They try to. And the Mukilteo-Clinton run I was waiting for happens to have the best on-time performance in the fleet.

So my curiosity was piqued when, at the normal time of seven minutes until departure, the ferry wasn’t loading. A big truck blocked my view of the boat so I thought not much of it and went back to chatting with my daughter.

At departure time we still hadn’t moved. And I could spot three police cars parked by the dock.

At seven minutes past departure time I was genuinely curious. A few more police cars were showing up and a Coast Guard rescue helicopter was now circling with its landing gear down, a sign that it wasn’t just passing by.

I snapped a few pictures of the activity.

Washington State Patrol K-9 officer (minus his dog) walking on the ferry in Mukilteo.

Coast Guard helicopter circling the scene.

Workers (I’m unsure if this gentleman is with WSP or WSF as a number of officers were not in uniform) check around the boat.

And then the big bomb truck from the Washington State Patrol showed up  (as the ferries are part of the Washington State Department of Transportation, the WSP has responsibility for their security).

And a dude or two started putting on protective gear.

All the while passengers were asked to leave their vehicles and stand near the back of the parking area. Some huddled by the toll booths for a good point of view. The wind was blowing a winter chill around and warmth was hard to find outside of our cars.

Meanwhile, Sabrina took her first bomb threat in stride.

Throwing rocks in a storm retention pool.

Walking to the side of the dock, the activity on the water was pretty obvious.

The Navy boat was just passing by but doesn’t it make things look more urgent?!? One of my friends said he saw a device, like a log standing straight out of the water with an antenna on top, float by, not bobbing with the waves as the multiple logs were, and head for the boat. Sabrina called this a UUFO (Unidentified Underwater Floating Object). We checked my friend’s breath for signs of alcohol but he seemed sober. I never saw this device but it’s cool to think the WSP or Coast Guard had a mini-sub there to check things out. Makes it more exciting.

We then heard, “Fire in the hole!” and a loud pop. I’d give it an M80 sound on the scale from Popits to Nuclear Warhead. Walking back to the bomb truck, there is now a spool of cord on the ground and more people talking.

Oh look! News cameras! They must know something.

Getting closer:

Now to work my way to the front of the pack for a better view.

It’s bomb dude with a black backpack. I’m guessing this is not his kid’s backpack even though it looks like the one Sabrina sometimes uses. He also decides to get his knife out and start cutting into the bag. This is certainly not his bag, I hope.

Movies? Let’s take a page out of Hollywood and, “Zoom in. Rotate. Enhance.”

Does anyone know what that is? It looks like a video game possibly. And the letters “..STROM” ?  A little help here?

Moving on, bomb dude keeps ripping apart stuff.

And then he finds something. Shows it to his buddies (at least I like to romanticize all bomb dudes are buddies, just like in the movies).

See the smile on his face. I think he wants to take it home.

After that, he opens and pours out a water container.

And that’s pretty much about it. The Coast Guard heads off…

Ferry workers reboard the boat…

Bomb dude undresses… (just the suit, ladies)

And puts away the bomb blowing up stuff…

Police stand over the remains of the pack. I’m sure some of them wanted to have a smoke, there was certainly some tension going on.

And the film crew turns to filming the boat loading.

We then sail off to Whidbey Island, about two hours later than anticipated.

I want to thank the Washington State Patrol and Coast Guard for doing their job well today. No panic. No beatings. No glamor and glitz as if Tango & Cash had showed up. They kept the passengers and crew safe and dealt with the situation professionally.

My daughter also experienced something I hope she never has to deal with again. You know how kids like anything cool and out of the ordinary? That was her morning and she was excited to tell al the kids at school about it.

In the end, according to news reports, there was no explosive device found. That thing bomb dude showed to his buddies, on second inspection, was likely just a bong.

I think this picture says it all.

