Are you in held in the grasp of Olympic fever? Thinking you ought to hurry and make some plans to see the Games…or maybe you’d rather wait to see this awesome country after the billions of tourists, athletes and media personnel leave the billions of residents alone to their ancient history?
In light of this buzz, here are a few simple cultural guidelines that will help you win points with the locals and make the most of your time in China.

THE MEET & GREET
Like the world over, first impressions are key. Yet in contrast to neighboring Asian countries, the Chinese usually don’t bow as a form of greeting. When meeting someone for the first time a gentle handshake accompanied by a slight nod should suffice. If you happen to exchange business cards with a Chinese counterpart, proceed with care. The business card is a revered object in China, and when receiving someone’s, accept it with both hands and read it in their presence. Whatever you do, don’t pick your teeth with it.

THAT’S MR. YAO TO YOU
Say you’re in Beijing and you happen to run into basketball superstar Yao Ming. Whatever you do, do not refer to him as Mr. Ming. In China, one’s family name comes first, then followed by the given name. So Ming is the first name and Yao, the last.

THANKS, BUT NO THANKS. OK, THANKS!
If you feel so compelled to offer someone a gift while in China, know that it’s polite to refuse the present two or three times before accepting. Be persistent with the offering. Waiting for the gift reflects modesty and humility while grabbing something in haste is a sure sign of aggression and greed. As for wrapping, stick with red, which represents luck; avoid white and black as they are most often associated with funerals.

“HEY, HE CUT THE LINE!”
Waiting in line for anything in Beijing can be a very Darwinian experience of sink or swim. If you follow what your mother taught you, you’ll never see the front of the counter. Diminutive sweet old ladies will barge through you like you’re not even there. So when the occasion calls, don’t be hesitant to put those fabled American haunches to good use.

HOW DO THEY CUT THEIR STEAKS?
For those less chopstick-savvy, practice, as they say, makes perfect. To make things easy on the fork-happy cultures of the world, chopstick etiquette in China permits raising a bowl of rice closer to your mouth and discreetly shoveling it in. Amid all the hawking and spitting you’ll still have the best table manners in town. And however you wield your chopsticks, make sure to not point them at a person – akin to flipping the one-finger salute.

WHEN IN ROME
Nothing quite says wealthy foreigner like taking a taxi to hop around the city. Instead, try renting a bicycle; a one-speed, basket-sporting, brakes-not-working, local Chinese bike. It will offer the instant street credibility you covet. The sight of you on a bike should even encourage friendly smiles and brief exchanges.

DEAL?…OR NO DEAL? OPEN THE CASE!
Bargaining is the essence of China’s many markets. Perhaps frustrating at first, it quickly becomes a game for the shrewd. When you first ask how much an item is, the proprietor will likely pull out a calculator and type in an exorbitant number. You should act appalled, throw up your hands, and counter with an equally ridiculous low price. They, in turn, will often respond with a dramatic show of their own. From there, settle on a happy medium. All that work for a lousy T-shirt.

New airline regulations have caused the already-challenged vacationer to become downright burdened by the task of packing. What to do? The answer is short but sweet: Pack “short and sweet”; You’ll all be the better for it.

Believe it or not the airlines are doing us all a favor. Fewer and lighter pieces of luggage makes everyone’s job easier, and every tourists travel experience more enjoyable. As a tour leader who has hoisted such monstrosities as 80 and 90lb pieces of baggage, I have been participant and witness to not only the backache that comes along with such a haul, but the time lost to all other folks waiting to get moving due to the slower pace of moving such hardware.

My rule of thumb: if you’re taking a trip longer than one week…pack for one week, then, recycle your digs. If you’re taking a one week trip. Pack for four days. Get my drift? No one (and I mean NO ONE) will remember or care that you wore that shirt or blouse almost a week ago. Its oooookaaaay. You can wear things twice. You BETTER wear things twice! And, mix & match what you brought so that you can diversfy your look and rotate your clothes. Laundry services are widely available in most hotels and cruise ships and for what you would spend on overweight luggage, you could do your laundry. And my laundry.

A few other helpful hints:
*Layer for flexibility! Instead of heavy sweaters and bulky jackets, opt for thin layers that you can easily add or subtract. One t-shirt, one dress shirt, a light sweater and sport coat–4 items–can allow for SEVEN different combinations. You’ve accomplised three goals here: you’ve lightened your load, you’ve saved a lot of room and you’ve provided yourself with a diversified wardrobe.
*Pick neutral color clothing and more solids than prints. They can be paired in multiple numbers of ways and can camouflage repeated uses.
*Maximize your space! Most everything can fit inside something that fits inside something else. In other words, store your socks, ties and underwear in your shoes..then wrap your shoes in your durable clothing like jeans or a lightweight windbreaker. Creativity counts!
*Purchase Packing Cubes (available at LL Bean or most stores that sell luggage)! These little nylon “compartments” help you to stack & pack similiar pieces of clothing in protective segregated packs. Keeps your things orderly and neat while condensing the much needed space. The downfall of these neat little gadgets is that the added space gives you the illusion that you can pack more and thus risk adding more…weighing more…and paying more.

