Budget Nomad

Friday, August 17, 2012

Goodbye Frommer's Goodbye

I just happened upon an article that mentioned Google bought out Frommer's from John C. Wiley. I was horrified and read more.

This is from the USA Today article, but there is plenty more all over the web. None of it is heartwarming to one of their travel writers. I had been a Frommer's fan for decades before I started to write for them.

"Frommer's — including its guidebook content, Frommers.com and mobile apps — joins Google's expanding stable of travel assets including Zagat Survey, a restaurant reviewer it bought last year, and ITA Software, a developer of airfare search and pricing systems, bought in 2010. Terms of the Frommer's purchase from publisher John Wiley & Sons were not disclosed...

That Frommer's was already up for sale likely hastened the transaction. Wiley put it up for sale, along with its other consumer market products, in March.

Frommer's extensive digital footprint, compared to competitors, may have added to its appeal, says Jason Clampet, founder of online travel publication Skift.com and a former editor at Frommer's.

For several years, Frommer's has made its guidebook content available online and also offers several travel mobile apps.

Google declined to comment. But in a statement, it says Frommer's will be added to the Zagat team "to provide a review for every relevant place in the world."

Job cuts were underway at Frommer's on Monday, including the layoffs of its entire online team, according to a report by Skift.com.

It also remains unclear if the Frommer's brand will survive. "I hope so. Everyone knows it," Clampet says."

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Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Reader's Comment

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"You do know that the Onion is a satirical news site don't you? on Rosetta Stone Stones Hungarian"

I sure do!

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Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Cooperative Agreement

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Rarely do I accept link exchange offers, but every once in a blue moon, there is one that grabs me. I received a flattering note from Travelizer.co.uk about my blog. The note led me to believe the person writing had actually read a portion of it. At the time I had refused the link exchange offer only because I was having issues with the template. A week later, I received a second e-mail from the same company, but she addressed the fact that her colleague had contacted me previously. This was another indication that they probably were not spanning.

When I fixed the template, I looked over their website, liked the layout and contacted them to do the exchange. You can find Travelizer on the right side with a direct link to their site. They offered to put my blog on their Hungary/Budapest page. They did and here it is. The page is too long to show the entire thing here, but here is the top and the part where they have my blog listed as a destination expert.

Nice!

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Do You Give a Hoot?

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As an American, this is embarrassing. As a male who has tried to be a feminist, this is even more discombobulating. At the end of this month, there will be the first ever Hooters restaurant opening up in Budapest. There have been Kentucky Fried Chicken, Subways, TGIFridays, and of course Burger King and McDonald's for years now. I celebrated when Starbucks opened where I could supersize my cup of coffee. However, none of these places objectify women like Hooters does.

For those whose native tongue is not English, 'hooter' is slang for a woman's breast. The fact that we even have such restaurants is degrading to woman, but to exploit them with large breasted wait staff is more than obnoxious. What irks me even more is the location. It will be featured prominently on Liszt Ferenc tér almost directly across from the famed music academy.

I wish this Atlanta based restaurant chain never made it out of the city. With any luck, the intelligent women and their male supporters will protest the place by not patronizing it.

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Ready, Set, Fly

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Airport Budapest, Ferihegy, Terminal 1. View from ramp. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This morning I came across a news item concerning the Budapest Airport. It seems there is a new regulation that has been put into place, but not well documented for those concerned. Now, any car whether passenger or taxi are allowed five minutes standing time when dropping off passengers. After the five minutes are over, there is a fine of 2,000 Huf delivered to the vehicle's driver on the spot. It seems unsuspecting drivers have found that fine presenters are alert and ambitious in proving their worthiness.

The enforcers claim there are huge signs posted, but drivers need to read them to be informed. How despicable is that? They also stated that there were public announcements in the media and on their Facebook page. The Facebook page for the airport is exactly where I would think of looking to find changes in parking rules.

Having witnessed the speed with which many tourists approach their taxi when leaving us for a stay, I think Főtaxi, the official airport taxi had just better raise their fares by 2,000 Huf. The airport shuttle would be best served installing ejector seats.

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Sunday, August 12, 2012

One Happy and One Unhappy Camper

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We are one for one over here in Budapest. I am a happy camper after getting the requisite 'Likes' on Facebook to get my site. Now people can go to facebook.com/BudgetNomad to find my page automatically.

Now for the unhappy camper. Last night the cable for the Internet went out. When it came back on, we had problems with connecting any other device other than my computer. The router seemed to be gone. I rebooted the cable box and the router, which I have had to do a thousands times before. Still nothing!

I was able to get Internet, but Ron is missing all of his political shows, comedy shows, and e-mail. He is not a happy camper. After doing some research, it seems that a router lasts from 2-7 years. This one has been around for 7+ human years, which is 94 in techie years, so it was bound to pass on to the eternal cyberspace at some time.

