Foreign Travel?

[kenmbz]

I met a Dr and his family, other son also a Dr. from Venezuela.
We met on a trip to Galapagos and traded pictures/emails for a while.
After "the Election" , he sent me a note that he could not email me anymore.
He and his family were scared, though he could say none of this in email.
Have not heard from him since.
I had a coworker whose family had a small apartment in a Venezuelan resort town.
The government took it over and kicked out his aunt who had been living there.

This is the Dr. in a picture I took. Felt so bad for him and his family. Who knows what happened to them.

 

[BackRoad]

The statute of limitations is past...but I smuggled a suitcase sized satellite communication system into Bogata, Colombia for my employer during a highly confrontational communications worker strike which cut off all international telephone and data lines.

The satellite in a suitcase was expensive high-end technology at the time and needed by the airline to process Customs and pre-flight paperwork to continue flying planes in and out of the country.

It was back when drug smuggling from Columbia was rampant, so high risk with everything being watched closely by both sides.

Babysat it for ~2 weeks, sweating bullets the whole time as it would have been ugly press and high impact if found by the striking Comm Workers or Columbia Customs folks.

 

[WinterDeere]

The statute of limitations is past...

I'm always amazed by the interesting history some of you folks have. That's one to write down, for the great-grandkids to be telling each other!

 

[kenmbz]

We worked on some crazy stuff in the 80's, can't give details still as classified for a few more years.
But I worked very large cameras and transported quite a bit of "stuff" out of the country under military orders.

The good part was I could bring back stuff that I would never think of without this paperwork.
Like Cuban rum and cigars.

I think the last time I brought back a case of rum, it was $1.75 a bottle for the good stuff.
Cigars I only brought back once, since I don't smoke and gave them to relatives and friends.
I also brought back hand sewn tableclothes and other items that would cost hundreds in the states for a few US dollars at the site.

I think some of the guys got carried away, as one transport plane not only had our stuff, but was full to the point where they had trouble closing the ramp with so much furniture

For years I could not go to certain countries, because I had gone there "non-commercial" flights as a civilian. They still found out who we were, I an sure the team and I had a file in some countries.

Things went kind of sideways at the end of the project, and the gov decided it was getting too dangerous and our tech was getting outdated. They canceled the project to fund other ones that were more modern as replacements.

 

[WinterDeere]

I used to bring Cuban cigars back from Europe. Then I realized that, by the late 1990's / early 2000's, all of the best cigar makers had moved out of Cuba to the Dominican Republic, in order to keep selling to American customers despite the embargo. So, I was sticking my neck out for something that really wasn't any better than what I could already buy here!

I do miss the pre-Euro Europe, though. A dollar used to buy 2.12 Deutchmarks, meaning traveling, lodging, and shopping in Germany were all very cheap. Italy was even better. Now a dollar is only .85 euro, and things that used to be 1 DM are nearly 1 Euro! Traveling in Europe has doubled in price, since the start of the EU.

 

[JasperFrank]

You only live once. Yet, sometimes that can be shorter than others...

 

[kenmbz]

I remember being in Athens right after they converted to Euro, what a mess.
People who had been doing fine were now not able to afford the same lifestyle.
Not long after we saw on the news that their were runs on the banks.

 

[dmccarty]

///
I'll be in Dublin in August! But I've also been there in Sept/Oct/Nov, and it can be quite a bit colder than here. Ireland never gets truly cold, like our northern states, but it also never gets truly hot.

It will be interesting if you notice the changes that have been happening Dublin, and the rest of Ireland, over the last few years. There is much that is happening in Ireland and Northern Ireland that is not getting covered in the usual media outlets, and if covered, not telling the whole story.

We were in Ireland one year in late June and early July. There was a heat wave, not really bad for us, but the natives where wilting in the mid 80's. Flip side, one trip was in late May, and the natives were still bundled up in winter coats.

I had read how bad the roads were in Ireland and thought they were making it sound worse than it was in reality. However, driving up a hill one "hot" afternoon, and having the car slide like it was on ice because the asphalt was melting, finally made me understand they were not exaggerating.

 

[dodge man]

My wife and I are headed to Ireland this November. It will be my first time really being out of the country. Well, except for the Caribbean a couple decades ago.

We went to Ireland a couple of years ago, we loved it. It was our first visit to Europe also.

 

[WinterDeere]

I've spent a good deal of time in Ireland in the past, but this particular stop will be just one evening, as a stop over from a longer trip in contintental Europe. Enough time to meet up with an old friend for dinner in a pub and a walk around town, but not much more! So, other than news from my friend, I might not notice much change.

I used to travel to Europe every year, and in fact work there a few weeks per year. But not so much, any more.