Matador Network's Blog, page 2168

What happens when you date an Aussie

Photo: Sérgio Bernardino

WHEN I WAS GROWING UP, I thought all Australian guys had sun-kissed skin, blonde hair, crystal blue eyes, and lived their lives on their surfboards. And then I found myself dating an Australian who, for the most part, really couldn’t be fussed going to the beach. He didn’t even like the sand all that much. Each summer I’d be up and ready for the beach, swimmers on and sunblock spread thoroughly (re: not wearing enough for Australian sun), and he’d want to go the mall or to the hardware store.

I was flabbergasted. An Australian who didn’t want to go to the beach?! It seemed like blasphemy, but such is the case when you grow up with some of the world’s most beautiful beaches right at your doorstep every day.

Not only did I learn that not all Australians live their lives at the beach or surfing, but they also don’t use the word “shrimp”…which ruins every American attempt at pretending to be an Australian by saying, “Throw another shrimp on the barbie, mate!”

Here are some other things I learned from dating a True Blue:

1. There is no time more sacred than footy time.

That amazing realization you had at work that day about how yellow is actually your favorite color? It will have to wait; keep any and all conversations to a minimum when footy is on.

You: So excited to hang out with you tonight! xx

Your Boyfriend: Footy tonight!!!. Woo hoo!!!!!

2. Chicken is a vegetarian meal.

I remember pleading for a gradual re-introduction to red meat before I moved to Australia, and I soon learned that I’d have no choice but to love it. Australians love their steak, their snags, their rissoles, their lamb, their meat pies — the list goes on. And on those rare occasions when we didn’t eat red meat and instead went with chicken, I would always hear, “So we’re going vegetarian tonight are we?”

3. Seeing a huntsman spider doesn’t warrant a blood curdling scream.

I remember the first time I saw a huntsman spider. It was the biggest, hairiest spider I’d ever seen, and it was sprinting across the bedroom wall. I screamed like I was being murdered. I may have even blacked out for a second. But a huntsman — though it’s basically the size of a small child — is harmless (duh!), so screaming is totally and completely unnecessary.

More like this: 9 things Americans can learn from Australians


4. Kangaroos are pests.

I was — once again — flabbergasted. Kangaroos are pests? But Australians aren’t all too fond of kangaroos. They tear up gardens and farmland in the countryside, and they make nighttime driving dangerous. Whatever. I still think they’re awesome.

5. You’ve gotta embrace the bush.

No, I’m not talking about your bush. I’m talking about the great outdoors. Some love going for hikes or bike rides, and some may love trips “up to the farm,” but if you’re dating an Australian, you’ll learn you’ve gotta get your hands dirty once in a while.

6. Quit your whinging.

There’s no whining or whinging when you’re camping out in the bush or when you don’t want to watch The Footy Show after just watching hours of the actual footy game.

7. Not all Australians surf.

Sadly, ladies, it’s true. Not every single Australian is a surfer.

8. You learn to love — or endure — cricket.

Seriously, what kind of game goes on for days and days and days? But when you’re dating an Australian, you’ll learn to nod when he tells you some really (I mean like really) obscure score, and you’ll learn to live with this never-ending game.

9. Bledisoe, The Ashes, and State of Origin are no joke.

Footy game, cricket match, footy game. Life stops for such events, and you’d better hope Australia (and in the case of State of Origin, your preferred team) wins, otherwise your boyfriend will be one unhappy sports fan.

10. Long words won’t work.

Afternoon (arvo). Suspicious (sus). Flip flops (thongs). Devastated (devo’ed). Darling (darl). Spaghetti bolognese (spag bol). Chicken schnitzel (chicken schnitty). Alexandra (Al). The list goes on.

11. It’s all about Triple J

The only station on in your car ever (if it’s not talk radio about footy of course) will most likely be Triple J. And come Australia Day (one of the holiest days of the year), your entire day will be in synch with the Triple J Hot 100, or a countdown of the 100 best songs that year.

12. He’s true blue.

By the end of your relationship, you’ll learn that your Australian boyfriend is a true blue (and if you’ve ever dated an Australian, cue the True Blue drinking song in your head) always and forever.

Check it out: The US States Map is here!

WE STARTED OUT BIG with our #Travelstoke World Map, and after the overwhelmingly positive response our Map Team has created an awesome new addition: a map where you can show off your travels within the United States!

We’re super pumped about this hot new map, so go ahead and click on the image above, or this link to build your own US States map. You’ll receive a link through your email that will allow you to edit your map later on (add us to your address book so it doesn’t end up in your SPAM or Promotional folders). Then share your travels with friends and family on Facebook and Twitter, and start planning your next baller road trip across the USA!

Countries where AIDS is deadliest

Back in the 1980s, the global HIV and AIDS epidemic was one shrouded in stigma. By the time then-president Ronald Reagan gave his first address about AIDS, the epidemic had killed 20,849 people.

