Another Pin » USA

Pilgrimage, anyone?

holly — Sun, 08 May 2011 01:24:16 +0000

The Royal Wedding. You know, that little tiny thing that monopolized all TV channels and would still be recapped 24/7 if it wasn’t for that little Bin Laden being killed thing to take over the news reports? Well, aside from “oh my God, that dress was gorgeous…” the Royal Wedding got me thinking about pilgrimages. Let me explain that jump in my thought process. Pilgrimages are most commonly associated with religious sites – Mecca, Fatima, Vatican City and the like, but I’m going for any location/landmark/once in a lifetime experience/whatever that means enough to someone that they will lay down the credit card, pack up the Volkswagon and follow the siren’s call. Like the thousands of people who flew/sailed/swam/hitchiked/magic carpeted to London to line the Mall and catch a glimpse of the Royal newlyweds. See? It all makes sense now.

Think Graceland. Since Elvis died, people have been flocking from everywhere to walk past his pink Cadillac, see the Jungle Room and eat overpriced peanut butter and banana sandwiches from the on-site concession stand. It’s inspired songs, movies, tattoos and countless frequent flier miles. And it’s just a house. A house no longer inhabited by the King (or is it? There are websites out there that still dispute this – the internet is a great way for crazy people to network). This is the classic, iconic case of the pop culture pilgrimage.

I had a client recently who booked a vacation to Thailand, and two weeks before he was to leave, he discovered Depeche Mode (or something, it was 80’s synth-something-or-other) was going to be playing a one-off gig in Phuket three days before he was supposed to arrive. So he called me to change his ticket, only to discover that the flight was practically sold out and he’d have to play transpacific business class prices (think of a high number, multiply it and add three per cent and you might come close), plus additional nights hotel and expenses, all for three hours of techno. I automatically assumed he would shoot it down, but there were a few hours when he really, seriously was considering this. The band meant that much to him. It was the age old cost versus payoff debate, and to him the payoff may have been worth that month’s mortgage payment. In the end common sense prevailed (hey, I like my 80’s new wave more than the average duck, but this was the financial equivalent of a small car) and he left it as it was… and a day later he calls again, saying he discovered they were playing in Dubai four days after their Phuket gig, and asking how much it would be to add a little side trip to Dubai for one night. Geographically, Dubai is not a little side trip from anywhere, except maybe Abu Dhabi, but it sure as hell isn’t one from Phuket. So now not only is it cost, but this guy was willing to spend approximately two and a half days on a plane for that aforementioned concert. At this point, I had tried to talk him out of it, done my ethical due diligence, and I was totally willing to sell him whatever he wanted, as long as he told me how it went when he eventually crawled home, burned out, still hungover, jet lagged and blissfully happy. Ten minutes before he was going to come in and pay for the new ticket, reality must have smacked him upside the head and he called to cancel the changes. Can’t say I blamed him, but a small part of me had wanted to see the pure joy in his eyes when I handed him a ticket that would take him to his promised land, complete with glow sticks and navel-baring tees.

Admittedly, my own Achilles’ heel is Disneyland. All of them. Any time I’m within two hours of one of the parks, I hear the call and I must go. Can’t fight the call of the mouse… I had a fairly high-end tour guide in Paris practically spit on my shoes when I asked him how to take the train to Eurodisney (”Yooooo vant to go zheeere? Quoi? Eeeeest un giant pile of tooooooooorist merde!”) Naturally, this was the same guy more than willing to sell me a steaming pile of tourist merde - I mean, an evening at the Moulin Rouge, complete with a huge financial kickback to himself – but Disney was just so…. gauche. Well, suck it, Mr. Tour Guide. Made it just fine, had a great time, and four years later when I was in London, I hopped on the Eurostar again for a one-day Disney fix. Same thing happened in Hong Kong: ”You want to go shopping again?” ”Not really, you?” “How much HKD$ do you have left?” ”Enough for Disneyland” ”Sweet.” And I can’t even count how many times I’ve found myself in California, staring up at Space Mountain, and wondering how I’d ended up here again, but knowing it won’t be the last.

So, what place/event/landmark calls to you? Where is your Mecca? Your Depeche Mode? Your Royal Wedding?