Looking for something pretty to look at instead? Check out yesterday’s Photo Of The Day – Immersion Panorama Of Machu Picchu

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

In airports in the USA with bench seats, there are predictable patterns to how people sit under certain circumstances. Failure to follow these rules results in scorn, ridicule, banishment to a dungeon or possibly just a dirty look. You see, we all know once inside the plane we will be sitting next to someone. Closely. So when we are outside of the plane, we want nothing to do with sitting next to someone (unless we know them, and even then it can be tricky if you are catching a 4am flight and are not yet awake). We have rules, unspoken rules, about where to sit. They look like this:

1 Person

With one person in a row the rule is pretty simple; they can sit where they please. Sometimes they will sit in the middle, but if they are considerate they sit on the end of the row so their bag doesn’t take up a seat. Yes, they will have a roller bag. Always. People without roller bags tend to stand. Hippies with backpacks lay on the floor. And kids never sit, at least not for more than a nanosecond. If they have a roller bag, they have a cell phone as depicted below.

2 People

The two person configuration is not much different.

And So On Until The Row Is ‘Full’

Overfull

Most people are happy with the above configuration. Most consider the row full and no one else should sit there. But if a ‘newbie’ traveler comes along and actually wants to rest his feet before getting on a flight, the most often chosen spot is seat #7. This is because the open adjacent seat allows for bag storage out of the general legroom area.

Overfull Exception

This is, of course, unless one of the passengers happens to be an attractive woman.

Power Option

Given the Overfull scenario…

…we now throw in a power pole, always located in the center of a row.

In this scenario, even the most introvert, anti-social, mobile device toting geek amongst us will ask the other passengers to please move their bags so he may suck from the life giving teat.

That is, again, of course, unless there is an attractive woman in the row. In which case most geeks will forgo power for proximity to someone who smells pretty, even if they know they have zero chance of talking to her.

This leaves a clear space open for another geek to gain some power, nearly filling the row.

When Standing Close Is Not Okay

If we take our Full scenario above and in saunters someone who doesn’t want to sit, but instead stands close, this would be most disliked by the rightful sitters.

No one likes to be stood close to when they are sitting, even with a one seat buffer.

When Standing Close Is Okay

However, standing close suddenly becomes socially acceptable if you are recharging something and there is not a seat available.

I don’t know why this is. I think it is because we feel like people have to have a reason to stand close to us. Charging a phone? That’s okay. Eating a burger. Not okay.

The Troubles Couples Have

It’s time for a pop quiz because this little cartoon game just got serious. A couple enters the waiting area. The seating is as such. Where would they sit and in which configuration (woman on left or man on left)?

I know. It’s not easy. Two seats here and two seats there. I’ll give you a moment more to think about it.

Done?

The correct configuration is:

The reasoning is thus: The gentleman would not want his lady friend  having to sit too close to the geek, knowing that she would become uncomfortable as the geek slowly leaned closer and closer to her, lured by her natural charm, while continuing to watch X-Men 12: The Final Mutation on his phone. Thus, being a considerate gentleman, he takes the seat closest to the geek (a ‘geek block’ if you will) while allowing his lady friend (thanks to Melanie for the phrase) to avoid sitting close to people, especially geeks.

If he’s not the considerate type, the configuration would end up like this.

He’s happy because he gets to catch up with friends on Facebook telling them how awesome his trip is going to be. She’s quite unhappy because not only is he ignoring her, having picked this set of seats so he can charge his phone rather than getting her a seat with some elbow room, she also has to sit next to the guy in seat #8 who seems a little too happy. He’s freaking me out too and I’m the one who drew him.

Beyond this, chaos reigns. More people show up and no one is happy, but we slog through it, this time we have around strangers.

The funny thing is, if we get to our destination and mosey up to the local watering hole only to find the same situation, we won’t hesitate to grab a seat next to anyone for a chance to drink a beer. I guess it all comes down to motivation.

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

It’s the flight attendants, you see. They have codes I wasn’t fully grasping so I thought I’d ask an expert. My friend and flight attendant Mary Jo Manzanares was kind enough to let me in on the secret (it’ not really a secret, but I thought you’d be more intrigued if I played it up a bit) and answer some of my pressing questions. Such as: What the heck is a cross check? What do you do to actually perform one? Where does it fit into the “get on plane, magically fly across the sky” process?