Approximately 35 million people around the world today live with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, according to a 2013 report from UNAIDS, the United Nations project aimed at fighting the epidemic. The group estimates that 19 million of those infected do not even know they have the virus.

Monday marks World AIDS Day, an annual event since 1988. The public health holiday promoted by the World Health Organization aims to combat the spread of AIDS and HIV with public information campaigns.

While 70 percent of new HIV infections occur in sub-Saharan Africa, the disease is still very much a worldwide problem. In the US, the number of new infections has declined, but the CDC estimates there are 1.2 million people living with HIV in the US.

In the US, it’s believed about 14 percent of HIV-positive people don’t know they carry the virus. UNAIDS announced a new project on Friday that sets a goal for at least 90 percent of those infected with HIV to be aware of their status — and for 90 percent of those people to be receiving regular treatment — by 2020. That’s an ambitious target, as the UN acknowledges: In the Asia-Pacific region right now, for example, less than half of high-transmission populations with HIV (sex workers and intravenous drug users) are aware of their HIV status.

Despite huge strides in the fight against AIDS, it’s still one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, along with tuberculosis and diarrheal diseases. Using data from the World Health Organization, we’ve created these maps to show you where it’s still the top infectious killer. Click on the map below to see an enlarged version.

 

Africa:

Asia:

Eastern Europe:

South America:

By: Simran Khosla, GlobalPost

This article is syndicated from Global Post.

Upstate New Yorkers are hardcore

Photo: [bastian.]

1. Our snowstorm ‘emergency’ kit is made up of beer and snacks.

We should be heading to Wegmans and stocking up on milk and bread, but what we are really going to need is beer, pretzels, and toilet paper. Who wants to drink a glass of milk after shoveling your driveway for five hours? I only grocery-shopped in a state of panic once, and it was before my very first adult WNY snowstorm. I even bought jugs of water, just in case.

After surviving the first storm, you realize that it is only snow and it will probably melt next week anyway, just as another band of lake effect begins to cross Lake Erie. It’s a never-ending vicious cycle. You can give into the panic, or you can ride it out sipping an ice cold Blue Light. You can create extra fridge space by using your back porch that is covered in snow.

2. Don Paul keeps us super-prepared for the next ‘snow party.’

Local weatherman Don Paul predicts, and we act accordingly. In western New York, lake-effect snow is a sneaky little trickster. It can dump six feet of snow on West Seneca, but only 6″ on Amherst, which is a little over 10 miles away. However, you never know who will get hit the hardest so you prepare for the worst (being stuck in your car on Highway 90 for 90 hours) but hope for the best (a snow day with not a whole lot of snow to shovel).

3. We are the ultimate judge of how other people deal with snow.

I grew up and now live in East Aurora, a small town southeast of Buffalo. I moved to New York City after college and remember my first “snowstorm.” It snowed maybe six inches, and the entire city was IN A STATE OF PANIC. The bodega shelves were empty. The subways were shut down. I was sitting at home laughing my ass off because six inches of snow is child’s play to a girl from western New York.

4. Driving bans do not stop us from living our lives.

You can’t get out of your driveway because your car is buried under five feet of snow? Has Orchard Park/Depew/Lancaster instituted a driving ban? No problem, just break out the cross-country skis, snowshoes, or snowmobile. Since we live in the Arctic tundra six months a year, most of us will have some sort of winter recreational gear. It’s how we stay sane in those long, cold winter months. Personally, I prefer cross-country skiing at Elma Meadows to the middle of Oakwood Ave in East Aurora. Those skis come in handy when you are craving an Elm Street Bakery cinnamon bun and the sidewalks are not plowed yet.

5. We remember what it’s like to live without the latest in snowstorm-emergency technology.

When I was young, I had to wake up and watch the endless scroll at the bottom of the TV screen, waiting to see the name of the Nichols School was closed for a snow day. If I missed it, I had to wait for the whole thing to repeat again. In the meantime, I would psych myself up (“Nichols has to close! Look at how much snow Buffalo got overnight!”) and get that adrenaline pumping (“If we don’t have school, I get to watch the Price is Right today!”), which means there is no chance of you going back to sleep.

Now that I am a teacher I just “wake up” to a text message. I use the term “wake up” loosely, because all I am really doing is opening one eye, confirming the text is indeed from the East Aurora School District (and not my mom asking if I have a snow day) and then I go right back to sleep. Keep in mind that the University of Buffalo will never close so you are wasting time refreshing WGRZ’s Closing Central and you may as well get ready for class.

