Entries by Two Twins Twavel
Phi Ta Khon – Ghost Mask Festival, Thailand
If hundreds of people wearing lurid, ghoulish masks with schlongish noses and shaking giant wooden penises doesn’t sound like a family-friendly event to you, then you’re clearly not from my family AND you’re not getting an invite to my next party. I’d been desperate to see the Phi Tha Kon (ผีตาโขน) “Ghost Mask” festival in […]
Our Whirlwind Tour of Europe
There’s an old joke about Americans’ whirlwind tours of Europe: Son: Where are we Dad? Dad: (Consulting itinerary) Well it’s Tuesday, so this must be France. It’s funny. But it’s not really a joke at all. With so few vacation days, Americans tend to overdo their schedules and under-do their understanding. As a nation, we’re […]
What Really Counts in Travel?
Robert Major was obsessed with the number of countries that he had visited. On the bus ride from Bonito to Iguazu Falls, we had gotten into a spirited, but light-hearted discussion about what countries “counted” and which countries didn’t. (Initially impressed by our total, he later expressed skepticism at some of our inclusions: “Hong Kong was British […]
The Sunrise Scam
I am going to let you in on one of the biggest scams in the travel industry. Not hidden commissions, or overbooked flights, or rigged taxi meters. I am talking about The Sunrise Scam. Today, in thousands of places around the world, dawn is breaking on freezing tourists who have been forced out of bed […]
The Turkish Driver’s Guide
I drove over 5000 kilometers in three weeks in Turkey, and can authoritatively say that Turkish drivers are some of the worst in the world. They are so bad that it got me thinking that they must be operating from a different driver’s manual. Sure enough, they are. I had a friend translate the most important […]