Happy Hockey Day, Canada!

holly — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:42:13 +0000

It’s a national holiday here in Canada, the day we all take off to celebrate the wonder that is the greatest game on earth – Hockey! Okay, so it’s not “technically” a holiday, but it might as well be. Between noon and four pacific time, the streets are going to be empty as every eye in the nation is on the Canada/US gold medal game. On friday at 6 during what was only a semifinal game the parking lots were empty and the BF and I had a whole grocery store practically to ourselves, so when you multiply that by Gold and Sunday you get the complete ghost town effect.

This is so big here, you don’t even have to like or know anything about hockey to be caught up in all the excitement. There was a line up around the block at the Georgia St Shark Club sports bar already at six this morning, and that’s not even the most coveted seat in the city. At this point, the only way you can get a seat in GM Place for the game (er, I mean Canada Hockey Place, I don’t want those Olympic sponsorship people on my back) is if you’re running a country, sleeping with someone who’s running a country or have suddenly been drafted to play. Actually, sleeping with someone who’s running a country probably isn’t even a guarantee, unless you’re really good. On the bus yesterday I overheard some guys planning their hockey drinking game: everytime we score, take a shot. Every time we hit them really hard (it has to shake the glass, the criteria were pretty specific), take a shot. And every time the US scores against us, just down the rest of the bottle and hope you forget it quickly. Win or loose, they’re going to be completely pickled by four pm, and it’s either going to be one hell of a crazy party tonight or they’re going to be unconscious, so they won’t have to feel the agony of defeat. Now that’s dedication. I like it. I could never do it myself, but I like it. I wonder if liquor stores are going to see a big sales day…? Or are they just not going to open because all their staff’s at home watching the game?

Basically, the nation has come to a standstill. Please, everybody, get your cheezies and Bud Lights now before the puck drops, because once that happens, the country could suddenly transform into one of those abandoned shells so often seen in zombie movies after everyone’s been infected. Ooh, that analogy works better than I had planned, as we’re already infected. All of us. With Olympic Gold Medal Hockey Fever (OGMHF). God knows, my new TV and earth-changing high-def channels will have every pixel focused so closely in we’ll be able to identify the exact tooth that comes flying from the US player’s mouth when we slam him! It’ll be awesome! I’ll update this later with a postgame analysis, but no matter what it’s gonna be good.

Happy Hockey Day, Canada!

Spooky Halloween around the world.

holly — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:48:09 +0000

Here in North America Halloween rocks. We have a commercially-successful excuse to dress up, trick or treat, do crazy things (”but Officer, it was Halloween!”), set off illegal fireworks, sing Monster Mash far too loudly and eat the junk food we spend the rest of the year trying to remove from our waistline. Personally, I can’t survive the day unless I’ve heard Michael Jackson’s Thriller at least three times - something I don’t think will be a problem this year. In the US it’s now the second most popular holiday for decorating after only Christmas. But if you think we can party, you should check out how they do it in other countries.

Scotland gave us one of the great traditions we over here have stolen/corrupted/commercialized into our standard Canadian holiday. Little Scots used to carry traditional lanterns called Samhnag’s made out of turnips with the devil’s face carved into them in order to scare away evil spirits. Nowadays they’ve switched to pumpkins for their jack-o-lanterns, mainly because it’s waaay easier to carve a pumpkin than a turnip, but some cities, such as Perthshire, are trying to reinstate the old ways. Hopefully vandals don’t go around blowing up turnips like pumpkins are blown up here, as a turnip can do so much more damage since they don’t smush and splatter on impact!

In Wales Halloween is called Nos Calan Gaeaf (the beginning of a new winter) and legend has it that the fearsome spirit Yr Hwch Ddu Gwta took the form of a tailless black sow and roamed the countryside with a headless woman. Needless to say, kids would rush home early. This fascinates me, mainly because I have no idea how to pronounce Yr Hwch Ddu Gwta. It’s hard enough to type correctly. Your how-itch do-doo g-wah-ta? Beats the hell out of me, but it’s fun to try.

