Northern Ireland

It was great to visit Belfast in Northern Ireland for a day with cousin Mary. Fun little trip. We got duped by a JK Rowling impersonator, I watched Mary play in a couple sessions at pubs and we also checked out a pub called Hatfield House.

Tragic recent history in Northern Ireland that I relearned on the Taxi Tour which visited a number of murals across Belfast.

Then I was in London for a week and learned about "The Knowledge" that all cab drivers must possess, making London cab drivers arguably the best in the world.

 The taxicab driver is required to be able to decide routes immediately in response to a passenger's request or traffic conditions, rather than stopping to look at a map, and not relying on satellite navigation or asking a controller by radio. Consequently, the 'Knowledge' is the in-depth study of a number of pre-set London street routes and places of interest that taxicab drivers in that city must complete to obtain a licence to operate a black cab. It was initiated in 1865, and has changed little since. It is claimed that the training involved ensures that London taxi drivers are experts on London, and have an intimate knowledge of the city. It is the world's most demanding training course for taxicab drivers, and applicants will usually need at least twelve 'appearances' (attempts at the final test), after preparation averaging 34 months, to pass the examination.

What to do with our extra time?

Countless tech companies that create software of hardware will often feature advertising or consumer messaging that contains language similar to "We make X task easier so you have more time to do the things you love".  And most of the time, that's true.

Email makes communication super fast and easy.

Tablets enable us to watch video or surf the web from any room in our home.

GPS helps us get places quickly.

All of this is great and it does provide more time to do the things we love... in theory.  The reality is, most folks spend the extra time that is generated from technology making things easier by engaging in more tasks that are based on this technology.

Fast email means we do more email.

Tablet access means we surf the web more.

GPS means we GPS everything for the exact time & distance, even when we know where we're going or walking in our own neighborhood.

We don't actually spend any of that extra time doing the things we love, and we start to lose the human element of life.

Next time you see an ad with that type of message, think about what you will do with the extra time that the product generates for you.  Don't turn into a robot!

India

India.  A life goal.  A childhood dream.  Hyderabad, Goa, Dehli, Agra, Jaipur, Mumbai.  Lots of guys.  Poverty everywhere.  Insane roads filled with cars, motorbikes, tuk-tuks, camels, cows, mules, goats, dogs, pigs and people.  Challenging to get around.

A rich culture and passionate people.  Lots & lots of people.

And big weddings!

Seeing Panosh ride a white horse into his wedding, with a beer in his hand and music blasting, people dancing all around him, with a huge goofy grin on his face, was well worth the trip right there.  When Panosh embraces things, he really goes for it, and that is certainly true of the entire Indian experience; the culture, the people and everything in between.

Interesting that each of India's 28 states could actually be their own country.  Each has its own culture and many have their own language, cuisine and even film industry.

Great to see Goa and meet real hippies from the 60s that traveled the hippie trail into Goa and never went back to the west.  Unfortunately, no girls seem to travel to Goa for NYE.  Very few women wandering around India looking for adventure in general, and the lack of free sex makes it tough to be a guy in India, as our cab driver Jimmy explained.

I had one of those life moments when I first saw the Taj Mahal off in the distance.  It was like stepping into an India Jones film.  Something I've dreamed about over the years.  For a split second, the history and the beauty really got hold of me.