Her kind reply:

Each Flight Attendant has a door (or doors) that they are responsible for opening in the event of an emergency.  The door exits all have inflatable slides that must be engaged to work.  We call that “arming the door.”  When the door is armed, if it is opening, the slide will engage.  Remember the safety briefing?  “The doors are equipped with inflatable evacuation slides for group floatation.”  That’s what they’re talking about.
After the main cabin door is closed, but prior to push back, one of the Flight Attendants will say something like “Prepare doors for departure and cross check, please.”  What follows is a bunch of “checks” and “cross checks” announcements.  Check says “I’ve armed my door – the inflation slide is now fully operational in the event of an emergency.”
On some planes, a Flight Attendant is given a secondary door for which they are responsible.  When we say cross check complete, it means that we’ve armed out primary door (the slide is operational) and we have double checked our secondary door to make sure it is armed as well.
The entire process is a way of ensuring that all the emergency slides engaged and available for use in the event of an emergency evacuation.

There you have it. A mystery no more. At least for me. I thought this is generally what was going on and now it is good to sit back and relax while pushing back from a gate knowing the flight attendants aren’t really making jokes about me. I mean, that’s what you assumed they were doing, too, right?

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

Again.

This time I left behind all my memory cards but took my camera. Thinking the bag was properly packed, I spotted Mt. Baker very bright and shiny off the starboard side of the ferry boat while taking Sabrina to school. Walking to the aft deck I whipped out my camera and….”No Card”.  BLAST! I checked the bag (one I am testing and not fully packed) and found my hard case which can hold up to four cards. It held exactly zero. DOUBLE BLAST!

I’ve gotten better at not overreacting in the past three years. When the water goes up, I go up, or so a Zen Buddhist story goes.

My brain started working on how the heck I left ALL my cards behind. It was a simple mistake on my part because all my cards look the same and the one I thought was in the camera was really in the card reader. After noodling on how to prevent this in the future, I realized it would be a good topic for a blog post on Digital Photography School, a blog I get paid to write for. (That post should be up next week, in case you are wondering how to not be an idiot like me.)

I hammered out most of the post on the way back home on the ferry as inspiration was still high (and Mt. Baker was far gloomier under a wintery Washington sky). I did have a point and shoot camera and I used that one, which would not have captured Mt. Baker well at all, to take a photo of the “No Card” image on the back of my Canon 7D. Copy file, drag, drop, spell check, grammar check….and post to blog queue.

Some blog posts for DPS take 4-6 hours to write if I’m struggling to explain a new concept. This one took maybe an hour in total. Relatively speaking, an easy payday (mind you, I have to do a LOT more writing to make it an actual day’s pay).

I could have left the boat fuming about missing the great shot, and it was a beautiful view this morning. Instead, because I have been slowly training my brain to find opportunity in ‘bad’ situations, I have a few more pennies to put toward purchasing a new lens.

Have you had any moments when things didn’t go your way, but you were able to make them pay off (monetarily or not) in the end?

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

My living room floor was half covered in swag, not an easy feat as my floor is fairly large (and often covered in dog hair, but that’s another story). I had recently attended a conference in beautiful British Columbia, called Travel Blog Exchange, went on a personal trip to Costa Rica then followed up with a press trip from the fine folks of the state of Colorado. All of these trips generated swag. I wish I had taken a photo of the sprawl, but I wanted badly to be able to walk through my living room again, so it is now clean.

The piles, and going through them, got me thinking about what is useful to me and what is not. I understand and appreciate companies wishing to give me something to remember them by and hoping their name will stay at the tip of my brain. I get that part. I also understand what I find useful from the point of view of a consumer, which is what I turn into when not at the convention.

To that end, I would like to make this an open suggestion to companies, tourism offices and convention organizers alike on what types of swag I find most interesting and useful. I hope none take it as a ‘You suck!” type of feedback, because it’s not. I know you want to get your message out there with a limited budget and I’d like to help make some suggestions from the ‘attendee’s’ point of view. I’m honestly not a greedy bastard, as this list might make me sound, because I truly don’t need all this stuff. But if you are going to hand things out, I hope you’ll take these notes as constructive.

