Posts about Chris Danner
What I Learned in Scotland
Really quickly, think of how cool Sean Connery is…yeah, Sean Connery. That’s how cool Scotland is. While Scotland doesn’t exactly have the best weather in the world, the light rain and overcast sky hanging over lush green pastures and rolling hills gives the entire landscape a comforting, even homey feel. The entire country welcomes you into it. And maybe it’s just me, but any country with castles makes me feel like I can run around with a sword and rescue princesses from towers (every little boy’s dream).
The myths, legends, and history of the Scottish highlands creep out of every stream and jump out at you form behind every rock. After a week of learning about the culture and history of the Highlands, here’s what I’ve learned:
- The Loch Ness Monster, Nessie, most definitely exists. There is no way for me to convince you in this blog, but if you take the tour of the Loch with a true believer, YOU WILL BELIEVE.
- Also, sadly Braveheart did not do the best of job at capturing William Wallace’s life and Robert the Bruce was awesome and not as backstabbing as the movie made him out to be. The true story of Wallace, in fact, is even more baddass. The dude was one bloodthirsty psychopath…his sword’s sheath was made from human skin.
- The Scottish really do not like the British. There’s some bad blood in that department and most Scots are more than ready to tell you all about it.
- Finally, there’s Scotch everywhere, and it is glorious. The smooth, smokiness of Scotch must be among the best tastes in the world and it is impossible to make it around Scotland without having more than a healthy dose of the heavenly stuff.
Visiting the Fringe Festival
The biggest and best surprise of the entire trip came in Edinburgh. We arrived at the beginning of an event that I am definitely returning to next August. The Fringe.
The Fringe Festival is the world’s largest art festival…by a long shot. And this is art in the best and most diverse sense of the world. There are hundreds of visual art shows, plays, comedy shows, musical performances, and lectures as well as being the world’s best convention of street performers.
There are solo-dramatic performances, hilarious stand-up shows, even classes on burlesque (I didn’t make it to that one, though). For a little cred you might respect, Flight of the Conchords was discovered there and Rhys Darby (Murray, the manager, from the show) performed this year.
Parts of the city are transformed into massive hubs for the festival, town squares are converted in beer gardens with astro-turf and large alley ways branch off into venues and bars. The nightlife stays open till 5 a.m. during the Fringe and since the first shows start at 8 a.m. and the last shows start at 3 a.m., you could theoretically experience the Fringe for almost 24 hours a day.
The venues are small and the prices are totally reasonable too, I saw four shows (all amazing) in places with no more than fifty people and didn’t pay more than 10 pounds a ticket. If you get a pass for the Fringe you can see all the shows you want for 5 pounds each. It was an exhilarating start to my time in Scotland. The motto for our Haggis tour was “Wild & Sexy” and the Fringe was just that. I have to go back and do the Fringe for a full week next year
Greece: Go for the History…and the Party
When I think of Greece, the first two things that come to mind are probably the history and the partying. Fortunately enough for me, these are two things I really enjoy. But there is way more to the country than that, and I have only just scratched the surface.
The Greeks founded Western civilization and gave us the basis of western literature, among other things. If you are planning to go, read a little history, a little Homer and get an idea of life in ancient Greece because when you’re there it comes to life all around you. From the Roman invasion in the 2nd century BC until the early 19th century, Greece was under foreign rule. The Greeks, however, have held onto their culture with an iron fist. They are a proud, kind and welcoming people who are always pleased to see that you have seen the light and chose to visit their country.
Next, the food. Greek cuisine is widely regarded as the healthiest cuisine on the planet. Despite their chain-smoking, the Greeks manage to live forever. It’s fresh salads, delicious feta cheese, fresh fish, fresh this and fresh that. Incredible. Get on it.
The landscape. The island of Santorini (one of the world’s most popular honeymoon destinations) boasts the world’s most beautiful sunset. There are over 5,000 Greek islands and with that many choices, you know they have a diverse range of landscapes. The beaches are nestled in coves against clear blue waters and the sea is famously dark and seductive. Just think of how awesome it would be to say you sailed around the Greek islands for a bit, it feels cool just writing it.
