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This method varies depending on what hemisphere you are in. If you don’t know which hemisphere you are currently in, you’ll need more than just directional help. Your watch needs a “face” on it. That is the old fashioned dial with numbers and hands. If you use a digital watch, you’ll just have to imagine the numbers on it.
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Northern Hemisphere
- Hold the watch so it is flat in your hand and even with the ground. Point the hour hand toward the sun.
- Use something like a matchstick and set it on the watch face so one end or the head covers the number that is halfway between the 12 and the hour hand. (Use 1 instead of 12 if you are in daylight savings time.)
- The head or the end that is covering the number is pointing south. Assuming your stick is straight, the other end is heading north.
›Continue reading Use Your Watch As A Compass
How To find North without a compass or watch
Before noon and on level terrain, put a stick of around 3ft into the ground. Look for it’s shadow. (If it’s cloudy enough that you don’t have any shadow at all…well, this won’t work and you’ll have to just wish you had a compass or for some sun.)
 Compass in the sand - Photo by treehouse1977 Mark the end of this shadow. You can use a stone, stick or whatever is handy.
Use the tip of this shadow for your radius and draw an arc around your stick in the ground. The shadow will get shorter as noon approaches. After noon, it will get longer again. Mark the arc again where the new afternoon shadow touches your arc.
›Continue reading How To Find North Without A Compass
Family Travel: Minimize your chances of getting ill while traveling
Flu season is in full swing. With many families looking to travel at some point during the next three months, it’s important to consider your illness plan. Granted, this isn’t the first item most people tick off their list as they are packing for Thanksgiving at Grandma’s. But given the high likelihood of someone falling ill this year, a sick plan should be considered with care.
 Photo by luna76
- If you are traveling a significant distance from your home, go over your insurance policy to see if a hospital or clinic nearby is “in network.” If you can’t tell from your policy – my company’s web site is not easy to navigate – then call the company’s customer service line before you depart. Make sure you write down not only the name of the clinic but also the date, time and person you spoke with (you never know if this will become necessary).
- While on the phone, find out if your policy has a 24-hour number manned by registered nurses. Write this down, too. You may need a professional to call if you’re unsure you need to visit a local doctor.
- Take your insurance card(s) and your doctor’s phone number. Some doctors offer after-hour services (for a fee) that may be worthwhile because your physician is familiar with your family. One caveat: the younger the patient, the higher the likelihood your child will need to be seen.
- If you want to be extremely organized, write down what medication each person takes on an index card. Be sure to include any vitamins and over-the-counter supplements as well.
- Take a day’s supply of essentials with you: Children’s Advil, nasal spray, cough drops….as annoying as the liquid rule is for flyers, it’s better to have some of a needed med than to try and find a pharmacy at 3 a.m. Or worse, try to find “Children’s Motrin” in a foreign language in a neighborhood you’ve only ever seen by day.
›Continue reading How to Prepare For Getting Sick While Traveling
Should you tip a valet when it is mandatory at a hotel or restaurant?
The simple answer is yes.
Shades of green
The real answer is more complicated and is not black and white. Or in this case, green and off white. First, I try to avoid places where it is mandatory. If you look around, you can probably find some form of parking nearby. It may still cost you but it’ll probably be much less. If you are on a date, pay the valet and tip. If it is bad weather, pay the valet and tip.
Quick Tip: Valet workers probably know the area pretty well and won’t shine you on. If you have any questions, they may be able to answer them and you can save tipping the concierge later.
I don’t really like strangers in my car. I always have personal things laying around, various gadgets and outdoor survival equipment, or maybe some emergency cash tucked somewhere. If you don’t expect to have to give up your car, you are suddenly rushing to gather everything up or you just risk it disappearing to temptation. These days, you don’t know for sure if any service person at any level is about to lose their home or is on a drug habit down the yellow brick road to meth city. Valet services and the establishment usually deny any responsibility for lost or stolen items just like a self serve parking lot by a dark alley. As long as the weather is not terrible, I like to walk and will find some other place to park or another place to visit.
