Halloween graveyard tours and a graveyard joke

by Jamie Rhein on

There are haunted prison tours and haunted hotels to sleep in. Here is another way to traipse through some haunts for Halloween.

Graveyards that can seem peaceful during the day are perfect settings at night for finding chills and thrills. If there is a graveyard in a town or city near you, I bet there’s a tour. Regardless of the season, graveyards offer a span of history that includes triumph and sorrow. Each one hold clues and mysteries to the people who have lived before us.

Here’s a Halloween graveyard joke you can say when you are going past a graveyard: “How many people do you think are dead in there?”

(**Continue for answer and a sampling of graveyard tours.)

  • In Alexandria, Virginia, walk along the six blocks on the Ghosts & Graveyard lantern tour with a costumed guide who transports visitors to the 1800s through tales of ghosts and unsolved mysteries. The tour ends in the graveyard. Although Halloween inspired, it goes through November.
  • There are several ghost and graveyard tours in Nova Scotia. Several are offered year-round.
  • Ghosts and Gravestone Trolley Tours of Boston, Massachusetts goes through November 2. This tour is hosted by a 17th century gravedigger who tells tales of Boston’s murderous past. Two of Boston’s oldest graveyards are included.
  • The same company that offers the tour in Boston has similar tours in Savanah, Georgia and St. Augustine, Florida. The Website has a link to haunted tales and while you browse ghost type sounds put you in the mood.
  • In Charleston, South Carolina, there is a tour company that specializes in creepy, scary places. The Charleston Ghost and Graveyard Walking Tours brings people through graveyards where tales of love, loss and prominent people can be found.
  • San Antonio, Texas has several ghost tour options. Many included graveyards, whether you walk or take a vehicle. These tours are also offered year-round.
  • Like San Antonio, San Diego has several ghost tour options. Several include graveyards. If you scroll down the page, you’ll see many links for other ghost and graveyard tours throughout the United States.
  • To amp up a graveyard ghost tour, here’s one that combines a stay in a haunted hotel with a ghost and graveyard tour. This version is in Columbus, Ohio. The Lofts, a boutique hotel that was once a warehouse in the early 1900s has a ghost called “Lady of the Lofts. There’s a package deal that includes a night in the hotel, breakfast and two tickets to “The Haunted Columbus’s Best of 20 Years Bus Tour.” If that tour is sold out the Columbus Landmark’s Foundation has other ghost tours and guided visits through Greenlawn Cemetery. Greenlawn Cemetery is where humorist James Thurber is buried. Perhaps he’d appreciate the graveyard joke.

** Answer to graveyard joke: “All of them.”

This joke gets people every time. Here is the joke in its entirety if you forgot the question.

If you are passing by a graveyard say, using a voice that evokes the idea that you are looking for a number: “How many people are dead in there?”

Answer: “All of them.”

Taking Greyhound: a Gadling bloggers experience in the Twighlight Zone

by Jamie Rhein on

As much as I liked being on a Greyhound bus riding the open highway with my son, who stretched and balled up Silly Putty between new York City and Columbus, Ohio, finding out how to actually take the bus was not the easiest.
Mind you, I’m a seriously traveled traveler. The process that led to our bus ride almost did me in.

Here’s how you play the game, “Getting on a Greyhound, and Welcome to the Twighlight Zone.”

Round One: Who is On First and What your Ticket Says Doesn’t Matter: At the Adirondack Trailways bus station in Kingston, New York after searching out bus schedules online.

Me: “I’d like to buy one adult one way bus ticket and one child’s ticket from New Paltz, New York to Columbus, Ohio. I think there is a bus that leaves New Paltz at 8:20 a.m. It arrives in Columbus about 11:30 p.m.”

Ticket Person, clicking away with her snazzy polished fake nails at the computer keyboard. Cheerful: “Sure. But, I’d take a later bus so you’re not in New York City as long.

Me, happy that she’s on the ball: “That sounds fine.”

Ticket Person, handing me tickets-still perky: “You’ll go through Cleveland and get to Columbus at 3:00 a.m.” (This is a paraphrase.)

Me, now, a bit irate: “Three in the morning?! No. I don’t want to go through Cleveland. I want to go through Pittsburgh. There’s a direct bus that leaves New York City at 11:30 a.m. I saw the schedule online.”

Ticket Person: “The online schedule is wrong.”

Me, attempting to hand back the tickets: “But, I don’t want this schedule. I want a direct route. I don’t want to go through Cleveland.”

Ticket Person, clicking away again: “There’s a 5:50 a.m. bus from New Paltz that gets you to the city in time to take a bus to Pittsburgh.”

Me: “But, I don’t want to leave that early. And what do I do now that our tickets say we are going through Cleveland and not Pittsburgh?”

Ticket Person, off-handedly.: “What the ticket says doesn’t really matter. Your ticket is from New Paltz to Columbus, so you can take any bus there. You don’t have to go through Cleveland.”

I leave the bus station, tickets in hand, confused, not sure at all which bus to take.

