The Travel Oops Interview: The Great Blurrier Reef

Posted on September 27, 2012 by sglaser

Suzanne and Jason Miller.

Murky, gray water and zero visibility are not the conditions the postcards and the documentaries promise when they feature the Great Barrier Reef. However, the photographers behind the incredible images were probably not shooting during a typhoon.

Interestingly, while the surface of the ocean may be swirling and raging during a typhoon, underneath the water, a certain calm is maintained. Not that the sand isn’t churned up in a messy way. Consequently, Suzanne Miller and her husband, Jason, missed out on the electric colors, crystal blue waters and endless schools of vivid fish while on a dive off the coast of Cairns, Australia, in April 2010. Despite the fact they dove during a tropical storm, the Millers rank this dive high on their list of accomplishments. The dive also happens to be a great Travel Oops.

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Dropping the “F-Bomb” in Class

Posted on September 25, 2012 by sglaser

Heads Up: As you may have guessed from the title, this post contains a bit of profanity — and it’s the big one. I said it — a few times…in front of kids. These definitely were not the finest moments in my career as a teacher. I’m not really proud of what I did, but it definitely makes for a Travel Oops story.

Here I am…calm and collected.

Many teachers, at one time or another, have considered the potentially heavy consequences of dropping the “F-bomb” in class. On the other hand, you also consider the liberation of uttering the ultimate.

Teachers on the ledge may have an interior monologue that goes something like this: “What will actually break me? How will the kids react? How many parents will call? Will I be fired? Will my colleagues dismiss me or applaud my actions? Will it be as satisfying as I imagine?”

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The Travel Ahh….

Posted on September 23, 2012 by sglaser

As anyone who travels knows, there are missteps, mishaps and misadventures, but then there are those perfect moments when we say: “Yeah, this is why I travel.” A Travel Ahh…

These photos are of aspen trees outside of Aspen, Colorado. Fall colors come early in the mountains of Colorado, and Kurt, the kids and I usually go on a drive to see the trees in their glory. I remember when I first moved to CO, I kept thinking, “This is pretty, but really, is this it? Where are all the other vibrant colors like the bright oranges and reds?”

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The Friday Funny Sign — Picnic in a Prison Park?

Posted on September 22, 2012 by sglaser

Travel Oops is introducing another new feature: “The Friday Funny Sign.” Whether they have a unique translation, bizarre concept or just grab your attention, signs can be a huge source of entertainment while traveling. Consequently, Travel Oops will showcase funny or unusual signs.

This photo is from the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility (CTCF) in Cañon City, CO. Having a park, gift shop and museum right next to the actual prison just seems so out of place. If you look closely, you can see razor wire in the background of the photo.

In all fairness, I haven’t been to the park, museum or gift shop; it all could be lovely. Up until the 1990’s, the CTCF housed Colorado’s death row. As a result, there is some history, but wow — a family picnic at the Prison Park??? And the gift shop?? What do they sell? An electrical switch or hand cuffs, striped apparel?? I suppose ultimately, you would be somewhat safe, since no escapee would hang out at the gift shop or park next to a prison, and there would be plenty of security….but….again, hmmm.

Actually, it would be interesting just to check it out and have a picnic there so you could say you had done it.

The Travel Oops Interview (The Rickshaw Wreck)

Posted on September 20, 2012 by sglaser

For a Westerner, India seems ready made for a Travel Oops. Certainly, at the very least, visitors, inevitably, encounter the unexpected.

Jane Whitmer, a program manager who teachers a Nurturing Parenting class for the Family and Youth Initiative in Salida, CO, says her travel mantra is “Be open to the Possibilities.”

With that attitude, she traveled to India in the summer of 2012, and at one point, she even told one of her traveling companions, “You’re in for a ride now, Helen. This is India.”

A seasoned traveler, Whitmer had wanted to visit India for the past 10 years. After arriving there in June, her adventures included having a cobra rest on her head; meditating and doing yoga at an ashram; staying at a rickshaw driver and his family’s house; walking on a back road that included obstacles like irrigation channels, barbed wire fences and bulldozers; and riding on a bus that traveled via a one-lane road over an 18,000 ft. mountain pass — just to name a few.

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The Travel Oops Interview

Posted on September 14, 2012 by sglaser

Introducing Travel Oops’s new feature: The Travel Oops Interview.

Ed and Judy Schuck, my parents.

Forty years ago this year, Judy Schuck, who happens to be my mom and a prominent figure in Travel Oops, traveled with my dad, Ed, and friends of theirs, Audrey and Harry, to Bulgaria during the Cold War. Engineers for Medtronic, Ed and Harry had been invited to attend a medical conference in Sophia, Bulgaria.

The reminder of Communism was ever present and the feeling of being watched was very real. However, according to Judy, the Bulgarians were lovely people. Ultimately, politics again entered the scene because when the Schucks were leaving Bulgaria, it was right after the tragic shootings at the Munich Olympics. Their flight back to the United States was detained because the pilots of the plane were not going to fly through Syrian airspace. That, however, was just one of the mishaps.

Where was one of your most memorable Travel Oops?

Bulgaria in 1972.

What happened in Bulgaria?

This was 1972 and although they were letting tourists in, Bulgaria was still in control of the Communists and the government. And to get there from Yugoslavia, we took the Orient Express. It was the worst [train] you could imagine and the only difference between first class, which we paid for, and coach was that in first class, you had cushions and pads on the wooden benches.

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“Tossing cookies” into a Dutch Canal

Posted on September 11, 2012 by sglaser

One of Leiden’s many canals.
© Stephanie Glaser

“Overgeven.” It’s a Dutch verb that translates as: “to vomit, barf, spew, puke.” It covers pretty much every way to expel your insides. And, really, it is one of the most effective verbs in any language, because when pronounced properly with a “guttural g,” the word sounds like what it is. A global onomonopia. The result, indeed, sounds like heaving or at least clearing a stubborn popcorn kernel out of one’s throat.

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The Travel Ahh….

Posted on September 8, 2012 by sglaser

As anyone who travels knows, there are missteps, mishaps and misadventures, but then there are those perfect moments when we say: “Yeah, this is why I travel.” A Travel Ahh…

Young man and the Sea

My son, Eddie, is on his first deep sea fishing expedition in Los Cabos, Mexico. He couldn’t wait to get out on the ocean with Kurt and his Grandpa Ed. Here he patiently waits for a fish. Patience pays off and he (along with the help of Kurt) reeled in a dorado. The bottom photo clearly shows his feelings about the day.

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“Suitcasing” it in France and sitting like luggage on the TGV

Posted on September 7, 2012 by sglaser

There’s a reason college students and budget travelers go “backpacking” and not “suitcasing.” Big suitcases without wheels are awkward…very awkward —especially when you are running through the Paris metro trying, ultimately, to get to Gare de Lyon to make it to France’s fastest train, the TGV.

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Ditching the Strollers in Bali

Posted on September 5, 2012 by sglaser

No kid car seats. I convinced myself this was no big deal as I looked in the eight-passenger seat van that had arrived to pick us up at the Denpasar Airport. Calm down. This is Bali and things are a bit different here. I asked the driver, Waylan, if there were some seats lying around that needed to be set up.

“No, I am sorry, we don’t have car seats for the little ones,” Waylan said as he hoisted up my three-year-old daughter Kasey and tickled her chin. He then leaned over to give her five-year-old brother, Eddie, a high-five.

“They will be fine,” he reassured my husband Kurt and me with a smile displaying the most reflective set of white teeth I’ve seen aside from a Crest White Strips ad. “I am an excellent driver.”

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