6. Seasonal Affective Disorder means nothing to us.

We are pros at mentally preparing ourselves for snow on the ground in October and that it may last until May. In 2006, we got hit with a crazy storm in the middle of October, which has been dubbed such titles as, “October Surprise” and “Thundersnow.” As a kid, you always had to have a warmer, backup Halloween costume that incorporated a snowsuit and boots, in case it snowed. It has snowed on my husband’s birthday, April 21, and it has snowed on Mother’s Day at least three times in my lifetime. It’s a good year if we can go four consecutive months without any snowflakes to be seen.

7. We’ve got shoveling down to a science.

Northern parts of New York State are constantly getting dumped on, but you’d never know it based on the way we power-shovel. We don’t really shovel to get anywhere, rather just to stay ahead of the storm. That way, when we want to get chocolate chip waffles at The Original House of Pancakes, we don’t have to shovel through six feet of snow. My husband skipped all of his workouts this last week because he was too tired from shoveling every day for 3+ hours, but I am so thankful that when we finally were able to leave our house, we only had about a foot of snow to clear away.

8. Everyone’s car trunk looks like a prepper’s basement.

As a teenager, I used to get so annoyed when I wanted to leave the house and my mom would list off all the things I needed to have with me in the car. “Honey, do you have: a hat, gloves, snow pants, boots, blanket, shovel, granola bars, water, and a fully charged cellphone?” One time my mom insisted that my friend borrow a pair of boots to wear home because she was wearing flip-flops in January. No one ever runs out of closet space because anything we’d otherwise toss just gets added to the trunk pile for us to use in case we’re unlucky enough to get snowed in to our cars.

9. We’ve had so many huge snowstorms, we’re running out of things to call them.

Social media only makes it worse. Everyone around northern New York has heard of the Blizzard of ’77, but I doubt that would have made a trending hashtag. The October Surprise was good, but what happens when the next October storm rolls around (and it will)? There are only so many times you can declare a “Snowpocalypse” before it gets a little “boy-who-cried-wolf.” And let’s be honest, every November around here is a “Snowvember.” Still, anything’s better than the lame “Winter Storm Knife.”

10. In the face of winter’s wrath, Buffalonians live up to their “City of Good Neighbors” motto.

Last week there were more stories about neighbors helping neighbors than anything else. In fact, a group of over 200 people dubbed the Shovel Brigade Mob helped dig out more than 400 driveways, sidewalks, and streets in South Buffalo. The Buffalo Bills even offered to give fans free football tickets and $10 an hour to shovel out Ralph Wilson Stadium. Now that’s true #Buffalove, and we’re proud of it.
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15 delusions about returning home

Photo: Sarah Kowalczewski

1. I’m totally going to wear these Thai fisherman pants back home.

I haven’t worn them — out in public that is. Not once. Nor my Japanese kimono, Korean hanbok, Middle Eastern abaya… I suddenly want to host a Disney themed ‘It’s a Small World’ party.

2. I’m going to use my Korean language skills all the time.

Mostly only at Korean restaurants. And while I was applauded like an adorable baby seal blubbering its way to land for attempting even the most basic Korean phrases while actually living in Korea, back home my gallant efforts are thwarted by the bored second-generation waiter who rolls his eyes and responds in English with ZERO accent, “So what do you want?”

3. By golly! I’m going to visit a museum in my own city. Why not?

Do I really want to spend my Saturday hanging out at the local Maritime Museum? Nah. Besides, I live here. I could go anytime. I’ll just go next week.

At the time of this writing I still haven’t marveled at any crusty old seafaring relics, but then again there’s always next week.

4. My home peeps are going to be so excited to see me.

Yes, they will!

Providing I don’t ask them to pick me up at the airport. I get it. If you have the means to travel the world, you have the means to take a cab, or to finally learn how to navigate public transportation in LA.

5. I’m going to start using public transportation.

I have no idea how to ride a bus in LA. My visiting New York friend once suggested we take one to Santa Monica. We sat next to a guy who smelled like a saloon and muttered to himself like he was chewing his face off. We never did make it to Santa Monica.

6. Friends and family will want to hear ALL the details of my international escapades.

In my experience it’s gone more like this:

Them: How was your trip?

(Hmm… how to sum up six months?)

You: Good.

Them: Cool. There was this killer sale on duvets at Kohl’s. You totally missed it.
7. They’re also going to appreciate my handmade photo album.

Who makes actual physical photo albums anymore? I was kind of asking for their mindless, eyes-glazed-over thumbing through of said archaic medium. I mean, there’s not even a ‘like’ button to click, so they can feign interest.

8. I don’t need the new iPhone. I don’t need anything.

I once saw a couple of naked children playing with a cow and some sticks from a bus window rolling through the Cambodian countryside. Don’t worry. They weren’t beating the cow — it was all very amicable. The children squealed with laughter as they waved at our bus. How happy they were with what appeared to be nothing. Meanwhile, I sat surrounded by modern flashy comforts: air conditioning, iPhone, clothes. But when was the last time my sweater and I squealed that hard? I don’t need all this stuff. Just give me some laughter, love, friendship, imagination, two sticks, and a cow.

