1. Where was your photo taken: Freeport, Bahamas.
2. Where do you live now: I’d love to believe I live in Tampa, FL, but the truth is I’m never home. You can count on me cruising around in my company van or resting at your local Comfort Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels for the rest of this year.
3. Scariest airline flown: The scariest airline I’ve ever flown on has to be Continental Airlines. On my first and last flight with the carrier from Tampa into Newark last year we had to go into emergency landing mode. There was some type of problem somewhere on the plane, but my mind couldn’t adjust to this news. I was in route to a job interview and I was sweating bullets. They told us the runway would be lined with fire trucks and ambulances in the event of a not-so-hot landing. Luckily we arrived safely.
4. Favorite city/country/place: This is too hard. I refuse to answer. I’m a Gemini for crying out loud!
5. Most remote corner of the globe visited: Vrang and Yamchun Villages in Tajikistan’s Pamirs / Wakhan Cooridor.
6. Favorite guidebook series: Rough Guides.
7. First culture shock experience: Oahu, Hawai’i. My father had gotten stationed there and we moved during my junior year of high school. I was one of those teenage suckers thinking it was going to be nothing but beautiful hula girls and sweet Dole pineapple juice. Long story short living there and simply vacationing are two very different tales. I love going back to catch a glimpse of the island beauty, but I don’t need to spend any extended time on Oahu anymore. Everyone should take a little Hawai’ian history during their stay.
8. Languages spoken: Seeing how I provide you with new foreign words each day many of you may be wondering how many of these languages I speak fluently. Well not to boast or anything, but I speak English fluently and um, yeah… that’s about it. I started the Word for the Travel Wise to help you and I both learn a thing or two before embarking on the next BIG trip. Being able to communicate or making the tiniest attempt to is huge in my book! On occasion I get one or two wrong and I’m thankful to the readers for catching these mistakes as I usually find these words online, in the back of a guidebook or by pestering the wait staff at a local exotic food joint.
9. Traveler’s resume — where have you been: Romania, Hungary, Spain, Tajikistan, Canada, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, Costa Rica, and the Bahamas. Layovers and short sightseeing tours include: Netherlands and Turkey. I got my first passport in the Philippines where I was born. I’ve visited all U.S. states except four.
10. Leeches or mosquitoes: Easy – mosquitoes. They are quick and discreet about their business. Leeches are absolutely disgusting to look at and I’d imagine slow about the blood-sucking process. I’d cripple over and die if I ever saw one of those things on me.