I have been enjoying Nick Rapp's blog about his $45,000+ globe-trotting road trip (posted about here).
Although I am sure Nick will remember the trip with a grand feeling of pride and satisfaction, I am so glad he is the one doing it and not me. Having not even escaped the Americas yet, they have already run into dozens of serious problems threatening complete failure. The latest problem came in Bolivia, where they had to disguise themselves as American press to avoid road blocks created by citizen protesters (pictured above).
The fascinating part is what they were protesting:
We [heard] previously it was the first day of a two-days nationwide blockade. Drivers of the whole country [Bolivia] are upset. The government wants to pass a new law making it harder to drive under alcohol influence. They want to drive and drink, and they will block the whole country so everybody will know.
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On a related note, below is a sample of observations on Denmark from reader Jeff Huber, an NC State student in economics and industrial engineering studying abroad in Copenhagen:
- The Danes don't really respond to typical economic incentives, which
blows my mind. Neither are they very ambitious with their careers.
Some say this is because they still follow what is called Jante Law
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jante_Law)
- Danes are perfectly paying their average 50% income taxes.
- Danes will not cross a crosswalk at 3 AM if it is red (even if there
is not a car in sight).
- When it was snowing everyday and the Danish DMV was running out of
salt, they gave preference to the bike paths that line nearly every
street over the sidewalks and roadways.
