For St. Patrick's Day, the #ManicPunday theme is Green.

1. Laura Powell ‏@dailysuitcase  16 Mar 2015

   The shy leprechaun may have Asparagus Syndrome. #SaintPatricksDay #ManicPunday

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   Jay Pee 1975 ‏@jez_put  16 Mar 2015

   Heard stevie wonders new song ? I just kaled to say I love you. #ManicPunday

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6. Laurie A. Conley ‏@Busydrawing  16 Mar 2015

   Although I love reading puns, I usually leaf punning to the pros. I'm not frond of it. #ManicPunday #green

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1. Laura Del Rosso ‏@lauradelrosso  16 Mar 2015

   Sorry to miss #manicpunday @dailysuitcase. Mondays are chard. On a kale of 1-10, it's a 1. Next thyme. #travel #puns #dailysuitcase

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3.  Peter Schlesinger liked

   Gary Cordery ‏@gaz_cordery  16 Mar 2015

   Wanted to do a pun for #ManicPunday on the topic all things green but I can't Kermit to it....

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4.  Walter Igor and 2 others follow

   Puncroaker ‏@Puncroaker  16 Mar 2015

   Although best known for his operas, he actually preferred Latino dance music, going by the name Salsa Verdi. #ManicPunday

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 Nigel Pearson liked

Jay Pee 1975 ‏@jez_put  16 Mar 2015

What time does this spinach ? #ManicPunday

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CNN Coverage: What's the Deal with These Modern Hotel Names?

 Read all about why Moxy, Venu, Jaz in the City, Vib, and other new hotel brand names are being purposely misspelled. Blame those millennials!






For those who prefer video to print, watch this instead, I discussed the topic recently on Let's Talk Live in Washington, DC.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/11/travel/quirky-hotel-names/

The Countdown Continues: Travel Writing Gnomes

As loyal readers know, I frequently beef about the current state of travel writing. Too many people are hanging up a 'travel writer' shingle without knowing how to write...and in some cases...not really knowing how to travel. 

Looking for clues as to whether someone is a decent writer? If an article, blog post, and press release is packed with phrases like hidden gems, winter wonderland or the dreaded something for everyone....run away....fast.   

Tusk, Tusk: Elephants Never Forget Trite Writing

For those seeking to become better writers, or for those looking for a laugh, please take a peek at these popular posts, which cumulatively come in at #4 on my Top 9 Posts countdown list.  

The best of the worst: http://dailysuitcase.blogspot.com/2013/10/9-gnomes-about-travel-writing.html

Mr. Bill says, "Oh, nooooo...
not another travel cliche." 

Objecting to Bad Spelling and Improper Direct Objects: http://dailysuitcase.blogspot.com/2013/09/9-more-gnomes-about-travel-writing.html


On redundancies, cliches and something for everyone:
http://dailysuitcase.blogspot.com/2014/05/a-few-more-gnomes.html

Don't be a horse's......
Hightail it to the dictionary,
your 'mane" source for spelling and homonyms

 

The Top 9 Countdown Continues: Happy Sheep Year!

Given that this is The Year of the Sheep, it is somewhat fitting that my pun-filled homage to Idaho's Trailing of the Sheep Festival gets retold today. In fact, the Hemingwayesque tale is among the most popular yarns ever spun on this blog. In fact, as we count down the Top 9 Daily Suitcase posts to date, Idaho entries rank at numbers 6 and 5. Read up and you'll understand why the state should be famous for more than potatoes alone. 

6.  A Farewell to Yarns:  An ode to one of the country's top festivals.

5. Nine Things You Didn't Know About Idaho: Idaho doesn't get a whole lotta love from the rest of the country. Certainly, when most people think of the state, if they think of it at all, images of potato fields and a blue football field come to mind. But Idaho has so much more to offer, including shimmering lakes, spectacular mountains, and quirky museums. I write about the state frequently, but this particular post piqued the most interest.

Payette Lake in McCall

Sun Valley

Top 9 Posts: The Runner-Ups

I've written hundreds of posts during the five years Daily Suitcase has been in existence. But certain topics always seem to resonate with my dear readers. They include accounts of exotic excursions; my infatuation with Idaho;  my proclivity for punning; and rants against hackneyed travel writing. But by far the most popular post ever...and this is the naked truth...is the tale of going au naturel at a German spa.

But that's just a tease, because I am going to do my Top 9 countdown in reverse, in threesomes. Today, you get numbers seven, eight, and nine.

9. A Trans-Siberian Postscript: An account of  my adventures on the Russian rails.

Riding the Trans-Siberian Route
Along the Shores of Lake Baikal

Me in Front of the World's Largest
Lenin Head in Ulan Ude

St. Basil's Cathedral, Moscow

8. It's Just Another Manic Punday: Although I have recently started a #ManicPunday gabfest on Twitter (every other Monday from 12:30-1:00 PM EST....please join in), this success of this early quip of the same name astounds me. If you don't feel like clicking the link, below is the post in its entirety. 

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I have been staying at the Peabody Hotel in Orlando the past few days for a speaking gig at a travel industry conference. Inspired by the ducks that march through the lobby here on a daily basis, I present this week's Punday entry. Hope it quacks you up.