Round Two: Someone Knows What’s What.

Later at my dad’s standing in his kitchen. I call Adirondack Trailways to see what’s what. I don’t trust the ticket person in Kingston at all.

Me: “I’m calling to check on a bus schedule between New Paltz, New York and Columbus, Ohio. I just bought tickets in Kingston and they are not what I wanted. Is there a bus that leaves New Paltz at 8:20 in the morning with a change in NYC and a direct route to Columbus that stops in Pittsburgh for an hour? We would get to Columbus about 11:30 at night.”

Phone Ticket Person, after checking the schedule: “Yes, there is.”

Me: “The person in Kingston told me that bus didn’t exist and the online schedule is wrong. She said it’s often wrong.”

Phone Ticket Person: “The schedule is updated regularly.”

Me: “Here’s the problem. The tickets I have say we’re going through Cleveland and leaving New Paltz after 9 a.m. Plus, I have Trailways tickets. What about the switch to Greyhound?”

Phone Ticket Person: “That doesn’t matter. The tickets are good for any time and Trailways is the same company as Greyhound. The bus driver will let you on the bus to Pittsburgh. Ignore the Cleveland portion.”

Me: “Great!” Not one hundred percent confident, but willing to go with it.

We took the 8:00 a.m. bus out of New Paltz without a hitch. Problems not over yet. New Paltz busses to the city are frequent in the morning.

Round Three: At the Port Authority information booth you get misinformation.

Me, after snaking around through throngs of people and a stop to two separate bathrooms on two different floors. That’s another story:

“Where is the gate for the bus to Columbus, Ohio?”

Information Person: “Which city are you going through?”

Me: “My ticket says Cleveland, but I want to go through Pittsburgh.”

Information Person: “You need to change your ticket, otherwise you need to go through Cleveland.” (She directs me to the Greyhound ticket office.)

Round Four: When You Eventually Get Ahead

Me, trying not to get frustrated: “I have a ticket to Columbus that goes through Cleveland but I want the bus that goes through Pittsburgh. I was told I need to change tickets.

Counter Ticket Person: “No. That ticket is fine.”

Me, relieved, but not confident: “Great! Where do I catch the bus?”

Counter Ticket Person: Gate 70

Me: “Great! I want to purchase preboarding passes.” (Preboarding passes allow you to get on a bus before others.)

Counter Ticket Person: “I don’t sell those. I just give information. You need to stand in the next line. “(She is sitting next to the person who can sell me the preboarding passes.)

I move over two steps to the next line.

Me, showing my tickets: “I’d like to buy two preboarding passes for the bus to Columbus.”

Other Counter Person: “I can’t sell you preboarding for Trailways tickets. Those aren’t our tickets.”

The first Counter Person, leaning over: “Yes, you can. Trailways is Greyhound.”

Other Counter Person: “Oh. It is?” She’s stumped and really doesn’t know how to sell the prebarding passes so the other person shows her what to do and then hands me two of them.

Round Five: When Signage is Clear as Mud
The sign above the door to Gate 70 doesn’t list Columbus as a destination. Cleveland is on the sign, but Pittsburgh is not. None of the other signs say Columbus either.

Panicked, thinking that we are destined for travel hell after all, I quiz passengers waiting in line to find out the scoop. After deductive reasoning, and after chatting with a woman standing in line who works for Greyhound, I decided that the bus would be going through Pittsburgh and the people going to Cleveland would change buses in Pittsburgh. Why the sign didn’t say Columbus since that was where the bus was heading, I have no idea.

Also, there isn’t a special place to stand for passengers with preboarding passes. We hang near the front, but not in line. When the driver opens the gate doors to take our tickets, I tell him about the preboarding passes and we cut to the front. There is only one other woman with children in line with preboarding passes.

Because there isn’t a designated spot for preboarders, I feel as if we look like we are cutting in line, but once we are on the bus with our pick of seats, I don’t care. I earned them.

*Sure enough, the Cleveland portion of the ticket was ignored. We were allowed to go to Pittsburgh and arrived in Columbus at 11:40, about 20 minutes late. (see post on how the trip went.)

Jebb’s shot is of the Trailways bus to New Paltz.

Fake baby for a traveling companion. Looks real, feels real.

by Jamie Rhein on

Here’s an idea for anyone who wants to travel alone, but hates to travel alone when it comes to meal time. These odd thoughts came cavorting through my mind after seeing this story on a Today Show segment. Imagine the scene:

There you are all by yourself while others are paired up or in groups. You are sitting waiting for dinner, maybe reading but feeling a bit dissatisfied. Perhaps you feel like a target to unwanted advances. You wish you had a detractor. Something that lets you know that you are not alone–or at least, if you are alone, you have a way to feel differently. Or perhaps you are a bit shy and wish you had a conversation starter, something that would break the ice when talking with strangers. And if a creepy guy is lurking about, something that would send a signal “hands off.”

A fake baby might be the answer.