We had a coffee date to see Melissa, Scott, and little Ellie to say yet another good-bye. They are going to live in Istanbul for Scott's doctoral research. Ellie is one of the best babies I have ever seen. She is all play, no fuss. If I could order one just like her, I would have a kid, but I would want a return warranty if the personality changed.

After our final, final adios, R times 2 headed to the mall to buy a new router. Of course the young, English speaking salesman sold me on a deluxe that ran over $120, but he guaranteed it would be easy to set up.

Home again, home again, lickety split. The damn thing did not work. It must be the Internet cable box, so nothing can be done until tomorrow. Ron has 16 more hours of unhappiness to work through before the Internet office opens.

Coincidentally, he is reading Flunking Sainthood, so we will see if he saintly demeanor holds out.

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Do You Want a Side of Culture With Your Booze?

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Periodically, I look over all of the budget airlines to see which if any have created or abandoned any routes to and from Budapest. Well, surprise, surprise, this is what I happened upon when looking at Jet2com's website.

Jet2com flies between Budapest and Manchester, Leeds, and Edinburgh. Now I know who the major culprit is for bringing those obnoxious drunks to our city streets.

The marketing is astounding:

"A short city break with your best friends is now considered the norm".

Translation - if you don't leave the country to get crap-faced with a bunch of other men, you are a deviant who should reconsider the nuptials.

"As well as great bars and restaurants, all of our destinations have a touch of culture too..."

Translation - there are fabulous strip clubs featuring Central European women who have yet to migrate to the UK. To googly-eye them come to these cities.

Personally, I find the captions "Party hard in Prague, Boozy nights in Budapest", and "Vodka heaven in Krakow" not only disparaging to these incredibly historic cities, but also to their citizens. The emphasis is the freedom to make a fool of yourself while pushing the limits of inebriation. Apparently, it is necessary for Brits to leave their home country for this ritual, where they also leave their manners and respect for others. Perhaps, they could not fit those in their carry-on luggage.

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BN Now on Facebook

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I now have a Facebook page devoted to Budget Nomad. I would 'like' it if you 'like' it via your Facebook account. Well, Facebook doesn't give us this option, but I would LOVE it if you would 'like' it on your Facebook account.

It is not indexed yet, but here is a link to get to it.

Budget-Nomad

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Saturday, August 11, 2012

Have You Readit on Reddit?

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Image via CrunchBase

The social network Reddit appeared in one of my computer newsletters. I had heard the name, but have never bothered checking it out before. My curiosity got the best of me, so I went to the site. The first post to catch my attention was "Homosexuals will not go to heaven". Oh, I thought, it is going to be one of those sites. Being inquisitive, I clicked on the link which transferred my browser to this picture.

So I thought, "Okay, this isfar from the bashing I was anticipating." After giving a sigh of relief, I started reading the comments. Often, I find the comments to any type of post as good as or better than the post itself. This is one comment that made me laugh out loud.

"Ya who cares about sexual orientation, if those stairs are what you have to walk up, no American will go to heaven."

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Friday, August 10, 2012

Packing the Essentials

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We never go into a guest room when the guest is out seeing the city. However, one of the advantages of being so small, most people have this sense of trust, so never bother to close their room door. For the most part, I don't pay attention, but this did catch my eye.

Possible names for this photo:

The Agony and the Ecstasy

Flip Then Flop

Mile High Club Does Beachwear

Whatever it is named, I think it is charming that these are the essentials for one little rucksack to go.

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Honey, Is the Life Insurance Paid?

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Thanks to the All Hungary News Group, I happened upon this frightful information. It is sourced from Hungary Around the Clock for everything within the quotation marks.

"The Hungarian mortality rate is almost 50% higher than the average of the most developed EU15 countries, according to a study included in the Central Statistics Office publication Demographic Portrait 2012.

The death rate here is also higher than in those countries that joined the EU simultaneously or later than Hungary. More than 25% of Hungarians die from cancer, somewhat lower than the West European average. The mortality rate among Hungarian men younger than 64 is nearly twice as high as the average of the EU15. The mortality rate of women below 64 years of age is 70% higher than the average of the EU15 and almost 20% higher than in countries that joined the EU in 2004 or later."

According to IndexMundi.com, Hungarian life expectency comes in at 91 out of 220 countries. Just for some perspective, Bosnia and Herzegovina ranked 49, the United Kingdom is number 29, while the US is a fat 49.

The US is working hard at 'super sizing' all of the other healthier countries with their fast food exports, so there will be more competition for those larger numbers as the waist lines increase.

Make sure your partner's life insurance is paid up to date.

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The Daily, Huh?

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When I first discovered there was a new English language news portal, I was thrilled for the variety. I readily embrace the snippets of news that arrive in my mailbox Monday to Friday by the All Hungary Group News, but there is just a smattering of news there. It is like an appetizer without an entrée.

