It's Not About the Goals and the Celebrations . . .

When the U.S. Women’s soccer team scored 13 goals against Thailand in their opening game at the World Cup, I celebrated along with them. Goal number 13 was no less exciting than the first. I was happy for the players who were able to score their first goal in a World Cup. I was happy for the veterans seeking to show the world that they can still play and that their age is irrelevant to their abilities, and I was happy for those on the bench being included in Megan Rapinoe’s goal celebration. It would frustrate me if I was Mallory Pugh and I just scored the 12th goal of the game, and the coach glared at me from the sidelines and told me I’m not allowed to celebrate. "Act like you've been there before." That is difficult when half of the team literally hasn't been there before. Mallory Pugh is the youngest member on the team, and this is her first World Cup goal. Who has the right to tell her that she can’t celebrate that accomplishment, or has to subdue her natural emotions simply because she scored later in the game? Pundits apparently. The outrage was swift. Then the backlash against the outrage. There’s a lot of outrage out there, and a sort of false pride that goes along with being the first to act outraged by something that other people maybe hadn’t thought to be outraged by yet. But more often than not, this outrage is misplaced and misses the bigger picture. Nowhere was this more evident than the U.S. team’s lopsided victory over Thailand. While we could argue all day about running up the score and whether or not the Americans should have celebrated after goal number 8 (or should it have been 6?), all of that is kind of missing the potential powder keg of positive change that could finally come to women’s soccer that this game highlighted. 

I don’t think anyone expected Thailand to get a win over the U.S. and that includes the Thai National Team themselves. They were simply proud to be there for the second time. Of course they were hoping to see a lower point deficit, but it's worth noting that veterans such as Alex Morgan and Carli Lloyd sought out their opponents at the end of the game and gave them words of encouragement. This ultimately ended up in an amusing twitter exchange between Lloyd and the Thai goalie who seemed almost star struck that she had been approached by one of the greatest players to play the game. Point being the Thais were not offended by the 13-0 deficit, or the celebrations. Upset and disappointed? Yes. Offended? No.

You see, the Thai women have now been in two consecutive World Cup tournaments, and their male counterparts have never even qualified. And yet, the men’s team seems to benefit from more money and support. Sound familiar? When Alex Morgan was confronted by a reporter regarding the high number of goals, she responded that it would have been a greater insult to be playing "keep away" from Thailand during the second half and that FIFA and other world organizations weren’t doing enough to elevate women’s football clubs to a more level playing field. Many of these clubs are focused more on money than finding real talent or encouraging young women to get involved in sports, and the results are apparent. FIFA and corruption kind of go together like Donald Trump and twitter, so most of this is unsurprising. As shocking as it may seem, fixed matches still exist, and the players (often unaware of playing in fixed matches) are the ones who are the losers in the end (in more ways than one).

Radical change will not occur from a 6-0 final score. Thailand could, in theory, go home at the end of the tournament saying they "held their own" against the best ranked team in the tournament. A 13-0 score? Not so much. Will this motivate the Thais to put more energy into their women's program to avoid this kind of embarrassment in the future? I want to say yes, but realistically . . . no. The Thai women don't have a lot of leverage to demand greater support in their home country, but their opponents might be able to get something started.

The American female players have been fighting for equal pay for years now. The lawsuit was most recently elevated when U.S. soccer attempted to make the absurd argument that the men's and women's team could not be viewed as counterparts and therefore did not need to pay the women the same amounts because the pay structures were different. Uh, yeah, that's kind of the point. The women are salaried and the men are paid on a per-game basis. But this is a relatively insignificant difference because the disparities are still out of control. Both the men and women are required to play 20 international "friendly" games per year. If the men lose half of them, they still get paid over $180,000 for their "efforts." If the women won ALL of the games (including all of their bonuses for winning), they would be set to make $99,000 total. Even if the men lost EVERY SINGLE GAME, they would still make more than the women. The men's team is basically the Cleveland Browns of U.S. soccer. Everyone knows they're a joke, but everyone also seems to be ok with paying them a lot of money for their embarrassing performances.

For years it was argued that the men generated more revenue and thus deserved higher pay. Sure. Let's look into that. The women's World Cup final versus Japan in 2015 is the highest watched soccer game in U.S. history -- men or women. Thanks to that victory, revenues for the women have exceeded the men every year since 2015, no thanks to U.S. soccer's lackluster efforts to get the new jerseys out prior to the current World Cup. Nicole and I finally received ours after our return from France, having ordered them weeks earlier. The men failed to qualify for the World Cup last year after losing to Trinidad & Tobago. The women have won three world cups, yet the men play on better fields, get better treatment, fly chartered airplanes, and enjoy greater bonuses and per diem pay. Alex Morgan, the star celebrity of the American women, makes most of her money from sponsorships, not from U.S. soccer's laughable compensation structure.

