Travel Philosophy (from Rick Steves)

I read this a few years ago and really liked it, and then couldn't find it again until just the other day. I thought it was worth sharing. This is from Rick Steves.

Back Door Travel Philosophy

From Rick Steves' "Europe Through the Back Door"

Travel is freedom... one of the last great sources of legal adventure. Travel is intensified living, with maximum thrills per minute. It's recess, and we need it. Experiencing the real Europe requires catching it by surprise, going casual... Through the Back Door.

Affording travel is a matter of priorities. (Make do with the old sofa.) You can travel simply, safely, and comfortably anywhere in Europe for $100 a day plus transportation costs. In many ways, spending more money only builds a thicker wall between you and what you came to see. Europe is a cultural carnival, and time after time, you'll find that its best acts are free and the best seats are the cheap ones.

A tight budget forces you to travel close to the ground, meeting and communicating with the people. Never sacrifice sleep, nutrition, safety, or cleanliness in the name of budget. Simply enjoy the local-style alternatives to expensive hotels and restaurants.

Extroverts have more fun. If your trip is low on magic moments, kick yourself and make things happen. If you don't enjoy a place, maybe you don't know enough about it. Seek the truth. Recognize tourist traps. Give a culture the benefit of your open mind. See things as different but not better or worse. Any culture has much to share.

Of course, travel, like the world, is a series of hills and valleys. Be fanatically positive and militantly optimistic. If something's not to your liking, change your liking. Travel is addicting. It can make you a happier American, as well as a citizen of the world. Our Earth is home to nearly 6 billion equally important people. It's humbling to travel and find that people don't envy Americans. Europeans like us, but with all due respect, they wouldn't trade passports.

Globetrotting destroys ethnocentricity. It helps you understand and appreciate different cultures. Travel changes people. It broadens perspectives and teaches new ways to measure quality of life. Many travelers toss aside their hometown blinders. Their prized souvenirs are the strands of different cultures they decide to knit into their own character. The world is a cultural yarn shop. Back Door Travelers are weaving the ultimate tapestry.

Join in!

–Rick Steves

Some Snow Day

Living in The South, we don't get a lot of snow, and the snow we do get causes a disproportionate amount of misery. Schools cancel for the smallest amounts of snow, sometimes even when that amount is 0". People fear blizzards of Little House on the Prairie proportions when but a few inches are predicted. For the most part, people don't venture out in their cars (fortunately), but those who do abandon all common sense and maneuver their vehicles like Toonces the Cat. Its sad, funny, and frustrating all at the same time.

But snow also causes a disproportionate amount of joy. Kids want to try everything they've seen people do with snow regardless of how little they have to do it with. Sledding, snowmen, snow angels, snowball fights. . . the works. And adults who maybe have had the chance to do all those things remember what it was like to be kids.

So when we got ~8" of snow, we made the most of it.

Sledding on a borrowed cafeteria tray (because we don't own sleds)




and getting outside with the neighbors to see which unplowed street is the fastest.


















And in addition to the sledding, the kids in the local school district (Alamance Burlington School System) had four and a half of the next five school days off.

In the wake of recent actual blizzards where people got 40" or more snow in a few days, our little snow day may seem quaint, but around here this is the right amount of winter, and one more reason why North Carolina is the place to be

Christmas Card 2009

Now that it's 2010, it's time to write our annual Microsoft Word Christmas Letter™ for 2009. Yeah, it's late, but since we got the cards in the mail on Christmas Eve, it's not that late, and now you have something to do for the next several minutes.

So here's our summary: The Traveling Roths 2009 Year in Pictures.

January:

What better way to beat the mind-winter doldrums than to head to sunny Florida and the kingdom of the mouse. We met up with Jennifer's brother Jonas and his newly acquired fiancee Nellie Gilmore for a long weekend at Walt Disney World, and various Hyatt properties in the Orlando area. Tristan was still sporting a very broken arm from his mishap of December 2008, but that didn't slow us down at all. We even got to meet up with Andy, Shelley, Alex, and Ella who were in Florida at the same time. How fortuitous!

