Fly Brother’s Travel Alphabet

The ABC’s of travel gives bloggers the opportunity to share their favorite and most memorable travel moments from A-Z. Nicole from Nicole is the New Black tagged me, but I’ll spare some of you the pain and won’t tag 3 other bloggers at the end of this post so they can share their ABCs as well.

A: Age you went on your first international trip:
I was 3 years old when my parents schlepped me around the Caribbean on a 7-day cruise. After that, I was 11 when we flew (my first time in a plane) on then-in-bankruptcy Pan Am from Fort Lauderdale to Freeport, Bahamas. My first solo international trip was at 16, when I went to Sweden for the summer between my junior and senior years of high school.

B: Best (foreign) beer you’ve had and where:
I don’t drink alcohol.

C: Cuisine (favorite):
Indian food. From all over the country. Can’t get enough.

D: Destinations, favorite, least favorite and why:
Brazil is my favorite destination because of its dynamism and the openness of the people. Colombia is, unfortunately, my least favorite because I lived there for four years and just got to know it all too well. But hey, sometimes people and places just don’t get along…doesn’t mean you won’t have a blast there.

E: Event you experienced abroad that made you say “wow”:
Vai-Vai samba school rehearsal, São Paulo, 2006. It was like being at the biggest HBCU homecoming battle of the bands in the world. Didn’t make me say “wow”; I said “damn.”

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/16846037]

F: Favorite mode of transportation:
Planes, then trains, then automobiles.

G: Greatest feeling while traveling:
Glimpsing the departure board with my destination just before boarding the plane. Still gets me geet.

H: Hottest place you’ve traveled to:
Egypt, Claude Hammercy! I had to laugh while walking from the airport to the bus terminal in Cairo because the heat was honestly absurd. It ain’t make no damn sense. I almost had to sing a Negro spiritual, it was so hot!

I: Incredible service you’ve experienced and where:
The service I received on Korean Air from Kuala Lumpur to LA through Seoul has been unmatched in my travels.

J: Journey that took the longest:
Delhi to Kuala Lumpur via an 18-hour layover in Chennai. On Diwali, the holiest day in India (which means everything was shut down). Always check holiday calendars before booking flights with long layovers.

K: Keepsake from your travels:
Postcards and inflight magazines. I’m not big on souvenirs.

L: Let-down sight, why and where:
The Mona Lisa at the Louvre, which is about as big as a postage stamp. Boo.

M: Moment where you fell in love with travel:
I’ve always been in love with travel. It’s innate, and I can’t ever remember a time in my life when I didn’t want to go somewhere. Read about how I got started.

N: Nicest hotel you’ve stayed in:
Nicest hotel I’ve fucked around in was the Fontainebleau on Miami Beach. Nicest hotel I’ve actually been booked into? Tie between the Sheraton Park Tower in London (“traditionally” nice) and the Sheraton Centro Histórico (now the Hilton Reforma) in Mexico City (brand-spankin-new when I stayed there, ultra-modern, amazing).

O: Obsession—what are you obsessed with taking pictures of while traveling?:
Sunsets, landscapes, and cloud formations from the air.

P: Passport stamps, how many and from where?
Too many to count. I’ve only been to 33 countries at last count, but I’ve been to many, many of them multiple times (including Cuba – legally – thrice, though they don’t stamp your passport). And often, while traveling through Europe, they don’t stamp your passport either. That said, I’m on passport #3.

Q: Quirkiest attraction you’ve visited and where:
Inti-Ñan Solar Museum at the equator just outside Quito. Plastic shrunken heads, wooden totems, and all kinds of crap that reminded me of the kooky roadside attractions I remember from my childhood in Florida (that, alas, no longer exist post-Disneyfication). See “Missing Middle Florida”.

R: Recommended sight, event or experience:
Vai-Vai samba school practice, at least once. It’s outdoors and smack-dab in the middle of a megalopolis; a totally different vibe than Rio samba schools (which are fun, but much more touristy).

S: Splurge; something you have no problem forking over money for while traveling:
I’m so broke, there’s no way for me to really answer this question. I’m all about as much value as I can get from my dollar, so splurge ain’t even in my vocabulary. Now, hook-ups…that’s different.

T: Touristy thing you’ve done:
I look up at skyscrapers. Love those things.

U: Unforgettable travel memory:
Sounds cheesy, and it’s not one specific travel memory, per se, but 2009 – the year I left Colombia and took my first round-the-world trip – was full of once-in-a-lifetime encounters and experiences. Easily the best time of my life, thus far.

V: Visas, how many and for where?
Not sure how many, but I’ve had tourist visas for India, Brazil, and Cape Verde, and temporary work visas for Colombia (renewed five times), Brazil (once), and South Korea (never used).

W: Wine, best glass of wine while traveling and where?
See beer.

X: eXcellent view and from where?: (Why not X-ray horror story?)
Now I’m bout to brag: the Caribbean Sea from my old apartment in Barranquilla and downtown Bogotá from a different old apartment.

Y: Years spent traveling?
Traveling for 31 years. Lived abroad for 7.

Z: Zealous sports fans and where?:
Brazil during the World Cup, of course. Dumb-ass question.

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