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by Jason Whong

Apple 'round the World

As a few of you may know, I recently spent some time traveling around Europe. It started when I heard Andrew mention that a friend of his was flying all around Europe because flights were cheap. Living in Rochester, where airfare rates are frequently the highest in the nation, I jumped at such an idea.

I called up a friend of mine, Erin, and we decided to explore (metropolitan, touristy) Europe together. She had been to France when she was younger, and wanted to go again. I thought it would be a cool experience to check out London, Paris, and maybe some other places.

Using my Mac, I checked out travelocity.com, and found some really dynamite rates for flights to London. I immediately told Erin (via AOL instant messenger), and she was thrilled.

Suddenly, I remembered that I had a brother in Europe somewhere, although I didn't quite recall where he might be. I didn't grow up with my brother, James, since he was from my father's other marriage. Most of the time, we didn't even live on the same continent.

I knew that his mother was working for the state department, but I was not sure where. So, I fired up sherlock, and typed in the name of my stepmother, the words "department of state" and "US Embassy".

Within seconds I had traced my brother (through his mother) to Lisbon, Portugal. Unfortunately, there was no real way to work Lisbon into the itinerary without breaking the bank. But it had been six years since I had seen him, so I broke the bank anyway. (Credit cards are EVIL, except when you use them to pay for shareware.)

After traveling in London, Paris, and Lisbon, here's my list of Mac sightings:

London: inside an art museum. I think it was the National Gallery. They had a ton of iMacs on display (on loan from Apple UK), and they were using them to pitch the museum's CD-ROM.
Paris: I passed by two stores near Notre Dame, which sold iMacs. One of them even had an iMac mouse painted onto its window! I knew that the Mac had its share of artists, but, wow! I've never seen anything like this in the USA!
Lisbon - I do not intend to disrespect the Portuguese, but I really didn't see anything wired going on there at all, during my brief stay. I didn't even see street vendors use pocket calculators. However, I really enjoyed eating their famous pasteis.
Incidentally, if you want to see Portugal, make $50,000 a year, and turn to the dark side, you can probably get an NT admin job at the US Department of State. They're looking for tons of people.

How stylish and artistic. Too bad it has a beleagured Compaq logo next to Apple's.

So, while the people who live in Europe might have a more realistic perspective about Apple's position there, I think that I've seen enough of Apple there that I won't lose confidence entirely. It's a shame, however, that the new G4s are so powerful that Apple will probably be barred from exporting them to other places in Europe, like Yugoslavia.

Whack a Bison? It's Street Fighter II meets Whack-a-Mole.

I think my next trip will be to check out Japan one of these days. I hear the Mac is real strong there. I wonder if by then, Sherlock II will be able to find me a place for cheap lodging, preferably in Saitama prefecture?

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