Category: Wheels

Road trip!

Saw this at the féria (market) today.

peru-tag

Since I was thinking more about cheese, bananas, and nuts than geography, and despite the fact that I’m sorta-planning a trip there, I had to think exactly how far away that was.

peru-uruguay

Almost the distance from New York to Los Angeles. And there are no interstate highways in northern Argentina, Paraguay. Bolivia, and Peru. OBTW.

I love that it’s a garden-variety car: Renault Duster. They braved the wilds of South America without something like this or this!

Revelation or anathema?

 

 

 

The unbearable lightness of travel (German style)

german-1

Welcome to another season of German one-bag travelers. The one bag, of course, has to have four monstrous wheels, weigh several tons, consume lots of fuel, and be prepared to assault any terrain.

german-2

If this looks familiar, perhaps it’s because you saw this post, or this post, or this post.

If you wonder why I even pay attention, consider the last time I was in Germany (2008). We spent several weeks in Europe. I bought a couple of paperback books in Paris, which added to the weight I was carrying. For the flight home, my luggage was up to 6.5 kg (14.3 pounds) … probably the weight of the taillights of this monster.

À chacun son goût.*

*Jedem das Seine, the German version, goes back centuries, but doesn’t play well now due to its incorporation in the entrance sign to Buchenwald concentration camp from WW II.

 

Motard?

motard

Doesn’t play well to my ear, even (or especially) knowing (which I didn’t) its Urban Dictionary definition: an obnoxiously enthusiastic US Marine. Another definition: Un motard, ou motocycliste, est un conducteur de motocyclette. Les conducteurs de side-car, de trike et les pilotes de compétition peuvent également porter ce nom. The funny thing about that definition is that I got to the end of the second sentence before I realized it was in French. Up until then it’s just a couple of letter-changes away from Spanish.