Travel certainly expands your horizons and exposes you to things that are exciting, unexpected or just plain weird. It has to be said, however, that when you travel to the great western democracies you realise that the differences are not as big as they once seemed. Certainly in terms of shopping the surprises are nowhere near as huge as they were in the pre-Internet world. As Disney taught us, it's a small world after all. What Walt didn't say was "especially if you were fortunate enough to be born in an English speaking country". I can't help but wonder what a major international airport would be like if you didn't. I flew Korean airlines and stopped in Seoul. Every airport sign and every announcement was in both Korean and English. As I am clearly not Korean every shop keeper, customs official and flight attendant automatically addressed me in English. It really does take the pain out of that part of the travel. Even so there are some little surprises and one I think boarded on genius was discovered in
Incheon International Airport - the potato hotdog. It was what the baby would be if a dagwood dog mated with hot chips all in one package. Yes my mind and my waist-line has been expanded by this trip.
Travel certainly expands your horizons and exposes you to things that are exciting, unexpected or just plain weird. It has to be said, however, that when you travel to the great western democracies you realise that the differences are not as big as they once seemed. Certainly in terms of shopping the surprises are nowhere near as huge as they were in the pre-Internet world. As Disney taught us, it's a small world after all. What Walt didn't say was "especially if you were fortunate enough to be born in an English speaking country". I can't help but wonder what a major international airport would be like if you didn't. I flew Korean airlines and stopped in Seoul. Every airport sign and every announcement was in both Korean and English. As I am clearly not Korean every shop keeper, customs official and flight attendant automatically addressed me in English. It really does take the pain out of that part of the travel. Even so there are some little surprises and one I think boarded on genius was discovered in Incheon International Airport - the potato hotdog. It was what the baby would be if a dagwood dog mated with hot chips all in one package. Yes my mind and my waist-line has been expanded by this trip.
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