Gadling

At the end of last week's episode of Amazing Race 13, Andrew and Dan were penniless and in last place, but still in the race. Moscow almost did them in. Because it was a non-elimination round, they were granted a second chance. Luckily, with the Amazing Race and reality television, each new day brings a new beginning and more money.

When these frat boys opened their first clue, they found $326 to keep them solvent.

Of all the episodes this season, this particular day in Moscow evoked experiences similar to what it really is like to travel in another country. Most of the tasks involved traveling from one point to another while navigating signage written in the Cyrillic alphabet. For anyone who has tried to navigate another country in a hurry when the written language is unrecognizable, the teams' experiences may have looked familiar.

Travel Tips:

1. Check to make sure you have all your belongings with you when you get out of a taxi
2. When trying to catch a taxi, notice which direction the traffic flow is greater. If need be, cross the street to up your chances of finding one. You can always get a taxi to turn around.
3. If you loose all your money, don't be embarrassed to ask for help.
4. If possible, use a taxi with a GPS system. It can save time and money.
5. The metro system in Moscow has a map that looks similar to other metro system maps which makes taking the metro look fairly simple to navigate. Try it if you're in Moscow. It will be much cheaper than taking a taxi and you'll be out of the quagmire of Moscow traffic.
6. Do not let one person carry all the money. Each person should at least carry some of it.

With Thanksgiving over and the Tryptophan feeling from eating turkey waning, these are the days to turn towards one of the next holiday opportunities---Christmas. Each year I look for somewhere new to head. With my son still thoroughly engaged and enthralled by any tinsel and glitter, festivals and events that offer something the rest of my family would enjoy capture my attention most.

Here's one.

The It's a Wonderful Life Festival (Dec. 12-14) in Seneca Falls, New York offers a true nostalgia boost. Seneca Falls is the town that Bedford Falls-- the name of the town in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life," was patterned after.

Not to let an opportunity for some holiday cash pass them by, the people of Seneca Falls began the festival 62 years ago to pay tribute to their ties to the movie and warm fuzzy, hopeful feelings.

If you go, you can attend a screening of the film narrated by Karolyn Grimes. She's the actress who played ZuZu in the movie. There are the other trimmings and trappings of a Santa-train, horse drawn wagon rides, and I imagine plenty of opportunities to buy "It's a Wonderful Life" themed gifts. If you buy a snow globe, remember that you can't take it on a plane in your carry-on. Check it in your luggage.

This year with the economic forecast not looking particularly sunny, a festival called It's a Wonderful Life that turns on a movie about a guy who almost lost everything during the Depression somehow seems apropos.

Here is the event's website that examines the similarities between Bedford Falls and Seneca Falls along with providing festival details. Also, here's an article by Joan McDonald that was published in The Buffalo News . McDonald has been to Seneca Falls and experienced the It's a Wonderful Life experience.

In his recent Wallet Pop post on 7-Eleven's move to provide more 7-Eleven private-brand products, Geoff Williams mentioned the U.S. and Canada as two 7-Eleven countries. There are more than that. There are so many that it can make your head spin. With so many companies struggling, here's one that continues to make its mark. The company started up in Dallas, Texas in 1927, and as far as I know, is still going strong more than 80 years later.

I have never seen as many 7-Elevens in my life as I did when we lived in Taiwan. If you were in need of a 7-Eleven in Hsinchu where I lived, there was one just up the street or around the corner. At some 7-Elevens you could see another 7-Eleven just a block away--or across the street. The products were Taiwan products besides a mix of others. With the 7-Eleven brand coming onto the scene, it might be a hard choice to pick between the shrimp crackers or 7-Eleven potato chips.

7-Elevens can be found in 17 countries outside the U.S. Along with Taiwan and Canada, the other countries include: Japan, Australia, Mexico, Singapore, the Philippines, Sweden, Denmark, South Korea, Thailand, Norway, Malaysia , China, Macau, and Hong Kong. There are approximately 27,250 of them. [from 7-Eleven profile page] Of these, almost 4,500 (or more) are in Taiwan.

When 7-Eleven started in Dallas, it was the first convenience store ever. The first products were ice, milk, bread and eggs.

A month ago, I wrote about a Civil War driving tour in Tennessee. Here's another one I found out about in an engaging article by Jodi Helmer in the November/December issue of AAA's Home and Away magazine.

Helmer followed North Carolina's Blue-Gray Scenic Byway on a quest to find historic sites connected to the Civil War. The journey was a hunt and ask venture that wound through small towns and tobacco fields. As she found out, even a nondescript field where a battle took place has significance. Such was the case when she went into the Harper House, the now museum, but once farmhouse that was turned into a hospital during the war in order to treat soldiers who were wounded.

Other points of interest along the way were the Cliffs of Neuse State Park, the remnants of CSS Neuse--a ship used by the Confederate Navy, and small towns like Dudley, Seven Springs and Deep Run.

People in these towns pointed Helmer in the direction of terrific barbecue. She suggests Wilber's Barbecue in Goldsboro.

Reading Helmer's article reminded me of the importance of pulling off the road once in awhile to read those brown historic markers and asking the locals, "Where would you eat and what's worth seeing here?"