Water Bottles

I have enough water bottles. But not everyone is like me. If you want me to keep your water bottle and use it, make sure it is quality. On a recent trip I received four water bottles. That’s a lot of water (or gin or beer or …). Want to know which one I left behind for housekeeping? The cheapest one. For you promotional companies out there I know money is always a subject, but quality is what will keep the bottle in my hands (assuming I have four hands). On the last trip the best bottle was a solid Nalgeen bottle from Avalanche Ranch in Colorado. The least favorite I left behind? I don’t remember the name. I know quality is spendy, but that bottle will be with me for years.

Flash Drives

Ah flash drives. They are great at replacing CDs (please, never, EVER, give me a CD….my laptop doesn’t have a slot for it) for handing over your company or locations information. I still remember a Nerds Eye View rant in the minivan on our way to the first TBEX conference about her disdain for CDs (“What the hell?!?!” was often blurted out loud). I applaud those of you switching to flash drives. My suggestion would be two fold: 1) make them cool. The recent drives from Colorado and Aspen had a wood casing with the location name on them. Perfect and identifiable. 2) Don’t make them too wide. On this same Colorado trip the other participants and I were using the extra space on the drives to share photos form the trip. The only problem was when someone brought in their drive, all fancied up in leather from a different trip, and it was so wide I couldn’t use one of the USB ports, slowing the process. It’s a little thing, I know. Keep it stylish and small. I use the drives to grab info, share info on a trip and then I will likely use the drive to send photos to a friend later. Your drive will get more use if it is simple and elegant.

Or, for the techies out there, consider putting a QR code on the back of your business card if you know the crowd is particularly mobile device savvy.

Named Stuff

Named stuff is a general category. It’s hats or bags or toothbrushes or anything else you splash with your company or location logo and name. Most of this stuff I honestly don’t like. I don’t want to be a walking billboard for your stuff unless I really like what the company does and support it. Even then, I don’t like generic logos. Today my daughter went to summer school with a lunch bag from my last trip (because I can’t find her lunchbox). It had the location’s name and then “Chamber” below it. I understand the point of view from this chamber of commerce wanting to advertise and it’s a decent bag. The problem is they missed a chance to make their location shine and instead went with a generic “(Location) Chamber” silkscreen. What would work better might be “(Location) – We keep the ski slopes cold and the hot springs hot” or some such. Something catchy that tells me about the place and is lasting in case the bag makes it into the monthly donation pile and winds up in someone else’s hands at a thrift store.

Luggage Tags

This is a new one for me and I received four this last month. I do like luggage tags and they are useful. But, again, I’m not going to advertise your company, most likely. Yet, if you make the luggage tag interestingly shaped, as one company did, and have the company name on the inside of a flap where it’s still handy, I might use it. In the case of luggage tags, Convention and Visitors Bureaus (CVBs) have it easy and here’s why.

To me, the best luggage tag would be one a bit bigger than a business card so I can place mine inside, on one side. On the reverse side is a beautiful photo of the location with just the name. Think tropical beach scene, one lone palm tree hanging over the water, and the word Hawaii in the corner. Simple and nice. Now take the same design and replace the photo with Hawaii’s (admittedly nice) logo….meh. I’ll pass.

For any CVBs out there who are thinking of something like this, find a great shot of your location and run with it. Don’t make your name the feature, make the photo the feature. People will see the photo, then your name and want to go there. Think about what you want to sell me (and others looking at my luggage on the carousel): is it your name or your images? Breaching orca whale = San Juan Islands. Delicate Arch = Utah. A stein of beer = Germany. Most US states already do it with their license plates and it looks good.

