

http://reidontravel.blogspot.com/2009/06/44-little-travel-rules-no-one-tells-you.html

American Road Trips

Everyone knows 'On the Road,' but I thought I'd spend this summer trying to read (in some cases re-read) some of the other classic American road trip books.

John Steinbeck, 'Travels with Charley' was written in a very different time, 1960. Johnny refused to follow map -- just went to get lost. That creed worked a bit less 20-some years later, when William Least-Heat Moon researched 'Blue Highways,' where he plots an unlikely path across country -- often detouring to places with towns with funny names (Intercourse for example). I like when he reaches a deserty mountain scene in New Mexico and walks it and screams his name.

Next is the newer Robert Sullivan 'Cross Country' book of many trips across the country with family. The guy wrote 'Rats,' a scary/fascinating book about NYC's rat population.

Then, off the roads, a re-look at Mark Twain's 'Life on the Mississippi.'

Any others I've missed?

Forgot to Unite

I joined up a while ago and see I forgot to post any sort of message. I'm the US Travel Editor & spokesperson for Lonely Planet and an author of some two dozen guidebooks, including Colombia, Trans-Siberian and NYC.

I'm based in Brooklyn, USA, and blogging at www.reidontravel.blogspot.com.

Anyone know any easy ways to move your blog -- and all its archives -- over to WordPress? I'm thinking about making the switch.

I think it was one in a hundred. Some B&Bs wouldn't take us.

My New Travel Role: Daddy Traveler

I wrote a blog post today at my first clumsy steps as a daddy traveler. Would be curious to hear other tips anyone has!

http://reidontravel.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-new-travel-role-daddy-traveler.html

--Robert Reid, US Travel Editor for Lonely Planet