If the U.S. women are able to pull off another World Cup victory (and there's no guarantee of this despite that impressive 13-0 score against Thailand), they may just have that extra bit of ammunition for their lawsuit. Most athletes wouldn't want a lawsuit distraction while playing in the biggest games of their lives, but that's precisely what the women have done. They've basically said, "No one will listen to us for the last four years, so now that we're back in the headlines, don't you find it reasonable to get equal pay for equal play?" They are fighting a two front war, on and off the pitch. Never has the threshold for victory been so high. 13-0? It's a start.

The last time I went to an LA Galaxy game, the score ended in a 0-0 tie. Needless to say, it was an incredibly boring game. The crowd (mostly filled with Galaxy fans) uncharacteristically booed them at the end of the game. With 30 minutes left to play, both teams played as if they were complacent with a scoreless game. We just watched both teams pass it around to each other with no attempt to score. It was a complete joke. We have not been back to an MLS game since that day. We now only attend games for the Women's National Team. They are always entertaining because they play every game like they're down. They have an intensity and dynamic style of play that is rarely seen in soccer. They make it . . . watchable. And in the stands are a lot of youths - boys and girls sporting the jerseys of players like Alex Morgan and Carli Lloyd. It would have been unheard of in the past for a boy to be wearing  jersey with a girl's name on it. You have to look at that and think, maybe, just maybe this time there's a chance. It won't be easy, but if there's any group of women who could pull off such drastic change that has alluded so many before them, it's this team right now. So when Megan Rapinoe darts to the sideline to celebrate with the rest of the bench, you should probably be celebrating with them.

Beaucoup de Voyageurs

For many of my “reflections” posts, I always encourage people to travel, to experience other cultures, to try something new — even if it’s not so far away. People appear to have done this in a big way. While I certainly can’t take credit for people traveling en masse (I do after all only have three readers), I feel it necessary to add some qualifications to this travel boom. It has become clear to Nicole and I that there is such a thing as too much tourism — a breaking point if you will, not just for us, but for the destinations themselves.

 While we were away, I was reading an article about the construction of a new airport near Machu Picchu. As it stands now, Cuzco has been the gateway to the Sacred Valley, and the act of just making it to Machu Picchu has made the experience that much richer because it simply isn’t . . .simple. Whether one hikes the Inca Trail or takes the train, it has been part of the experience. And in spite of these efforts, it certainly hasn’t prevented people from showing up in large numbers. Nicole and I visited during the offseason, when the Inca Trail was closed, and the train from Cuzco was not running the entire distance. And yet, Machu Picchu was overrun by tourists. The new airport isn’t even that much closer. It is not like 777s are landing a couple miles from the site. Anyone who has seen the surrounding terrain knows this would be impossible. The concerns about low-flying aircraft disturbing the ruins may be a bit overstated as well. I think most articles about the new airport are missing the biggest point. A new airport, one with longer runways that can accomodate larger aircraft directly from the United States is pure greed. Without the airport, 15,000 people are visiting the ruins every day in high season, twice the maximum number recommended by UNESCO. Peru has taken virtually no steps to protect its tourism cash cow because it makes them a lot of money. While it is a beautiful location, I must admit that my last visit was very frustrating. There were simply TOO MANY PEOPLE.

 While Peru is condemning its most famous ruins to almost certain destruction, some cities in Europe are trying different tactics. Cities like Venice and Amsterdam have reached breaking points. Amsterdam has dismantled its famous sign that countless tourists have taken selfies in front of. They are trying to disperse the hordes to other areas of the city, or even other areas of the country. They are also trying to appeal to a “different” type of tourist. Many come to Amsterdam to drink, smoke pot, and have a “good time.” This has led to arrests and harassment in the red-light district. Clearly there is a problem.

