McDonald's Around the World: Russia!

While in Russia, I had to take the opportunity to stop by the McDonald's located a block from Red Square and about 500 feet from their Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It's slightly ironic that this McDonald's is within sight of where the line for Lenin's Mausoleum forms.

 Want to see the menu of Макдональдс and the local Russian menu adapation, the Beef ala Rus? All that is after the break.

Flight Report: Part of the Great Human Migration (ARN-SEA)

After two years in Sweden, I just moved back to Seattle and the USA. While living in Sweden has been fantastic and a welcome experience, it's time to come back but for a brief moment I was without a home and in transit to somewhere else, just like millions of other people who are moving across the globe at any given time.

Of course, my story is much happier than many of the people who are part of this migration. All too often an immigrant story begins with the need to flee some form of oppression. Those who are lucky enough to not start their journey because of violence or oppression, do so to find a better life. They leave their world -family, friends, and a cultural context their familiar with- on the chance that somewhere they can build something better. This side of the great human migration is often lost in the context of current debates on immigration politics. In the end, people and their hopes are surprisingly the same even if norms and traditions differ.

In my case, my migration was two legs and relatively painless. From Stockholm to Newark and then onward to Seattle. After the break, what a Kosher meal looks like on Continental (United) along with a meal in domestic first class, and a few more shots along the way...

Food Fridays: Fish Sandwiches in Istanbul

What do you get when you put a grill on a boat in a place with lots of fresh local fish? You get the Tarihi Eminönü Balik Ekmek and the other floating grills by the Galata Bridge...

It's not exactly high cuisine, but it is a popular and fresh bite to get with a kitchen that is usually actively seesawing in the water!

The Boy with the Golden Eagle (in Mongolia)

I love birds. In Mongolia and Kazakhstan, golden eagles are kept as hunting birds, along the same tradition as falconry in other areas of the world. While driving out to Terelj National Park, I happened to see this kid with his bird and stopped to take a few pictures. Fantastic!

More photos after the break!

Tom Stuker hits 10,000,000 miles with United today

10,000,000 miles. That is an amazing amount of miles to rack up, and those are flown miles, not redeemable frequent flyer miles!

"As United's most-frequent flyer, Stuker is the airline's first customer since the program launched in 1981 – and perhaps the first traveler ever – to fly 10 million miles. To equal his feat, a traveler could circle the globe 400 times, fly to the moon and back 20 times, or fly roundtrip between United's largest hubs in Houston and Chicago about 5,400 times."

Crazy. In 2009, he flew 700,000 miles, and here I am working on 50,000 miles with my flight today from Ulaanbaatar back to Sweden. It gives you some perspective...

Via msnbc and United

Siberian Sampler

Two Reasons to ALWAYS Check the Safety Card

Unfortunately, I can't remember what airline this was on (it was before I tracked it in detail), but these were on a flight of mine awhile back. Ever since, I always read the safety cards just in case something like this shows up. 

 When leaving the aircraft, leave all personal belongings except for top hats.

In an emergency, if you have the flexibility of a ballerina, please brace as shown.