I said before that the airlines are doing us a favor by limiting our load and you’ll see…before too long the less you take, the better you’ll feel about the task of packing (and the less the airlines can lose too :-)

Ever get lost without your passport? Probably not.

But if you did, there’s no better place to be than the airport. That’s right; the airport! You can now obtain a passport literally on the spot with locations of Emergency Passport Help Services popping up at busy international airports across the US. Just chillin at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport, and suddenly feeling like you ought to head off to London? Maybe you’re just passing by JFK in New York and the feeling of taking the overnight to Barcelona overwhelms you.

Well, for a small fee (right! compared to buying a house, its a small fee), you can get same-day service of a new passport for the low low price of..$457. The good news is, that if you are just renewing your passport, its lots cheaper at just $427.

Hey, what’s a couple hundred bills when the urge to get away takes over your being? You can even get a visa (but you have to use MasterCard)!

I guess when ya gotta go, ya gotta go!

No…its not that we’ve begun testing for banned substances. Its that both the Olympics and Amazing Journeys will be “invading” China in 2008. That’s right; shortly after the Gold Medals are distributed to the best athletes in the world in Beijing, some of the best travelers from across the world will be joining us for a journey that will compete with none other.

Our “Opening Ceremony” begins in Beijing and the “competition” continues as we explore the Great Wall of China, The Forbidden City, the Emperor’s regal Summer Palace and the old town “Hutongs” by rickshaw.

The 2nd round of our “games” will pit us against the legendary Terra Cotta Warriors (if you’ve ever had a meal at PF Changs, check out the replicas of these life-sized statues around the restaurant and imagine the discovery of the real thing in the city of Xian) and the remarkable performers of the captivating Tang Dynasty Stage Opera.

The “medal round” will showcase the modern sophistication and historical charm of Shanghai as we visit Yu Garden, Nanjing Road and the famous waterfront “Bund”.

The “Closing Ceremonies” will take place in Hong Kong, either as place to part ways and head home, or to continue on for the post game celebration.

As you begin to watch the Games from Beijing starting next week, remember….you can be there too! Come with Amazing Journeys from November 2-12 and experience the magic of 5,000 years of history and the untamed spirit and rich culture of China.

That’s the number of vacation days US employess will leave on the table in 2008. While they are allotted an average of 14 days to cruise, booze or just snooze, a study by Expedia.com says that about one-third of workers don’t use their entire allotment, with leftovers amounting to three wasted vacation days per US employee. And while Americans may be voluntarily taking off less than two weeks a year, European countries offer their hard workers up to five weeks for travel and leisure. France leads the way with 37 blissful days of paid leave.

You need your down time…so that you can best during your up time.
And, you shouldn’t have to work to plan your vacation. Those words oxymoronize each other. Amazing Journeys can alleviate that problem. Let us do the work, so you can play.
DON’T LET YOUR VACATION DAYS GO TO WASTE!! Call us today :-)

It was far & away and most “amazing journey” to some places that most people only dream of visiting, but our group of 114 strong are finally home (save for a few folks who just weren’t ready to leave Europe quite yet and are tinkering around Rome, Florence, Ireland and a few other destinations on their own for a few more days). What a truly special experience this was; only time removed from these destinations and good times with special friends will truly allow us to put in perspective just how life changing our journey was. From the sites & sounds of Rome to the gorgeous beaches and discoveries of Greece…to the ancient ruins of Ephesus, Turkey (not to mention the really weird Turkish bath experience)…to the scenic Amalfi Coast just outside Naples, Italy and to the highlight of them all; the Pyramids in Cairo, Egypt….this was a trip to never tuck away, but to relive and remember for a long long time. On board Legend of the Seas the memories of the destinations by day, were complimented by the fun events at night and at sea. A toga party, slot tournament, meaningful Shabbat and Havdallah services, “Karaoke and Cocktails”, 2 intriguing presentations: “Surfing for Love in all the Wrong Places” and “The World According to Bill and Malori” (a sampling of 16 years of stories from our adventures around the world), mini-golf tournament, fun in the sun at the pool, and so much more were all part & parcel of the overall experience of traveling together with such great people to such places.
The pictures, the stories and the friendships are fresh in our memories now….but won’t fade away too soon or too easy.