In February, Zoe turned 9, and Tristan got his cast off and his pins out. You don't want to see that.

In March/April, we spent a few days at The Troxlers' house on Harkers Island.

and it was soccer season for Tristan, once again

Zoe ran two more 5K races, one of them in Mebane

In May, Dave went to yet another OJR reunion, and scored a free pizza!

We had our 4th Annual Pig Pickin' which looked remarkably similar to the three previous pig pickin's.

Tristan performed what would be his final concert with the Training Choir of the North Carolina Boys Choir

for two days after the concert, he received his promotion to the Concert Choir

Over the crazy summer, we hit the beach several times

Washington DC with Andy, Shelley, Alex, and Ella

and the cabin in the Poconos with Tom, Jenni, Kayley, and Krista (and Andy, Alex, Ella, and Opa, and without Tristan, who was at choir camp in NC)

We went white water rafting in Tennessee with Mebane Presbyterian Church

School started: fifth grade for Tristan, and fourth for Zoe.

In October we drove to Mount Pleasant, Michigan to see Jonas and Nellie get married. Jennifer, Tristan, and Zoe were all in the wedding, and I got to play photographer.

In October Tristan turned 11, and we went to the North Carolina State Fair (for the 9th consecutive year.)

In December, Zoe ran yet another 5K, and finished approximately third out of several hundred Girls on the Run.

and Tristan performed several Christmas concerts with the NCBC.

So that's the year in photos, up to the point the card was made in mid-December. You can find these and more at:

http://www.zooomr.com/photos/travelingroths/

and

http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelingroths/

So Happy Hannukah, Happy Festivus, Merry Christmas, Happy Dave's 40th Birthday, and Happy New Year from the Traveling Roths: Dave, Jennifer, Tristan, and Zoe

Mebane, North Carolina

USA

World of Languages Now Among School Offerings

This appeared in the October 23, 2009 edition of the Carrboro Citizen. (click through for a more readable size.)

We're so proud of our son, Tristan Roty for having is picture in this fine publication

A B C D E F G H I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo

OK, technically, I do not have a gal in Kalamazoo, my brother-in-law Jonas does, and technically, she's not in Kalamazoo but rather in Mount Pleasant, a Michigan town that there are not two catchy pop songs about. But Jonas is going to marry that gal in Mount Pleasant on Saturday, and The Traveling Roths are going there to see it happen, and maybe help out a little if we can.

Jennifer (sister of the groom) is a bridesmaid. Maybe the oldest one!

Tristan (nephew of the groom) is the ring bearer, and possibly a groomsman (TBD)

Zoe (niece of the groom) is a flower girl.

Dave (brother-in-law of the groom) will be holding a box that captures light.

So it's going to be a crazy busy few days coming up, but hopefully we'll return with a few good pictures, a few great memories, and a few magnetic states to add to the kids' US map.

We're goin' to Michigan to see the sweetest gal in Kalamazoo Mount Pleasant

My Photography Bucket List

While perusing Zooomr one day recently, and appreciating all the great photography that is being posted there and elsewhere, I found myself thinking about all the things I was seeing, and how I would like to get some of the same shots. As you can see from this snippet of the best photography on Zooomr in the past year, there's a wide variety of subjects there; wildlife, architecture, landscapes, macros, etc. The more I thought about what I'd like to shoot, the more I realized that I was building an unwritten list in my mind. My photography "bucket list," as it were.

So I got out a pen and some paper, and started brainstorming all the things I'd like to photograph in my lifetime. Here's what I came up with, grouped into a few categories.

ACTS OF GOD

• Tornado
• Lightning
• Snowflake macro
• Volcano eruption
• Glacier calving
• Northern Lights

ARCHITECTURE

• Eiffel Tower (again, now that I know what I'm doing, somewhat)
• Taj Mahal
• Sydney Harbor
• Golden Gate Bridge
• Pyramids/Sphynx
• Mohammed's Tomb
• Great Wall of China
• Acropolis/Parthenon (again, see Eiffel Tower)

GEOGRAPHY

• North Pole/South Pole
• Redwoods
• Mt. Fuji
• Matterhorn (again, it was cloudy the only time I've been to Zermatt)
• Niagara Falls

Historical/Other

• Shark
• Blue Band, in Beaver Stadium, at field level
• Auschwitz-Birkenau/Bergen-Belsen
• Space Shuttle Launch
• My Great-Grandchildren

So that's my first draft, and it's a living document. I'm sure I have glaring omissions, and that's okay.

