Thread: Help me figure out my winter break!

Ha, no worries about the thread morphing. I don't even think I'd have to stretch the break that much with the nonstop option out of ORD... it looks like I can get there at about 18:00 on Tuesday, have all day Wednesday there, and leave again at about 11:00 on Thursday. Thanks to the international date line and everything, I'll be back home at about 16:00 that same Thursday, in time to work my shift at 22:45 with a small nap in between (I'll try to get some sleep on the flight)

Oh, and I also figured that I can probably justify the EZE entry fee IF I don't try for J or F. Starting to focus on that one more, and probably MAD for the Europe trip.

After you cross the equator, you might want to try standing on it. I totally forgot about Quito. Beautiful city, super cheap, very friendly people. You can head up the teleferico to volcan pichincha and watch airplanes land below you. At the airport you can stand at the fence just short of the threshold almost as close as SXM. You can head up north and put one foot on each side of the equator. Not sure if DL still has the daily ATL-UIO, but it's definitely worth going. One of very few places I've returned to

UIO flight still exists but being a 737-700, it is a bear to get on!

All this central/south american talk reminds me of Banged Up Abroad

Our title is slightly different but what a show! There are some incredibly stooooooooooopid people! (very sorry, too)
"Locked Up Abroad"
I expect our young Spongebue will avoid questionable situations....

To be honest, I haven't heard of that. I'm guessing it's something about young Americans getting into trouble that has some pretty bad long-term stuff? Yeah, I should be ok. I just kind of walk around, look at the sights, and do my research on rough areas of cities (my dad is a cop, so that has been drilled into me over my lifetime). If something does happen, I can usually adapt my personality to the type of person I'm talking with and make an effort at Spanish that impresses the vast majority of native speakers (of course, that wouldn't help much in HKG).

Originally Posted by spongebue

To be honest, I haven't heard of that. I'm guessing it's something about young Americans getting into trouble that has some pretty bad long-term stuff? Yeah, I should be ok. I just kind of walk around, look at the sights, and do my research on rough areas of cities (my dad is a cop, so that has been drilled into me over my lifetime). If something does happen, I can usually adapt my personality to the type of person I'm talking with and make an effort at Spanish that impresses the vast majority of native speakers (of course, that wouldn't help much in HKG).

I haven't seen an actual episode with young Americans--just the BBC based one--really rough stuff--"easy" smuggling jobs botched and ending up in horrid prisons. Joran Van der Sloot has so much to look forward to prison in Peru...
Sing it, Sponguebue, "So, be good, for goodness' sake!!"

Just don't be an idiot like me and tell a waiter in Paris "Gracias"

But yea, as long as you're smart and blend in with local culture and don't wave money around in dark alleys you should be fine pretty much wherever you go