What Doesn’t Work

• Things that aren’t reusable don’t work as well. I received a nice little tin with some M&Ms in them. 10 seconds later, I was looking for a garbage can for the cute little tin because I didn’t want to pack it home. The thought was nice, but they didn’t last long. The mints, in the same type of tin, did make it home with me and my daughter loved the tin for small stuff storage.
• Very goofy stuff also doesn’t work well beyond the initial laugh. Here I’m thinking of goofy hats or show specific items. Funny saying on a pair of boxer briefs? I’ll get a laugh out of it and so will someone at Goodwill when they buy them (though this may work to your advantage).
• Candy also doesn’t ‘work’ because I get a sugar buzz and forget your name when the wrapper is in the trash.
• T-shirts….hmmm…..this can go either way. I don’t need a lot more shirts, but some people do. The only shirt I kept read “Boba Fett was a Freelancer” but it only gets worn around the house cus I’m not a shirt-with-words-on-it kinda guy.
• Fridge magnets with just your company name on it will go in the trash. See previous note about luggage tags.

Other Things That Work

• Quality pens
• Post-It Note pads
• Maps – mainly because I’m a map whore

Your Turn

I’d love to hear from those of you who receive swag. What’s worked well for you and what hasn’t? What would you like to see? (besides: Matching Ferraris) And if you’re in the PR industry, feel free to comment here asking questions about ideas you might have (or email me individually). Most of us like swag in one form or another and if this post can help create more good swag and less trash, I’d feel my typing today was worth it.

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

I’m doing it because, often in life, people are meant to come and go from your world, your sphere, your active memory. As a traveler, the tendency is to try to grasp on to the fun that was had for a few nights on beaches of Hawaii while making new friends. They were cool people, weren’t they? You got along so well for that short amount of time and you felt like you really connected as humans.

Back home (or even on the road with a smart phone or laptop) you instantly looked up these new friends on Facebook, Twitter and the like. A click here and a click there and now you guys are best of mates for life!

The problem I have with this approach occurred when I started realizing not everyone I came in contact with needed to be kept, stored, referenced. You can’t bottle time and you can’t make the good times always roll. Before the age of Facebook, these types of chance encounters had their own life and like everything in life, they ended. For the most part, that is the healthy way to handle those relationships. As a flash in a pan that is marveled at and enjoyed while in existence. But then moved on from when the time comes.

I am holding on to too many of these encounters and it’s clogging my life and Facebook.  There are people I have met while traveling who take some effort to keep in touch with. There is a couple I met in Australia who I really enjoyed sharing wine and karaoke with and who just this week sent an invite to come visit. ‘In the old days’ this is how it always was. You had to call or write a letter and eventually you could write an email (which, at the time, seemed a bit like Facebook does now). These all took remembering to make contact. You remembering why you liked that person enough to put in the most minimal of efforts to type an email. You thinking about that person and caring.

Facebook, while a cool tool, changes that dynamic. Now you like someone one day and add them to Facebook the next. From that point on, zero effort is needed to keep up with what is happening in the other person’s world, if they update often enough. But it’s not really connecting like a phone call or email can when distance divides you. It’s too easy and not deep enough for my liking. Case in point; I hiked for five days with about a dozen other people on the Inca Trail in 2008. Of course I friended them on Facebook upon returning to the States, where most of us reside. But recently I removed most of them from Facebook because, well, because we really didn’t have much in common and weren’t connecting.

Three, my tent-mate Jeff as well as Alice and Heather, I kept because over time Facebook has worked its magic and I’ve gotten to known them better by interacting. But the others that were on Facebook (not all on the trip were)? We were meant to meet on the trail and then go live our lives. Ironically, the only person on that trip I have seen since was Tiffany, who I visited in Australia nearly a year later and is the only one not on Facebook.

I know I can’t collect everything in the world and bring it back with me. Life is impermanent, you can’t actually posses things and all that jazz. It took me a while to see the value in applying that approach to the relationships I make while traveling. Some are meant to be cherished and fed. Others? Sometimes you’re meant to have a few too many Guinness in an Irish bar together or enjoy a kayak trip through pristine Pacific waters and then go your own ways.

Sometimes I won’t friend you on Facebook the day after I meet you.

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

The folks at Acme Made sent me a bag for review but it’s really not going to work with any of my cameras. For the record, Acme Made is not the company that supplies Willey E. Coyote with explosives. They, instead, make nice looking camera, iPhone and laptop bags.