The party. THE BEST PARTY IN THE WORLD, as far as I’m concerned and you won’t be disappointed if you’re looking for an all night, dance-your-ass-off marathon party session. The glamorous party is in Mykonos, but if you want to do it all on a budget and party with students and backpackers check out Ios.
Just do it.
Mykonos
Mykonos. Just say the word and heart-pounding dance music should begin to pump through your system.
I’m not really religious, but I would wager that God created Mykonos as a reward for humanity doing something really awesome, like inventing democracy. This island is an international icon of hedonism, beauty and the est damn time of your life.b
You will never find yourself asking “where’s the party?” because the party is all around you. And it doesn’t stop. If you’re like me and whole-heartedly believe that clubs that close their doors at 2 a.m. might as well be called retirement homes, than Mykonos is probably the place for you. Most clubs don’t close till 6 a.m., some open at midnight and keep going till 11 a.m. or whenever the last reveler dances out the door.
It makes Vegas look like a vacation with your parents and it makes Cancun look like a high school party.
The world’s most beautiful and professional partiers (yes, that is a profession in my book) descend upon Mykonos from every nook and cranny of the earth to party all-night and tan on breathtaking beaches all day. It is an exhausting cycle that few could keep going for more than a week. Mykonos is a gauntlet, thrown down by Dionysus, to challenge those who have no time for the saying carpe diem, but rather live by the opposite, carpe noctum.
So why sleep when you can live in a dream? Amen.
Volunteering in South Africa
As much as I love the idea of picking vacation spots based on beaches and the cheapness of beer, it gets old…fast.If you love to travel and are looking for something more unique to do with your free time, look into volunteering. From your own backyard to every corner of the globe there are programs that invite you to help out.
Think of what you would like to do. Be it teaching English, conserving the environment, coaching sports, building schools, playing with kids – whatever – there are opportunities to do what you love, make a difference and explore the coolest places on earth.
Some programs are just a week long, others can go on for months if you find yourself loving it, and you will if you give it a shot.
In South Africa, Lindsay and I met up with a group of about thirty girls (reason enough for me to return but that’s besides the point) who were all volunteering on a variety of projects in and around Cape Town. Everyone was able to choose which project fit them best and at the end of the day they all returned to a communal house that was as cool as any backpacker hangout I’ve seen anywhere in the world.You get to meet travelers from around the world who have been brought together with a common purpose of trying to make one little part of the world a bit better.
Lindsay and I agree that some of our best travels have been when we volunteered in foreign countries and both of us will always be looking to do more of it. It’s an amazing experience and I promise you will have as good of a time helping out than you would have had pounding Coronas and getting sunburned in Cabo.
Seeing the Serengeti from a Hot Air Balloon
There are two things to keep in mind before you choose to go hot air ballooning over the Serengeti at sunrise.
- It is a total splurge, like you may have to live without your nightlife for a while type of splurge. Simply put, it costs about $500.
- Experiences like seeing the Endless Plain at sunrise are once in a lifetime and the more you travel the more chances you will have to do the things you have only seen in movies.
My day started at 4:30 a.m., an ungodly hour to be sure, but well worth the sacrifice. We spent a few minutes at the launch site sipping on coffee before the balloon was full enough for liftoff. We were then told to sit with our backs towards the ground in the basket, like a space shuttle launch, while the last few bursts of flames were sent into the massive balloon.
The balloon lifted off the ground just in time to see the sun coming up in the distance. It was beautiful.
The Serengeti stretches infinitely off in every direction and it was slowly lit up by the golden glow of the sun. Groups of hippos waddled towards a swamp as they got ready to spend the entire day soaking in mud to stay cool and the herds of zebras and gazelle looked like a scene straight out of the Lion King when they all begin to run in one direction after hearing the fiery bursts of the burners.
When we weren’t snapping photos, a German who was with his two sons was giving me advice on women. According to this gentleman, I should be looking for a girl who is like beer – cheap and easy. His sons, who were no doubt wondering about their dear mother, were as perplexed as I was.