    So if we go back to our most recent trip, I observed some things that I find a bit concerning. Santorini no longer has the capability to sustain the throngs of people that clog its narrow streets every day. At any given time during our stay, there were at least two cruise ships docked just offshore. In high season, that number can quickly rise to five. The Santorini airport has more than 23 flights a day from Athens alone plus countless others from cities all over Europe. If you have seen the airport, you would wonder how any of this is physically possible. Its terminal is smaller than Durango Regional Airport in Colorado, which has maybe 3-4 flights a day total. All of these people arriving by ship, aircraft, and ferry soon crowd the two main towns of the island. If one person stops to take a picture, look at a menu, or simply look around confused, the 200 people behind them must also stop. It is not an enjoyable situation. And yet, what is my point? Avoid Santorini? I can’t in good faith tell people not to go to the most famous Greek isle. If a person were to book a trip to the Greek Islands and not go to Santorini, all of their peers would question their judgment because all of their peers are jerks who are perpetuating the myth that Santorini is amazing. While I agree Santorini has the potential to be amazing, in its current state, it is a chlostrophobic’s nightmare and a selfie-taker’s photo op at best. And that’s really the problem. People find ways to crop the crowds out and take that perfect selfie with the blue domes and the sun-kissed white buildings perched on the cliffside. They share it on facebook or Instagram and all their friends can “like” it and be jealous. What they don’t show is the line behind them to take the same selfie, or the fact that their choice to wear a sundress and wide-brimmed hat wasn’t actually thoughtful because it’s 50 degrees and the wind is gusting at 30mph over the cliffs. BUT to take a selfie with a puffy jacket and jeans would spoil the myth and surely wouldn’t impress their friends.

 When Nicole and I got to Paros, it was like our vacation had begun (some five days after we left Los Angeles). Perhaps it is coincidence, but more likely it is that we were someplace real. We saw homes with laundry hanging across alleyways, kids hanging out by a school, old men sharing a smoke at a taverna. It sounds absurd, but you don’t actually see any of this in Santorini. All you see are other tourists. And my whole point in encouraging travel in the past was for people to experience something new. How can this happen in a place where so many other people are just the same? When we picked up the rental car in Santorini, the agent looked at my license and said, “Lots of people from California this week.” My face sunk a little. They were probably the people in the sundresses and wide-brimmed hats taking selfies. Californians are really good at perpetuating myths about good weather. It’s been the worst weather in Southern California in decades. It never rains in Southern California? I’ve shot more instrument approaches into LAX because of bad weather than any other airport this year. We are 15 degrees below our average temperature, and have seen fewer days of sun this year than any other time since I moved to Los Angeles. You wouldn’t know any of this because Sundress McGee, who interestingly enough was also a contestant on ABC’s The Bachelor, has led you to believe that SoCal is perpetually 75, sunny, and perfect beach weather ALL THE TIME.

 Santorini is of course an extreme example of overcrowding, but even places like Taormina, a town you’ve probably never heard of, is overrun by tourism. But Taormina is an interesting example because it was impossible to walk and all of a sudden it was deserted. It is packed between the hours of 11am-8pm, and then nothing. Clearly none of the tour groups stay in town and instead all arrive at the same time at 11am. In the morning, the guy working the gelato shop looked very bored. Three hours later, he looked like he was questioning all of his life’s decisions that led him to this point. So the solution, at least to Taormina, is perhaps some staggering of the tour groups. Crowding in larger cities like New York, London, or Paris is to be expected, but these cities can typically handle it. I really don’t like being in a crowd, but it makes sense when you’re in a city of millions. It’s a problem when you’re in a small town and 10,000 people are inexplicably showing up like it’s the staging area for D-Day.

 So what then is the solution? The only way toward improving the situation is for leaders to make some unpopular and difficult choices. UNESCO, as an organization has made a list of places that it deems worthy of protection, and has set forth some guidelines for local leaders to ensure their sustainability. UNESCO sites are numerous and range from things like national parks to points of historical importance to towns that just look cute like Québec City or Guanajuato, Mexico. The government of Peru clearly doesn’t care what UNESCO thinks and has elected to take the side of money over preservation of a historical monument. And to a point, you have to understand their line of thinking (as flawed as it may be). And yet, they could have taken steps to limit the number of visitors without sacrificing the popularity of their most treasured attraction. For the extreme opposite example, I direct you to Coyote Buttes North, but you may know it as “The Wave.” And if you don’t recognize that name, you’ve definitely seen photos of it in National Geographic or over some motivational poster or just hanging in your doctor’s office. The unique wavy rock formations have intrigued many and people must ask, “Where is that?” Unfortunately, it’s not easy to get to. Sure, it’s in the middle of the desert, but that’s not the hard part. Not just anyone gets the privilege to hike the three miles on an unmarked trail across a flash flood zone to “the wave.” You literally have to win the lottery. You see,in an effort to limit the human effects on the fragile environment, the National Park service has limited the number of daily hikers. You must apply online months ahead of time (and pay a fee for the trouble), only to be rejected in an impersonal email that tells you how unlucky you were.  Coyote Buttes North, the coolest thing you’ll never see, and the true meaning of wanderlust.  

