2. I lived a highly scheduled and over-planned daily life,
A) (in developing countries like those in Asia where I
so the last thing I kinda wanted to do was to follow yet
could line dry my clothes) - light t-shirts, camper pants
another schedule (e.g. 10:00 AM - go to Uffizi to see
with legs that could be zipped on/off and Crocs that
that one Botticelli painting.. 12:00 PM - Have lunch at
were water-proof and breathed; and
such-and-such trattoria... etc.). I wanted to trust the
universe and be whimsical. I wanted to be in the
B) (in countries which had laundromats where I could
present. In the now. I didn't really want to think about
use a dryer) - cotton short sleeve and long sleeve shirts,
the next thing I had to do. Did this mean that I missed
the camper pants, leather shoes with rubber soles like
out on some things? Probably. But did I get the most of
Nunn Bush, a fleece, a poncho and a scarf (everyone
the things that I did do? Definitely. Speaking of the
wears scarves in Europe).
Uffizi in Florence, I must have stared at the Gothic
paintings for an extra long time, hypnotized by tiny star
Because I packed like this, eating at fancy restaurants
and flower shaped indentations in the gilding - details
wasn't really an option for me. Thus, most of my
lost on someone who skimmed the artwork just to get
favorite placed to eat have been at down-to-earth little
the gist, so he or she can move on to the next
places where the common folk eat. And there are many
prescribed item on the list of Things-To-Do.
stories of gustatory gratification that I will expound on
in my next piece, “Some of the Best Meals I’ve had
3. I wanted to prove that I had the intelligence to
while Traveling the World” - in the Fall Issue of The
maneuver around a strange environment. I loved
Cone - so stay tuned. Till then remember not to let a
getting lost. Not just in Venice either - where I do
plan stand between you and a little adventure.
believe that the locals intentionally mislead tourists
with street signs that direct to them dead ends and
detours - not out of malice, but shake the traveler out of
the groove of going from Point A to Point B and so on. I
loved getting lost while walking from the train station
in Bangkok to their Chinatown (in doing so, I rode on a
local bus in which I could see the road through the
spaces between in the floor boards and which had a
driver who stopped for a second at a small shanty shop
to buy a loosie cigarette which he smoked while driving
- in flop flops no less).
Why am I telling you all this? Basically this kind of
traveling didn't allow me to bring super-nice clothes
with me. As a matter of fact, my wardrobe (my quest
gear, if you will, like some gustatory Sir Lancelot)
consisted of:
By Chris Wee, via Wikimedia Commons - Uffizi Gallery
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THE CONE - ISSUE #5 - SUMMER 2015