Speaking of phoenixes, it appears that Mexicana will be taking to the skies by Q4 of this year. Good thing I didn’t include them in this post. But before we get into the latest news, I have fond memories of flying with Mexicana, which was one of the world’s oldest carriers before it went belly-up […]
History
Japanese Sewer Cover Trading Cards. Seriously.
Japan might be the ultimate country for hobbyists. It’s a place where the brilliant train system attracts photographers amateur and densha otaku alike, limited-edition Kit Kats are misnomers, and vending machines sell everything from raw fish to bouquets. Yet, perhaps the most unusual things to come out of Japan in the last decade are sewer […]
Coins, Coins, Obnoxious Coins
Coins are obnoxious. Kudos to Canada for stopping the minting of the tangible penny. Denmark’s central bank hasn’t produced paper money or coins, nor did it have a single bank robbery in 2022. Moreover, why can’t we change this metal at a currency exchange place? Too many irritating reasons. Yet on the flip side, a […]
Never Flying Again
That’s right! These airlines are never flying again. Yes, these carriers once served a purpose, be it skidding off of runways, or skidding back onto runways. Occasionally, they took to the air. Now, their memories for me last only in the form of years-old digital photos taken back when I was a more jittery flier…which, […]
Fun with Airline Route Maps
Let’s have some fun with airline route maps. With any luck — and memory — this will probably be a thread I’ll continually update, especially once I’m able to find the Delta inflight magazine that showed Kampuchea instead of Cambodia, or the one where Xian, China is listed as the more archaic Chang’an. Until those […]
Tokyo Weekend Trips: Nagano Prefecture
In this installment of No Work All Travel, I will be introducing a Tokyo weekend trip to Nagano prefecture. More specifically, a voyage to the castle city of Matsumoto, and Daio Wasabi Farm, in Hotaka. The first recorded instance of wasabi, sushi’s hot-headed colleague, dates back to the year 981, during the Heian period of […]
Language Lunes: Just a Spoonful of Salt Makes the Sushi Go Down
Years ago, before I set off to work in Shenzhen, China, I happened upon a satirical video about the traditions of eating in a Japanese restaurant. What can one do, besides wax famished about those daily searches for good eats? More importantly, what does Shenzhen have to do with this?… Once settled in there, in […]
Throwback Thursday: The Multilingual St. Louis MetroLink
On 2 March, 2021, at some point in the day, I had a three hour layover in St. Louis. Having never ridden the St. Louis metro system, better known as MetroLink, I was eager to give it a whirl. (for whatever reason, trying out metro systems, is one of my travel hobbies). Not knowing anything […]