 While “The Wave,” is certainly an extreme example, it could be a guideline for other overcrowded places. I visited the temples at Angkor Wat in Cambodia some eight years ago. At that point in time, there were crowds, but never did I feel that it was overcrowded. Judging by my facebook and instagram feed, that has changed. Cambodia requires a tourist visa that you must apply for ahead of time online. Would it be too much trouble to have an additional step in the process to apply for access to the temples? This way the number of visitors can be regulated, but people won’t get turned around at the gates either. Thailand had to shut down its most famous beach last year because people destroyed the coral, trashed it, and literally killed anything that made the beach pristine and beautiful in the first place. Palau in Micronesia has added an environmental protection tax to all flights arriving on the island to help save what’s left of places like Jellyfish lake. There are numerous ways to combat the issues of excess tourism, but it seems that nobody wants to act until it’s too late. Is it impossible to limit Santorini to one cruise ship a day? Maybe. And on the flip side, if those other cruise ships start going to other islands in place of Santorini, then those islands will be ruined as well. Should Santorini (and its overcrowded cousin Mykonos) be sacrificed to save a dozen others? It is a moral quandary that I don’t care to partake in.

 As a result of our experiences, Nicole and I are increasingly flocking toward the more obscure, hidden wonders of this planet. This is not just because we hate being around people and popular destinations, but we actually have had our most cherished memories in places like Bosnia or Sri Lanka. People often judge some of our choices. “You’ll get your car stolen in Albania!,” “Why would you ever go to Belfast? Dublin’s where it’s at!,” or “Aren’t the Vietnamese still mad at us?” are just a few things we have heard over the years. You could say we’re doing our part to achieve the Amsterdam goal of dispersing tourists to lesser known destinations. Next month, we will be going to cheer on the U.S. women’s soccer team at the World Cup in France, but it won’t be in Paris. It will be in Reims, a small town to the east that doesn’t even have its own airport. But Nicole and I have the fortune to be making choices like that. If someone hasn’t been to France before, they would have to go to Paris and see the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and eat baguettes on the Champs-Elysées. We have the luxury to say no to all that, a luxury that I promise will never be taken for granted. And maybe it is because Nicole and I have had this crazy fortune to have been to so many places that only now do we realize issues like . . .crowds. Maybe a first-time visitor just accepts their fate and knows no different, and is still somehow able to actually enjoy the experience. Kudos to them for being able to pull that off. Unfortunately for us, the spoiled celebrity couple you know as Bricole, that time has passed and I think it will be some time before we end up in a super popular tourist destination again. Well, at least we’ll always have Paris.  

Not Your Average Honeymoon

Without any conscious effort to do so, we had spent our entire honeymoon in countries that drive on the left. Also, each place we visited (other than a brief layover in the Narita airport) was new to both of us. On first-time visits, I tend to get a bit antsy like there aren't enough hours in the day to accomplish everything there is to do. Not this time, however, and that has to do with the nature of how we "planned" the trip. We sort of chose Bali as our focal point of the honeymoon, but the dilemma was how to get there.

There are no direct flights from Los Angeles, so we bookended it with Singapore and Sydney, cities which don't have copious museums or attractions like a Paris, a Tokyo, or a Rome. I mentioned in a previous post that the mass transit system somehow made the top 10 on TripAdvisor for Singapore. And having rode aforementioned transit system, it's nothing to write home about. It's clean and efficient, but if you're going to have credit card and mobile pay options at the ticket kiosks and then only accept cash, the bugs have not been completely ironed out.

Point being, Singapore and Sydney have one or two "must-see" attractions, but beyond that it is whatever you make of it. For Singapore it was Gardens by the Bay, and for Sydney it was the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. This made it easy to find time to relax because after seeing these "must-sees," we could just see where the day would take us. I was relaxed, Nicole was relaxed, and as a whole, the trip was stress-free, in spite of six different flights being involved and some standby ticket woes.


I want to ensure that I do not sound like I'm picking on Singapore and Sydney. They are, in fact, very interesting cities, which turned out differently than expected. Singapore, which calls itself, "Asia's World City," was an interesting mix of old and new -- heavily favoring the new. And due to its small size and geographic location, it has a unique culture that is really a blend of multiple cultures -- Chinese, Malay, Indian, and even a small European faction. The food reflects this, and every meal is some kind of fusion. Nicole kept pointing out Italian restaurants and saying, "Look!, Italian is really popular here, so if you want an authentic meal, we should get Italian!" Clearly, this is nothing more than Nicole up to her old tricks. She surprisingly did not join me in eating Hainanese chicken rice with curry.

