Tomorrow I kick off my summer trip series -- reporting from Germany. But today you can drop by our Travelers Café for two great travel blogs. Cameron Hewitt is in France and my kids are in Vietnam.
I remember as a guide I'd have tourists forever complaining about the rude French. They'd say how at the post office it took forever, there were no smiles, and no one spoke English. I had to remind my travelers that small-town French postal clerks are just as speedy, cheery and multilingual as postal clerks are back in the USA. Cameron shares a smart and insightful essay on the American challenges when it comes to enjoying the French -- and finishes by noting how he kept thinking, "To not get along with the French, you pretty much have to be a jerk." He also reports on duck, goose, and foie gras.
My children, Jackie and Andy, are now in Vietnam. Jackie just reported on "Ho Chi Minh's Waxy Body and The American War." The line to see Ho's body is longer than the line at the Louvre. For an American millennial to get a firsthand look at what we call "the Vietnam War," and learn about it from the other perspective, is a rich and challenging travel experience. She then goes out to discover and drink all the "gross things they soak in firewater."
On the same blog, Andy shares more of his videos. Check out "A Night Out in Hanoi," an evening fueled by special snake alcohol and in search of a good, dog spring roll.
