Better Road Trips

Slate.com asks Do Family Road Trips Have To Be Horrible?

1. Plan the trip together - let the kids contribute ideas & make last minute suggestions based on road signs or GPS recommendations
2. Make plenty of stops - stop and smell the roses along the way. Aim for a ratio of 40 minutes sightseeing for every 60 minutes of driving.
3. Check out  Roadside America for quirky things to visit like the Jolly Green Giant statue or the Future Birthplace of James T Kirk of Star Trek.
4. Stop for factory tours - pretzel makers, chocolate, cheese, etc. Made in the U.S.A.
5. Avoid fast food - seek out local eateries and sample regional specialties like fried mac & cheese
6. Take nature breaks - not just a potty stop but get out of the car and toss a Frisbee around.
7. Make the car ride entertaining with music, games, and family talks

Seven Wonders of the World

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”
–St. Augustine

It's nice to know that some things never change. People like to travel and tourism goes back to ancient times. There were tour-guide books as early as 400 BC but instead of the 1000 Places to See Before you Die, ancient Greece recommended the Seven Wonders of the World:

• Great Pyramid of Giza
• Hanging Gardens of Babylon
• Statue of Zeus at Olympia
• Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
• Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus
• Colossus of Rhodes
• Ishtar Gate

Later lists in the Middle Ages replaced the Ishtar Gate with the Lighthouse of Alexandria. That's a shame really because the Ishtar Gate (pictured above) is the only item on this list I've seen. The Ishtar Gate was reconstructed in the 1930s at the Pergamon Museum in East Berlin out of material excavated at Babylon. I highly recommend the Pergamon Museum; my wife & I both loved it. I had no idea that the Ishtar Gate was so famous (my wife says, duh, the plaque said it was a 7 Wonder). I was more impressed by the Pergamon Altar which the musuem is named after.

This original 7 Wonders List has spawned many imitators over the centuries like the 7 Engineering Wonders, the 7 Wonders of the Underwater World, 7 Wonders of the Industrial World, and so on. Since most of the places in the original list are destroyed, sites compete to be listed as one of the 7 Wonders of the Modern World

• Stonehenge
• Colosseum
• Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
• Great Wall of China
• Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
• Hagia Sophia
• Leaning Tower of Pisa

Other sites sometimes included on such lists:

• Taj Mahal
• Cairo Citadel
• Ely Cathedral
• Cluny Abbey

Of these I've seen two, an advantage of having lived in Naples, Italy for nearly three years as a teenager, namely the Colosseum in Rome and the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Bottom Line

The reason I wanted to discuss this is that there is a new list of Seven Natural Wonders of the World announced by New7Wonders. This group used a combination of public voting (ala American Idol style via phone and Internet)and an expert panel led by the former head of UNESCO to select the winners which were announced on October 11. National Geographic provided photos of each wonder.

1. Iguazú Falls on the border of Brazil and Argentina
2. the Amazon Rain Forest
3. Halong Bay, near Hanoi, Vietnam
4. Jeju Island, South Korea
5. Komodo National Park, Indonesia
6. Puerto Princesa Underground River, Philippines
7. Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa

Now this list and any list should be taken with a grain of salt. There are accusations that the New7Wonders is just a marketing scam (which they deny).

I'm must more impressed by the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites:

• Amalfi Coast
• Ancient Thebes
• Angkor
• Central Amazon
• Chichén Itzá
• Easter Island
• Great Barrier Reef
• The Great Wall

• Kremlin and Red Square
• Machu Picchu
• Petra
• Phoenix Islands
• Taj Mahal
• Versailles
• Victoria Falls
• Works of Antoni Gaudí

Who's in your Genes?

I think I'm a clone now
'Cause every pair of genes is a hand-me-down
- Weird Al Yankovic lyrics

This wonderful graphic I found at http://visualecon.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/usancestry-2000.jpg  It shows the ancestry with the largest population in each county according to the 2000 census. However, the ancestry listed might not be a majority (>50%) of the population, just a plurality. In 2000, 58 percent of the population specified only one ancestry, 22 percent provided two ancestries, and 1 percent reported an unclassifiable ancestry such a mixture or adopted. Another 19 percent did not report any ancestry at all.