Halloween in Mexico is just the start of three days of festivities, Witches Night (Halloween), All Saints Day and Dia de los Muertos (the day of the dead). I mean, really, why shouldn’t the dead get to party, too? Skulls play a huge part in these rituals, as wooden skulls are placed on alters dedicated to the deceased, sugar skulls made with late relatives’ names on the foreheads are eaten, and they dance to honor the dead while wearing wooden skull masks called calacas. Sugar and dancing? How have we not started celebrating this yet? Sweet.

Romanians have the perfect reason to celebrate Halloween, as Dracula himself, according to myth, lived right there in Transylvania (specifically the town of Sighisoara – another one I’m not going to try and pronounce). Dracula’s spirit is believed to live here, as the city once was the site of public Witch trials (it makes sense to keep all your spooky dead people together, right?) which are recreated by actors amidst all the costume parties. Can you just imagine getting pissed drunk and watching a live “Witch trial”? Neither can I.

In Lebanon, Syria and the Palestine don’t actually celebrate Halloween, but Arab Christians hold Eid Il-Burbara (Saint Barbara’s Day) on Dec 4th instead. The festivities are nearly identical to the Halloween we know and love here, and include wearing costumes, trick or treating and singing a Halloween song. No, not Monster Mash, though I would love to hear that in Arabic. Similarly, Kuwait and other Gulf states have Qarqe’an. It’s not scary, but children wear traditional costumes and sing outside homes for handouts of candy and nuts. There it’s actually cool to get nuts, and if you give them out you don’t have to worry about your house being egged later that night!

And then there’s Japan. There actually is no Halloween per se in Japanese culture, but think about it, do you really think they would pass up a chance to dress up in weird clothes (or weirder clothes) and celebrate? Their Halloween is based mainly on American pop culture, but it has really caught on and I personally would love to see it. Carved pumpkins are a common sight and Disneyland and Universal Studios over there have huge festivities leading up to the big day. A few years ago I was in Disneyland Paris just before Halloween, and the decorations were massive, with everything from a troupe of life-sized pumpkin men taking over Frontierland to the riverboat in the rivers of the far west being turned into a giant floating gray ghost, but apparently the decorations and theming in the Tokyo park are twice as impressive.

There are many reasons fall is one of my favorite times to travel, but if you really want a show, check out some of these countries and I’m sure you’ll have yourself a bewitching good time. There’s just something about Halloween that makes we want to end this blog with a big Mad-Scientist cackle. So i will.

Mmmmwwwwwaaaahaaahahahahahhahaha!

I wrote a book! What a novel idea.

holly — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:44:01 +0000

Travel agent by day, novelist by night. For years my routine regularly involves going to work just as Holly, but when I get home I put on my cape and morph into my alter-ego Rocket Girl (or Travel Junkie, or Grammatically Correct Girl, whatever, I haven’t come up with a good Super Hero name yet) and curl up with my laptop and hammer away. It’s not going to save the world (unless, of course there’s a massive flood and the world needs to use it as a flotation device), but my efforts have finally bore fruit and my novel is finally complete. You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to say that. I’ve finally written something that passes my anal-retentive “is this good enough to show other people?” test! Insert happy dance here.

It’s an action/mystery work of fiction, but, naturally, there’s a giant amount of travel thrown in. This is me, here. Here’s the gist (I’m not going to spoil it now!): five years ago a group of people witnessed a brutal murder in a Seattle bar, and the killer was never captured. In the interim, the witnesses have dispersed all over the globe, either trying to escape bad memories or through job commitments. When suddenly someone begins unexpectedly hunting down and killing the witnesses, two survivors take it upon themselves to warn the others, but when standard phone calls/e-mails fail, they take to the skies. Thus begins an international cat-and-mouse game that spans the planet from Seattle to Bangkok, Sydney to London, one where motivation, trust and the truth are put to the ultimate test and a missed connection could leave them permanently delayed.

Ooh, that actually sounds pretty good. I’ll have to save that.