Then I come home and discover the new iPhone 6 is out! No doubt, I’ll soon want a 7.

9. I’m going to get a real job.

Define real job.

10. All my new travel mates and I are going to rendezvous in Morocco in five years!

We didn’t. I think we’re still FB friends though.

11. I’m not going to return to the S.A.D. diet. (Standard American Diet)

What can I say? We’re a hearty people with ambitious portion sizes. It doesn’t take long to gain back the 10 pounds I lose whilst swimming, hiking, and sweating my way through South East Asia. It’s a good thing I have those baggy Thai fisherman pants. You can fit two full-grown humans in one pair! But that’s another story and one that’s not entirely appropriate.

12. I’m not going to drink so much.

It turns out I drink just as much wherever I am in the world. Maybe this one has more to do with ‘delusions I tell myself about a budding alcohol addiction’ rather than ‘delusions about returning home.’ Something to consider.

13. I’m going to throw the best Spanish/Thai/Vietnamese/Arabic dinner party ever!

While I did take a Thai cooking class in Koh Phangnan, I spent more time watching two chickens scratch at the dirt floor of our kitchen hut. We were stir-frying some of their avian brothers and sisters for our curry, and I wondered if that was weird for them, or if we were some kind of culinary sadists. Also, exotic country-specific ingredients are hard to come by. Especially when you only know the foreign name for them, that you can’t say anyway.

An easier option is to take your friends to a Spanish/Thai/Vietnamese/Arabic restaurant and point out the best dishes with an authority bordering on arrogance. Make sure to point out how the food is good, but not as good as in the actual country. People love this.

14. I’m going to really put my new skills as a Thai massage therapist/belly dancer/Hapkido yellow belt to good use.

I gave my friend a Thai massage. Once. I sometimes wear my jingly belly-dancing skirt while I do dishes. If I ran into a pack of nefarious street youths, I’d be more likely to implement the ‘duck-and-cover’ strategy I learned in elementary school for earthquake preparedness. But I would mention loudly that I am trained in the ancient martial art of Hapkido.

15. I can’t wait to get home!

I always romanticize my homecoming. All the things that will be different! All the friends I’m going to see! The In-N-Out burger I’m going to devour! The bubble bath I’m going to relish!

24 hours later:

Everything’s the same. Friends are busy. Never made it to In-N-Out. Bath got cold, and I got bored. Start to wonder where Zanzibar is… I can’t wait to go to Zanzibar!
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8 most colorful Chinatowns

A dragon dance at the New York Chinese New Year. Via

Singapore

Singapore’s Chinatown, once home to the first Chinese settlers in what’s now a heavily Westernized city-state, is one of its few distinctly Asian neighborhoods.

The Grand Buddha Tooth Relic Temple in Singapore. Via

The enclave was home to the area’s earliest Chinese settlers. Several of its institutions, such as the Heritage Centre, Food Street, and Night Market, preserve the culture of its original inhabitants, while some areas of the district are designated national heritage sites.

Many historic buildings remain as relics of the past, as well as to complement the otherwise modern landscape.

Melbourne

Melbourne boasts the oldest Chinatown in the world, established during Victoria’s Gold Rush in 1854.

Via

Catch the world’s longest Chinese dragon– the Millennium Dai Loong Dragon tops 100 meters — in action as it is brought to life by 200 people during the Chinese New Year parade.

Kuala Lumpur

The capital of Malaysia was actually founded by Chinese tin prospectors in the 1850s, who played a pivotal role in the city’s transformation from a jungle settlement to a center for the tin mining industry. The Chinese remain the city’s dominant ethnic group and control a large proportion of the country’s commerce.

A flower-seller on Petaling Street. Via

Chinatown, known locally as Petaling Street or Jalan Petaling, is famous for its food stalls and night market, where shoppers can load up on fresh produce and counterfeit DVDs, watches and purses (don’t forget to haggle).

Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia

Arriving in Georgetown, Penang, off the west coast of Malaysia after a long journey from Thailand, you may almost think that you accidentally traveled all the way to China. The city’s Chinatown is one of the largest and best preserved in the world, with everyday sights and sounds reminiscent of a small city in China.

The Kuan Yin Teng Temple in Georgetown. Via

Most residents are descended from Chinese immigrants who arrived in Penang during the colonial era and made their fortunes as traders and shopkeepers. Many of their original shops are still intact today.

Toronto

In the most ethnically diverse city in the world, residents have their pick of seven Chinatowns. The city’s main Chinatown was formed in the late 1960s, when many businesses in the original Chinatown were forced to move.

