#FriFotos: Stairs

©KatkaTravels

I’d never been to Harlem until Dana had decided to bunk there during an improv festival in New York City. We were volunteering there, and my shift was at 7:00am. I decided to stay the night with her because waking up and taking the train at 6:30am is a lot easier than waking up at 5:00am to catch a train from Long Island at 6:00am that would probably get me there late anyway.

Harlem is a place where people say you’ll get stabbed for looking at the sidewalk too long. This is white-person speak for “multi-ethnic.” At first I was hesitant to head beyond Columbia University, but then I thought to myself “Honestly, this is New York City, not a slum. There are lights and people everywhere. If I keep my wits about me, I should be fine.”
And it was true – everything was fine. I found Dana’s guesthouse right near the subway, and I was pleasantly surprised – it was an old, turn-of-the-century Brownstone divided into several rooms. Her own lodging had a little kitchenette and a bathroom, and luxurious furnishings, including a settee and a chandelier. I wanted to stay for longer just so that I could take advantage of the spiral staircase, whose stained-class skylight was something to look up to.

Win a Trip to #Iceland with SADcars!

Have you ever wanted to see Iceland for yourself?  Now’s your chance!  Type up your CRAZIEST, WILDEST travel story and submit it to SADcars’ newest competition to win a free trip to Iceland!  You’ll get to drive around in a fantastic SADcar rental, get some awesome excursions, a tent to sleep under the stars in, and a whole lot more.

Get as many people as you can to “like” your crazy story, and the top five most popular stories will be in the running to win the big trip!

Don’t feel like traveling to Iceland this time around?  You can still vote for your favorite story on Facebook and help someone else win!  Need inspiration?  Vote for my story here!

Love this little guy! My sweet ride from SADcars.

This is an awesome opportunity for travelers looking to head to Iceland for a first, second, third time…You will be given a video camera to film your experience and make a little movie!  I rented a SADcar for my trip to Iceland in September and I cannot recommend this company enough.  The best decision I ever made was to rent a car and drive around Iceland – the freedom to make your own itinerary, combined with the price of an inexpensive vehicle, is enough to make your trip to this chilly island fantastic.

So what are you waiting for?  Head over to the website and write your wildest travel story yet!

Travel Narrative Monday: Prop 8

©KatkaTravels

I’m not a very politically active person.  I have never voted in my entire life.  Politics is just too big of a commitment for me; I will state my educated views, but that’s about it.  Yet, if there is an opportunity for me to extend my civic duty that doesn’t require too much effort on my part, sure, I’ll play the patriot.

Proposition 8 was a hot button issue in South Carolina the fall of 2007.  Charleston is one of the more liberal cities in the state, and the university-town atmosphere fueled a debate of “to vote or not to vote” for this issue.  I was a member of the Gay-Straight Alliance at the time – my coworker was the moderator, my best friend had just come out to me.  It just felt like the right group to join.

Members of the GSA were getting ready to canvas the city, pass out buttons, fliers, etc. One of the things they provided as a passive aggressive approach to gaining voter approval was a plastic sign you could pitch on your front lawn or place in your window.  I picked one up for my apartment.  There.  I did my part.

Walking home from the meeting, sign clenched within my armpit, I passed a familiar College of Charleston character.  He was of the hippie persuasion, had an odd name – like Allister or Timothy, or something.  He was one of those people that you see around campus and can recognize, mostly because he doesn’t fit in with the majority of WASPy attendants CofC is known for.

Charlemagne, or whatever his name was, had wiry brown hair and an extensive beard set into a ponytail with an elastic hair tie.  He wore a stained brown shirt, green cargo pants, and Birkenstocks.  He called out to me.

“Hey,” he began.  “Where do you think you’re going with that sign?”

I was puzzled.  I had actually just assumed that Patricio was a hippie and upheld liberal values.  Was he a secret conservative in disguise?  I became defensive.

“I’m taking it back to my house,” I bluntly replied.  If he was going to start shit with me for befriending gays, this was going to get ugly.

“And what do you plan on doing with it?” his words were like a lawyer’s – threatening, gruff and intimidating.