So my inability to use the case is your chance to pick it up!  The bag is meant for ultra-zoom type cameras or the ones with the lens always attached. About that size. You can find specifics of the bag here on Acme Made’s site. I didn’t even noticed the lens cap pouch the first time through. Neat idea!  It’s sleek. It’s stylish. And it comes with a shoulder strap and a velcro loop in the back for attaching to a belt, pack strap or possibly a small gerbil.

The contest rules are pretty standard, with a twist. Open to USA residence only and I’ll pay the shipping. One entry per person. Only actual humans can enter. The drawing will be held on, or about, Tuesday the 24th of May, 2011. I will use Random.org to pick a winner based on the order of entry. Deadline to enter is Monday, May 23rd, 2011 at 11:00pm PDT.

To enter, do one good thing for someone else, without them asking you to do it, and then leave a comment below. The comment need not be about the good thing you did at all. And the level of goodness does not matter as it’s a random drawing. Here are a couple more photos of the bag to be won. Click any picture for a larger version.

Good luck!

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

As TBEX has grown from the initial, “What the heck are we doing here and what are we going to learn?” event in 2009 to its current status as an international destination celebration of all that is travel bloggy, so has the need to prepare. What can’t you live without at this year’s TBEX conference?

Needed at this year’s TBEX:

Passport

I know, it’s just Canada to those of us in the USA. Evidently this whole time that has meant they are their own country. And they have a flag to prove it. You need a passport to get in there now, or one of those fancy enhanced drivers license. If you’re from a country other than the USA, the need for a passport is probably already glaringly obvious to you. We’re a bit slow down here.

iPhone

Everyone else (except me) will have one and you should too. Don’t ask why. The herd will trample the weak.

International Cell Coverage

For me this is a big problem. I have the world’s oldest cell phone and I like it that way, except when it comes to travel. Because it works no where. I once got an international calling plan but found it hecka expensive. Yet, if you want to stay in touch and find parties, you might want an international calling plan. Me? I’ll be roaming the streets aimlessly looking for a likely group of people all looking at their phones checking in to foursquare.

The Handy Visitor’s Guide

WhyGo Canada, one of the event’s sponsors, has a handy First Time Visitors Guide post chalk full of useful info for you YVR newbs.

A Camera

No wait, don’t bring a camera. There will be 10,000 other cameras there (everyone has two, by law) and the amount of flashes going off at any given party is enough to put a Judas Priest concert to shame. You’ll be in enough other people’s photos. And you brought an iPhone, so you don’t need another camera.

Map Of Vancouver

You’re going to get lost. Get a map. Here’s the Vancouver Tourism’s page to suit your needs. Those are handy PDF versions to download into your iPhone.

Business Cards

And plenty of them. It looks like there will be 600ish attendees. You might not meet them all, but it’s best to be prepared. I also have a personal quest for this TBEX. My daughter is in the ‘collecting things’ phase of her life and she is making a collage on a huge piece of paper of various business cards. Being the Loving Dad that I am, I plan on grabbing as many of your cards as I can while at TBEX. So bring different versions, too. Order them now!

Something To Share

TBEX is about meeting other travelers and it’s also about sharing experiences. You will find a number of people who have not only been where you’ve been, but also who want to go where you’ve been. Come prepared to share something insightful about where you’ve traveled, something other than a “10 Must See…” list.

A Place To Stay

If you haven’t booked a place to stay yet, it might be a good idea to get that ironed out. Vancouver Tourism has a handy list of hotels offering discounted rates for TBEX media folks. I’m beginning to think Vancouver Tourism likes us. There’s also room at a hip hostel a few (15) blocks from the convention center, but located along a bus line. Or ask Anny Chih if her couch is available.

Good Overview Of What To Expect

BootsnAll, a TBEX sponsor and very nice people to boot (har!), has put together a well researched and thoughtful post than this on what TBEX is about, how to make the most of your time, etc… Check it out here.

Ukulele

Pam will want to jam with you.

