The Unfortunate Photo: Flipping Off The Acropolis (not really)

Posted on September 17, 2013 by sglaser

Indira and I take a break from our sprint to the ferry to look at the Acropolis in the distance.

Athens, Greece, 1995. After meeting up with my friend Indira at 3 a.m. in the Athens airport, we slept in a hotel for about 4 hours before getting up to catch a ferry to the Greek islands. Underestimating how long it would take to get to the ferry, we ended up sprinting to the port. However, we took a two-minute break so we could revel in the Acropolis. Two minutes, photo, done.

Because we spent all our time island hopping, I never made it back to the Acropolis. So this is my memory. Oh, and it appears that I’m giving the Acropolis “the bird” or maybe just the photographer. Actually, I was pointing with my index finger, but it looks, suspiciously, like my middle finger.

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.

Travel Oops: Unfortunate Photos Complete with Unfortunate Fashion

Posted on March 1, 2013 by sglaser

Feeling French in my pea coat, scarf and LeSportsac while my sister Suz looks fairly normal. © Edward Schuck 1985

This series of photos is unfortunate in so many ways. First there is the fact that my overexposed sister Suzanne and I, along with our bad 80’s perms, essentially block out and overshadow the Eiffel Tower. Then, we are wearing some pretty atrocious coats. Actually, I’m really the one who is wearing a rejected carpet remnant.

Continue reading →

Travel Oops: The Unfortunate Photo — All Templed Out

Posted on February 24, 2013 by sglaser

Bali, Indonesia. My kids Eddie (5) and Kasey (3) actually loved Bali. But you wouldn’t know it from these photos. In fact, they look pretty pissed off. “Not another temple, Mom!” Eddie exclaimed when we arrived at the Pura Taman Ayun Temple — or the Royal Temple of Mengwi. In all fairness, to visit Pura Taman Ayun, we had dragged the kids away from the water slide at our hotel.

Enamored with Bali’s temples, I couldn’t get enough, so nearly every day we were on the island we saw a new spiritual site. In the above photo, we had met an artist who was painting a piece at Pura Taman Ayun. Kasey was mildly curious, so I wanted to snap a photo — one of those feel good travel photos of your kids interacting with locals and absorbing the culture. When I asked her to smile for the camera, Kasey instantly scowled at me.

Kurt and I with our bitter kids.

Travel Oops: The Unfortunate Photo — Really…that’s me out on the surfboard!

Posted on February 18, 2013 by sglaser

Sydney, Australia. My most recent Oops story covered my attempts at surfing. While I was looking for photos for the post, I came across these images. Of course, I wanted evidence if I got up on the board during my first lesson. Kurt, my husband, was at our hotel while our daughter Kasey napped, so he was unavailable to snap photos.

I asked my friend Deb to take photos instead. I thought I had shown her the zoom function, but maybe not. When Deb told me that she got a picture, I envisioned an image of me looking badass on the board. What I didn’t expect was that you would not be able to identify me at all. I was grateful that Deb took photos, but Kurt probably could have looked out the window of our hotel and gotten the same shot. Below is an enlarged version in which you still can’t tell it’s me. Continue reading →

Travel Oops: The Unfortunate Photo — The Fountain of Timbers

Posted on February 10, 2013 by sglaser

Rome, Italy. Anyone who’s traveled in Europe during the summer has seen this familiar sight: scaffolding. The Trevi Fountain or Fontana di Trevi in Rome was the victim when I traveled to Italy in 1989. Undeterred, I took a photo of my friends Amy and Leah anyway.

Here is what it normally looks like:

Travel Oops: The Unfortunate Photo — Loving Our London Fogs

Posted on February 1, 2013 by sglaser

Me, my sister, Suzie, and my mom, Judy. © Edward Schuck 1980

Monterrey, California, USA. I don’t think my dad took a photo from our family trip to San Francisco and the towns along Highway 1 in which we are not wearing our trench coats. Granted, the weather was fairly overcast and cloudy, but dang, we got more than our money’s worth with this rain-ready apparel. Clearly, I had a prominent Dutchboy bowl haircut. Constantly being mistaken for a boy, I definitely was in the awkward years.

Classic cable car shot: My sister and I look like we’re in a Rice-a-Roni — “The San Francisco Treat” ad. The guy in the red sweater and leather jacket brings some much-needed style into the photo.

Continue reading →

Travel Oops: The Unfortunate Photo — “Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi!!”

Posted on January 24, 2013 by sglaser

Sydney, Australia, The Opera House. I love this picture, but this is one of those photos I’m sure my son, Eddie, will look back at and go, “Really, Mom? Why did you dress me that way…what were you thinking?!” We actually hadn’t meant to have him wear the Down Under shirt. We had limited clothes that we were wearing in Sydney because we didn’t yet want to disturb our massive suitcases that we packed for our year-long adventure in Adelaide. Eddie, who was 4-years-old at the time, did not want to pose for the photo in the first place. He did, however, like the orange color of this shirt that we had purchased for him the day before.

All we needed was Paul Hogan to photo bomb this and say, “Hey, America, visit Australia and let’s put another shrimp on the barbie!” (I recently saw the old ad in which he says something to this effect and consequently, misleads a few generations of Americans to repeat that phrase, thinking it as authentic.)

Travel Oops: The Unfortunate Photo — “I’m checking out her…form”

Posted on January 17, 2013 by sglaser

Copenhagen, Denmark: International Sand Sculpture Championship. Who can blame this man (on the far left) for checking out this form? The sculptures at this competition are truly amazing art, especially this beautiful one of a curvy naked woman. The funny thing is that his travel party is moving on and he lingers, pretty much transfixed.

Travel Oops: The Unfortunate Photo — Here’s a ‘Little Ditty’ about a Rock Star Who Didn’t Really Want his Picture Taken

Posted on January 10, 2013 by sglaser

Look at how excited John Mellencamp is to pose with me!

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA. In 1986, I posed in a photo with John (Cougar) Mellencamp, one of the biggest rock ‘n rollers in the United States at the time. “Jack and Diane,” “Hurts So Good” “Pink Houses,” “Small Town,” “Lonely Ol’ Night,” “R.O.C.K’ in the USA” are a few of his “little” ditties.

You don’t need to be a body language reading expert to assess that the picture was pretty much taken against his will. That summer, Mellencamp was vacationing in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I was there, too, with my good friend, Melissa, and her family. The condo where we stayed overlooked Mellencamp’s penthouse. Word on the beach was that he was staying there, and that we might run into him.

One day I was walking on the beach with Melissa’s cousin, Catherine, from Pennsylvania. She spotted Mellencamp, and being a bit more…aggressive, persistent and “east coast,” shall we say, she immediately had a mission. “Come awwwn, Steph…let’s go talk to him,” Catherine said as she trooped over to get his photo. She shoved me in the picture, and I felt very awkward, especially since it was clear John did not want to be bothered.