Travel Tips 101
Travel Tips 101
I travel a bit for both business and pleasure. So it’s not uncommon to be in a new town and for one reason or another have some extra time on my hands. Sometimes flights or meetings are canceled, delayed or whatever. Sometimes you’re in town the evening before for an early meeting the following morning. So when I ran into someone lamenting on Facebook how they had spent a whole day being totally bored in a hotel I figured it was time to offer a few tips from my experiences on the road.
Always presume you’re going to have a delay or some amount of down time. This is a great time to catch up on that book you’re reading, work on another presentation, etc. If you have a hobby that lends itself to travel by all means incorporate it in your travel plans. I collect insects and like to play chess so I have a good chess program on my laptop as well as my cell phone and I carry my bug collecting stuff with me when I travel and I always throw something to read into my suitcase.
When you fly, always take an extension cord with you. The standard 16 footer with three prongs that you can find at a local Home Depot works great. Also pickup one of those hard plastic 1 to 3 plug splitters. Invariably the plugs in the hotel rooms are never where you want them or they’ve not given you enough plugs for the stuff you’re carrying with you. Same goes for being at an airport and needing to charge up your laptop or ipod. Someone usually has both plugs occupied. So, with the small 1 to 3 splitter, you can share one of the wall plugs, then run the extension cord to wherever you want to be and everyone is in business and all are happy.
Now, you’ve finally gotten to the hotel and you’ve got a few hours on your hands. Instead of lamenting how bored you are, go down to the front desk and inquire as to what there is to do in the area. Most concierges are prepared for people just like you. Pickup a copy of the local paper and read through it. Chances are you’ll not only get a taste for the local flavor but you’ll find more than enough to occupy the time you have on your hands.
One of the first things I do when checking into a hotel in a city I’m not familiar with is ask for a copy of the hotel’s business card. The reason for this is that when it’s safe to do so, I like to walk around new areas. I’ll inquire at the front desk of interesting places to check out, then strike out on foot, get a Coke or some coffee and just walk a 4-8 block perimeter of the hotel or down the street. You’d be amazed at the interesting things you’ll find just walking. Find a coffee shop, sit down and do some reading and talk with the local folks. Most of the folks you’ll find are friendly and it’s really interesting to see what happens in other areas. If you get tired or lost, you have that hotel business card in your pocket and I’ve yet to not be able to communicate with a taxi to take me to the address on the card. It’s usually in the local language as well if you travel abroad.
Now’s the time to go catch that movie you wanted to see. Yes, even write those postcards and letters to the family back home or others you’ve not talked with in a while. Even in the internet age, people really love to hear from you and get a card from some place…even if it’s on hotel stationary.
Cabbies can be a great resource. Now you want a cabbie that’s been around a while and knows the town. I recall being in San Francisco with a few hours to kill. I found a cabbie that knew the town well and got my own personal tour of the city from a ground level perspective I’d have not gotten any other way. I could stop and take the pictures I wanted, catch all the major sites, learn a lot of local lore and history and it didn’t really cost me that much. And, his restaurant and entertainment recommendations were excellent!
Google and Yahoo are your friends when traveling. These sites, and others, have information on cities and geographic venues that is just amazing. If you’re looking for places to go and things to do, these sites have some great ideas.
With a little thinking and planning you can turn some dead time into some really productive or fun time. When traveling, plan ahead and take something with you to occupy those potential slack times in your schedule. But, if you run out of things to do, then look to where you find yourself for a lot of the answers. Chances are they’re as close as your hotel’s front desk.
I’m Don Rima, and that’s the way I see it, From Where I Stand.
Edge of Darkness – Daddy’s little girl comes home.
Rated: R Time: 1:56
Stars: Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Bojana Novakovic, Danny Huston and others
Final Grade: B+
The United States Declaration of Independence contains the phrase: “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness” Some of the plotline in this movie isn’t exactly what our founding fathers had in mind, but it is one of the first things that game to my mind when the credits started rolling….
Every parent lives in fear of hearing the news that they’ve lost their child. It’s even worse when the child dies and you’re there when it happens. Such is the lot of Boston police detective and single parent, Tom Craven(Gibson). His daughter Emma(Novakovic) returns home for a visit and is brutally murdered on their front porch an the way to the hospital.
Being a cop, Craven initially thinks that the gunman was after him. The evidence, however, shortly changes in the direction of his daughter being their intended target.
In tracking down the labyrinth of what was her life as an intern in a nuclear defense contractor’s super secret laboratory, Craven comes across a trail of intrigue which points to some major national security concerns as well as a major corruption in government and their contractor. After being perpetually road blocked with answers of “classified” “top secret” and “national security” Craven finds his own way to get his information. What he also finds is a big concern.
It would appear that this weapons contractor has been secretly processing foreign nuclear material for weapons of foreign entities, at their specifications. His daughter left him a DVD which details some of her findings and puts him on the trail of her real killers.
Shadowing him all the time is Darius Jedburgh(Winstone). It’s Jedburgh’s job to make sure that the mess is cleaned up with nothing left. For a contract assassin, Jedburgh’s conversations with Craven are unique in that it would appear he really wants Craven to find the truth in his quest.
We’ve had a couple movies of late in which the underlying theme is that of a father and daughter in a violent situation. In “Taken”, Liam Neeson plays a father whose daughter has been kidnapped by Arab thugs and is being sold to the highest bidder and he’s fighting an inept government as well to get his daughter back. In Darkness, Gibson is fighting corrupt and inept government officials who have killed his daughter and want him dead as well. What was interesting was Jedburgh’s cleaning the slate in the last scenes of the movie, removing the destructive representatives of government and himself in the process. As you watch the plotline unfold, clearly the ideals of Jedburgh and Craven are for the good even though you may question them at the time.
This movie is full of action as well as very heartfelt flashback moments to times with his daughter Emma. Expect to be on the edge of your seat at times and also wondering if your kids are safe at others.
When the credits roll, you’ll be thinking about their solution to corrupt officials and when you get home, you’ll give your kids a big hug.
I’m Don Rima, and that’s the way I saw it, From Where I Stand
Dumbest Advertisements – 20100123
I’ve finally decided to start a running list of the top 10 stupidest, dumbest, most intelligence insulting, never should be on TV, radio, print or anywhere else advertisements.
This list will keep a running tab of the top 10 worse with a historical record of those that have made this dubious honor:
1. Verizon – Ads with the Verizon techno-bimbo and his army of “technicians”. Frankly, this guy hits me as totally clueless and out to lunch. And, if you’re a Verizon user, as I am, you know all too well that not only is he never around when you drop your signal or you can’t do text messaging when you have 3 bars on your phone, but neither are any of the army of technoids that are in the advertisements. And forget all those guys in the helicopters flying around solving problems. Frankly, this band of clowns only shows up for the camera and a free meal.
2. Staples – “WOW that’s a great price!” – GIMME A BREAK! Frankly, instead of giving this idiot a shopping cart they should be giving him a straight jacket and calling the cops and having him carted off to the funny farm for some serious mental evaluation! If I ever run into an idiot in the store that’s doing this, I’ll call the funny farm myself!
I’m Don Rima, and that’s the way I see it, From Where I Stand.
