plufmud

Maitaitom,

Tom &Tracy,
We love your trip reports and actually rode the "Buckets of Bolts" in your honor! I love your spirit of adventure/wine/food and your obvious love for Tracy. I had a 11 year old student in my math class that passed a note to another female student that was upset due to some bullying with the lines just "Forget they ugly asses!" Keep on posting~don't leave like Joan whom most of us loved!


We are following your trip report to Loire as we are traveling in September. If you ever want to visit Charleston SC just send me an email. [email protected]
Bset wishes for continued good health!

manouche

I enjoyed reading the whole report, and was pleased to discover that I did not catch any diseases by the time I finished it. I have gotten much sicker just taking the bus to work in Paris, and that's only a 20 minute ride.
Anyone worried about catching air-borne diseases should really not leave the safety of his/her own home - which is probably encased in a germ-proof bubble.
Anyone worried about catching a dose of negativity from an internet forum should really not sign on in the first place.

maitaitom

I figure since Tracy didn't get sick from me, the people on the flight and the citizens of Paris must have survived also. Plus, I'm pretty adept at the art of coughing into my arm as taught during one of those virus outbreaks years ago. That said, my green sweater did have to go into quarantine for a few weeks.

YankyGal

"And,despite your considerate "teases", this was overall an ordinary sort of trip where this or that when wrong and surely not to the level or all the "hype" or recovery period required."

I don't know how I missed this the first time, but my guess is I had already started to tune out djkbooks's post by the time I got that far.

Ordinary? So, for the record, I've been to Paris 14 times and yet, your report gave me ideas of things to do on future trips. Thank you for that. And my husband, who's only a Fodorite by marriage and is rarely on the boards, has been following along and enjoying - that's not ordinary either.

You're a very entertaining writer. Heck, I'm not even planning a trip to Spain, but I know I'll be seeking out your report.

progol

The idea of an "ordinary" trip of any kind puzzles me -- the fact is, most of us take "ordinary" vacations, if you view the experience of traveling as "ordinary". The beauty of this report is that Maitaitom finds the extraordinary in this otherwise "ordinary" sort of trip. And that he shared it so beautifully, giving us a new view on the "ordinary" sights that he and Tracy saw and experiences he had.

I'm looking forward to more of his "ordinary" trip reports!

TDudette

Jeeze, djkbooks, you should have stopped at germ spreading. Why did you have to criticize Tom's writing style as well? Or sound bitter about his plane luck?

Many of us get sick on trips but do the best we can. Short of being hospitalized, I think we all try to carry on.

michele_d

Keep writing Tom. You have a great talent for entertaining us with the 'ordinary'. We all encounter the sort of things you do, (except for the oxygen use on the plane!)but you put such a funny spin on these things, with a knack for writing what we are all thinking. Looking forward to your Spain report, as we will be heading to Spain and Portugal in October.

offwego13

You're one helluva writer.

Cheers to good health, Tom! The rest is noise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyubEwigfUY

yestravel

Wait -- hasn't anyone heard about the Maitai flu spreading across Europe??? Patient 0 is thought to be from Calif...

As always loved reading about your adventures and non adventures. Glad you have recovered. Look forward to reading about Spain as that's creeping to the top of our long list of places to go. You too, progol, looking forward to your TR also.

nola77382

Yankygal: "And my husband, who's only a Fodorite by marriage and is rarely on the boards, has been following along and enjoying - that's not ordinary either."

This describes my husband exactly! I gave him the links to Tom's Loire Valley and Sarlat blog posts and he loved them. He even suggested we follow in their footsteps, which we will, thank you very much, MTT.

As much as I don't like Spain, I will probably follow that trip report just because I love MaiTaiTom's writing and travel style.

Ciao, Nola.

latedaytraveler

Hi TOM,

I agree with OFFWEGO13:

"You're one helluva writer.

Cheers to good health, Tom! The rest is noise" No kiddin'!

And let's not forget the work that went into taking, arranging, and labeling those fabulous photos. As one who takes no pictures, I really appreciated them, especially the interior shots of those magnificent buildings.

Grandma

Jeez… I think djk needs to IV some maitais (or something stronger.)
Before this thread disappears I just want to say thank you again for the cheer your reports
always bring. I'm sorry it wasn't the trip of your dreams, but there's always the next one coming up!
(Sometime remind me to tell you of the trip where my husband spent four days in a hospital in Moscow. (It ended OK… you should have seen the nurses!)

KTtravel

Heavens, if I stayed away from sick people, I wouldn't have a job!

tdk320n

Your report of your very interesting trip was fabulous.
You are really are a trouper to have so many difficulities and still carry on with most of your plans.
Keep traveling and entertaining and informing us with so many new things to see and do when we travel
Again maany thanks and may your next trip be less stressful

djkbooks

I stand by my remarks that it is beyond inconsiderate for anyone who knows they have a contagious illness to go all about in public places.

manouche

djkbooks - you can be stubborn and stand by your remarks as long as you like, but since the average incubation time of an air-borne contagious disease is 36 hours, it's highly likely that you have spread a lot of contagion yourself, without even realizing it - just like anyone else who didn't realize they had a bad cold or strep throat or even a case of rubella coming on.

Since you seem to travel quite a bit, you should certainly be no stranger to the infected air in airplane cabins or on high-speed trains. And if you are this concerned about disease, you wouldn't travel at all.

Sure, it's icky - sitting next to someone who's hawking up nasty noogies and coughing up a lung. it's also icky being that person, but there isn't always a lot you can do about it. You have to admit that this is the real reason you're upset with MaiTaiTom - you've got a weak stomach and his highly-descriptive report made you nauseated. I doubt you'll be changing your travel plans anytime soon.

kerouac

If every sick person stayed home, the metro and bus networks would be empty of customers very quickly, particularly in the winter.

yestravel

"If every sick person stayed home, the metro and bus networks would be empty of customers very quickly, particularly in the winter."
Maybe flights wouldnt be so crowded...

maitaitom

For my next trip I have contracted out with the Starship Enterprise, so should I become ill they will beam me back to California.