The latest news source for we English speakers is The Daily.hu an online service only. With great relish, I started following this portal, but soon changed my habits from daily to weekly. This brings me to the conclusion that perhaps the moniker would be wisely re-branded as The Occasional.what?

After pointing my browser in the direction of the site, knowing I had lapsed as a dedicated reader for over two weeks, I intended to spend some quality time reading, gathering, learning, and being entertained. Much to my chagrin, the only emotion that reached a perfect 10 on my scale of fulfillment was disappointment.

With the exception of a couple random smidgens of information about the Olympics and even less about the Sziget Festival, there was nothing new. Many articles are dated back to mid-July with less than a dozen exhibiting any date in August.

Now one could assert that it is the summer, so things get lazy, including bloggers, so maybe we should cut some slack here and wait for cooler weather before we find cozy articles to snuggle up with. Normally, I would give the benefit of this argument, but the news portal was originated at the beginning of the summer. This has either been really poor planning or they don't aren't paying any staff so there is no incentive for anyone to bring the pen to the pad or the fingers to the keyboard.

If anyone is paying attention, I have some very talented journalism students that will be looking for an internship.

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Thursday, August 09, 2012

A Book Religiously Reviewed

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There are few times that I have reviewed a book here, ahem...other than my own. Generally, when so inspired, I will put a note in Goodreads. I log in via Facebook, so that my Facebook friends can find my Goodreads suggestions. We can explore each others habits. So far no one I know has admitted to reading Fifty Shades of Gray, but then again no one has listed S&M in 69 Flavors of Leather either.

This book is called Flunking Sainthood, by Jana Riess. If you read my blog regularly, you already know I have disclaimers to get out of the way before I get to the meat of the post. Here they are.

First I have to admit that this book was on a pile of books that Ron brought back from the US on his last trip. This was only one of two books that I had not ordered and had mailed to his niece for his to cart home. He is much cheaper than international delivery. After creating the pile, I just grab the next book on top as I finish one and need another. From the title, I thought it was a novel; off of the pile it came. By the first page, I knew it was not a novel, it was about religion, but even with these disadvantages, the author has a sense of humor. It would be a fun read.

Riess decides to read religious classics like a new member of the Ecclesiastical Classics Book of the Month club who needs to get their membership obligation over and done with in a year's time. She attempts to follow one religious practice each month associated with her chosen monthly reading. This was a set-up for writing the book; Riess is an author and editor.

These types of books are like single people reality shows on paper. It has the same flavor as books like A Year Without "Made in China": One Family's True Life Adventure in the Global Economy or How We Lived on What Was Created Within 50 Miles of NYC: One Couple True Life Adventure of Recycling Toilet Paper From Local Cucumbers. All of these books are by authors who already have an editor who they smooze into "Hey what if I do this and write a book about it. Will you publish it?" Riess was honest with the title. It could have been titled "Creating Sainthood: One Woman's Journey to Be Like St. Theresa and Joan of Arc".

Just about each month, Riess flunked out on her chosen monthly task. She changed the rules for fasting and praying the hours. Some months she just quit part of the month through. However, she has shared her failings in the most humorous way; it is impossible not to laugh out loud.

Now, if I were religious, I would say I have a confession to make. However, I am an atheist, so just let me lay this out. I loved the book. What it brought to my awareness were all of the extremes that people will go to to try to be closer to something that is intangible and no one is able to quantitatively prove exists. What still confounds me is when people honestly believe "When we are in despair about a child getting leukemia, God is right beside us feeling righteously pissed" (page 110). Come on! Riess, you made me stop laughing here and made me righteously pissed that anyone could dare write this sentence.

The sub-chapter "Would I friend Jesus on Facebook" is what I had read immediately after having been invited to lunch at a student's home. We had a lengthy discussion about Facebook and friendship. Was that God telling me something, having me come across this part of the book so soon afterward?. Hell no, but it was fun to read.

I am going to share this book with friends, especially the religious overachievers. I loved it. Another book that I am putting on my reading list is Passing the Plate: Why American Christians Don't Give Away More Money by Christian Smith (love the first name), Michael O. Emerson, and Patricia Snell.

Jana Riess, PhD, is the Religion Book Review Editor for Publishers Weekly magazine and is also the author of The Spiritual Traveler: Boston and New England (HiddenSpring) and What Would Buffy Do?: The Vampire Slayer as Spiritual Guide (Jossey-Bass). She holds degrees in religion from Wellesley College and Princeton Theological Seminary, and a PhD in American religious history from Columbia University. She is frequently interviewed by the media on trends in religion and publishing. A convert to the LDS Church, Riess has spoken at Brigham Young University Women’s Conference and other Mormon gatherings, as well as professional conferences. She lives in Kentucky with her husband and daughter.