I'm surprised by the large midwest region descended from Germans. These are low density population states so we're not talking huge numbers of people but still, Germans? During my vacation this summer I drove through many of the bluish states. While visiting the Pabst mansion I learned that Milwaukee was a very German town in the early 1900s and that Pabst was just one of many German families with a Milwaukee beer brewery. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa I visited the Czech Village and learned that the town was once 25% Czech, drawn to the region by a huge sausage factory? Perhaps the German ancestry includes the old German-Austrian Empire such as Poland, the Czech Republic, etc?

I'm also surprised to see so little English ancestry on the map (why Nevada?) I can trace most of my family lines to England, with one ancestor from Germany, a few from France, and several from Sweden. Perhaps those of British descent are the ones declaring themselves as "American"?

Bottom Line

Genealogy can be a lot of fun and many records are available on the Internet. I've found many Quakers in my colonial ancestors, no idea why. The Swedish line were Mormons who emigrated to Utah and created some unusual family group sheets. Both my father's and mother's main line trace back to early Virginia farmers with several generations who settled new territories in the Midwest (Illinois, Nebraska) and kept moving westward along different paths until all my great-grandparents settled down in Idaho. Most of my relatives are still in Idaho four generations later with a fifth generation just started; my cousin's grandchildren.

Things to do this Weekend

“Hey Boo Boo, let's go get us a pic-a-nic basket” -Yogi Bear

On weekends my wife & I often have this dialog,
"What do you want to do?"
"I don't know, what do you want to do?"
"I don't know ..."

If you're stuck in this same loop of indecision,
WiseBread.com suggests 47 low-cost ways to have fun this weekend.

1. Go to a local Park

2. Watch the Sunset

3. Pack a Picnic Lunch and find a Shady Spot to Enjoy
We saw one family having a picnic under a tree in the parking lot of a mall.

4. Play Board Games

5. Play Card Games
My grandparents used to invite a few friends over and have a card night. I've never done that.

6. Do a Road Rally With Friends

7. Go on a Digital Scavenger Hunt

8. Throw a Bring Your Own Everything Party

9. Have a Bonfire or Campfire in Your Backyard

10. Get Ice Cream

11. Make a Romantic Dinner at home

12. Grill Something New

13. Go to the Museum or Zoo
Take advantage of free or discount days.

14. Scan Your Old Photographs

15. Pretend You're a Tourist in Your Community

16. Organize a Neighborhood Cleanup

17. Go to the Farmers Market

18. Pick Strawberries or Other Fruit

19. Bake a Pie

20. Volunteer at a Soup Kitchen or Homeless Shelter

21. Invite Your Neighbors Over

22. Go Fishing

23. Go to the Beach

24. Go to the Library

25. Host a Classic Movie Marathon

26. Rearrange the Furniture in Your House

27. Write Out Your Bucket List and Pick One to Do

28. Put Together a Jigsaw Puzzle

29. Volunteer to Babysit for Someone Who "Needs a Break"

30. Clean Out Your Closet and Donate to a Thrift Store

31. Watch for Shooting Stars

32. Go on a Bike Ride

33. Take a Free Online Class

34. Write Out Your Life Plan

35. Set Three New Goals for Yourself

36. Find a Community Play to Attend

37. Help Someone in Need

38. Buy Food for the Homeless and Listen to Their Stories

39. Go Bowling

40. Visit Garage Sales and Look for Deals

41. Tour the Local Fire or Police Station and Thank Them for Their Service

42. Visit a Local Nursing Home and Engage With the Residents

43. Plant a Garden

44. Go Dancing

45. Walk Through the Craft Store and Start an Art Project

46. Host a "Minute to Win It" Party

47. Write a Letter to a Family Member You Haven't Talked to in a While

Bottom Line

There's lots to do! Get going!

