The Blog I'm Not Writing

…though, damn, I’d seriously consider it if there were a snowball’s chance in Check E. Cheese.   [1]  that one of the countries would want me.

First blog back from vacation.  There’ve been four weeks of reruns in this space, and a part of moiself  is still on Iceland time – WE  WENT  TO ICELAND  AND  SAW  THE TOTALITY  OF  THE  SOLAR  ECLIPSE  AND  OTHER  COOL  THINGS,  WOO-HOO!  

Confession:  we were *IN* the zone of totality, but it was cloudy in the Westfjords region where we were staying (of course it was, after a beautiful/sunny morning) during the early evening hours of the eclipse.  So we got the instead of  version of the event.  Even so, what we were able to see was way cool/eerie, in a way that made me think that had we been living centuries ago and had no idea that the eclipse was coming and/or what were the forces behind it, we might have said to ourselves,  “Holy solar obscurance, ourselves!  The gods must be pissed with us – quick, go find a virgin or six and drop ’em into a volcano….”

 

 

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Departments Of Notes From A Civilized Way Of Life

Inspired by this trip, plus our visits to Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland four years ago ( The Vacation Schedule I’m Not Maintaining, 7-1-22), here are some of moiself’s  randomly organized observations about Iceland in specific and the Norse countries in general.

* I lost track of how many times, when I was impressed by Icelanders’ friendliness and hospitality and invited them to visit my state, the genteel Icelanders told me they’d love to take me up on my invitation to visit my country…but would only do so when we get “… a new government.”

* Many Icelanders were most eager to enter into a discussion of our federal government’s “leadership crisis” (much more than MH and I were), and they revealed that in many ways  they knew a lot more about what was going on in the US than most US citizens.
I got the impression (and was told so directly by several Icelanders) that Americans don’t seem to be aware of how our country’s actions affect the rest of the world.  Icelanders do not forget this, and are reminded of it almost daily, especially when our crusty orange Commander-In-Thief confuses their country with Greenland and blames them for our stock market failings.

 

 

* Quiet.  The quiet.  Standing still, I can hear the sound of… quiet?  In the Iceland countryside (which is most of Iceland), outside the major city of Reykjavik…but even in parts of their Big City ®, there is less clatter, more quiet.

* All toilets should be European style (dual flush)

 

* All bedding for couples (queen or king beds) should be like this: ditch the top sheet and instead   [2]   use two duvets.  [3]

* All public toilets/restrooms/WCs should be individual stalls, floor to ceiling walls, with WCs separate from hand-washing area

 

…preferably unisex but separate gender also okay

 

* This is the last toilet-related entry, moiself  promises. The public bathroom situation in Iceland:  at the tourist attractions of the country’s natural wonders (waterfalls; glaciers; waterfalls; geothermal mudpits and geysers, more waterfalls) there is either free parking and pay WCs, or free WCs but you pay for parking. And these WCs are functional, available, and clean.

* Roundabouts please, not stop signs/stoplights.

* Iceland is basically a cashless society (as were Denmark, Sweden and Norway).  And speaking of a ___ less society….

* Please oh please oh please can we do whatever it takes to get a tipless society?
Of course people will have to be willing to pay higher prices for higher wages.  [4]

 

Guess what: it seems you don’t have to bribe people to get them to provide competent and friendly service.  The traditional venue associated with tipping in the USA,  food/restaurant establishments – the service was good to excellent in no-tip Iceland.

 

 

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Department Of I Had Good Food While Traveling –
And Now This Food For Thought.

Before embarking on our Icelandic adventure moiself  had read a piece on travel philosophy  or style, if you will.  This article from in the Seattle Times will be quite controversial, I’ve no doubt.  The author addresses ideas I’ve been struggling with re my own past trips and desire for future travel.