Singapore is often talked about as being one of the cleanest cities in the world. Nicole did remark on how her pack of gum mysteriously vanished after processing through customs. I was reading that the cleanliness of Singapore is almost a necessity due to its muggy tropical climate. Any garbage left stagnant for any length of time becomes a health risk. Steep fines are imposed for littering, and they are enforced. The punishments for crimes in Singapore do seem a bit much for the crime committed, but perhaps it is working. Our customs forms to enter the country said, "Possession of illegal drugs is punishable by death." And that's no joke. At a minimum, one can face some good thrashings by caning (a bit archaic, but perhaps preferred to life in prison or . . . death). They have used the death penalty on more people for drug offenses than murder, and this includes drugs like marijuana, which is now viewed in the U.S. with the same reaction as Diet Coke. It does all seem a bit harsh, but then again, the policies are working. Crime, drug use, and even smaller offenses like littering are extremely low. I also saw no homelessness. A lot can be learned from Singapore, but maybe the caning shouldn't be one of their exports.

With Sydney, we found familiarity -- a virtual Los Angeles down under, but somehow friendlier, more accessible, and disturbingly more expensive. The food was almost exactly the same as our systems were accustomed to eating back in LA. We ate burgers, pasta, waffles, muffins, and pancakes . . . basically the main staples of my diet. Surely things outside Sydney change a bit, and the Outback/Uluru, the Great Barrier Reef, and other sites would make our to-do list on the next excursion to Australia.

But as previously mentioned, Bali was the center point of the trip, a place where we felt we could spend a lot of time relaxing and recovering from the chaos, stress, and people-pleasing that consumed our lives for the past year. We did not want to be at the beaches, which seem to be the more popular destination in Bali by far. They just seemed to be a little trashy, crowded, and had a weird vibe. . . not to mention a fairly high rate of crime. We chose Ubud as it seemed (on paper at least) to be more relaxed and removed from all of that. Our hotel was amazing with a bathroom alone larger than a good number of hotels I've stayed at. It was immaculately landscaped and decorated to look like an aged temple. Going to the pool felt like an Indiana Jones adventure. Once leaving the property, however, the town of Ubud is perhaps not what either of us was expecting. One, the sidewalks are extremely narrow, so this results in walking in the street a lot. Two, the streets are not particularly safe due to pretty erratic driving -- the worst offenders being western tourists who mistakenly believe they can ride a motorbike. Three, white/hippie/dime-store yogi/instagram tourism has completely taken over the town of Ubud and it is just the worst.

I had not seen Eat Pray Love, prior to our trip to Bali, but having seen parts of it the other day, it is pretty accurate. While the viewer of the movie is supposed to take away that Julia Roberts character is becoming enlightened, centered, and balanced, one cannot ignore that the only people she speaks to in Bali are all white people looking to find the same things (whatever those even mean). It is extremely disingenuous and hypocritical for these hippie conquistadors to just march into a country, claim an area as their own and then act like they are part of a culture they never knew anything about. In fact, they have essentially influenced Ubud so much that the town now revolves around white people pretending to be something else. Nowhere was this more evident than Zest, a vegan restaurant with rave reviews and terrible food. The clientele dress in sarongs as their token nod to Indonesian culture, and wear jewelry or do their hair in such a way to look different than one would walking through the streets of America or Europe. There are two problems with this. In their quest to all look different, they all end up looking the same. The second issue is that it's all an act. They pretend to be zen, take a selfie, check how many "likes" they receive on said picture, and plot out their next fake "experience," such as visiting rice paddies that are no longer in use for making actual rice.

They have, in a sense, created an entirely fake life in which they have devoted all time and effort to their pseudo life that exists on the internet, where they try to impress people they will never meet. And it's not just the tourist crowd that rubbed me the wrong way. The hypocrisy continued with religion. There are numerous Hindu temples around Ubud, many which are closed to the public. The few that are open to visitors have a strict dress code . . . sometimes. It is inconsistently enforced because at night, there is money to be made in the dance shows. If you turn someone away for baring too much shoulder, that's 800,000 rupiah ($50) of revenue lost. I understand money talks and all that, but if it's ok at night, it should be ok during the day. You cannot be both welcoming to all, and hours later turn away a woman for menstruating because they're considered too "dirty." The entire local population has been reduced to assimilating into perpetuating a myth that was created by white western tourists for white western tourists. It is as real as Morocco in Epcot or Paris Casino in Las Vegas. It was once a beautiful area with rice paddies that reflected the sun's glow without some guy from Montréal wearing a rice hat for a photo op or some woman from Portland hosting yoga retreats for other western tourists.