Fooling the Eyes

“I stayed in a really old hotel last night. They sent me a wake-up letter.” - Steven Wright

Today I'll direct you to another website that does an eye-opening comparison of hotel ad photos versus reality.
http://www.businessinsider.com/oyster-dont-trust-hotel-photos-2010-10

Bottom Line

If a picture is worth a thousand words, is the value changed by photoshopping? Even without photo alteration the article shows how careful photo framing can be very misleading.

Happy Veterans Day! It's the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
See my post from last year for a history of the holiday.
http://perpetualpreparedness.blogspot.com/2009/11/veterans-day.html

International Cell Phone Costs

“To be happy in this world, first you need a cell phone and then you need an airplane. Then you're truly wireless.” - millionaire Ted Turner

Warning - Cell phone companies are only too happy to take your money when you make mistake and are quite unwilling to write off the error.

For example, the first cell phone my wife & I owned was open face, meaning the number keys are always exposed. We did not lock down the phone and the 0 key must have been accidentally hit while the phone was in my wife's purse. We were charged for 60 minutes of operator assistance time. Not cheap. We objected - if an operator had picked up, clearly they would detect the mistake and terminate the call - total time of 1 minute. Why leave a "dead" line open for 60 minutes? 
No dice - we had to pay and now we only use clam shell style phones.

The first time I called by sister in Canada I used my cell phone and discovered afterwards that the rate is 60-80 cents a minute. That adds up fast!

The Consumerist tells a story of a college student who says she checked Facebook for 5 minutes a day for a week via her phone while on family vacation in Cancun. The bill is $11,667.73 for 600MB of data services to a foreign country.

Bottom Line

Unlike a credit card, the phone companies give no warning when huge charges are piling up. A commenter on the Consumerist story has the following suggestions:

This is why when I took my phone to Canada I shut it off 10 miles from the border. So many application on your phone can transmit data without your knowledge these days it's just easier to leave it off. Facebook may not have transferred 600mb worth of data, but there are other applications which can. Many of the applications I've downloaded on my Droid X talk to the Internet in the background, the app tells me it's going to do this, I just have to keep track of them.
My recommendation: Turns your smart phone off when going on a trip and buy a pay-as-you go phone when you reach your destination. Coasts about a hundred for phone and minutes, but you have a phone when you get where you're going.

P.S.
Speaking of cell phone costs. I visited the AT&T store after losing my cell phone. I'm not eligible for a free replacement (with new contract) until November. But I can get $75 off a phone with an early contract extension. However I was shocked to find that the cost of the "free" phones is $200 and up when purchased separately so I'd have to pay $125 to replace my phone. When I declined the AT&T rep suggested they could reactive an old AT&T phone if I still had one from prior contracts. I'll give that a try.

Budget Vacations

“Vacation is what you take when you can't take what you've been taking any longer.”

A friend and frequent reader of this blog, “SwedishMom”, has her own blog called “A Stranger Here”. Her family, with several young children, has traveled on some impressive vacations this summer while on a shoestring budget. She shares her tips for Vacations on a budget.

1. Plan & Prioritize
2. Take advantage of free attractions
3. Stay at hotels with continental breakfasts
4. Use the internet to find the best bargains for hotels and tickets
5. In big cities, consider leaving your car at the hotel and using public transportation. Find a hotel close to a subway/metro stop.
6. Look for specials and deals online (like free days or package deals)
7. Try a walking tour
8. Take advantage of recriprocal memberships at zoos and museums.
9. Look for interesting attractions close to home.

Bottom Line

I can personally confirm may of these tips. My wife & I recently joined friends for a Sunday brunch and spent just over $10 a person for a disappointing breakfast. That adds up fast on a trip. My wife works as a docent so many musuems will let us in for free when we ask. It never hurts to ask if a place will recognize your membership cards.