Places I Have Been To

The last three weeks have been full of hectic traveling and unparalleled adventure. Here is a list of all the places I have been to in the past few days.

New York, NY
Poughkeepsie, NY
Mystic Bay, MA
Boston, MA
Lehigh Valley, PA
Annapolis, MD
Baltimore, MD
Las Vegas, NV
Hoover Dam and Black Canyon, NV,AZ
Red Rock Canyon State Park, NV

Travel is fun. But only if you do it with an open mind. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When I travel, I enjoy going local. It is as much about the people and the culture as the places. I like unplanned forays, minimal itineraries, unexpected meetings, and happenstance experiences. Those are the brightest spots you will treasure forever. Here is a sampling

• Getting off at the wrong station at 2 AM on the way to Poughkeepsie. And from the last train.
  
• Drifting into the shadiest area in Baltimore, and being accosted by a stranger who demands you help in buying him a cigarette. Locking all the doors and windows after that.
• Wandering the streets of Little Italy, listening to lilting Italianate accented English.
• Trying to ask directions from Chinese fishmongers in a China Town. And in sign language, English is a alien language there.
• Stumbling into many jovial Greek women at an European Cafe in Times Square and hearing praises about Indians and their 'culture'.
• Going into a Neon-tube covered Diner, in the heartland of Americana, and eating pancakes and fish and chips, while waitresses croon melodiously in the background.
  
• Stopping at the MIT dome after midnight. To go to the restrooms.
• Turning into a oneway, inadvertently, and dodging some angry taxi drivers, coming at you headlong.
• Marveling at the Bellagio musical fountains swaying toPavarotti's Con Te Partiro, and then doing the same thing from atop the Eiffel tower, and realizing that they are designed in 3 D.
• Stumbling upon a whole patch of brilliantly purple, red and yellow wild desert flowers in the middle of the godforsaken Cactus scrubland of the Mojave desert.
• Scrambling for seats in the notoriously busy New York subways, and fondly reminiscing about Bombay, every few hours.
• Chatting with the colorful guide at Hoover dam, who kept cracking jokes about the "Damned" River and "Damn" Tourists, and who took us to see the Stairway to Heaven.
• And many many more......