There are views that no words can do justice to, just as there are pieces of advice that don’t seem to have an appropriate response. But I can tell you that spending your morning floating over the Serengeti makes you feel as if the beauty of the world was created for the sole purpose of being seen by its inhabitants. And being greeted by bottles of champagne when you land makes you feel like a king.
The world is too big to see everything, but it is a shame if you don’t get to see some of it. It doesn’t matter how advanced high definition technology gets, the experience of witnessing the diversity and beauty of this planet with your own eyes will always outweigh sitting in front of the TV- even if you have the most comfortable lay-z-boy.
Traveling gives you the opportunity to live out some of your wildest dreams. And I promise that when you look back at it all, you won’t remember the 4 a.m. wake-ups or the bumpy roads, you’ll just smile with the knowledge that you spent your time well and if you had the chance to do it all again the only thing you’d do differently was do it all a second time around.
The Real Dubai
I would not call Dubai a destination, but it’s the best place to lay your head for a bit, and it is a total trip to witness.
The harsh reality of visiting Dubai is that you have to spend almost all of your time indoors. It is ridiculously hot and the humidity constantly hovers around 90%. And because the main attraction of Dubai is shopping, just about all the public spaces are malls. Huge malls that can hold up to 100,000 cars. After a few days in Dubai you learn that you’ll be spending most of your time either in your hotel or in one of these malls.
There’s a museum that will take an hour tops to explore, there’s a gold and silver market that will keep you busy if you want to get some jewelry, there are the desert day-safaris (which are awesome), and there is the ever popular Ski Dubai (check out the video), and that’s about it. Also, because the city is so young, and because it is being built by businessmen and real estate developers, all the buildings are either skyscraper office buildings or uber expensive luxury hotels (they have the world’s only 7 star hotel). But do not think that I am not a fan of Dubai. On the contrary, I think Dubai is amazing, just for very different reasons than other cities.
If you’re traveling for a few months, or have an incredibly long flight from one side of the world to another, Dubai is a great place to take a break from the chaos of transit for a few days. Lindsay and I just went through a whirlwind tour of India, and by the end of it the prospect of having a few days to relax, sleep in, take a long hot shower (with full water pressure), and pig-out in complimentary buffets was perfect. There’s enough there to keep us travelers occupied while we reboot, resupply and reorganize everything in our backpacks.
You’re probably not thinking of Dubai as a great place for budget-minded travelers, it’s true that it can be very expensive, but just like all over the U.S. and Europe, there’s a way to do it cheaply.
As part of Dubai’s massive effort to increase tourism – especially now with the recession – finding cheap flights that either go to/from Dubai or have a stopover there is easy. On a medical note, if, like me, you’ve been experiences the consequences of thinking you can just show up in India and eat all the street food in the sight, then Dubai’s restaurants are your safest bet for getting you back into top form quickly so you can head out and see the rest of the world.
Skiing in Dubai
Hot does not even begin to describe how I was feeling the other day.
I’d been walking around Dubai for less than an hour and I felt like if I perspired any more the only thing left of me would be skin and bones. It was at that moment, when every liquid in my body was pouring from my skin in a futile attempt to keep me cool, that I decided to go skiing.
Odd? Well, Dubai is kinda an odd place. It’s the kind of place where no one is happy being second. They build the world’s tallest building, the world’s largest mall, the world’s only seven star hotel, and, of course, the world’s only indoor ski mountain: Ski Dubai. That’s not excessive, that’s just awesome.
A cab ride to the other part of town and $60 later, I was strapped into skis and lookin’ down the slopes.
First, Ski Dubai is a complete novelty that would have no place existing in any other city in the world except Dubai. Second, Ski Dubai is not the ideal location if you are looking for great skiing. Third, I had a great time and if you get to Dubai, are you really going to be happy with yourself knowing you didn’t try it out?
Let me elaborate on how awesome this glorified bunny-hill really is. They provide you with everything: they have a mini park with rails and benches, there are a few good jumps and one that just sends you off into a giant inflatable pillow, there’s a whole snow playground for kids, and if you really are horrendous at skiing or snowboarding, they’ll give you lessons…for free. Don’t feel bad about it either, many many people in Dubai take the free lessons, they aren’t used to too much snow.