Via

Since the 1980s, the Greater Toronto Area’s Chinese community has migrated to the suburbs of Scarborough, Mississauga, Richmond Hill, Markham, and North York, where shopping centers are reminiscent of Hong Kong’s malls and street stalls.

New York

New York’s first Chinese residents began arriving in Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the late 19th century to escape discriminatory measures on the West Coast. In the 1980s, the neighborhood eclipsed San Francisco’s as the largest Chinatown outside Asia.

A dragon dance at the New York Chinese New Year. Via

But don’t overlook the city’s other Chinese enclaves – in Elmhurst and Flushing in Queens, and along Avenue U and 8th Avenue in Brooklyn. In fact, Flushing’s Chinatown has now surpassed Manhattan’s in size.

Vancouver

There’s a reason this city has been nicknamed “Hongcouver.” In the years leading up to Hong Kong’s 1997 handover to China, waves of wealthy immigrants flooded the city. The mayor, Sam Sullivan, even speaks Cantonese.

Via.

Vancouver’s Chinatown dates back to the early 20th century, although recent arrivals have headed for the suburb of Richmond, where many of the Chinese restaurants are considered the best outside of Hong Kong.

San Francisco

The city’s Chinese New Year parade, an annual event since the 1860s, is the largest Asian cultural celebration outside of Asia. Chinatown may seem like a tacky tourist trap, but one cannot ignore the history and significance of one of the world’s best-known Chinese quarters, once the stomping grounds of Sun Yat-Sen and Amy Tan.

The Eastern Bakery in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Via.

The original enclave, built in the 1850s by settlers who had arrived during the gold rush and railroad days, would be the world’s oldest had it not been destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. Since the 1960s, much of the city’s Chinese community has moved into the Sunset and Richmond districts, while newer immigrants often settle in the suburbs around the Bay Area.

This piece was originally published on January 21, 2009.

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Why you should move to Lima, Peru

1. It’s got some of the world’s finest dining — at affordable prices.

Photo: powerplantop/Flickr Commons

Lima regularly has several restaurants ranked in the global top 100, and you won’t be breaking the bank if you visit them.

2. There are some of the best waves known to surfers anywhere.

Photo: surfglassy/Flickr Commons

There are breaks for all levels, but the most spectacular are at La Herradura beach.

3. For ceviche, Lima is the capital of the universe.

Photo: powerplantop/Flickr Commons

Many restaurants here offer a dozen or more types of this classic, marinated seafood salad. Don’t forget the cold beer!

4. Raincoats are almost never needed here.

Photo: Global Post

Lima is second only to Cairo as the largest desert city on planet Earth and, despite being chronically overcast some eight months of the year, it almost never rains here.

5. The city is completely flat, so it’s (almost) perfect for cycling.

Photo: Ernesto Benavides/Getty Images

Just watch out for Lima’s drivers, which are some of the most reckless and aggressive in the Western Hemisphere.

6. Thanks to the Amazon and Andes, Lima has some of the most original produce in the world.

Photo: James Byrum/Flickr Commons

The street markets are filled with delicious, exotic ingredients you have probably never heard of before.

7. Chicharron sandwiches are a cure-all. ‘Nuff said.

Photo: Flickr Commons

This is Lima’s wake-the-dead hangover cure — a strong coffee with a chicharron (fried pork) sandwich, with thick slices of steamed sweet potato, chili sauce, and marinated onions.

8. Pirated everything can be found everywhere.

Photo: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

If bad quality, dirt-cheap DVDs, $10 Rolexes, or fake Nike threads are your thing, you are very much in the right place.

9. Or, if you prefer genuine products, there’s this totally insane mall.

Photo: Antonio Atalaya/Flickr Commons

Larcomar Mall is built into a clifftop overlooking the Pacific. This has to be one of the most scenic malls you’ll ever shop in.

10. It has this exhibit at the Larco Museum.

Photo: Flickr Commons

The ceramics from the pre-Incan Moche civilization are positively pornographic.

11. The “menu.”

Photo: Flickr Commons

These tasty, nutritious, and lovingly presented two- or three-course lunch typically costs about $3 or $4. This particular “menu” includes stuffed avocado, rice, and mincemeat with raisins and spices. The drink is chicha morada, made from purple maize and sweetened with sugar.

12. Its hipsters are more hip than your hipsters.

Photo: Martin Garcia/Flickr Commons

This leafy, Bohemian neighborhood is packed with colonial architecture, cool dive-bars, classic seafood restaurants, and the occasional hipster night haunt.

13. The Andes are, like, right there.

Photo: Magnus von Koeller/Flickr Commons

A crazy, three-hour drive will take you up 15,000 feet to a region of remote mountain wildernesses full of breathtaking treks.

