Category Archives: Travel

My position on the beauty of cultural globalization hinges on a difficult word: authenticity. Some critics think any kind of synthetic culture is not authentic, not real. I have two interesting real world examples from my recent travel which illustrate the complexity of this part of the argument.

This is a restaurant in Dublin, Ireland which boasts "authentic Moroccan cuisine." What exactly makes it authentic? Do they have Moroccan chefs? Does it taste as good as it does in Morocco? Since I’m not familiar with Moroccan cuisine, I will use another food I’m more familiar with: sushi. I’m fairly confident I could find sushi at the best sushi bar in San Francisco that’s as good as most sushi in Japan. Is my sushi less authentic? Another example. At Denver Airport a few months ago I bought Chinese food served by Arab immigrants staffing the restaurant. The Chinese food was as good as your basic Chinese food you’d find in any average restaurant. Does the fact that the food was served in an airport by non-Chinese workers mean anything?

In Dresden, Germany they have spent hundreds of millions of euros rebuilding all that was destroyed in WWII. They are rebuilding in the "old" style of the early 20th century. So the building may be built in 2006, but to someone who wasn’t aware of the reconstruction effort, you could easily guess from its architecture that it was built in 1920. Is this "new oldness" as authentic as the building in the next own over that actually was built in 1920 but looks identical to the Dresden building?

It’s easy to forget that. As some know, eBay made “Peple Are Generally Good” as a mantra for the company; it’s the trust that holds the Company’s services together.

Now we live in a world rife with corruption. Be it congresspeople or CEOs, wrongdoers are all over the headlines. Services like Rapleaf have to pop up to try to curb the ethical fallacies of the commerce world.

But we can’t let the wrongdoers dominate the news too much. After all, most people are generally good. I realized this on the train the other day, reflecting on the generosity of my first hosts in Ireland — Frank and Mary Lynch. Frank reached out to me as a total stranger (as a blog reader) and offered his home and local expertise to me. It was an act of enormous kindness and there are others on this trip who will do the same.

It doesn’t stop there. The general good will in people in the world to help travelers or guests has surprised me. In a very good way. When I first started planning my trip some people said, “Ben, the world won’t be very kind to a young American traveling around. Many people don’t like Americans given the current political environment.” Nothing could be farther from the truth. People are accepting me and others with open arms, offering assistance, helping locate things on a map, and helping explain the fare rules on a metro service.

People are generally good. Thinking about this renews my love for and belief in life and people. I believe in the goodness of this moment and in the potential of tomorrow. I believe people are out to help you, not to get you.

And this has made all the difference.

Two stories about Europe’s assault on h2o. (In case you’re not following my Travel Blog, finding water is becoming the Big Challenge of my trip.)

First. In Cologne I went to a gym to work out. After inspecting the facility I decided to pay the 15 euros day pass since there was an abundance of both cardio and weights. After paying and choosing my stationary bike, I felt that thirst come on and darted my eyes around in search of a water fountain. I saw nothing. I politely asked the person working reception: “Excuse me, where are your water fountains?” She responds: “Oh I’m sorry, we don’t have any. If you would like, you can rent this water bottle for 1 euro and then I can fill it up for you behind the desk as many times as you want.” To repeat: The exercise gym — where people SWEAT and EXERT — did not provide free water to its patrons. Moreover, if you wanted to fill up your bottle, you had to ask the attendant who filled it up from the bar, right next to all the various German beers. Please, please, please: do not tell me the Germans drink beer while working out?!

Second. Unable to find any free water fountain I ask the lady working the front desk of the hotel if she could fill up my bottle. She gave a thoroughly confused look as if to say, “Water bottles? Who drinks water from a bottle?” She then walked with me to the kitchen / restaurant of the hotel and handed me a big glass bottle of “still water.” Hmm, I was hoping for a sink to fill up my bottle. But it was the size of a wine bottle, so I was happy. Then the lady asked for my room number. Oh no, she’s not going to charge me is she? I debated whether to give her my room number and have her levy the charge on the next occupant, since we had already checked out. Alas, my moral compass didn’t let me. So I said, “Pay? Can I pay in cash?” She took me over to the front desk. No one was understanding each other. Before I could comprehend what was going on — I just wanted to fill my bottle up — I had paid the lady 3 euros. She then asked if I wanted a cup to drink it out of. I said no, and promptly twisted over the top, and started drinking from the glass bottle itself (think of drinking wine straight out of the bottle). I think they gave a horrified look but I didn’t a shit: I was thirsty. I needed my water.

Does anyone want to join me and stop this assault on h2o in Europe? Can somebody help explain this madness?

When I turned 18, around 80 Friends of Ben gave me thoughts on life and one theme came up over and over again: Travel! See the world! Do it now while it’s cheap and you’re young!

Well guys, you spoke, I listened, and tomorrow morning is Day 1 of my seven week live-out-of-a-backpack journey in Europe.

I have a great trip lined up, mostly due to you, dear reader, and all the other 999 people who read this blog. Thanks to my blog readers, I am blessed with open doors and local expertise. Because I am an obsessive organizer/planner, I have an Excel sheet hour-by-hour, day-by-day for seven weeks. But I promise not every hour is filled! I’ve budgeted flexibility so I can change my mind along the way.

Psychologically I’m getting ready to lower my standards on all levels — communication, food, showers, warm beds, etc. I’m also preparing myself for lots of things to go wrong. After all, the most I’ve traveled is three weeks in Zurich last summer. Other than that, I haven’t been out of the U.S. or San Francisco for more than a few days in all my 18 years. So: shit will hit the fan….and those are the stories that will make for the best blog posts!

If you would like to follow my travel adventures, check out my Gap Year Travel Blog. Otherwise, this blog will remain normal programming, with the occasional highlight or two from the road. If you are going to be in any of the cities I’m in, email me.

With that, I say so long and pray that I get exit row seats!

I’m going to be in Europe for seven weeks this summer, so I suppose today is helping me build my "travel endurance." I don’t mind traveling, even when there are headaches, because everyone around me is flipping out so I get many good laughs. Today was "one of those days" — stranded at Chicago O’Hare. If you saw a tall guy with uncombed hair being escorted out of the United Red Carpet Club today (long story), yeah, that was me. You’ll find me now at the Chicago Hyatt Regency where I’ve been put up for the night by the world’s most fucked up airline. Thanks United!!!