What's on your bucket list?

Yet Another Fifteen Minutes

Just saw this on Fark.com today.


Turns out Zoe's picture of her picture is now a part a photoshop contest.

Check out the thread here

http://www.fark.com/cgi/comments.pl?IDLink=4474874



And in the meantime, enjoy some more photos.



Needless to say, Zoe is moderately amused.

Apt Chorister

Sunday came, and with it the annual spring concert of the North Carolina Boys Choir at Duke Chapel on the campus of Duke University. This is one of two concerts a year that feature all three choirs; the Concert Choir (the main touring group), the Chamber Choir (tenors and basses), and the Training Choir, which is like the minor leagues for the Concert Choir. Tristan has been in the Training Choir since his successful audition last fall, and has been practicing about 90 minutes a week with the group in preparation for this concert as well as the Christmas concert back in December.

All the choirs did an amazing job. They are very professional and well-rehearsed, and not hindering their performance is the fact that Duke Chapel is an incredible live space for performance. The choir(s), combined with the tremendous pipe organ in the Chapel put out sound and power that I can't even describe. It was simply amazing. I literally had goosebumps, and highly recommend the NCBC concerts there if you ever get the chance to attend.



Tristan did an excellent job himself. Not only was his singing spot-on (which I wasn't worried about) but he also seemed to take his lessons in stagecraft and performance seriously. He kept his eyes on the director, hands behind him, didn't fidget or look around, and sung with a lot of heart. We, along with Jeff and Katie Smith, and Jeff Overstreet from church could not have been more pleased with his performance.

Then Monday came, and with it a letter in the mail from the NCBC:

"Dear Tristan,

I am so pleased to write this letter to you extending an invitation to become a part of the outstanding Concert Choir. . ."

Tristan got promoted! This is a huge honor and we are all very excited for him.


So what does being in the Concert Choir mean? First, he'll start the year-long season by attending camp in July. Once school starts, rehearsals are twice a week for two hours each. Concerts run nearly every weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas, as well as the big Christmas Concert in Duke Chapel (make your plans now --we have 10 tickets to sell.) There'll be a mini-tour in May, followed by a "major" (7-10 day) tour in June. In addition to that, there may be other concerts and the occasional wedding or funeral.

Tristan is very excited, and we're very proud and wonder where he got his singing skills from. . .

A Reunion of Sorts

Saturday was the first (annual?) Owen J. Roberts multi-class reunion of sorts. It was held at the Inn at Saint Peters Village (that I previously wrote about here) out on the covered patio, overlooking the creek and the rocks.

The organizers weren't forthcoming with the guest list, so other than a few verbal commitments, I don't know that anyone really knew who all would be there. Maybe that was part of the intrigue. Maybe not. I think more people would have been there had they known who else was coming.

Regardless, I started recognizing people right away, from my own class as well as nearby classes that I shared a school with at one time or another, as well as people I didn't know, but who knew one or more of my brothers.

But before I get to the pictures, I just want to say that I didn't take nearly as many as I should have, especially seeing as how nice the scenery is at Saint Peters Village. I blame the Class of '88 reunion for that. I took a ton of pictures there, and from the very moment I entered the bar. I was so busy with the camera that I never got around to eating, and only had one beer the entire night. So this time I went straight to the open bar for a Yuengling, and another, and another, and appetizers, and eventually diner. My camera hand was completely occupied with food and drink for the first 90 minutes at least.

But then the camera came out, and I started to document the event and my old friends and classmates.














And in what was was an awesome surprise for me, Charlie Degenhart, a former classmate and current pro musician was there and did a few songs. How cool!



So in summary, it was a lot of fun and definitely worth it.

But my plan for the next one is to walk in with my camera in my right hand, and do shots with the left hand. That sounds like a winner.