Many people come to live in Ubud because they have been led to believe that it is free-thinking, artsy and carefree. This is true on the surface. Ubud is where one can swing toward the heavens without a care in the world ($35/Limit 12 swings). The traffic is bad (and frankly dangerous) for a town of its size. The newspaper reported on two men being arrested for running a Facebook page as a means for gay people to find each other. Had I not met up with one of my Indonesian students from flight school, I wouldn't have had a single authentic Indonesian experience during our stay. The restaurant he took us to was the only one during our visit where Indonesians outnumbered western tourists. So, Ubud is polluted, intolerant, and simulated. If the westerners who flock to Ubud wouldn't stand for these kinds of things back in London or Marseilles or Seattle, why are they ok with them thousands of miles away in another country? It is simply one big lie that people simply fail to realize or choose to ignore.

When we stopped short of taking a United flight home and instead hopped on a flight to Fiji, we
thought we were being a bit crazy. And yet, there we were on our own island in the middle of the South Pacific, watching the vibrant and clear blue waters from our hammock. But it wasn't real. I mean, yes the ocean was real. The hammock was real. But I have the sense to know that this is not daily life on Fiji. It was delightful and relaxing and all those wonderful things, but I am not going to move to Fiji tomorrow and pretend that the Fijian way of life is all coconuts and paddle-boarding. Having visited and lived on Hawaii, I know that there is a pretty significant difference between perception and reality. When I lived on Oahu, I never drank a Mai Tai, only surfed twice, and subsisted on SPAM and plate lunches (none which included pineapple).

The point is this...in spite of what it may sound like from this post, we actually had a fantastic time on our atypical honeymoon adventures. The point is to use caution when evaluating your experiences as a traveler. There is a growing trend of people my age pursuing an "authentic" experience without much regard to what reality actually is. People can go to a place like Ubud and take a cooking class to make Indonesian food! Super authentic! Or is it? . . . Did these overpriced cooking classes exist before the influx of western tourists? Methinks not. I am reminded by a quote from fake movie president Andrew Shepherd in The American President:



Lewis: They're so thirsty for it they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand.

Andrew:...People don't drink the sand because they're thirsty. They drink the sand because they don't know the difference.



And that, ladies and gentlemen, is really the point I'm trying to drive home. You can have a great time on vacation, but recognize that your experience may not reflect daily life. I really liked Cuba. Cuba has a history of human rights violations. I liked Israel. Israel is always involved in some sort of controversial settlement dispute or military action. I have always enjoyed Japan. Japan refuses to accept responsibility for the war crimes it committed in the past and has a habit of ignoring its own faults. I am an American. America favors special interests, enjoys putting people in groups for electoral gain, and is somehow simultaneously free, welcoming, and forward-thinking, and yet incredibly backward, racist, and misogynistic. Any country has the potential to be great, but every country is not without its own problems. And for one's honeymoon, one is supposed to sit back and relax. We did just that, but we did something else. We questioned things. And that's ok too.

The Long Way Home

We were able to get business class to Atlanta, which was a nice reward. We even managed to sleep for a few hours a piece. Once we actually arrived in Atlanta, I reviewed our options for getting back to LAX. The first flight going out to LA was oversold by 12 and had more than 30 people on standby. Not one of them got on. It was clear that we would not be going direct if we wanted to get home today. We looked into many possibilities - none of them great looking. Everything from San Jose to Hayden was a bit messy. Everyone is flying today apparently. We narrowly got on a Delta flight to Northwest Arkansas and that is where we wait.

We would have to wait for about 3.5 hours to catch the next flight west, so I had some time to reflect on the trip in a sort of mini-post about my thoughts. Rather than my traditional ramblings, I thought I'd do a simple pro and con about Peru, particularly in contrast with my own country.

The Pros:
The people. Nicole was quick to point out that people were very friendly and patient, particularly when our language skills were not at their peak. When we were a little confused on the first night how to get inside the airport hotel, a guy hawking taxis pointed us in the correct direction without us prompting him.

While the constant hustling in Cusco was a bit annoying, the people as a whole were respectful and kind. Whether we were purchasing sweaters, going through customs, or trying to get train tickets in severely fractured spanish, the person on the other side of the conversation would smile and make sure that we were getting exactly what we thought we had asked for without simply trying to make us go away like a pesky fly.

The Cons:
Now it may have seemed like there was only one pro, but decent people are hard to find these days and finding people who care is a pretty big pro. Turks & Caicos in the Caribbean was a very pretty island with rich turquoise waters, but the people (both resident and visitor) were absolutely ghastly. Everyone had attitude and for me at least, this put a damper on the whole experience. So my cons for Peru are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things, but I give them to you anyway.

At the top of my list for souring my disposition is everything that the Ministry of Tourism is involved in. This includes access to all the major Incan ruins throughout the country including famous Machu Picchu. Now the street vendors have figured out how to sell a $1 magnet to someone who wants to pay with credit card, but the ministry of tourism cannot seem to understand that it would be a lot easier to buy a $55 entrance fee using Visa instead of going to an ATM repeatedly. Furthermore, the ministry is very strict when it comes to student discounts. Both Nicole and I had student IDs, but they would find any reason not to give us the discount. Basically my cons revolve around money, and I am known to be cheap. Obviously people will keep paying $55+ to see Machu Picchu, but it does seem a little bit like a scam in a way.