A Link To The Actual TBEX Event Page

Here it is.

A Spare Liver

And some aspirin.

Not needed at this year’s TBEX:

ID – You can drink when you are old enough to hold a can in Canada.

An Attitude – I’m not going to take you seriously, so just be yourself. And give me a business card for my contact-hoarding daughter.

Fancy Shoes – They hurt your feet every time you wear them, don’t they? It’s Canada, wear shorts and a pair of flip flops.

iPhone Charger – Do you know how many other people won’t have forgotten theirs? Plus it’s a way to break the ice at parties. “Hi, I need an iPhone charging cable,” is always a welcome introduction. Even if the Queen shows up (although she uses a Droid, so don’t ask).

Powder Blue Tuxedo – It’s been done. Try to top it, but don’t try to imitate it.

I look forward to seeing each and every one of you at TBEX. Come up, say, “Hi” and then promptly hand over five different versions of your business card to appease my daughter quest for calling card world domination.

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

I have collected money from my various trips and love sharing it with my daughter as everyone’s money, it seems, it way cooler than ours. Sure, the USBEP has been spicing things up a bit, but to a 9 year old, Kenya’s shillings have way more color and much cooler animals on the back. Where do other country’s money come from?  I started looking around and found some interesting info. (all photos pilfered from the government run websites linked to in each section) I simply went to the large National Geographic world map outside my office and started pondering where it all gets made.

The Royal Canadian Mint or Monnaie Royale Canadienne

This first one is not too unlike the US Mint. Heck the names are even the same. But they have colored coins for the Royal Wedding. I’m not in need of royalty, but colored coins would be cool.

Hong Kong Note Printing Limited

Note printing in Hong Kong is run by a private company and three banks are allowed to issue notes? So the notes from the three banks are all a bit different and the company has on its board members of “the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), China Banknote Printing & Minting Corporation and the 3 note-issuing banks.”? A bit confusing but still the money looks pretty.

Bermuda Monetary Authority

Again, some pretty money and not only that, the Monetary Authority has released a shipwreck series of proof coins! While I’m not a fan of shipwrecks (especially that of Adventurous Kate’s) they obviously have had enough to print proof coins for two years. And if you want to see the coins on exhibit just wander on over to BMA House, 43 Victoria Street, Hamilton. This Exhibit is open from 9am – 4:00pm daily (Monday – Friday).

Kremnica mint

A mint with a long history. Just check out the Wikipedia article on it. And it is one of the oldest running mints in the world, started in 1328. Today it mints coins for up to 25 countries.

THE CENTRAL BANK OF TURKMENISTAN

Not speaking the language, I just want to note that the Central Bank of Turkmenistan not only controls all of the country’s monies, but it also still uses frames on its website.

Central Bank Of Peru

In searching for Peru’s main printing or minting facilities/authority I went for to their central bank’s website. And how handy it is! Right here, on the main page, they show you inflation numbers and bank rates. Handy! That’s how.

Qatar Central Bank

Interesting. I go to the Qartar Central Bank’s website, the English version, and click on the little snippet at top that say “Banknotes” expecting to be delivered to a website showing very fancy money with pictures of probably dead leaders or scenes from the country. Or both. What I get instead is an box asking me for a user name and password. Huh? I try my standard username and password combo: Martin Bishop and “Too Many Secrets”.  No good. Come back 5 minutes later and it’s working. Suspicious. I think they are on to me. Interesting note under this note (below) “The value numeral and 3 vertical bars appear on the left hand side of banknote, to help the partially sighted recognise the note.”

And thus ends my lighthearted romp through a few different world banks, their notes and mints. Do you have any interesting tidbits you have collected on your journeys?

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

We all bring back mementos from our travels in one way or another.  Some are memories, but a lot of us bring back stuff.  The good stuff.  A feather here, a rock there or something bigger.  But what about stuff you never meant to bring back.  Have you opened up your bag when you arrived home and thought, “Why the hell did I bring this all the way home?”  If so, share your story in the comment section below.  The best response will get my roll of brand new Nepali toilet paper.

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.