A one-day Greek island cruise
My rather lukewarm review of a one-day Greek island cruise, complete with karaoke, Greek dancing and food. Plus some recommendations.
Blog
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Republicans, Expatriates and FATCA
Last week I posted about the possibility of renouncing my American citizenship due to the onerous requirements the US government imposes on expatriate Americans. That post broke the record here at Rachel’s Ruminations: the most “hits” ever. And, in the process, I’ve learned a lot more about the situation from the many people who responded,…
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Giving up US citizenship?
For several years, I’ve been thinking about giving up my American citizenship. This is not an act of disloyalty or of protest, I hasten to add. I admit there have been moments – when George W. Bush was reelected, for example – when I was angry enough to repudiate my nationality in protest. But I…
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The stress of airline pricing
A few days ago, I managed to book an extremely low airfare to go visit my daughter in San Francisco. I found out about the fare by using Skyscanner, where you can input your destination and the dates you want to travel and receive updates whenever the fare goes up or down. So while I…
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Outside my comfort zone: scuba diving
I am a certified open water diver and have done exactly 29 dives up to today. That makes me a relative newbie, but I know the basics of scuba diving. Nevertheless, scuba diving is and always will be outside my comfort zone. The basic problem is that the whole thing just goes against any idea…
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Petra travel advice: 10 tips for visiting Petra
My first awareness of the existence of Petra was seeing it in the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. When I learned that it was a real place and not just a movie set, I added a trip to Petra to my next Israel trip. (Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links, which means if…
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A Dead Sea Day
Floating in the Dead Sea is one of those things people put on their bucket list: something that has to be experienced once in a lifetime. The Dead Sea is called the Dead Sea because its salt and mineral levels are so high that nothing lives in it. It is also the lowest elevation on…
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Masada and the Israeli Army
In about 66 C.E. (Christian Era, which is the term Israelis use for A.D.), a Jewish rebel movement captured a great fortress and palace built by King Herod. Called Masada, it stood high above the Dead Sea on a flat-topped mountain, surrounded by desert. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. by…
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The Western Wall Tunnel Tour explores a long-hidden history.
If you visit Jerusalem’s old city, you will surely see the Western Wall. It’s as if the large plaza at the center of this ancient place draws you in like a magnet. All roads don’t lead to Rome; they lead to the Western Wall. Yet the Western Wall is more than the most holy place…
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The Via Dolorosa
The route by which Jesus is believed to have carried the cross to his crucifixion is now a tourism and pilgrim route in the Old City of Jerusalem.
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The Mundane in Jerusalem
Amidst bombings and tension between Gaza and Israel, everyday life continues.
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Why I’m in Israel
Why I traveled to Israel at a time when Gaza and Israel were bombing each other.
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How Americans see the Dutch
When I posted about how the Dutch see the Americans, it wasn’t particularly complimentary, so I promised to write the opposite post: how the Americans see the Dutch. (Nederlands vertaling beneden) Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you click on one of them and spend money, I will receive a small percentage of what…
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10 Things the Dutch Think about Americans
“You’re not like most Americans.” A student of mine, a trainee English teacher, said this to me. I laughed, and the conversation moved on to other topics, but I’ve been thinking about what he meant by this. What the Dutch think about Americans – and I dare say this applies to other Europeans too – is…
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Advice for Expats: 12 Tips
There are two kinds of expatriates: the kind who move to a foreign country to seize an opportunity for a job or education or retirement, and the kind who move to a foreign country for love. Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, I will…
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Bicycle baptism
All we were trying to do was to get out of the car while it was stopped in traffic. The plan was to walk to the restaurant two blocks away while my husband went to park the car. It made sense. I stepped out on the right side, but not before saying to the kids…
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Watery Hubris
That’s part of this admirable hubris: complete and utter self-confidence.
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Jew cookies and Negro kisses
With such names, we become the “them” in “Us versus Them.”
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Is Black Pete racist?
To state the patently obvious, it’s terribly racist in this day and age for a white person to dress up in blackface and play a comic character.
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When graffiti is okay
[:en]Let’s look at a particular type of graffiti: the kind that names the person writing it, often accompanied by a date. [:]
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Forbidden Spaces in Chateau Chaumont
When you tour a historical building, do you ever wonder about the rooms they’re not showing you? I do! My ruminations about Chateau Chaumont.
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Driving, Dutch-style
One culture chooses to flout law #1 and obey law #2, while another culture obeys law #1 and flouts law #2.
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Arromanches 360 circular cinema: A review
My oh-so-laconic son, on exiting Arromanches 360 circular cinema, which depicts the D-Day invasion, remarked, “Even I found this one moving,”
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The Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy: A review
A not-very-favorable review of the Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy in Bayeux, France, with other ideas for learning about D-Day.
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War graves in Belgium: Living among the dead
With so many Belgium war graves, memorials, monuments, trenches and museums in the Ypres Salient, it’s as if the locals live among the dead.
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How NOT to design a bathroom!
We ate lunch yesterday at a café in Gent. Afterwards, I went inside to use the toilet, followed the signs upstairs, came around a corner, and saw this.
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In Flanders Fields Museum: A review
The In Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres, Belgium, is one of the most effective museums I’ve ever been to. It focuses on WWI in the Ypres Salient. Read my review here.
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Do you miss it? About homesickness
People place their home where their parents are.
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The Dutch and their bicycles
I’ve pointed out before that one of the things I like about the Dutch is that they ride bicycles. And it’s not just that it’s politically correct, non-polluting, and good exercise. I’ve lived here for 15 years, and the way the Dutch use their bicycles never ceases to amaze me. For example, to the Dutch…
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Skating Mania
The Dutch weather service reported predicted ice thickness along with weather forecasts.
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Chinese Tourists
Everywhere we’ve gone so far, there have been very few foreign tourists like us. Most of the tourists — and in some places all of the tourists — are Chinese. Sometimes they’re in pairs or families, sometimes in groups. When they’re in a group, even if it’s just 5 or 6 people, they hire a…
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Toilets in China: On cleanliness and filth
Note added in December 2019: I wrote the following article years ago in Hancheng, China, and I see now how terribly judgemental I was about toilets in China. I’ve added some tips and comments to update it a bit. My message now is: be aware of how you communicate and behave around the issue of…