So what's the point of all this? Well I have often encouraged people to travel because I think people are too stuck in their own bubbles. Maybe folks are starting to take that advise because I had though I was going to Peru in the off-season. If that's the case, I'd hate to see it at peak season. The global economy seems to be doing well because I would hear accents from people from China, Brazil, Canada, France, and Korea. One country, as usual, was curiously missing. The good ol' USA. I had to sign a logbook to access a trail to the Inca Bridge, and part of the sign in was to indicate country. I had to go forward a couple pages to reach a blank line, and with about 30 lines per page, there was not a single American. I saw Argentina, Switzerland, Canada, Chile, and Japan in the book. Not one American. And this is kind of a sad trend I've been observing as of late. What is wrong with us? While we were away, another school shooting happened, and it was shrugged off as just another school shooting.



We get in the habit of looking up how safe other countries are and seeing what the travel warnings from the state department have to say. "Beware of petty theft in Lima. Be alert when riding public transportation. Avoid walking around at night alone." I wonder what they would say about the United States. It's a sobering thought. We reflexively look down at the countries of South America as having such grandiose problems, but we just aren't as great as we think we are. And maybe a little perspective might be a good cure to this notion that America is so exceptional. It's a long way from petty theft to systematic murder of kids. We may be exceptional, but as I watched the TV news in our hotel room, I couldn't help but be embarrassed for what has become normal in America.

What I Could Have Done . . . (A Reflection on our East Asian Trip)

It was a long day of traveling, but we arrived back at our apartment just before 10am. This was quite a feat since we left Taipei at noon of the same day and had to change planes in San Francisco. We each took a nap that practically paralyzed us. I think we slept through my alarm going off for about an hour. Nonetheless, we are almost back on some semblance of a normal schedule and I've had some time to import my pictures and video.

For me, this was a trip that marked a return to a couple countries I had not been to in years, but also an introduction to some new locales as well. And if I were to be completely honest, I could easily make another return trip as I feel that there is much more to explore.


In many respects, most of the cities visited are not generally viewed as tourist hot spots. With the exception of Beijing, none of the others have anything iconic that really jumps out. And things like that always appeal to me. It gave us a chance to really see something for the first time as other people do not typically go out of their way to go to some place like Taipei.







United retired its fleet of 747s last week with one of its final flights going from SFO to Incheon airport. I don't know if this bit of history factored into the large number of standbys going to Seoul, but we found ourselves going to Tokyo-Haneda  instead and buying a ticket from there to Gimpo airport in Seoul. Hotheads like Trump and Kim Jong-un did not really dissuade me in any way from going, but events of this nature usually lead to flight cancellations from other "normal" people. Needless to say, it was a bit of a surprise to see such a high volume of travelers going to Seoul, and at the end of October of all times.

So what did I wish I saw in Seoul? Well, the iconic DMZ is nearby. I am fascinated by the visual of soldiers from North and South facing off and I feel like it's very relevant right now. Unfortunately, the timing of our arrival didn't really work out with a visit to the DMZ. It is closed to visitors on Sunday and Monday which was pretty much when we were there. Nevertheless, my primary reason for a stopover in Korea was to meet with some of my former students, and I feel that mission was successful. Their input will be put to good use in a future documentary of mine.

After Korea, we entered a series of different cities that in some way or another either claim to be or are claimed by China. Confusing, yes? With our first stop in Beijing, we were very much aware that we were now in a communist country due primarily to the lack of efficiency or logic with . . . anything. People need money to buy train tickets and cannot use credit cards? Put the ATM in the most inconvenient spot in the airport. Passengers using transit visas for entry into the country? Put the visa desk in a practically inaccessible section far from passport control.

On my previous visit to China, people had ogled me like I was some kind of novelty. People would take pictures of me without permission, stare at me from uncomfortably close proximity, or in some cases even touch my hair without warning. Needless to say, I wasn't too keen on these things, and I warned Nicole of the possibilities. Fortunately, in the 13 years that have passed since my previous visit, the Chinese seem to be more accustomed to folks that look like us. And with regard to food sanitation and other environmental issues associated with Beijing, Nicole had previously visited India, so Beijing was a picnic. The pollution in Beijing was bad, but when we visited New Delhi last year, it was shrouded in a dense smoke. One point to China.

