if you are coming to the city for the first time. It comes with maps and space to record your journey. Best of all, it requires no batteries AND it fits in your pocket.
Posts
Gustav was making a beeline to Louisiana, but started wandering around Jamaica. Now, no one is certain when he will make contact with these American shores.
I like the fact that the weather has chosen to define me. It is an auspicious beginning to the trek.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
And then, along comes Gustav
So, that's how it's gonna be, huh? Make nautical references in a blog post, get a hurricane in real life?
Well, alrighty then. Bring it, Sister Earth.
I'm flying out of Louis Armstrong (I see skies of blue, my ass) International Airport, New Orleans, La., on Sept. 6, but Gustav -- sitting on Haiti right now as a tropical storm, but expected to get back up to fighting weight and onto attack coordinates tomorrow -- may make my plans irrelevant.
It really is no big deal. So what if I spend another couple of days in Baton Rouge ... on a friend's couch, or in a shelter. That's my kind of travel.
I expect not to expect.
Business travelers get in a panic when snow in Great Falls screws up schedules in Tucson. I get another cardboard muffin.
Vacation travelers freak when their flight is overbooked (and they are not already on the plane). I just volunteer for the bump when the price gets right.
NOTE TO AIRLINE OFFICIALS: Nothing less than a free round trip somewhere and a room for the night is gonna make me raise my hand. Throw in a couple of meals, though, and dispense with the suspense. You got yourself an open seat.
It's not even that I never travel on a deadline. I do. But, I can't stop the snow in Great Falls and I sure can't stop the gods of capitalism. All I can do is expect not to expect.
And, I do that very well.
Well, alrighty then. Bring it, Sister Earth.
I'm flying out of Louis Armstrong (I see skies of blue, my ass) International Airport, New Orleans, La., on Sept. 6, but Gustav -- sitting on Haiti right now as a tropical storm, but expected to get back up to fighting weight and onto attack coordinates tomorrow -- may make my plans irrelevant.
It really is no big deal. So what if I spend another couple of days in Baton Rouge ... on a friend's couch, or in a shelter. That's my kind of travel.
I expect not to expect.
Business travelers get in a panic when snow in Great Falls screws up schedules in Tucson. I get another cardboard muffin.
Vacation travelers freak when their flight is overbooked (and they are not already on the plane). I just volunteer for the bump when the price gets right.
NOTE TO AIRLINE OFFICIALS: Nothing less than a free round trip somewhere and a room for the night is gonna make me raise my hand. Throw in a couple of meals, though, and dispense with the suspense. You got yourself an open seat.
It's not even that I never travel on a deadline. I do. But, I can't stop the snow in Great Falls and I sure can't stop the gods of capitalism. All I can do is expect not to expect.
And, I do that very well.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Waiting for high tide
This project is all about slowing down and taking time to see a world most people fly past, and yet I'm willing to confess it is taking way too long for the boat to Ellis Island to sail. I've been pressed against the railing for five years, and it is time to go. Now!
What the heck. Contradiction is the human condition and I'm only human -- all too human sometimes. It will all happen. I'll land on Sept. 6, and get the wandering started.
I hope you'll stick with me. I'll try to make it worth your while.
Some of what you can expect to see, if you have patience, is a Bob's eye view of New York City. I'll hit the streets with a notebook, a cell phone, an audio recorder and a camera and explore the people, events, hidden treasures, painfully displayed tourist sites, open spaces, dirty streets, culture (high and low) that a sea of humanity like New York presents.
Right now, let me introduce the concept of the flaneur or gentleman wanderer. I'm not a French scholar, nor have I got a great grasp of literary references, so I'll let wikipedia do the technical explaining. My dim understanding is that a flaneur is a dandy who takes his time, exploring his urban environment and allowing the winds of fortune to push him through his days.
What I hope to present here is a bastardized version of the gentleman wanderer -- because I am more bastard than gentleman, even if I have the wanderer down to an art. This site is an attempt to create a personally skewed vision of New York City with enough reality to keep you coming back day after day and enough practical information about the mundane to help you plan your own wander, should you have the opportunity and inclination.
What the heck. Contradiction is the human condition and I'm only human -- all too human sometimes. It will all happen. I'll land on Sept. 6, and get the wandering started.
I hope you'll stick with me. I'll try to make it worth your while.
Some of what you can expect to see, if you have patience, is a Bob's eye view of New York City. I'll hit the streets with a notebook, a cell phone, an audio recorder and a camera and explore the people, events, hidden treasures, painfully displayed tourist sites, open spaces, dirty streets, culture (high and low) that a sea of humanity like New York presents.
Right now, let me introduce the concept of the flaneur or gentleman wanderer. I'm not a French scholar, nor have I got a great grasp of literary references, so I'll let wikipedia do the technical explaining. My dim understanding is that a flaneur is a dandy who takes his time, exploring his urban environment and allowing the winds of fortune to push him through his days.
What I hope to present here is a bastardized version of the gentleman wanderer -- because I am more bastard than gentleman, even if I have the wanderer down to an art. This site is an attempt to create a personally skewed vision of New York City with enough reality to keep you coming back day after day and enough practical information about the mundane to help you plan your own wander, should you have the opportunity and inclination.
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