Ellen Beldner

So true. I got dinner with a coworker last night. He volunteered to drive us on his motorcycle. As much as I appreciated it, I elected to have my driver take us. I haven't seen any accidents yet and presumably people are used to driving this way, but I'm sure as hell not used to it yet.

I was really looking forward to India. I couldn't wait. I expected it to be overwhelming, chaotic, batshit crazy. I was confident that I'd be able to hit the ground running and be out and about -- dashing between work, home, and touring, with the added concession of some Purell and prophylactic Pepto Bismol tablets.

Friends who have been to India have told me that it can be very psychologically difficult to see the poverty and the class divides. I absolutely understood that, although having just been to Central America this summer, I didn't expect to be surprised.

Turns out I was totally blown out of the water.

I arrived in Dublin this morning around 10 am for the first leg of a 5-week round-the-world usability tour for work. I like Dublin so far. I haven't seen much, but it reminds me of Noe Valley (in SF) or maybe Notting Hill in London. Or at least the bits around Trinity College, Merrion Sq., and Fitzwilliam Sq.

The first time I went to Vegas, about two years ago, I hated it: its waste, the ostentation, the fakeness. I hated that in the middle of the desert there were fountains spraying water into the air -- and when you sat down at a restaurant they had signs on the table saying "we're having a drought; please ask for water if you want some." I swore I wouldn't go back but found myself there a year later.

Now I'm going this weekend for a friend's bachelorette party, and this is the last time I will ever vacation in or travel to Las Vegas.