Introducing a new blogger at Gadling, Paul Brady…
Where was your photo taken: This photo was taken on the Arizona side of the Hoover Dam by a Spanish tourist who ended up covering part of the lens with his finger. (I cropped it out here.) It always makes me wonder about how many other funny, weird or otherwise imperfect pictures are out there, taken by tourists for tourists at places like the Hoover Dam or the Eiffel Tower or the Pyramids.
Where do you live now: I live in Manhattan and I love it.
Scariest airline flown: It wasn’t the airline as much as it was the anticipation of the flight that scared me: I was looking at a roughly 24-hour trip from Singapore to New York in the middle seat of an aging Singapore Airlines 747, crammed full of people. I was terrified that I’d just lose it about 16 hours in but amazingly, I made it. Something about flying that far puts me into a state of suspended animation. I probably could’ve gone another 12 hours, though I’m not rushing to test the theory.
Favorite city/country/place: The eastern beaches of Uruguay are wild, raw, beautiful and, except for one month a year, almost entirely devoid of other visitors. They also serve really great steaks in Uruguay, which is always a plus in any destination.
Most remote corner of the globe visited: Easter Island vies for the title of most remote inhabited island on the planet, even if flights frequently come in from Tahiti, Santiago and Lima and there are internet cafes in Hanga Roa. But once those jets take off, it’s hard not to feel like you’re hopelessly adrift on a tiny boat in the big blue Pacific, wondering if anyone will remember that you’re still out there.
Favorite guidebook series: My current faves are the endlessly researched and exhaustively written Moon Handbooks, by authors who actually know what they’re talking about.
Have you ever had an unexpected layover? If so, what did you do? After an airport fire in Miami this spring, I was re-routed to Buenos Aires for 25 hours, where I did A LOT of walking, some decent eating and got a great deal on a really great hotel, the Moreno.
Favorite foreign dish? Restaurant? Singaporean chilli crab is one of the greatest inventions in human history. You can get a pale imitation of the real thing at Fatty Crab in New York but you really do need to go to Singapore and pick your live crab out of an aquarium.
Worst place to catch a stomach bug? Every place you catch a stomach bug is the new worst place you catch a stomach bug. (Northwestern Nicaragua takes second place.)
Favorite travel book: I am still mad at Leonardo DiCaprio for ruining the novel of a generation in the film adaptation of The Beach.