{ "items": [ { "type": [ "h-entry" ], "properties": { "_id": [ 6471 ], "url": [ "https://macdaraconroy.com/2003/08/friday_five_57/" ], "uid": [ "https://macdaraconroy.com/2003/08/friday_five_57/" ], "author": [ { "type": "MacDara Conroy", "properties": { "name": [ "MacDara Conroy" ], "url": [ "https://macdaraconroy.com/author/macdara/" ], "photo": [ "http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/37167652532c121404900106c4b087d9?s=96&d=mm&r=g" ] } } ], "published": [ "2003-08-08T19:31:21+01:00" ], "updated": [ "2003-08-08T19:31:21+01:00" ], "content": [ { "html": "*1. What's the last place you traveled to, outside your own home state/country?*\nI haven't been out of the country since I went to Canada in the spring of 2002. That might sound like a long time to you, but I'm not the kind of person who needs to have a foreign holiday within a certain timeframe every year like clockwork. Besides the fact that I can't afford it most of the time, I travel because I _want_ to, not because I feel obligated to.\n*2. What's the most bizarre/unusual thing that's ever happened to you while traveling?*\nIf I were more well-travelled, I might have some stories to tell. But alas, I'm not, so I don't. Sorry to disappoint you. In my travels so far I have yet to experience anything remotely bizarre or unusual. (Of course one could make the argument that anything foreign counts as unusual, but that doesn't hold water for me, frankly.)\n*3. If you could take off to anywhere, money and time being no object, where would you go?*\nThat's easy. I'd swing by Johannesburg to pick up Benitha and head east, far east, to explore Japan. Spend a month, maybe two, traversing the islands, immersing ourselves in the culture, drinking in the sights and sounds.\n*4. Do you prefer traveling by plane, train or car?*\nIt depends. If I had to pick, I would say that I prefer travelling by train. Yet every situation is different, so don't take this as a universal declaration.\nPlanes are fast, and necessary for most international travel, but they're expensive, and uncomfortable. They're far too cramped, and the air is bad. Even after a short flight, I usually feel out of sorts. (Although the plane might not be to blame for this; I could just be experiencing the symptoms of soul-delay.)\nCars are good, but a good journey by car -- or _road trip_, in the vernacular -- is conditional on three main factors:\n==