Signs of the Times: Wildlife? Really?

Posted on April 20, 2013 by sglaser

Pikes Peak Parking Lot, Denver International Airport, United States. Often people think of Colorado as an idyllic setting for wildlife. However, usually an airport parking lot is not part of the wildlife landscape. I guess you never know — some bunny or bird of prey with longing in their eyes may approach, prompting you to give them some “drive-thru” McDonald’s morsels.

Cars parked in the Pikes Peak parking lot © Stephanie Glaser

Driving on plenty of wildlife friendly asphalt. © Stephanie Glaser

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Travel Oops: The Outback or the Rainforest?

Posted on April 12, 2013 by sglaser

This isn’t the actual road to Uluru, but this was common to see when we arrived in Alice Springs.

It was pretty obvious a minivan could not plow through the goopy, sloppy red Outback route to Uluru. Essentially, the roads were open only to the burliest of vehicles. No matter how much the Honda Odyssey believed it was a Mad Maxian four-wheel drive, there was no way we would make it. No way. It was time to find another mode of transportation to take us to the most famous monolith in the world.

Uncharacteristically heavy rains had churned and upturned the soil of Australia’s red center. Water wrecked havoc on the town of Alice Springs, and the Todd River had overtaken some of the city’s streets.

Locals said if you saw the Todd River even flow at all at three times you were a local. Considering the river’s raging water, we definitely were one-third local.

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Travel Ahh…Silhouettes

Posted on April 9, 2013 by sglaser

Silhouettes not only capture definite outlines, edges and angles of a subject, but they offer a bit of mystery, too. That’s what I like so much about them. I also like silhouettes because they seem a bit more forgiving when you’re taking a photo. The above photo of the boat I took after a stunning sunset in Kalbarri, Western Australia.

Kalbarri, Western Australia.

Bali, Indonesia. It’s impossible not to take a good photo of Tanah Lot, one of the sacred Hindu temples on Bali.

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Signs of the Times: Beavis and Butt-head, This is for You Guys

Posted on April 6, 2013 by sglaser

Adelaide, Australia. Although I love Asian food, my inner adolescent boy came out strong with this one. I used to drive by this sign daily on my way to work. Kurt, the kids and I ate at A Dong a few times and I highly recommend the restaurant. In fact, I always wished I had taken a photo of the establishment before we left at the end of 2010. However, upon returning to Adelaide last month, I had a mission. While doing this post, I checked to see if there was a translation for A Dong from Vietnamese to English and could not find one. So, that still leaves the original connotation alive.

“I Have a Problem with the Blood of a Woman…”

Posted on April 4, 2013 by sglaser

Barcelona, Spain. 1995

Stationing myself next to Ba-Ba-Reeba’s restroom, I stopped every woman who entered and asked, “Perdon, tiene usted un tampon? TamPONE? Tampax? Playtex? Kotex?”

Just moments earlier while enjoying a beer and tapas at the Barcelona bar with some Americans I had met on a train from Madrid, I discovered the added company of my period. Yikes — my supplies were a few miles away back at a pension off Las Ramblas. I asked my new friend Allie if she had a tampon. Nope.

Back in the bathroom, there was no dispenser in sight, and no one who came in seemed to have any spare tampons or pads. Didn’t anyone carry backups? It was time to act since I didn’t want my only pair of jeans to be ruined. Leaving Ba-Ba-Reeba, I searched the streets near Plaça de Catalunya. Surely, Wal-Mart had invaded Catalunya.

It was siesta time, and the nearby shops and stores were closed while shopkeepers observed the afternoon break. It seemed inevitable. I would have to approach the intimidating women of Iberia on the streets.

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Signs of the Times: “Dumb Ways to Die” – a Twisted (yet fun) Train Safety Campaign in Melbourne

Posted on April 2, 2013 by sglaser

Metro Train Stations, Melbourne, Australia. While waiting for a train at the Flinders Street Station, I noticed a rather interesting piece of art by the bathrooms. A partial skeleton was somewhat incinerated after sticking a fork in a toaster. I didn’t think too much about it other than: “hmmm that’s a bit odd.”