Before I left the world’s largest freezer, I relaxed at the Avalanche Cafe, sipped hot chocolate and warmed myself by the space heaters. I thought about how much brighter the world is now that we have Ski Dubai. And as I cheerily watched a kid tumble and roll down the hill after not being able to stop himself, I envisioned a world where Alaskans could drive over sand dunes in Anchorage and where Midwesterners could surf in Kansas. Oh, what a wonderful world it would be.
The Beauty of India
I’m sure you’ve already heard that India is an overpowering place. The sights, the sounds, the smells, and any other S-words that could continue that alliteration. The entire country is alive and breathes with this incredible vitality, even in its darkest parts. But I am nowhere near a good enough writer to convey the complex contradictions and inherent truths that are evident all around you when you see India for the first time. So here are some things to keep in mind if you find yourself stepping off the plane onto the sub-continent.
There really are over a billion people in India. People are packed in everywhere and, subsequently, you won’t enjoy the same amount of personal space as you’re used to. This can be uncomfortable, especially for females, and I won’t say it’s some culture thing you should experience, it’s just a fact of life in India. The other big culture shock is the poverty and the visible squaller some people are living in. While India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, the distribution of wealth and the standard of living are just not what Westerners are used to. And yet despite the garbage, filth, and poverty that some Indians endure, every person I know who has been there sees it as one of the most beautiful places on earth.
I don’t know how to explain India’s beauty any other way except that it is a type beauty that doesn’t exist in the developed world. It is purely organic and brutally honest. The beauty of India is not in it’s perfection, but rather in all it’s imperfections and the juxtaposition of life and death, the ripe and the rotted, the sacred and the profane, and it is all presented simultaneously. Exploring India has been one of the most engaging, challenging, and spectacular experiences of my life, the country presents life unedited, and I love it.
I’m all about traveling around the world just to see a building or painting – I’m a sucker for art like that. I fell in love with art in high school and I haven’t kicked the habit yet, hopefully I never do.
Consequently, seeing the Taj Mahal has always been a dream of mine, it is regarded as one of the world’s most architecturally perfect buildings and I was always told that the first sight of it would stick with you forever. Let me say this, it doesn’t disappoint. The Taj left me speechless.
Hiking Ayers Rock
I made it about halfway up Uluru, aka Ayers Rock, when I stopped, had a drink of water, and sat down on the steep rock.
For the really steep bits there’s a chain you can hold onto and white stripes mark the “path.” I like to climb things as much as the next guy, but I’m no rock climber. I looked up. The lonely chain slumped against the red rock as it led up to the uninterrupted blue sky. I was already pretty high up. Good solid exercise, certainly good enough for one day, I thought.
“Ay, g’day” A 70-ish guy said as he hiked right by me. He muttered “pansy” as he passed. I was half-way around the world, sitting on one of the world’s most famous natural formations and some Australian geriatric was calling me out. I wasn’t having it.
I hiked on and caught up with him at the next false-peak. He glanced at me and brushed aside his sweaty white hair, “American?” “Yeah” What’s it to you, gramps? “I’m from New Zealand. Thought I was gunna have to hike her meself. My name’s Greg.”
“Chris.”
That’s how I met Greg, halfway up Ayer’s Rock.
We hiked up together. Greg was some sort of ninja Kiwi, jumping up the rock, smiling the whole time. We made it to the top, took pictures of each other at the little marker and explored the peak. I asked him what brought him here.
“I hiked this when I was twenty.”
“And you wanted to try to do it again?”
“Ay, I don’t believe in ‘once-in-a-life-time’ experiences, I always wanted to do it again. That and me wife said I couldn’t.”
I like Greg. He’s traveling around with the “old lady” now, redoing all the things that sparked a love for traveling in him when he was young.
“I’m just travelin’, y’know, knockin’ the buggahs off one by one again.”
Rock on, Greg, you old Kiwi ninja.