“I’m going to put it on my front lawn so that people can read the message!” I shot back. I could feel the color rising in my cheeks.  My heart beat at a rapid pace.  If this Jet was hunting for a battle of cultural sensitivities, he was rumbling with the wrong Shark.

Ulysses was taken aback, as though someone had pushed or startled him.  I braced myself for the cat-call.

Caught unawares, he simply replied, “Oh.”

“Yup.”

“Well that’s great then,” he threw a fist into the air.   “Thanks for spreading the word!”

My blood pressure slowed, and I smiled at him.  “No problem,” and we carried on, walking in opposite directions.

Lancelot had judged me because I wore a polo shirt with Bermuda shorts and looked like the conservative sorori-whores that shared the same block as me.  He wouldn’t put it past those types to dispose of such a sign promoting values they did not share.  He was just keeping trying to keep the peace.

What Hugo – actually, I think that may have been his name, Hugo – what Hugo apparently did not remember was that three years prior, I had seen him naked.  He was a nude model for one of my studio art classes.  But I suppose he didn’t recognize me without my charcoals.

#FriFotos: Horizon

Hanging out in our private, rooftop plunge pool. Heaven on the horizon!

In Puerto Vallarta, the horizon goes as far as the eye can see. From ziplining in the Sierra Madre mountains, to jet skiing on the beach, there is always something further to look out at. That’s also the way it felt to vacation in Mexico – always something more to discover, always somewhere new to go, someone new to talk to.

The Bay of Banderas, Puerto Vallarta

I’m not really one for passive, relaxing vacations. Trips where I’m involved in a lot of things, up from morning until midnight, with itineraries and arrangements made in advance – that’s how I like to travel. Squeeze in as much as I can because who knows when I’ll be back? But vacationing in Puerto Vallarta was different. It felt nice to kick back and lie on the beach with as much alcohol as I wanted. I loved swimming in our private plunge pool and admiring the Mexican landscape. I felt like I was in another world…

Love this man, and love this sunset!

Our resort included excursions as well. We took advantage of the sunset cruise out of the harbor. It was a nice, intimate group and the sailing was so much fun. We drank margaritas at sunset and posed for photos. The Bay of Banderas is absolutely stunning and we felt like we were the only boat in the ocean that day. I will never forget that sunset – thank god it didn’t rain!

My Latest for Matador Network: How to Piss Off a Czech

(Share Clip)

 

I’ve written a few things for Matador Network recently but I’m being published almost as fast as I send over the draft, so it’s been tough to keep up! This is my latest endeavor though. Nearly overnight the piece when viral and I have no idea why. But it’s awesome! Probably my most popular piece yet!

It’s been a crazy experience. I have people who love the post and email me to say how awesome it is that someone has taken an interest in the Czech culture. I have people who absolutely hate me and think I am stereotyping Czechs. I have people who have lambasted my identity, saying that I am not “Czech” even though I have lived in the Czech Republic, have Czech family, and speak the language (oh well…). And then I have Czechs who think it’s hilarious and can’t stop spreading it around.

Compare us to Russians.

We are not, and never have been, Russian. Look on a bloody map — blocked by Poland, the Ukraine, and Belarus, the Czech Republic isn’t anywhere close. We make marionettes, not Matryoshka dolls. We don’t wear babushkas, we have babičkas (Czech grannies). Our country is landlocked so we don’t eat herring, and we drink beer, not vodka.

We don’t know how to read Cyrillic writing, and we don’t care either. The Russian Orthodox church means nothing to us because only about 21% of the country is religious. If you need further convincing, we dislike Russians because the Soviets invaded our country with tanks in 1968, and fucked everything up. So just stop.

I’m proud of this piece, despite whatever negative comments I might receive. Most of them are from expats who think they somehow know the Czech Republic better than I do. I’m not saying I’m all encompassing, but I will say that I proofed the piece with actual Czechs before sending it off, so…You win some you lose some. But I’m happy to have contributed this piece of Czech culture to the world and it makes me love Czechs all the more for it.

Read it here:

 

How to piss off a Czech