Then a large mural caught my eye. My sister, Suzanne, was checking it out as well. Cute little jellybean characters all stood around proclaiming “I solemnly swear to be safe around trains.” At the bottom of the mural was a series of dashed lines in the shape of a person. It’s an outline that you tell your kid to go stand next to for a photo op.

Upon further inspection, we realized that all the cute jellybeans were enduring horrific deaths — all while smiling in good fun. I believe the metaphor of “train wreck” is fairly appropriate at this ironic morbid moment. Fascinated, we tried to guess the culprits of the killings.

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Travel Oops: People Really Do Win These Things…

Posted on March 27, 2013 by sglaser

A lemon cake. That’s what I won at a school carnival in third grade at Forest Hills Elementary in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, USA. Contestants walked around a circle marked by numbers on the floor while music played until the cake walk ringleader stopped the song. If the ringleader announced your number, you won the cake.

Despite the fact I didn’t particularly like lemon cake, I was quite impressed with my prize and my luck. It’s a good thing because that is essentially the only award by chance I have received. I’m not really counting a pair of ski gloves I won at a raffle last year since, basically, almost all raffle contestants were out skiing or in the lodge drinking beer when the tickets were drawn. Due to several no-shows, I claimed the gloves with one of the last remaining tickets.

However, my luck karma reached jackpot levels at the end of 2012. After entering a Facebook contest sponsored by Lonley Planet, Tourism Australia and Virgin Australia Airlines, I won two roundtrip tickets to Australia. Yeah. I know. HUGE. MASSIVE. MEANT TO BE!! People really do win these things.

The Universe must have been listening. Ever since my family and I returned broke in 2011 from my exchange teaching stint in Adelaide, I have joked that I need to find someone else to pay for or sponsor our travel. The Universe came through — BIG TIME.

The contest involved writing a 25-words-or-less bit about who you would take to Australia and why. Of course, I chose my husband, Kurt. I must admit that in my entry writeup, I didn’t want to admit that we had lived in Oz already. So I wrote something rather vague and cheesy. Here’s the spiel:

“A real homebody, my husband Kurt has just recently given travel a go; I want to share the world with him!”

I figured the part about “recently giving travel a go” was vague enough to cover…”he hadn’t really traveled outside the country until we moved to Australia, and then we traveled HEAPS.”

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Signs of the Times: “Sorry, Christ the Redeemer, You are not Authorized”

Posted on March 23, 2013 by sglaser

Ski Cooper, Colorado. When I first saw this sign, I immediately thought of the famous Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor) statue in Rio de Janeiro. Really, the sign, I believe, is meant to say children or babies are not allowed. Then, I thought how would a baby even walk over there and open the door in the first place.

Travel Ahh…Sunrise and Dust Bunny Clouds Somewhere over the South Pacific

Posted on March 19, 2013 by sglaser

Around Fiji, Oceania. Changing several time zones forces you to be a morning person. Generally, I don’t have an AM nature, but I don’t mind turning into a morning person thousands of miles from home. Reason? Sunrises. I took these photos, which are pretty grainy, yesterday on my way to Australia (more on this later). I love that the clouds look like collections of lint balls or dust bunnies.

I’m so psyched to be back Down Under. Posts on Travel Oops may be a bit sporadic and random for the next two weeks. Also, I’m behind in answering comments as well commenting and checking out all the Reader and all the great posts out there! In the meantime, I’ll be gathering material…

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The Unfortunate Photo: Checking out the floor tiles of the Taj Mahal

Posted on March 17, 2013 by sglaser

My friend Jane Whitmer was kind enough to let me use this photo of her at the Taj Mahal. Talk about trooper: Jane had bedbugs, Delhi Belly, and it was 120 degrees fahrenheit on the day she visited this Wonder of the World.

Here’s the Travel Oops Interview about Jane and her travels to India.