For more information about the Blue-Gray Scenic Byway, click here. One thing to keep in mind, many places are closed on Sundays. Here is a down-loadable brochure of the Civil War Trail another tour option.

Walking or cycling are the best cardio exercises while you are on vacation. That's the first exercise tip on this video I came across while I was looking for the video on the Push-up Bandit in Santa Monica. The recommendation is to put your car keys away. As the narrator states, bicycling and walking on vacation offer a close-up experience of your surroundings. Considering that this is the time of year where packing on pounds can come easily, this video has a certain timeliness quality.

Despite the tropic theme, as noted by the palm trees and sand, and the incredibly built hard-body of the narrator that sort of distracted me at first, the exercises are doable if one has the notion to exercise while on the road. As the guy who makes these videos points out, you don't need a gym to stay fit. He also give effective explanations on how to achieve success even if you are a beginner. Perhaps I was distracted by the biceps because in Columbus, one doesn't see such a scene all that often, if ever.

Yesterday, while wandering through Westside Market in Cleveland, I passed by several stalls laden with baked goods, some sporting poppy seed. The poppy seed strudel was mighty tempting. This brought to mind the sidebar I saw that was attached to the article about Michelle Palmer's and Vince Acors escape from jail time in Dubai after they allegedly had sex on the beach.

Before Palmer and Acor's legal woes in Dubai, there was an earlier account about how people who bring poppy seeds into the UAE can also meet serious trouble. There could be trouble even if there are only a few seeds dribbled on a coat after eating a bagel before heading off to Dubai. Iva posted on that very situation back in February. There was one Swiss person who had eaten a bagel with poppy seeds and was arrested.

All Jim Birch wanted to do was a bit of exercise. He's been exercising for years on the 4th Street median in Santa Monica. As I posted earlier, people are getting cited and fined for such unruly behavior. Doing any sort of exercise except for jogging or walking is not allowed on the medians anymore.

Birch and others aren't too happy about that. This video is a lighthearted, but sort of serious faux newscast where Birch stages a protest by doing a bit of exercising so he can get arrested--kind of. This is such a Santa Monica scene.

Look for the part in the video of people exercising on the sidewalk. There's even a yoga mat.

Only today and tomorrow are left in National Adoption Month. If it weren't for traveling, perhaps I wouldn't have a reason to notice this detail. On my first trip to Vietnam with my husband back in the mid-90's, we met two couples who were in the process of adopting a baby. One couple was French. I can't remember where the other couple was from.

Every day they left the hotel where we were all staying to fill out paperwork--or take care of whatever details they had to finish in order to be able to take their babies out of Vietnam.

As a person who always wanted to adopt, there was a small seed planted the first time I saw the French mother lean over her baby and tuck a blanket around the sleeping form. My husband had the same seed start to grow as well.

Two years later, there we were heading to Vietnam again to see about finding our own child. This was a vague plan since we were living in Singapore at the time and weren't quite sure what we were doing.

A person could get pretty depressed when taking a gander at how money, or rather the lack of it is influencing the places we love to go.

Perhaps some of the change is due to cultural shifts that would happen anyway. It's hard to tell sometimes exactly what condition is causing the change.

This week at Gadling, there are a few posts that have to do with changes that are taking place around the world.

• In France, fewer people are hanging out in cafes these days. Jeffrey gives the issue some thought in one of his posts.
• Brenda provided more insight regarding the woes of Hawaii's travel industry. As a person from the state, and a world traveler, she has an understanding of the factors that are influencing people's vacation decisions.
• In a post yesterday, Brenda also offered musings about the state of travel given the fact that there are so many places that seem inhospitable. She's interested in Cuba and wonders if Americans are welcome.
• Aaron, however, usually a sunny sort, has great things to say about travel in Chile. If you don't catch this one detail while you read, he'd love to go back and is looking for someone to take him along.
• On another positive note, if you want to feel great today, look at ImprovEverywhere's latest video. As their latest stunt proves, everyone in the world could use a rousing welcome home--even if it's from a group of total strangers. All you need is signage, balloons and warm, smiling faces.

Ever since the news came out about the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, I've been reading about people's personal experiences and reactions. They remind me of one reason why the World Trade Center made such an impact when the towers came crashing down, as well as why travel to distant places makes the world, and what happens in it, seem so much more relevant.

When the towers were attacked and the world reacted, it reminded me slightly of the reactions when Princess Diana died. The reactions weren't the same, or for the same reason, but Diana's death was one that had significance to people everywhere. There was an emotional connection. The towers and Princess Diana were symbolic in a way that that most recognize their importance. There are few events that hold the entire world's attention.

When Princess Diana was killed in that awful car crash there was a riveting affect. People tuned in for days. The World Trade Center will never quite fade away. Can't you still see it's shadow whenever you see the skyline of Manhattan and recognize where they should be? Then there are the people who were lost who will remain forever as a part of a shared history that we haven't been able to set aside because how can we?

In other circumstances, when images aren't so iconic, but other dreadful events occur in the world outside the boundaries of our day to day existence, we might say, "How dreadful," when we look at the TV screen, but then go about pouring ourselves a cup of coffee, or wonder if we have enough clothes to last a few more days--or do we need to do a load of laundry after all?