14. Another six hours and you will be in the Amazon.

Photo: Mariusz Kluzniak/Flickr Commons

15. Dolphins hang out at the surf breaks.

Photo: Flickr Commons

Out at the break, as you wait to catch a wave, dolphins do still hang out with the surfers.

16. You don’t have to fear sharks.

Photo: Christian Córdova/Flickr Commons

Unlike most of the world’s other great surf spots, shark attacks are all but unheard of here.

17. There’s this amazing clifftop park to hang out in.

Photo: YellowSingle/Flickr Commons

The Malecon overlooks the Pacific and is the perfect place to while away an afternoon or catch the sunset over the ocean.

18. Oh, also, you can go paragliding from the Malecon.

Photo: Martin Garcia/Flickr Commons

19. There are many, many ancient mysteries. It’s heaven for the History Channel.

Photo: Ernesto Benavides/Getty Images

The remains of this mysterious pre-Incan city, called Pachacama, built around 2,000 years ago, are just a short drive south of the city. Andean civilization never developed writing so today very little is known about the heavily eroded collection of adobe and stone temples and pyramids.

By: Simeon Tegel, GlobalPost

This article is syndicated from Global Post.

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13 things retitled from the US to UK

Photo: William Murphy

WHEN J.K. ROWLING published the first Harry Potter book in 1997, she put her American publishers in a bit of a bind. The book title, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was changed to Harry Potter and Sorcerer’s Stone in the United States. This was because the US publisher, Scholastic, thought children wouldn’t buy a book with the word “philosopher” in the title, even if it was one of the best children’s books of all time.

Rowling later regretted the decision. The “philosopher’s stone” was believed to be an actual alchemical substance at one time, while the “sorcerer’s stone” was, more than anything else, a symbol of the Disneyfication of American culture. But retitling is hardly a new thing. The US and UK swap culture with each other all the time, but thanks to differences in our dialects of the English language, sometimes the titles don’t change over all that well. Here are some more.

1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

In the UK, children of the ‘80s will likely remember not the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles but the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. “Ninja” was deemed to have connotations that were too violent, so it was replaced and Michelangelo’s nunchucks were changed to a grappling hook.

2. Clue

Americans grew up playing the boardgame Clue — in the UK, it’s Cluedo. The UK actually had it first (as you may have been able to tell from the incredibly British characters), and the name was a pun on a similar dice-rolling game, Ludo.

3. Man vs Wild

Bear Grylls is a badass, right? Okay, good: both countries can agree on that. But in the UK, his show is called Born Survivor. A man drinking his own piss by any other name…

4. Snickers Bar

Until 1990, in the UK Snickers Bars were called Marathon Bars.

5. The Mighty Ducks

In the UK: The Mighty Ducks are the Champions. Thanks, Britain. Thanks for spoiling the ending of the goddamn movie and depriving your youth of one of the greatest cinematic masterpieces of all time. Also, their title for D2 was just The Mighty Ducks. I mean, god dammit.

6. Patton

The American movie about one of the greatest US generals is considered a classic in both countries, but in the UK, the title hints a bit harder at what an egomaniac the general was by calling it Patton: Lust for Glory.

7. The Golden Compass

The first book in British writer Philip Pullman’s amazing His Dark Materials children’s series was called Northern Lights in the UK. Given the title of the trilogy — the other two books are named The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass — I suppose the US title fits the theme a little bit better, but otherwise, the change is inexplicable.

8. The Avengers

In the US, the name Avengers is mostly tied to the Marvel comics superhero team. In the UK, it’s tied to a ‘60s era spy show that can perhaps be best described as “incredibly British.” When Marvel’s movie came out, it was retitled Avengers Assemble.

9. Chicken Little

The famous folktale features characters like Henny Penny, Cocky Locky, Goosey Loosey, Turkey Lurkey and Foxy Loxy, so it makes sense that the title character in the UK isn’t Chicken Little, but Chicken Licken. Maybe Americans didn’t want to give KFC’s Finger-Lickin’ Good Chicken the satisfaction of hijacking their folk tales.

10. Where’s Waldo?

It came from Britain first — and there, it’s called Where’s Wally?

11. Sega Genesis

It’s Sega Mega Drive in the UK and most of the rest of the world. There was a trademark dispute for Mega Drive in the US.

12. Live Free or Die Hard

“Live Free or Die” is the motto of New Hampshire. Brits don’t know the motto of New Hampshire, so they went with Die Hard 4.0. Their retitling, sadly, did not improve the quality of the movie.

13. Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle

White Castle isn’t a thing in the UK, so the movie was renamed Harold and Kumar Get the Munchies. We should point out, though, that White Castle isn’t a thing in huge chunks of the United States, and that didn’t seem to be a problem.
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11 signs you're from Mumbai

Photo: babasteve

1. You have a cast iron stomach.

Wherever you are you’ll crave a vada pav. The city is packed with food carts and delectable street food that gets pared with spices, chutneys, and relishes. But the king of foods, often grossly referred to as “the Indian Burger,” is the vada pav: a fried potato patty with spices plus bread and spicy chutney. If it’s one of your favorite things to eat, you’re definitely a local. And anyone from Mumbai is immune street food bugs. You’ve grown up eating from food carts, been warned several times that it’s probably unhygienic, not to mention unhealthy. But it’s never stopped you. Plus, you’ve never felt sick from it — take that mom!

2. You’re used to traveling in a packed local train.

The local trains could make a can of sardines look comfy. And you’re used to battling with local fisherwomen for a spot to stand in. While the world tries to imagine the scenario, for you it’s just another Tuesday morning on the train on your way to work. Yes, there’s an entirely separate compartment for the fisherwomen and their straw baskets full of stinky fish, but they refuse to sit there and take great pleasure squatting by the doors, making life extremely inconvenient in the women’s compartment. And it doesn’t help that the train is always full and has no air conditioning…

3. You don’t get starstruck.

You’re so used to spotting Bollywood celebrities in certain restaurants and bars that it no longer phases you, whereas anyone from out of town would probably die of excitement.

4. The local train is a great source for random shopping.

There’s always someone trying to sell you things on the local train, especially odd items like nail polish, hairclips, a new toothbrush, or fruits. It’s also a very common sight to see women sitting and chopping their vegetables on the train so that they don’t have to do it when they get home. Ah, Mumbai life.

5. Traveling within the city is not your thing.

While it’s perfectly normal for most people to travel from one part of town to another, if you live in Mumbai you’d seriously rather travel to Pune, a city approximately four hours away, than go to Andheri or Malad — suburbs within the city that take forever to get to because of crazy traffic.

6. Crowds don’t bother you.

In a city of over a million people, it’s difficult to avoid crowded areas. Nothing’s more crowded than a local train or walking down basically any street in the city. It’s adorable when people from other countries get flustered by the crowds, because to you, it’s perfectly normal, and anyway, their idea of a “crowd” is closer to your idea of sparsity.

7. You speak Hindi unlike that in any other city in India.

We have our own colloquial terms and words that the rest of India fondly refers to as ‘’Bombay Hindi’. The word bhai might mean brother for everyone else, but for you it’s how you’d address a drug lord. Supari doesn’t really mean the nut found in paan, but something a whole lot deadlier…like a hitman.

8. You’re used to going to the beach and not seeing a single person in beachwear.

Nowhere else in the world does someone go to a public beach and not spot a single woman in a bathing suit of any kind. Juhu beach and Chowpatty get flooded with people, but it’s all about eating chaat and seeing hordes of sari-clad ladies walk on the beach and try to get into the water while fully-clothed. No one swims, and you definitely won’t see anyone in a bikini.

9. You have no concept of what real winter is.

Let’s be honest: this city has no winter season. You think 20 degrees is a blizzard. The lowest it reaches is about 18-odd degrees, and even that’s rare. When the temperature does get that low, everyone pulls out their sweaters and shawls and marvels at how refreshing the weather is. The rest of the time it’s awful heat or similarly terrible monsoon rains.

10. You just don’t like Delhi.

At some point in your life as a Mumbaikar, you’ve indulged in the pointless debate of Mumbai v Delhi. You’ve probably gone there to visit someone or to attend school, had a blast eating at some of the best culinary spots in the country, and lived it up at one of the city’s many fancy bars or clubs, but at the heart of it you just do not like anyone from Delhi. And you have no problem being vocal about it.

11. Sachin Tendulkar is your god and the day he retired was the most miserable day of your life.

While cricket is almost a religion in India, and the greatest batsman ever is Sachin Tendulkar (at least, that’s what you’ll hear from his million fans), to a local, Sachin Tendulkar is even more than that. He’s the epitome of sporting heros, and no one, seriously, no one, is more important.
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14 memories from a Eurail trip

Photo: Blast 707 Photography

1. Windowseat views of Europe’s iconic landscapes

We were instantly enchanted by the diversity of scenery as we traveled across Europe by train, from the Barcelona seaside, to flowering plains in Lyon, to the mountain forests and lakes of Bern — all on a day’s trip to Munich. The pace of the train allowed us to truly take in every inch outside our windows, from the color-changing leaves of Germany’s Black Forest region to, later, unexpected castles and ruins in northern Slovakia.

2. Lyrical languages overheard in the corridors

Sharing a car with strangers is an open invitation to eavesdrop — especially if you understand Arabic, Norwegian, German, Taiwanese, Hebrew, or any of the other ways people communicate around the world. We heard them all. The whispers of a French couple nonchalantly discussing politics and the anecdotes robustly shared among a group of young Polish students provided a beautiful soundtrack to the journey.

