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Rome. where the pope has achieved both celestial and celebrity status
Rome and the Vatican I have to say that religious traditions in any country are a fascinating portrait of the local culture and a jumble of natives and tourists all scrambling towards the same goal. Italy, of course, is no different. After we visited the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel last Sunday, we joined…
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Florence’s sweet spots and italian men
The hardest part about your first few days in a foreign country is trying to balance your need for rest after a long week with your need to absorb anything and everything all at once. It’s kind of like trying to soak up the culture through osmosis while running erratically from one spot to the…
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Lessons learned from the costa concordia and titanic tragedy?
Public’s memory is short and enthusiasm for cruising is high but there are some cruise survival tactics we can take away from this tragedy. See insurance Q&A below. Don’t panic. Have a plan. Make your own decisions. In an emergency pack your passport, and other IDs, credit cards, all your cash and warm clothes. Listen…
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Seven best things to do if your flight is cancelled
Airline Passenger Rights 1. Request rule 240, which in the US stipulates that the airline must deliver you to your destination within 2 hours of your scheduled flight time. If it can’t (and delay isn’t due to weather) it must arrange your ticket on another flight at no additional cost. But you must ask for…
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Packing for Paris
Let’s face it, Parisian women are, at least by American standards, always stylish in unusual ways. So when visiting Paris, plan to “dress up” more than you would in other destinations. Packing takes more effort to select neat and fashionable clothes that are also comfortable. How? Pack stylish jeans, which Parisians wear everywhere. If you…
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The insanity of learning to surf at my age – on the north shore of oahu
I can remember exactly the first time I felt I had to surf….against all expectations, as I am uncomfortable in the ocean when my feet don’t touch a sandy bottom. Surf movies were projected onto the walls of the hip restaurant where we celebrated my daughter’s birthday. Watching surf movies is like seeing poetry come…
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National geographic radio: hear the inside story about rapa nui – easter island
My interview with Boyd Matson, National Geographic Radio, XM Radio, NPR is streamed on the National Geographic Website and is available on itunes. The question I’m asked the most is: Where is Easter Island? In the middle of nowhere, no really, it’s roughly equal distance from Tahiti and Peru and Chile, at 29′ South latitude.…
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Questions about easter island – why and how?
Despite its isolation in the middle of the South Pacific (roughly equal distance from Tahiti and South America), Easter Island is at the center of a lot of questions. WHERE DID THE HEADS COME FROM? HOW WERE THEY TRANSPORTED? The giant heads were carved our of a dead volcano, which contains over 400 Moai; one…
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Night life at easter island – dance ’til you drop
Recently I went to Easter Island, the most remote and least visited World Heritage Site, home of the giant stone heads and dazzlingly attractive men and curvaceous women. Watch the video of the mostly nude men dancing an elegant South Seas swaying and a sexually charged version of the Maori war dance. This is the…
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Energy grids, vortexes, geometric points on easter island
The magnetic rock attracts people worldwide who are searching for spiritual healing and enlightenment. They camp out by it, under the full moon, and receive magnetic vibrations just by holding their hands above the rock. Why are ancient Megaliths like the moai (stone heads) placed at specific equidistant points? Why are Positive Energy Vortexes,…