Friday, December 4, 2009

The TripAdvisor factor

Traded a few Skype messages with a college buddy now living in Vienna, Austria. Annette and I visited that fine city a decade ago so it’s unlikely my 2010 trip will swing through “Wien,” but who knows, perhaps my Madison-era acquaintance and I will rendezvous somehow.

Anyway, “Gracy” introduced me to TripAdvisor, a website where I launched my own companion page to this blog tonight. It’s more review-oriented vs. the blog, which frankly is all about me. (And I’m OK with that.) Obviously, no Euro-reviews will exist until May, but when I craft one, a link will appear on this page, or via an IntenseTraveler tweet. I did write a quick review of the Polynesian Resort at Walt Disney World from our October trip, and the spontaneous lil' notes at TripAdvisor tell me that it should be posted within 48 hours. So you can read my stellar profile now, then be sure to check back for that must-read about WDW!

My old buddy – and I do mean “old” since he turned 40 this week – has traveled extensively. Though he doesn’t write massive “megamails” anymore about his journeys, you can see his TripAdvisor reviews here.

Historical aside. During our conversation, Gracy reminded me that this week marks the anniversary of the so-called Black Friday birthday party on the first floor of UW-Madison’s Sullivan Hall our sophomore year. The party ultimately deteriorated into cops busting the place up, writing dozens of drinking tickets (none for me), and my acquaintenance being booted from the dormitory – hence the moniker “Black Friday.” I understand that a few other survivors are commemorating the event's 20th anniversary this evening (probably as I type this) beginning at Der Rathskellar at UW's Memorial Union. Wow, 20 years since I mouthed off to a cop busting the place up (we nicknamed him Rambo) and got my head bashed into a wall. I may have even yelled, “I’m being repressed! I’m being repressed!”

No wonder I’m planning a middle-aged crisis walk-about.

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