3. The unpredictable tempo of travel

The speed at which you travel by train varies depending on where you’re going. You might stop 16 times in seven hours between London and Aberdeen, but fantasizing about life in the charming English and Scottish countryside makes it feel like less than that. In contrast, an hour-long trip from Bratislava to Vienna can seem to take an entire day when you’re hungover from partying at Pivovarský Hostinec Richtár Jakub.

4. The nostalgia of train travel itself

For almost 200 years, people have traveled by train. And for the most part, the routes, scenery, and even the stations have changed very little. The Beaux-Arts architecture of Paris’s Gard du Nord transported us to another time, Praha-Holešovice a reminder of the Czech Republic’s Communist past. We lived vicariously through the millions who’d traveled by train before us.

5. The overnight berths

Spending time on a night train is a rite of passage for most Eurail travelers. The berths, sometimes shared with friends, other times with complete strangers, were typically stiff but surprisingly comfortable. The rhythm of the train lulled passengers to sleep in a way that reminded us of a rocking cradle. That is, if the excitement of departing Warsaw after dinner, and arriving in Berlin for breakfast, hadn’t kept us awake the entire time.

Photo: Felix Montino

6. Interactions, verbal and otherwise, with other travelers

It was a brief smile and nod when a new passenger took a seat in our car on the way to Zagreb. It was swapping stories with a group of Australian gap-years planning to hit every European country within the next three months. It was accepting a piece of Belgian chocolate from a six-year-old boy, knowing it was a tasty favorite because his face was covered in the sticky brown sweet stuff.

7. The dining car throwback

Some of these spaces have been modernized, as on trains in Great Britain and Germany, acting more like casual cafes serving salty boxed sandwiches and cans of cola. They’re made for commuters and those looking only for a snack. Others, like you’ll find on routes throughout Eastern Europe, retain their early-20th-century elegance — full meals served by waiters in crimson vests and starched shirts, travelers seated in plush booths beneath the tasseled, frosted-glass lanterns of another era.

8. Scents of body odor, strong perfume, and hot meals

We traveled with Americans who hadn’t showered in days. We remember the scent of the lavender baby powder used by the Belgian mother to help soothe her child’s diaper rash. We craved pizza napoletana, arancini, and every other fragrant Italian delicacy our carmates decided to snack on between Naples and Rome.

9. That feeling of confidence when we mastered the system

We memorized the train times between Bergen and Oslo. We assembled a comprehensive time-killing kit of magazines, postcards, and guidebook reading for that late connection between Sarajevo and Belgrade. Even the Cyrillic script in Sofia’s Central Station failed to intimidate.

10. The fatigue of spending 14 hours on a train

Traveling by rail is more relaxing than any other mode of transport in Europe, but we were still completely drained after the long trips. On the night train from Split to Budapest, we dozed on and off, awoken by the snores of the burly Croat man sharing the car, feeling a bit paranoid about our unguarded possessions, concerned about falling from the top berth if the train stopped suddenly.

11. The organic ebb and flow of the European rail system

The particular pattern of stations, cities, and countries became second nature, the entrance and exit of new and old passengers a natural cycle. The disappearance of a beautiful horizon, quickly replaced by another. The long stretches of comfortable silence, punctuated by the rhythm of the train’s machinery. We established the habit of disembarking from the train, spending a short time in an unfamiliar place, and returning to the station to be transported somewhere new and different once more.

Photo: Alex

12. The Before Sunrise-style missed connections

He was an Israeli chatting over coffee in the dining car. She was a Finnish university student on her way to Bucharest. There was always that moment of “what if?” and a point of hesitation — do we risk getting off at their station, abandoning our itinerary to explore, or stick to our plans and hope someday we’ll meet again? We never got their name, Twitter handle, or life story, but the connection was strong, and memorable.

13. The intriguing juxtapositions of train characters

It was the older gentleman from Hamburg, in his tweed suit, polished wood cane, and worn-in cap, seated next to the eclectically dressed hipster who boarded in Berlin. It was the modelesque Russian woman cuddled up next to her squat, balding sugar daddy on their way to a romantic week in Budapest. There’s something democratizing about traveling Europe by train; and those who choose First Class are missing out.

14. The feeling of standing on a platform, knowing exactly where you’re going, but nothing more

No matter how hard we tried to plan, we could never predict if we’d fall in love at a cafe in Madrid, or have our passport stolen in Frankfurt. Trains can only transport us to and from destinations, they can’t craft our experiences for us. But the anticipation of waiting under the industrial arches of Budapest’s Keleti station to board a train bound for Venezia Santa Lucia is part of that experience.

We could have flown and gotten there quicker, or driven and arrived at our own pace — but somehow we knew there was more to the journey than that.

This post is proudly produced in partnership with our friends at Eurail.

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