My travels

One thing I mentioned in a previous post of mine was that I've had a great opportunity to explore the world based on traveling with my father. Notably, I've lived in Germany for three years and my father has traveled the world lecturing on tooth whitening. So, here is a brief run down on places I've been able to visit.

• London, England - I had the opportunity to see Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables while in London. I got to see the tower for Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Hard Rock Cafe, Madame Tussauds and spent extensive time on the London Underground.


• Paris, France - We "walked on water" at the Louvre, stood at the base of the Eiffel Tower (I don't remember why we didn't go up) and stood on top of the Arc de Triomphe.


• Normandy, France - I walked along Normandy Beach (Utah Beach sector), saw the cemetary, and even had the opportunity to "Retire the Colors" at the cemetary (perform the flag ceremony to take the flag down).


• San Marino, San Marino (Independant country within Italy) - We arrived at San Marino in the middle of the night. It is a mountian top country, and we decided to drive up as high as we could. We parked and slept in the car. We woke that morning and walked around the area. When we returned to the car, we interrupted a police officer writing a ticket for our car. There is no automobile traffic allowed in San Marino. We got out of the ticket, but it was difficult to drive back down the mountian due to the merchants wares that had been placed in the streets. San Marino was cool, though. We saw the fortress of the country, which was monumental.


• Rome, Italy - Saw the Vatican (I know... it is another independant country within Italy), St Peter's Basilica and Square, almost died in the Roman Colosseum, and saw many, many ruins (man, they should clean that place up).


• Venice, Italy and Piza, Italy - Saw the canals of Venice and the leaning Tower of Piza.


• East Berlin, East Germany - My family was touring East Berlin and decided to go to a restaurant. We chose one and went in. We were the most underdressed people there, but we were allowed in because we were Americans. It seemed to be a nice place, but... you probably know my family... we are not quiet people. We were loud-ish (comparetively speaking)... but MAN did we eat a lot. I am sure that is why were were allowed in. I remember the food being awesome. Earlier that day, we were waiting to pass through Checkpoint Charlie and my dad was videoing the Berlin Wall. We have him on tape saying that the Berlin Wall would fall within the next few years. It fell one month later.


• Copenhagen, Denmark - We went to Tivoli Gardens, which was fun.


• Finland (multiple trips) - We went to see family and friends. We went to a great uncle's 100th birthday. He was celebrating, but we were the attraction... again, because we were Americans. That was awkward. We spent a few days in a summer cabin, and my little brother ended up with a rusty dart in his back. We had vehicle troubles and ended up fitting 8 adults in a station wagon made for 5.


• Russia (multiple trips) - During the school trip when I went, we toured much of the country, including Omsk (so cold that my bugars froze when I walked outside and visited a Russian school), Tomsk, St Petersburg, Moscow and places in between. We traveled by bus, train and air plane. The Trans-siberian railroad was cool, Aeroflot was weird (there were no "classes" on the airplane, but there was a definate seperation of the people into classes) and the bus ride was uncomfortable (weird tour guide). For the trip with my dad and brother, we stayed at "bed and breakfasts" - essentially people letting us pay them to stay in their apartments. That was weird. One really funny thing happened though. We stayed with one family, where the wife worked in a pan factory. As a gift, they gave us one of the pans. The pan was defective and they had to drill a hole in the handle in order to attach the handle to the pan. Another story, My dad wanted to buy something nice for my mom that he didn't have enough Ruples for. He went with someone we had hired as a tour guide to get money. The strange man came back to the car with my brother and I in it and threw in a grocery bag of money into the car and ran off. We were concerned.


• Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - We drove for many hours on gravel roads. I almost got a speeding ticket, but got out of it by paying a bribe of 110 ruples (about $1.10). I almost flipped the car by taking a turn too fast in a rural area.


• Poland - We saw a car that the hood flipped to the right, instead of flipping back like a normal car. Aditionally, going from Poland to West Germany, there was a two week wait for cars to cross the border. My dad walked to the front of the line, came back with an escort and we crossed the border after about 3 hours.


• Turkey (two trips) - My brother and I ruined the alignment of a golf cart by driving over embankments on a golf course. My dad lost a camera in a cab because he was too worried about spending too much on the cab ride, as I had paid about $100 on a cab ride the day earlier.


• South Africa - We went to a wildlife preserve, where we were almost attacked by rhinos, saw elephants, giraffes, monkeys, warthogs, kudoo, gnus, and a host of other animals. We went to the sourthen-most tip of Africa. I found out that I DO have a heart.


• Greece - I saw the Parthenon, Thesselonia and Mt Olympus.


• Asia - This trip is explored in detail in an earlier post.

I have seen much of the world. I plan on seeing more areas that I have yet to see. However, I would be very ungrateful if I didn't recognize the efforts and ability that my father has gone through in order to help his children see the world.

Thanks, Dad!