It comes naturally for some people.

LOL> suze.

If he was traveling to Jamaica in the 1950s, he must be an octogenarian by now.

My thoughts exactly. But he never actually said he was in Jamaica. Just that I was 'too late' to be cool.

Umm, saying you would have had to be in Negril in the 50s refers to the tourism curve of Jamaica, not my age.

What I wrote was, 'to be ahead of the curve, you would have had to have been there in the 50s.' DUHHHH

Is English not your first language suze? That would explain it.

As for 'middle aged', that's just my polite way of saying 'old women'. Now let me explain that to you too suze. An 'old woman' is about how you think and act, not necessarily your chronological age. Do you need 'chronological' explained too?

So you've never been to Negril?

Improvisor -- You are no gentleman, and your travels have brought you no wisdom.

"The thing I don’t get is that they killed the European thread around mid-night, New York time. I wonder who has their finger on the yellow triangle of doom at that time." Peter_S_Aus

I have the job of deleting what needs to go for another forum. I do my last pass through the site at 9 or 10 west coast time which is, obviously, 12 or 1am east coast time. I suspect something of the sort happens here too. In case that was a real question.

Thanks MmePerdu, and itvwas a real question. My sympathies to whoever has to moderate this forum at mid-night.

The “Longest uninterrupted trip” thread on the Europe forum was pulled, but certainly not at my instigation. I’d written a bit about how Fodor’s forums seem to operate, how we are a group drawn together by a common interest – travel – even though there are some members who do not travel at all. I commented on how various threads in the Lounge can be supportive, joyous, sometimes achingly desperate, and sometimes totally trivial. I posted that an hour or so before the thread was pulled.

I commented that that is how a village operates, neighbours sharing news and opinions, helping one another, people gathered around the village well. I commented that I’d written a description of a military funeral that I had attended, a piece noting the centenary of my mother’s birth.

I had also added a description, written by a poster on the Thorntree forum, of how he had hired a gondola for a couple of hours, how he had carefully selected the gondola driver based on cheerfulness, humour and knowledge. It was hilarious. Maybe the author of that post on Thorntree asked that the thread be pulled.

Armchair traveler AND a troll, to boot.

I really enjoyed the village post, Peter. It was sweet. And true.

The gondola story sounds priceless, but the 3-compass one is the funniest thing I've read here in a long time.

So this poster isn't 80 years old?

LOL he hasn't actually said that. Sounds more like your typical baby boomer who traveled around Europe in the late 60's early 70's. So he's probably more likely 70.

Hope he goes away soon.

<So he's probably more likely 70.>

Then why's he calling us "old"?

I think he was born in 1946, but that's just a guess. He has posted 3271 times on Thorntree / Lonely Planet in the space of two years. He went to Venice. He hired a gondola. The gondola was likely devoid of compasses. He had tea at Harry's. He described the experience thus on Thorntree:

I find it sad that you have such a cynical attitude towards a gondola ride [name redacted by Peter_S_Aus]

The last time we were in Venice I hired a gondola for a couple of hours. I took the time to pick my gondolier carefully looking for cheerfulness, humour and knowledge. I then arranged for him to pick my wife and I up at our hotel just before sunset. http://www.google.ca/search?q=veneti...w=1280&bih=695

He then took us out onto the lagoon to see the sunset. Then he wove in and out smaller canals telling us about buildings, history, people and humourous stories. As it got darker and the lights all started coming on, the canals sparkled, the buildings looked as they had centuries ago, you could imagine you were back in time. I had arranged for him to drop us of in front of Harry's Bar where we were going to have dinner. As he took us the last few hundred meters he began to sing. I had not asked, he was not being paid extra. My wife and I have never told anyone what he sang. It's ours and not to be shared with others.

http://www.harrysbarvenezia.com/ "

OMG! he's married????

He has been married twice.

Well I guess that makes sense.

The bit I love is your detective work where he posts here denigrating someone for using a money belt . . . Just too TOO pleb/common/middle class and that he has never ever used one

. . . and you found his post over on Throntree where he says he always uses a money belt when traveling in dodgy areas.

LOL very good sleuthing Peter but perhaps he reported you for stalking.

Yeah, he referred to his wife in one of the posts and my first thought was, poor poor woman. I wonder if she is aware of his totally lack of respect for the women on this forum.

Is it Thursday yet???