Wanderlusting - Did that ever happen to you?

Send the Travel Writers to Hell! or Nothing like a Rip Off to Ruin a Trip

greg — Wed, 21 May 2008 17:52:37 +0000

After having some great times living in Argentina we wanted to end our trip on a travel binge (note the important difference between living somewhere and travelling somewhere). So, we headed north on the so-called "Gringo Trail." After spending months reading various travel books and getting excited about the trip we set off. Who knew that in a few months time we would hate those travel writers for the inaccuracy of their data and the exaggeration of their prose?

Triumph... sort of.

Brook — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 23:47:22 +0000

I have been drive-by groped many, many times by men on bikes. Usually they ride up from behind and before I know it they are cupping my nalga. I have tried to react a few times, but usually I am wearing heels and wind up falling or just knicking their tire, not really doing anything but adding fuel to their dirty, self-satisfied chuckling. Well I finally made good. This morning, on my walk to work, a man on a bike was riding TOWARD me (fool!) and veered over toward me while putting his hand out, palm out, and down toward my areas.

China Doing Van Gogh - from Forbes

greg — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 13:39:19 +0000

So, Heather, I was eating my burrito and reading Forbes about Chinese painters who mimic the classics and sell them. It seems like a great idea for these Chinese painters. The story claimed that they work in painting camps as a big group, so I was curious if maybe you've seen one and what the conditions were like there as opposed to any other industries. It's a little less polluting than a chrome factory or something like that, but paint can also have it's downsides depending on the c

3rd grade Spanish

Nikki — Wed, 31 May 2006 22:21:44 +0000

I was teaching a 3rd grade class the other day where most of the students were native Spanish-speakers but were all mostly fluent in English. In case you were wondering, the new favorite 3rd grade song is Shakira/Wyclef's new "Hips Don't Lie", or as one of the students corrected the other students with his understanding of the song title, "Hips Don't Mind".

I gave the students an assignment to color and write their name on a cardboard building. One student decided to call his building "chingate" and thought he was pretty sneaky and showed his building to his surrounding friends. By third grade, you should know a) that if you're going to be sneaky, you need to use a sneakier word than chingate and b) more people speak Spanish than you think (even if they don't look like it). When I asked him (in Spanish) "what did you write?", I've never seen a marker scribble out a word so fast. He was so shocked that I busted him, that his fear ended up being punishment enough (although I did give him the old don't-do-that-evil-eye). Also in case you were wondering, 3rd graders don't have a filter and will make fun of your accent in Spanish.

A Chinese "Party"

HeatherFife — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 21:30:29 +0000

Chinese Party Invitation

Last week I received a phone call from a man named “Wallace” (his English name). He told me he was good friends with a foreign teacher who was here last year and was a student at a nearby University. He also wanted to invite me to a party at his university that was celebrating the English language. I agreed to go to the party and asked when the party would be.

He said, “How is Tuesday night?”

I said, “I can’t, I teach on Tuesday.”

Then he said, “But I already wrote your name on all the flyers!”

Flyers? I thought, what kind of party was this going to be?

Did that ever happen to you?

greg — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 13:17:02 +0000

{crazy story}...Did that ever happen to you?

About Wanderlusting

greg — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 13:16:22 +0000

Lustful Wanderers? Adventurous Travel Stories?

Ever since they met doing a pen-pal program for Home Schoolers, Brook and Heather have been friends. They decided to go to the same college together where they met Nikki, Travis Jo (not TJ), and Todd. They all love travelling and writing, they're all hilarious, and most importantly they're all besties. Nikki brought some baggage to the group in the form of her boyfriend (now husband) Greg who tries his best to fit in and add his own blend.

Together, the travel stories become Wanderlusting.org a travel journal, an adventure chronicle, and gloriously funny.

Some choice samples from the travel journal:

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On Getting Stranded In China

Nikki — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 22:58:13 +0000

I know we've all been stranded while traveling, but my least favorite thing is getting stranded where I don't know the language. On my way back from visiting Heather with Brook in China, my flight from Xi'an to Bejing was delayed because of bad weather and I missed my Bejing to Frankfurt connection. When I got to the airport in Bejing and went to the ticketing counter, I was directed to the Lufthansa office, where I waited and was told I would have to buy a new ticket from Bejing to Frankfurt. Oh, shit. I went back to the ticketing counter in a panic and begged to be put on the next day's flight.

Getting Drunk in Foreign Lands

greg — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 21:48:44 +0000

Oh my gosh you guys, we were in this bar in {insert location} and we were so drunk from these {insert drink name} that are a really indigenous drink and we partied until 6:00 am because it's just the cultural thing to do in {insert country of location}.

Guatemalan Revival

Nikki — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 20:21:42 +0000

You can learn a lot about a place traveling with missionaries. On a trip to Guatemala, I ended up in the back of a pickup truck with my sister and friend on the way to a revival. Not being a regular revival-goer, I wasn't quite sure what was going to go down. Apparently, traditionally Catholic Central America is becoming big-time born again territory. When we got to the packed warehouse size church, the event had already started and as we walked to our seats, we started to notice that something strange was going on. Looking around, there were people standing up crying like they had just lost a family member, rocking on their feet and wailing for hours. There were others, who were staggering around like college freshmen on a Friday night that we were later told were "drunk in the spirit". Say what? Still others were speaking in tongues while others laughed hysterically for hours. This guy speaking in tongues--to the tune of "abombolebobole" to this day makes me shudder.