I picked this photo because it encapsulates the very points that makes travel so incredibly interesting. It's those details that make you shake your head and say, "What were they thinking?" And you have no idea what they were thinking because people don't always think alike. What makes sense to the people who live in a particular country can seem stupid to those not from there--or at least nonsensical--except that it could make sense. Kind of.
According toThis coming Monday Michael Palin's new seven-show travel series, "In his "Ask the Pilot" column over at Salon, Patrick Smith has an article of interest to every traveler who has ever wondered, in this age of layovers and transcontinental bus trips, so how many countries have I visited? What constitutes "visiting" a country? If I'm flying from Chicago to Bangkok, and I have a six-hour layover in Tokyo, does that mean I've been to Japan? If I'm on a bus from Prague to Budapest, and we stop for a bathroom break in Slovakia, does that mean I've been there?
Salon's article provides an answer-- albeit an unsatisfying one-- for those who care about such things. Smith writes that, of course, each traveler is free to come up with his or her own criteria for what constitutes a "visit," but his own crit
This coming Monday Michael Palin's new seven-show travel series, "
In his "Ask the Pilot" column over at Salon, Patrick Smith has an article of interest to every traveler who has ever wondered, in this age of layovers and transcontinental bus trips, so how many countries have I visited? What constitutes "visiting" a country? If I'm flying from Chicago to Bangkok, and I have a six-hour layover in Tokyo, does that mean I've been to Japan? If I'm on a bus from Prague to Budapest, and we stop for a bathroom break in Slovakia, does that mean I've been there?
