29/07/09 16:24
By Reb StevensonLike Cinderella to the ball, I was going to Buckingham Palace to meet HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and the king of questionable quotes.
There was no doubt as to how I would greet him. The choreography had been outlined in an email entitled “Royal Protocol.”
“Upon being presented to HRH, it is customary to give a short bow from the neck for gentlemen and a curtsy for ladies.”
A curtsy!? My generation’s formal greeting consists of a sloppy salute and a rhetorical “howz it goin’?”
As usual, the guys were getting off easy with a simple head bob. They had that action down pat, as (from my understanding) it’s a customary response for males when they encounter one another at a urinal and feel the need to offer an acknowledgement but not an invitation to get beaten up.
A curtsy requires elegance, grace and balance. For there is a dangerously fine line between a delicate plie and toppling into a disheveled, bruised heap directly upon a royal’s polished shoes.
The occasion: some 70 travel writers from around the globe were summoned to Buckingham to ogle the State Rooms and learn about a new public exhibition marking the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth.
To pique our interest even more (and, in my opinion, provide comedic fodder for our articles), Prince Philip agreed to make an appearance even though it happened to be his 88th birthday. Read More...Tags: Prince Philip, HRH, Buckingham Palace, London, England, Ottawa Citizen, UK, Britain, State Rooms, Commonwealth, Costumes, Dresses, Queen , Elizabeth , Curtsy, Reb, Rebecca, Stevenson
31/03/09 03:12
The BBC’s Politics Show dropped by Swinton Park’s cookery school the other day to do a piece on the recession / tourism in Yorkshire.
Thankfully, I was on hand to violently attack some dough for the camera.
Click HERE for the finished piece (forward to 2:10 if you can’t be bothered to watch all of it). Tags: BBC, Politics Show, yorkshire, Tourism, Recession, Travel Writers, Canada, Swinton Park, Cookery School, Reb, Rebecca , Stevenson
22/02/09 18:24
Last weekend, I was in New York for the New York Times Travel Show. The largest of its kind in America, the show consisted mainly of 100 + countries and travel operators throwing brochures at you and tantalizing would-be travellers with morsels of baklava and sips of Jamaican rum. That was good and all (burp) but for me, the highlight was attending a few informative seminars by the who’s who in travel. I’m talkin’ bona fide, guidebook-writing superstars.
Who gives a darn about Brangelina when you’ve got Rick Steves and the Frommers in the house?
Here is a brief summary of what I jotted down in my notepad.
RICK STEVES
As host of the PBS show Rick Steves’ Europe, guidebook mogul Rick comes off as the kind of clean-cut, inoffensive guy who’d be right at home manning the scones station at a church bake sale. But when I interviewed him a few years ago for The Vancouver Sun (“An American ‘Everyman’ on the Road to Discovery”), I got a taste of Rick’s razor-sharp edge. This ain’t no daydreaming, backpack-toting imbecile: his experiences as an American abroad have gradually politicized his work, and he stands by his sometimes controversial opinions (ie: he is all for the decriminalization of marijuana) even if it turns some conservative old codgers off his brand.
Steves is honest, refreshing and blunt in a trade that’s full of false advertising and sneaky cash-grabs by tour guides. How can you learn more about Rick?
- subscribe to his blog
- download his podcast
- watch his new documentary on travelling in Iran
- buy his book “Travel as a Political Act,” which comes out next month
www.ricksteves.com
THE FROMMERSWell, I’m not quite as smitten with this father/daughter guidebook writing team as I am with Rick Steves, but their seminar on “Best Bets for 2009” was full of great ideas. “The economic crisis” is a hot excuse in travel, but The Frommers insist that now is the time to capitalize on “some of the lowest fares we’ve seen in a while.”
Their picks for 2009:
-Mexico * Canada * Panama * The Dominican Republic * Argentina * Las Vegas * Hawaii * Iceland * India * Nicaragua * Australia * China * South Africa * Thailand * Vietnam* Sicily -Tags: Rick Steves, New York , Times, Travel , Show, Frommer, Pauline, Arthur, Reb, Reb Stevenson, Rebecca , Stevenson, Deals, 2009, Europe Through the Back Door
05/01/09 02:10
Once upon a time, I made a living off photojournalism. But when I started developing back pain at the tender age of 22, I decided that wielding a pen was much better for my health (plus it’s mightier than a sword. Unless you’re fighting in a medieval battle against guys who are swinging those spiked ball things, in which case a pen utterly sucks.) Since then, my camera has gathered a lot of dust. However, in the last few weeks a few friends have asked me to shoot some stuff and - after grumbling for a few hours - I obliged. Surprisingly, I found myself enjoying the process. Maybe it’s because I got to be very, very bossy. And who doesn’t like a power trip every now and then?
In any case, I thought I’d post a few samples.
Read More...Tags: Heather MacDonald, Nick LaRiviere, Trombones, Photography, Victoria, Wedding, Ottawa , Peter Robinson, Reb, Rebecca , Stevenson
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