The week in travel: October 22, 2010

The world is a small place. A teeny tiny, ridiculously small place. You will find, on this great big planet of ours, that you really can’t swing a dead cat without bumping into someone you know.

That’s big the big lesson of the week. A week full of chance meetings with friends and loved ones, a result of so many coincidences, that for a second, you almost begin to think there’s some higher power involved. Really, when you think about how much our life is spent surrounded by strangers, how much we leave up to chance – finding a friend or someone to love in this big crazy world … well, it’s nothing short of winning the lottery.

I’ve been trying to put all this into words – how life is mostly chance, and if by some magic your life is fantastic, well … you should feel very, very lucky. But I haven’t been able to articulate it all that well. Which is why I was absolutely amazed when I found that, by pure coincidence, my dear friend Philip (that’s right. I said it. We’re friends) over at A Lifetime of Worry, was feeling the same way. And he describes his feelings of gratitude and happiness over his charmed life beautifully. Read it. It’s how I feel. Coincidence and life being what it is, it’s probably how you feel, too.

And, now, as Philip would say, on to the week that was …

—————-

Rand recently sent me this image of a Google maps trip from London to Istanbul. Check out the warnings, listed in yellow. Someone clearly has a problem with the French.

—————-

I spent most of this week in NYC, but sadly, the street performers weren’t half as cool as Atomic Tom, who performed a rousing rendition of one of their songs on the subway. Pretty fantastic, especially when you consider that they were iPods instead of instruments (also, take note: that is how you do product placement, kids).

—————-

I don’t know how many times I have to say this: when you smuggle a live crocodile in your suitcase, bad things will happen. Very bad things. Resulting in a story that is as ridiculous as it is tragic.

—————-

Fall is officially here, kids. Time to bundle up (seriously, who has time to do this? I don’t have time to pay my bills).

—————-

Oh, and Halloween is coming. Feel free to embarrass any creature unable to voice disagreement.

—————-

Speaking of the world being a small place, check out the winners of Nikon’s Small World Competition, in which photographers find beauty in objects placed under a light microscope.

—————-

I won’t lie: if a product has the tagline “set your phasers to stunning” I will inevitably buy it. Especially if said product is Shirtless Kirk cologne.

—————-

And speaking of shirtless (and pantless, too, while we’re at it), Memphis-based pilot Michael Roberts refused to undergo the full body scan now required by the TSA at several airports. He explains his entire experience for the Baltimore Sun, stating that the point of his protest is to protect everyone’s civil liberties. I think he’s 100% right. I’m just sad that his logical, clear-headed thinking is considered “newsworthy” instead of “normal”.

—————-

On the truly newsworthy front: how did we go so many years without figuring out this is the way we should be dunking our Oreos?

—————-

That’s it for this week, folks. I’m busy and on the road – hence the lack of activity on Twitter and the blog. My sincerest apologies that things have been quiet. Next week might be a bit slow, too, but I promise I’ll try to send some entertaining snark your way. And keep your eyes peeled – no promises yet, but there might be another blog on the horizon …