Travel from Upstate New York to Maine to Hungary

Travelogue Posts for RSS and Atom Feed Readers

Hello technically inclined friends who read Vagabond Journey.com Travelogue through RSS feeds. What follows are my recent posts on the travelogue reposted so you can browse the pages at your convenience. If you would like to read travelogue entries as soon as they are posted follow the above link and go to the main page.

Thanks.

Walk Slow,

Wade

January 12, 2009-
Flying to Budapest, Hungary

In JFK airport in New York City. Again. This airport has become an odd sort of surrogate home for me over the years. It is my last stop out of, as well as my first into, the country of my birth. This airport has etched itself into my traveler’s psyche, and I automatically feel the anticipation and excitement of the Open Road. I am squiggling in my seat as I write this, for I am going back to Hungary.

Then on to Serbia . . . maybe.

Then on to Greece . . . maybe.

Then on to Turkey . . . maybe.

Then on to Syria . . . I really friggin hope so.

Read more at Flying to Budapest

January 7, 2009-
Jet Blue Flight Rochester to New York City

Filed under Travel Scams and Rip Offs

“. . . as you know, we have experienced a lowering of our expectations.”
-caption to a comic in newspaper referencing the lowering economic status of America.

I cannot figure out why this flight left over an hour late from Rochester. There is a snow storm, but weather was not a factor. Simply put, the airline decided to de-ice the plane only after it was fully boarded by passengers. The airline decided to de-ice the plane at the time it was scheduled to take off. I cannot understand this. The plane sat on the tarmac all night long. The night was cold, and any foolish chap could see the icicles hanging off of the wings and sides of the airplane. It was well known that the plane would need to be de-iced – and that it would take over an hour to do so – way ahead of take-off time.

Read more at Jet Blue Flight Rochester to New York City

January 6, 2009-
Detour Through Maine

I was all set to board a bus tomorrow morning to go to New York City and then on to Budapest, Hungary. But then good senses kicked in and I realized that I needed to go first to Maine.

Choices lead to actions which lead to choices which leads to more actions.

I made choices, and now I need to act.

For over a week I felt like a squirrel, for I knew that I was shrinking away from my self-designed responsibility. I was just going to back to Eastern Europe on the strength of hoped that everything would work out according to plan.

Read more at Detour Through Maine
2 comments 1/7/2009 14:28:46

January 6, 2009-
Travel Blog Comments

Filed under Travel Blogs

I was recently struck in the face by how important comments are to a blog. I did a quick reconnaissance of the comments on this travelogue and realized fully how much they add to it.

I received a comment today on Jet Blue Airline Makes Me Angry from Tony P in England. I wrote my impressions of new customer service strategies based on my experience, and he wrote his. As it happens, Tony has way more experience in the customer service business than I do and was able to show the other side to my argument.

This was awesome. This is what comments in blogs are mean to do. My travelogue entry was just made exponentially thicker – exponentially more thorough – by another person sharing their experience and impressions.

Read more at Travel Blog Comments are Important
4 comments 1/8/2009 12:11:54

January 6, 2009-
Use Care with Computer Plug when Traveling – Travel Tip #20
Filed under Vagabond Journey Travel Tips , Traveling with a Computer

“Perhaps,” spoke Chaya, “working on the computer is not the best thing for you.”

I had just told her that I had broken another computer, and I am sure she is beginning to identify a pattern: technology has a habit of breaking down when in my hands.

I am not particularly rough with my possessions, and I treat my computers as if they are delicate little babies, but, for some reason, my computers and cameras continuously break.

The new incident:

The plug insert at the back of my laptop kicked the bucket.

Read more at Computer Plug Travel Tip
3 comments 1/9/2009 16:59:00

January 4, 2009-
How to End a Short Story

Travel Writing

The best – meaning worst – way to end a short story is to just have everyone die. If the main characters to a story are gone, then their can be no more story. It is all over.

I watched a movie last night called Fuera del Cielo, and it was decent. Well, it was decent up until the end, when the protagonist – for some unknown reason – just threw himself off of a bridge.

“The main character is dead, I suppose now it is time to end the movie!”

The old Somerset Maugham catechism: How do you end a story? Kill the characters!

How to end a short story?
2 comments 1/5/2009 23:53:50

January 3, 2009-
Be aware of the information that you enter into public computers- Travel Tip #18

I can remember the story of a couple of girls that I met in Copan Ruinas, Honduras in the spring of 2008. Their rather simple story went as follows:

One of them went to withdraw money from her ATM card to find her account wiped out. They had no idea how this happened, but a call to the bank insured them that it had occurred while they were traveling in Central America.

The girl still had her ATM card in-tact, as it was the numbers off of it that were evidently copied and used. I listened to her talk circles around herself as she told a half dozen “it could’ve happened when we were at. . .” stories. This seemed funny to me. It seemed funny that someone would be able to just magically copy the numbers off of her card. This was probably not done manually, but electronically.

Read more at Be Aware of the Information that you enter into public computers

January 3, 2009-
Blogging Content Management Systems No Good for Traveling Webmasters

For the second time within a year, I have moved this travelogue away from blogging systems in favor of publishing it myself. But this move seems to have bothered a few long time readers, as the commenting system on the new version is inferior to the way it was on the Blogger content management system. This presents me with a little difficulty, as it is vastly easier on my end and less expensive to publish the travelogue by hand, though more inconvenient for readers to add comments to the pages.

Comments are an integral part of any blog, and I hope that I can find a way to make the new self-published format satisfactory. As with most things in life, publishing this website is a journey. Sometimes roads start out rough just to become as smooth as penguin’s belly, and sometimes roads start out smooth and end in heaps of rubble.

To acquiesce with the requests of a few good readers who often add great comments to this travelogue, I will begin adding the number of comments and the timestamps of the latest to the index page, as well as create new posts based around exceptional comments (like this one was). I will also make better use of the Vagabond Journey.com newsletter for readers who were use to receiving feeds sent directly to their emails. Also, for the RSS and Atom readers, I will continue publishing a weekly synopsis of the travelogue entries on the old Blogger format . . . . well, when it is functioning.

Read more at Blog Content Management Systems No Good
4 comments 1/4/2009 15:08:20 EST

January 2, 2009-
New York City Notebook

I keep an oblongly rectangular reporter’s notebook in my back pocket at all times. I take little notes all day long – it could be said that I am an inveterate scribbler – so that I can record conversations, impressions, and descriptions to write about later on this travelogue. The following are excerpts from my New York City notebook.

Read more at New York City Notebook

January 1, 2009-
Blog Comments and RSS Feeds

I recently received this comment from a long term reader and regular commenter:

“While you ponder how to modify your web page as you tweak it, consider comments. I would love it if there was some way to look and see what posts have new comments. Something like travelvice.com has on the top of his log, but longer and with dates so I can quickly look and see if there is a new comment since the last time I checked them.“

I have also gotten similar requests from other readers about the accessibility of comments and the lack of RSS feeds that go with this new, hand-made, version of this travelogue.

Read more at Blog Comments and RSS feeds
4 comments 1/2/2009 20:45:01