That being said, there were a large amount of folks who would loudly clear their throat, hawk up a giant loogie, or in other cases launch a snot rocket nearby. This did not settle well with Nicole. Now maybe it's the pollution getting to their sinuses, but more realistically it's just culturally acceptable given the frequency we witnessed it happening. Fair enough -- the Japanese like to slurp their soup and frown upon nose blowing, the British find normalcy in eating really terrible food, and Americans find a way to  celebrate ignorance on a daily basis. Every culture has their quirks, but there's something just profoundly disgusting about hearing a man unashamedly (and loudly) hawk up a good one, cut you in line, and then shoot a snot rocket close to your feet. Unacceptable. Points deducted from China.

It was with great pleasure that we left Beijing and proceeded to Hong Kong, which is still "China," but also does its own thing. No visa was required. And it certainly didn't seem like mainland China. The subway was very easy to use and I was able to pay for the airport express connector with credit card. Smart. It was a clean city that was highly modernized. Countless people were playing tennis, running, or taking part in other sports or aerobics. One could immediately see how this city wants to distance itself from that other China. It's culturally quite different.

One had to hunt to find the communist Chinese flag flying over any building. More often than not it was the five-petal orchid flag of Hong Kong. And to be fair, Hong Kong is not now and never was communist (at least in the economic sense). British rule set up a major financial powerhouse and created a large amount of the current infrastructure (including food sanitation and clean water). When the Chinese regained control in 1997, they had the sense to not ruin a good thing. So as it currently stands, Hong Kong is a mostly independent, democratic, and capitalist state. That doesn't mean Beijing hasn't tried to get its hands involved. Google 'Umbrella Revolution' for more on that.

In the pending decades, China will inevitably assume full control of places like Hong Kong and Macau, and it would be a shame. Hong Kong is a really cool city in a very photogenic setting - like Honolulu, but a lot safer and cleaner. That could all change if Beijing really starts meddling. Snot rockets and phlegm everywhere! Let's hope they don't ruin a good thing. I could have used a few more days to explore the other neighborhoods and surrounding islands, but that will have to wait . . .

After Hong Kong, we went to Taipei, Taiwan, a country which by some other measure also claims to be China. Confusing, indeed. We would see businesses called ,"China Tour Agency," or "First Chinese Bank." I won't get it to the whole complicated history of Taiwan's very existence, but Chiang Kai-shek (nationalist), who lost militarily to Mao Zedong (communist) fled along with millions of people to Taiwan, where he claimed to be the legitimate government of China. That actually worked for a while with the U.S., who would pretty much support anyone who wasn't communist. Chiang Kai-shek very much fit that description, but he was also kind of a dick. He instituted martial law and for decades, Taiwan wasn't really a democracy. With countries being forced to choose one "real" China, most eventually chose the one that would prove to be a better trading partner (hint: the communist one). So that issue has plagued international relations for Taiwan and it was mostly recently came to light when Trump referred to the President of Taiwan as having congratulated him on his victory.

That may seem pretty benign, but the mere fact that he referred to her as a "president," implies that the White House was recognizing a sovereign leader of a place that isn't even a country as far as Beijing is concerned. The whole thing is quite bizarre, and for all the blunders Trump has made, the Taiwan thing is somewhat forgivable because the whole one China policy ultimately implies that Taiwan doesn't even exist. But but but, I was there. And it's real. I can assure you. And from what I could tell in my brief time there, it seems pretty put together for being a fake country.

And for a country ("country"?) that also identifies as China, I would respectfully remark that Taiwan is quite different from the mainland. It has its own unique culture and identity. And minus the vast numbers of scooters taking over the streets of Taipei who cannot for some reason make left turns (just go, you'll understand what I mean), most of it is admirable. The subway system is modern and quite affordable. The variety of ethnic cuisine available in the city of Taipei would rival Los Angeles. And despite the aforementioned scooters, Taiwan has some of the lowest crime in the region.

If I had more time, I would have liked to explore the rest of the country, which is reportedly quite beautiful and nature-rific. This was one of the more politically confusing trips I have been on since I now have two stamps in my passport from two different countries that both say "China" on them. By the things I have said about each of the places, you can probably gather which ones I liked more than others. But one has to actually visit each place to form their own opinions.

And even better, it would be good for those phlegm hawkers in Beijing to expand their horizons and realize that when they see people standing in line, it does not give them permission to cut everybody off. Nicole is convinced it stems from a society of only children where everyone thinks it's all about them. Maybe there's something to it... Nevertheless, as I continue to preach, traveling not only gives one appreciation for people who don't launch snot rockets next to them, but it also exposes the problems of one's own country that may not have previously been apparent. If only everyone could have that luxury... And maybe next time when we further explore the area, Nicole and I will have the luxury of being in business class for those long flights.