Along with 114 of our friends, Amazing Journeys departs on July 10 for a twelve night cruise to some truly “amazing” places. We’ll be seeing the Acropolis in Greece, the Pyramids in Egypt, the Amalfi Coast in Italy…even the Turkish Baths in, well…Turkey! About half the group will be joining us for a “pre-cruise” in Rome on the days leading up to the cruise…and do we ever have some great sites to see, including The Coliseumm The Trevi Fountain, The Vatican, and a tour of Jewish Rome. If you’re part of the 114, we can’t wait to see you. Get ready to be part of this blogsite in the near future as we bring the joys and memories to life. If you didn’t make it on this trip, we hope you’ll consider one of our others. (If a cruise in the Mediterranean is something you might be interested in…check out our website for details on next year’s cruise from Barcelona to Seville, Spain….The Canary Islands…and Morocco, to name a few.

With the pre-cruise in Rome looming…we’re outta here! “Ciao Ciao”
Do I smell gelato??

Being the coffee snob I am, traveling the globe puts a crimp in my morning Starbucks routine. While yes, Starbucks IS everywhere (including out-of-the-way places like Skagway, Alaska and at the Forbidden City in Beijing) there are as many choices of java establishments as there are countries in the world. But…how you order that shot of espresso or skinny latte can also vary just as much. If you order a simple “coffee” in some countries, what you get might shock your taste buds.

Here are a few samples of proper Java Jargon to help you navigate the world of ordering a coffee across the globe:

In Australia:
“Flat White”: Coffee with milk
“Flat Back”: Coffee without milk
“Short Black”: shot of espresso
“Tall Black”: double espresso

In Costa Rica:
“Cafè con lechè”: Coffee with milk (not to be confused with the French and southern US take on coffee with milk: “Cafe au lait”)

In Italy (Thanks Jaffa, for your contribution!):
“Caffè” (kah-FE) : We might call it espresso; but Italians do a small cup of very strong coffee, topped with a caramel-colored foam called “crema”, a very important element.

“Posso avere un caffe con latte”: Can I have a coffee with milk”?

In Singapore:
“Kopi-o”: Coffee without milk

In Spain:
Café Cortado is Carajillo: espresso spiked with liquor (often brandy or whiskey)… which comes in quite handy after a long and full night of tapas crawling.

In China:
Best to order tea.
…or go to the nearest Starbucks (yes there are Starbucks scattered throughout the nation) and play it safe with a skinny latte. Can’t promise where the milk came from, though.

In America:
“Vente light mocha frappa no whip, skinny, double shot, foamy macchiato ramba lamba ding dong”

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

You may accustomed to dropping your extra change in that very obvious tip box at your local coffee shop, but when it comes to tipping service-oriented personnel in foreign countries, the opinions are as varied as the sizes of the coins in England (also known as “pence”, in case you didn’t know).

Americans are tip-happy. There is no question that we tip more than any country in the world. Tip jars in coffee shops, tip the hairdresser, tip the cabbie, tip the porter….and of course, we tip our waitresses sometimes in excess of 20%. While the recipients are welcome takers, we over tip to the tune of hundreds, if not thousands of dollars per person per year.

So be it. Its our culture..its our nature..and if we want good service, we feel the providers are deserving. And so, we tip. But, what about other countries; do service personnel in South America or Japan or Australia have the same expectations? The answer is a resounding “no” they do not. As a matter of fact, in some countries the attempt to present a gratuity can be perceived as a flagrantly rude show of wealth, or worse it can be an insulting gesture to their culture. On the other hand, in some countries, rounding up to the next dollar amount is sufficient…or a simple 10% gratuity is appropriate.

There really are no steadfast rules, but here is a little guideline to help you decipher the ‘what goes around comes around’ phenomenon in the world of tipping:

TAXIS:
South America, Australia, Hong Kong – round up to the next dollar (or peso) amount
India, China – no gratuity expected
Italy, France, South Africa: 10%

RESTAURANTS:
Italy, England, New Zealand, Africa – “service charge” usually included, but adding 5-10% is customary
China – 3% is the norm
Japan – considers it an insult to tip

HOTEL PORTERS:
Latin America: equivalent of $2 total for up a three-star hotel. No more than $5 at a 4-star and up.
Africa: equivalent of $1 per bag
Fiji, Tahiti: Tipping is not customary nor expected.

When in doubt, the best rule of thumb is to simply ask the question. “May I give you a little something?” or “Is this acceptable?” as you hand over a small gratuity. This will elicit a proper response that will allow you depart the situation feeling like you did the right thing.