According to the segment, the fake babies look and feel real. That downy soft hair. The weight of them. The way they appear in a baby carrier.

Here’s a YouTube video about these fake babies which, for some reason, have a big following in Britain.

One woman interviewed on the Today Show said that holding her fake baby helps her feel calmer. Think about how this might work on the travel scene. Holding a fake baby could give you something to do if a flight is delayed or canceled. Instead of feeling riled up, you can stay calm.

Here’s another way a fake baby might be the ticket to travel bliss. A fake baby in a car seat might help with long drives and cut down on the tendency to talk on a cell phone while driving. The women interviewed said they talk to their babies. You could tell your fake baby your travel plans and concerns which could help pass time as you’re driving down a highway. If you’re lost, telling your fake baby about your direction woes might help you feel better.

Babies can also be people magnets. People will stop to coo over a baby which opens up the channel for other conversations. They’ed certainly be curious about your fake baby.

Dogs can work this way as well, come to think about it, but never mind, this is about babies.

As a person who has traveled with a real baby, I can imagine what it might be to travel with a fake one.

Once I set my son on top of a blanket pallet on a table of a restaurant in Krabe, Thailand when he was three months. He slept while I wrote. I enjoyed having his company, but there was a predicament when, after drinking coffee, water and a smoothie over the period of a couple of hours, I had to get rid of some of the liquid. I wouldn’t have worried about waking a fake baby up–or dropping him on the bathroom floor when trying to rearrange my clothes.

Just like leaving my son sleeping on the table wasn’t an option, leaving a fake baby isn’t an option either. They can cost up to $4,000. A little over $1,000 is common. If someone stole your fake baby, you’d probably feel sad. Angry even.

Actually, a fake baby traveling companion seems a bit odd to think about it–harmless, but odd.

What about dressing up a dog like a person? Now, that’s another thought. Some celebrities do it. You’ve seen the pictures. Nah. That seems as weird to me as a fake baby.

As an aside, yesterday I was talking to a woman who was holding a six-week-old baby. The baby was sleeping soundly, not moving. Guess what I thought of? Fake baby. These days, double check.

Here’s a link to Reborn Babies, a company that makes the dolls. There are several examples of what they look like.

Woman ends up in Sydney, Nova Scotia by mistake. She wanted Australia

by Jamie Rhein on

Okay, listen up. If you are getting on an airplane and you get an inkling that something is not quite right, that perhaps you are off course, PAY ATTENTION to that feeling and double check.

If you want to head to Sydney, Australia but something seems amiss, ASK, for heaven’s sake. Otherwise you could be like Monique Rozanes Torres Aguero who boarded an airplane in Buenos Aires, Argentina with visions of taking in the Syndney Opera House, perhaps, and trying out phrases like “G’day Mate,” only to land in another city–another Sydney, a town in Nova Scotia that does not have one tourist attraction listed on its Web site, according to this article in the Sydney Morning Herald. It does have the largest Ceilidh Fiddle in the World, though.

Ms Torres Aguero’s situation was not the first time this gaff has happened. Sydney, Nova Scotia, located on Cape Breton Island, has had other visitors unwittingly arrive at the airport expecting that they have landed Down Under.

Instead, there they are in an industrial, former coal mining town making the best of it since they are on vacation after all.

The problem that causes such errors is the drop down menu box that list airports with when you book on line. booking. Highlight the wrong airport and BAM, there you are one fine day in an unexpected place. This is kind of like Dorothy stepping out of the house in Munchkinland I would imagine.

There was a comment left on the post I wrote about a woman my mom met on a Greyhound bus who thought it only took one day to go from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Los Angeles, California. She thought she’d be in L.A. by morning.

The commenter told about one woman he met who was heading to Manchester, New Hampshire, or so she thought, but ended up in Manchester, England.

If you do ever end up in Sydney, Nova Scotia, by mistake or on purpose, it has a “beautiful island coastline” and you can use it as a springboard to a trip on the Cabot Trail, the trail followed by explorer John Cabot.

I hope there are some good restaurants at least and a decent hotel in Sydney, Nova Scotia. If you think about it, this travel story is a far better one to tell the grandkids later in life. Lots of people have the “my trip to Sydney, Australia” story. This other version gets you interviewed for a newspaper article.

Check out other troublemakers in the skies!


The essence of travel (and life) in simple lines

by Jamie Rhein on

Here is a most charming, animated video from LInebuster that reminds me of what travel can feel like when you’re heading out into the unknown. There is the excitement, the thrill, and the unexpected dips and turns.

The song seems perfect, particularly since my travels through life this week has involved the hurricane caliber winds on Sunday that left much of Columbus, Ohio (and a wide-sweeping range of elsewhere) without electricity. Most fantastic are the enormous trees toppled like twigs. In the past few days, people have gone sight-seeing looking for them, just like they do when they search out Christmas light displays in December. If I would use one word to describe my mood, “startled” comes to mind.

Enjoy whatever ride you are on, even if it’s a doozy.