So much of the travel business has the mentality that the more you pay for something, you more you can be skimmed all the way back to the poor house. The more expensive the place, the more you’ll pay for side dishes, extras, newspapers, and attendants of all kinds. Even in the bathroom. I sometimes wish that if you are paying four times as much for something, you’d get some extras for free. If someone inherited the money, it’s probably no big deal and they are not reading this post anyway. If you worked from your bootstraps to a higher cost of living, you’ll probably be annoyed and not return to the place. If you are traveling on the company dime and just expense it, you are just taking the money away from your own future raise or benefits.
Quick Tip: If the hotel is in a city of any size, is located downtown or costs more than $150 a night, call and ask about parking. Don’t rely on my own website here or any other big box site for the information. I say it when I know of it, but most businesses try to avoid telling you ahead of time. I get misinformation even when I ask a direct question.
Never stiff service people who you think will ever serve you again.
This is just smart practice. Whether it’s your health at a restaurant or your car, it’s best to pay up early. You may not recognize them but a stiffed worker will remember you and you may not want them serving you soup two weeks later. ›Continue reading Should I Tip A Mandatory Valet?
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Zanzibar is a small island off the coast of Tanzania. It can be accessed by plane or ferry from Dar Es Salaam. Most people go there to simply do as little as possible and it’s a great destination to do just that. Relaxing on the sandy white beaches, enjoying some snorkeling or diving and delicious seafood dinners, it’s a great beach destination.
However if you’d like to combine your relaxation with a bit of activity and exploration, here’s a quick guide of what there is to see and do on the island:
A fun way to get around if you’re the independent type is to hire scooters. You can find these from operators in Stonetown and will need to have a map or at least a good idea of what you want to see so that you can navigate your way around. From Stonetown you can head out to the slave caves which stand as a monument to this tragic part of Zanzibar’s history. Just south of Stonetown is the Josini Forest – the last remaining area of indigenous forest on the island. Here you can view the rare Red Colobus monkeys and variety of birds. Along the coast are numerous villages with roadside stalls and street markets. Here you can find a variety of spices at good prices. ›Continue reading Interesting Things To Do On Zanzibar
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The islands off East Africa’s coast lend themselves to cruising adventures. The important thing to remember is to plan your vacation between May and November when the weather conditions are... - Wifi On Airplanes
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Are New Yorkers More Isolated Than Ever?
How can you be isolated in a city with millions of people? On trips to New York many years ago, I noticed how people seemed to be in their own little world. People looked down or straight ahead while sailing the sidewalks and dodging the taxis. You didn’t see many smiles or laughter if at all. Everyone was rushing somewhere but no one knows where. Everyone just has to get across the street quickly. Everyone had to be ahead of you wherever that may be.
 Photo by Adam Longfellow - From Hotel Gansevoort in New York City Are things any different today?
Worse. Now everyone has mp3 players and cell phones. People have another barrier to being part of the society of millions of people that they pay so much to live amongst. We are more connected as we lose touch with humanity. We can take all of our Facebook friends with us as we walk down 8th Avenue. We can hang in a club line and read a Tweet about what the line is like thirty blocks north or three thousand miles west.
 Photo by Adam Longfellow - Overlooking the Meatpacking District Isolation in the Darkness of New York
I looked out a tenth story window of the Hotel Gansevoort the other night and watched the glow of tiny glowing lights moving across the sidewalks. I was reminded of the fireflies I used to watch at night once upon a time in my childhood. The Detroit Tigers softly playing to the symphony of radio announcer Ernie Harwells voice, just over the sounds of summer crickets and frogs. Children of Manhattan, living above the ground, finally have their own version of fireflies. The background symphony that I recall is instead now composed with traffic, horns, and sirens.
I watched as four shadows glided across an intersection from different directions. Arms extended and hugs were shared. The four shadows became one for a couple of warm seconds. I imagined the smiles and some laughter that I had missed on the faces of the tens of thousands of people that I wandered amongst that day. The larger shadow broke into four again and each turned on their small night lights that protect them from interaction. Four people came together and then went separate ways while they stayed on the same street corner. They chose to meet each other here and share the same puffs of car exhaust but spend emotional time elsewhere. They could poke a friend in person but instead they are poking someone far away. Perhaps they are now even texting the person who was with them earlier when they got the message to meet these people right here right now.
Somehow fireflies seemed to be having more fun being social.