Anyhow, I’m so crazy-happy-over the moon that it’s finally done, but now I’m entering a whole new phase of the writing process. The first hurdle is, of course, sucking up that fear that your closest friends and family (or as I like to call them, the “focus group”) are going to read the first draft and hate it (not that they’d actually say that, I do love them for a reason, but still…). Then there’s the next step of “how the hell am I supposed to get this published?” This is the new adventure, the research, the nerve-wracking submitting my manuscript for its blind dates in hoping we’ll find the perfect publisher and soon end up on Chapters shelves everywhere. I’ve had articles published before, but this is a whole different animal, not to mention a hell of a lot more postage to mail. You know that super-excited-but-scared-to-the-point-of-nearly-loosing-bladder-control feeling? I’m there.

I don’t know how this is going to progress, but I can’t wait! Of course, I’ll blog about it every step of the way.

Woo hoo! My book is done!

Insurance – why you want it, but don’t.

holly — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:18:28 +0000

It was embarrassing. I was in highschool, looking forwards to going down to Seattle with my first able-to-drive-without-adult-supervision friends for a little outlet shopping, and Mom refused to let me go unless everyone going had travel medical insurance. So we all paid the CAD$2.00 for one day’s coverage, went, and grumbled about how we didn’t even need to use it. But now, looking back, I see how right she was. That’s the whole point of having insurance, to have it but not use it. If you do have to use it, it means something horrible has happened, and nobody wants their vacation ruined. Plus - and take my word on this, I see it every day at work - all those unused insurance policies seem like a bargain the second you actually have to make a claim.

Here in Canada, we take a hell of a lot for granted. With our free medicare we can go the doctor or hospital any time we need to and only have to pay for the prescribed medication. But the second you cross any international boarder, all those luxuries are gone. Years ago we had a client who drove across the boarder to play golf in Blaine, Washington, when he had a heart attack. You could practically see Canada from where he was, and since he wasn’t going to the US for long, he didn’t worry about insurance. Then he got the bill for the medical treatment and ambulance transport back to Vancouver, and he had to mortgage his home to pay it off. Granted, that’s an extreme case, but no one wants to go into serious debt in exchange for their health. You shouldn’t have to trade one necessity for another.

Then there’s cancellation insurance, the most underrated of all policies. Nobody plans to cancel their vacation, if they did they wouldn’t have booked it in the first place. But nowadays pretty much everything in the travel world is at least partially nonrefundable, so if you do have to cancel, you’re going to pay for it. For the most part, cancellation insurance covers you if a serious medical condition pops up prior to your departure. Just deciding not to go is not covered. Some policies do offer “change of mind”, where, a certain number of days prior to departure you can cancel for any reason and claim back a percentage of your travel costs, but it’s never, ever, 100%. If you break up with your boyfriend or get into a fight with your roommate and just cannot imagine traveling with them anymore, the change of mind clause would kick in and you could at least recoup some of your costs. Once I had a honeymoon couple who called off their wedding right before it was supposed to take place, and were no longer speaking to one another. They had opted not to take the cancellation insurance because they figured hey, it’s their honeymoon, there’s no way they’re going to cancel. The bride ended up going on the vacation alone (most packages don’t allow name changes, so we couldn’t substitute a friend instead at that late date) while the groom stayed home and sued her to get his money back. Last I heard they were still in litigation.

Oh, and not getting your passport/entry visas in time is not covered by insurance. Ever. It’s considered your own fault for not getting the paperwork in sooner. If you find out you can’t get your passport in time enough days prior to departure the change of mind clause in your cancellation policy may help you get some of your cash back, but for the most part, you’re hooped.

And please, God, do not assume your credit card will cover you. Yes, some credit cards offer cancellation/medical insurance, particularly the higher-end platinum cards, but whatever you do, call the credit card company and double-check what coverage you have before you decline the optional insurance offered by the travel agency. Sometimes the credit card coverage is all that you need, but they’re notorious for having low limits on how much they will pay out in case of emergency, or restrictive age limits. One of my clients had relied on his Avion card for years without a problem, but when he did need to make a claim, he was told that, while his card did offer full coverage, he was a year older than the age limit, so he got no coverage at all. So please, please call your credit card company and make sure you know all the details before you rely on their insurance.

It hurts to add that extra CAD$200.00 or whatever to your already expensive trip. I know. But in comparison to the money and heartache that not having insurance can cause, it’s a small price to pay.