The following are excerpts from  Why you should be a tourist — not a local — when you travel, by Christopher Elliott. Be sure to check out Elliot’s article in its entirety.   [5]

“…For the past decade, the travel industry’s golden rule has been to live like a local: Shun the tourist traps, skip the hotels and embed yourself in residential enclaves to find true authenticity.

I’ve had a front-row seat to this gentrification with a passport…I’m writing this from an Airbnb in Newmarket, a neighborhood in Auckland, New Zealand, and it’s located between a car repair shop and a Chinese grocery store.

Let’s stop this disruptive force…. Experts say it displaces residents, inflates housing costs and ruins the neighborhoods you claim to love. Maybe the most ethical — and enjoyable — way to travel now is to stop pretending you live there and embrace your status as a tourist….

The problem with living like a local is simple math: When everyone does it, no locals are left. Tourists push out the very communities they claim to love….

The cost of this fantasy is real housing. Short-term rentals strip homes from the market.

Jennifer Kaplan, a sustainability strategist, argues you can’t find an authentic experience in a hollowed-out neighborhood….

‘When authenticity becomes commercialized at scale,’ she says, ‘it loses its authenticity by definition.’

 

 

Why do we persist? Ego. Thomas Plante, a psychology professor at Santa Clara University, suggests we are driven by ‘virtue signaling and narcissism.’ We want to feel superior to the masses on the tour bus. We want to be travelers, not tourists. But by refusing to visit the places built for us, we destroy the places built for others….

The alternative is the one thing we are trained to avoid: the tourist trap.

Urban planners and sustainable tourism experts argue that designated tourist areas — often derided as “traps” — act as necessary protective barriers for a destination. They concentrate the noise, the trash and the crowds in areas designed to handle them, leaving residential neighborhoods for, you know, the residents….

If you want to avoid gentrification with a passport this summer, you don’t have to give up on culture. You just need to change your approach.

‘Why not act like a tourist *and* a local?’ asks Thomas Swick, author of the memoir Falling into Place.  ‘Stay in a hotel, but eat where the locals eat. Visit the sights one day and explore neighborhoods the next. Embracing both identities will result in a broader and richer experience.’

 

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Freethinkers’ Thought Of The Week     [6]

“Only a food could believe that a god who serenely watched over
the slaughter of innocents over and over
and over again
would answer their prayers about anything.”

( exceprt, Let’s Grow up and Cut the Bullshit:
Burying the Lies of the Ancients,” by Jester Crank )

 

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May you work for the change that will makeall those lovely Icelanders want to visit our country;
May you enjoy bed linen and WC modernisms of Scandinavian design;
May you ditch the virtue-signaling and travel like a respectful tourist;
…and may the hijinks ensue.

Thanks for stopping by.  Au Vendredi!

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[1] My version of the hell I don’t believe exists. Chuck EC comes close.

[2] As was the case in *every* hotel/airbandb/inn we stayed in ( in Iceland, and also in the majority of our lodgings during our Scandinavian travels).

[3] Known as “The Scandinavian Sleep” method, couples sleeping in the same bed use two separate duvets rather than sharing a duvet. The separate bedding allows each person to sleep how they want ( e.g., heavier or lighter covering; off or on or partial covering) without disturbing their partner, avoiding the need for two separate beds despite differing sleep habits and preferences.

[4] Higher wages, not to be confused with “a living wage,” which is a phrase bandied about that often has nothing to do with the realities of jobs, as in, traditionally entry level jobs are just that – entry level, meant for training/stepping stones to positions with more difficulty and responsibility.  Burger flipping was never intended to be a career that can support a family of four.

[5] Because moiself  said so.

[6] “free-think-er n. A person who forms opinions about religion on the basis of reason, independently of tradition, authority, or established belief. Freethinkers include atheists, agnostics and rationalists.   No one can be a freethinker who demands conformity to a bible, creed, or messiah. To the freethinker, revelation and faith are invalid, and orthodoxy is no guarantee of truth.”  Definition courtesy of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, ffrf.org