By Adam Longfellow
Gruene
Located near New Braunfels, this small German farming enclave couldn’t withstand the Great Depression and subsequent Dust Bowl Years. Many of the original buildings are still standing, including a dance hall built in 1878 that is still used for concerts to this day.
 Terlingua - Photo by Sean_McGee Fort McKavett
Built in 1852 to protect the nearby settlers, this fort is now a state historic site. Originally called Camp San Saba, some of the fort’s brick buildings – which were abandoned in the 1880s – have been restored to what Gen. William T. Sherman once proclaimed “the prettiest post in Texas.”
Luckenbach
If you’re a country-and-western fan, you can probably hear Waylon Jennings crooning this town’s name. Originally a German farming community, this hill country settlement is one of Gillespie County’s oldest. It also has a renowned dance hall for those looking for a “Texas State of Mind†and general store that has been serving customers since the town’s inception in1849.
Shafter
Only in Texas would you call a silver mining town Shafter (named after Col. William R. Shafter, who was then the commander of nearby Fort Davis). This West Texas camp was established in the 1880s but has since been abandoned. Movie buffs might recognize the town from early scenes from the sci-fi flick The Andromeda Strain.
Terlingua
Not far from the Big Bend National Park, this former mining town has seen a renaissance: artists’ studios and cafes line the dusty streets of this desert paradise.
By Anna Philpot
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Ancho
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I was sitting at the Dallas Fort Worth airport when I overhead this conversation right behind me. The woman said she was on stand-by for a flight that left at 10:40. She said she had almost an hour to kill before going the gate. I looked at my watch, which I had already set to local time and it was 10:35. She had already missed her window for that flight. Unless she was converting everything to her own local time, which is unlikely when you are reading paperwork or airport screens.
Remember to take time zones into consideration when you fly. The departing time for a flight is the local time at the airport. The arrival time is the local time at the airport you are flying too. That is why you can sometimes fly to another city and arrive around the same time that you depart. Although I do travel more than the average person, it seems fairly simple to me until I listen to other people talking at airports. You’ll hear stuff like, we don’t need to eat. We get in at 1pm so the flight from Dallas to Phoenix is only an hour. When they are actually changing time zones and it’s closer to two and a half hours. Then I look at the little kids they have with them and I’m hoping I’m not on their flight when they get hungry. ›Continue reading Remember Time Zones When Flying
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Devil’s Slide
Named after a nearby rock formation, this town mined the limestone for Portland Cement. Tragedy struck the small village when a large explosion killed many of the miners. The founders planned for the long term: the hamlet boasted a two-story boarding house, a baseball diamond and cement sidewalks.
Eureka
Once the Tintic Mining District’s financial seat, this silver town boasted more than 4,000 residents at its peak. Now it is home to less than 700.
 Grafton, Utah - Photo by respres Grafton
Established originally in 1859 as a Morman farming community, the town flooded in 1862 and a new site chosen further up the Virginia River. Many residents moved away after a canal – which many of the citizens helped to build – diverted most of the town’s water in 1906.
Sego
Ancient petroglyphs are visible on the rocky canyon walls surrounding this old coalmining town, which struggled with its water supply from the beginning.
Silver Reef
This town – with its a mile-long Main Street – boomed until the mines flooded in the 1880s. The original Wells Fargo bank building is now a museum.
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I had my first offer of free wifi on a flight today. It was with American Airlines. It sounds great upon announcement. It was free on wifi enabled phones. They had it for laptops but it was $12 for the flight. Many people don’t have phones that are great with wifi yet. And you have to be able to turn off the cellular service on your phone. The biggest market is probably the laptop and they will charge you for it. You could do some wifi on your phone like I did and then wish you had it on your laptop. Maybe that gets you to pay. Or test the speed on the phone first and the pay for the laptop. The guy beside me paid the $12, read a couple of New York Times articles and shut it down. Hmmm. Makes me wonder if people will pay for regular internet content after all. Or do they have to be held captive on a plane or in a hotel to do so?
It will be interesting to watch future developments in the market. I think the first airlines to have good wifi and is reliably on all flights would get more business travelers. I know I would look for it. But do they charge for it or offer it as a perk to get those customers? Right now, it is only on certain airplanes with many different airlines. So you never know if you’ll have it until you are on the flight. ›Continue reading Wifi On Airplanes
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