No Reservations...How, I just want to know how I can get a job like Anthony Bourdain  or Samantha Brown (both of Travel Channel fame). What a job, going place to place seeing the most exciting sites, I am sure hopping to the front of every line, and the best part, having the Travel Channel pay for it.
Don't get me wrong, I really do like my job, but come on. It is not a comparison of apples to oranges but sour grapefruit to luscious Asian pears. If the chance arose, I would hop on it in a heartbeat.
How do these people get a job like this? Is it who you know? Or is it what you know? It must be the who, because I feel pretty confident about my knowledge. I have however, entered the Travel Channel give-a-way. I would love to learn how to make/edit travel videos. I would gear my show for the budget traveler. I am meaning budget, not the cheap room at the Four Seasons. It seems most shows offer pricey places. What about us who don't really care whether it is 4* or 1*. My main concern is that it is clean. I don't care about concierge, laundry or even room service. I just want a clean place to lay my head. I want the bedding, room and bathroom to be clean. Sure I can get that at the pricey places, sometimes, but I can also get that at the $29 a night place like we did last weekend in Orlando. I know I would have a market, there are lots of people out there who save all year or two to spend a few weeks in an amazing place, not an amazing room. I would rather spend the $$ saved on seeing and doing things in the places I visit.
My other beef is the expensive restaurant. We don't really frequent them, perhaps it has to do with our 7 year old wanting only mac-n-cheese for dinner. I prefer the out of the way "locals" place. That is where the really good food can be found, not in the restaurants on the tourist walk. (I know this topic one of Anthony Bourdain & Andrew Zimmern favorites) Plus again it is 1/2 to 3/4 of the price. From early days of travel, perhaps it is because of mom's frugalness (ok, she is down right cheap, love you mom) we have always done picnics along the way. When we drove from MI down to FL we always had plenty of sandwiches and sodas packed. Now we do it just a little different. While in the car traveling, we stop at places, usually just the usual places along the interstate. But once the destination has been reached, we buy bread, tomos, cheese, sandwich stuff at the grocery and head to picnic area. When we visited Paris in March, we stocked up on the above mentioned and actually headed to the steps of La Defense and had lunch there. (Just a little travel tip, there is a little grocery store in the metro station just below La Defense. ) There were many others who had the same idea.
Well perhaps if I am lucky, I might win the Travel Channel offer. If not, I guess I will just keep my day job, and share my adventures via blog.
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