A duck walks into a bar.

He orders a Wild Turkey.

He asks the wader to put it on his bill.

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7. Go Directly to Jail:: I've been collecting international versions of Monopoly for 25 years. I have nearly 50 boards, but.those bought in Communist countries are my pride and joy. Yes, I have authentic 1980s versions of the game that celebrates capitalism at its most unscrupulous from Yugoslavia, Poland, and Romania. This post recounts tales of the chance discoveries.

One of Two Games Purchased
in Romania. Note the presidential
caricatures on the money.

In the next post, we shall move up the food chain. Expect stories from the Spud State 

and my beefs with bad travel writing.

To be continued ...

Russia Tourism Outlook 2015

If political correctness doesn't affect your travel choices, Russia might be an excellent option for long-haul travel in 2015. The declining ruble makes the place a bargain for anyone spending dollars, euros or pounds.  My story for CNN gauges the travel forecast there.

To read the full story, please go to

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/20/travel/russia-travel/index.html

50 Shades of Wildlife: An R-Rated Valentine's Day Story

Kudos to Widness and Wiggins PR for coming up with this sweetheart of a press release.  
  I've added a few editorial comments of my own in  pink.

All the World Loves a Lover -
Wild Planet Adventures Delivers
Week’s Worth of Animal World Courtship
In Honor of Valentine’s Day

“All the world loves a lover,” mused American thinker, Ralph Waldo Emerson.  That being said, with Valentine’s Day around the corner, here’s a week’s worth of romantic courtship rituals of the wild kingdom.

Wild Planet Adventures, the recognized experts in viewing wildlife through habitat-sustaining practices, call these rituals “Animal Valentines.” Following are founder Josh Cohen’s personal favorites.

1) Gibbons: Nature’s Great Crooners: For these tree-top swingers, marital harmony begins with sonic harmony. Each morning, males and females of these Asian apes sing love duets to each other as the mist burns off the rainforest. The duet is repeated in such precise sequences that it often takes newlyweds many months to learn to make beautiful music together. In a duet between a male and a female, the female's part is a long, rising series of notes that end in a fast "twitter". The male's song is less complicated. He grunts, squeals and whistles in delight. (Sounds familiar) 

2) Tarsiers – Tiny Tenors: 
These tiny, uber-cute, wide-eyed primates use sound as part of their courtship rituals, performed by the male. During courting, potential partners often chase each other around while making distinctive soft sounds. The male, if aroused, will escalate his sound within five minutes of merely looking at an attractive female. The female, if receptive, will display her genitals invitingly; however, if she is not sufficiently wooed, she’ll emit an antagonistic call, often followed by biting and pushing the male away. Ironically, when mating begins, they maintain complete silence. Once bonded, Tarsiers are extremely vocal and make loud shrieks with their partners. In fact, they call in harmony, with each partner making its own distinct sounds. (I got nothing here--I'm still stuck on the female openly displaying her genitals)

3) Resplendent Quetzal: Beauty with Equality: Perhaps the most beautiful of all birds, the resplendent quetzal sports gorgeous two-foot-long green tail feathers, a red breast, blue sides and green crown. In February, just in time for Valentine’s Day, males begin an elaborate courtship ritual to entice females. In a dazzling display of color and sensuality, they circle in the sky with their long tails dancing behind them, then dive down to the cloud forest treetops in hopes of attracting females. By March, once a mate has been selected and the mating process is underway, males can easily be seen sharing nesting duties with females, alternating guarding the eggs every half hour, including sitting on them (the male quetzal is an excellent role model, IMHO) 

4) Tigress – Saving Herself for True Love? Female tigers distinguish between true love and “friends with benefits”. Normally tigers take as long as a full day to develop mutual confidence, through ritualized purring, playing and moving their tails left to right with spring in their steps.  Once the tigress has developed confidence, she will roll over on her back in a playful manner, rub her face, and move closer to the male tiger, who will mount her. Their climax is signaled by a loud roar. Then the tigress turns her head and takes a swipe at the tiger with her foreleg. The tiger instinctively takes evasive action. The tigress then rolls over her back to facilitate insemination. However, if the tiger is a transient male just passing through the area and its dominance is not clearly established, the tigress will treat him like a “friend with benefits”, engaging in “false mating”, but not rolling over on her back.

(I don't know--nookie after only a "full day" of courtship still seems rather slutty to me. Plus, that transient male --seems to me he's getting all the upside without getting kicked in the face)

5) Giraffes – Nature’s Great Neckers: Male giraffes will establish dominance by swinging their heads and necks at each other, followed by a longer period where they will caress one another with their necks and then actually have sex, including reaching climax. Interested females also rub their necks against potential mates as part of their courtship. Recently, researchers also observed adolescent giraffes performing a complicated, prancing, dance-like step that some observers have compared to the fox-trot.  Could giraffes be nature’s greatest romantics? (Is this where the term "necking" came from?)

6) Waved Albatross – Kissing Fools: The complex and expressive courtship ritual of the waved albatross includes extensive kissing and bill-fencing, in which the partners bend, face each other in an exaggerated upright posture, open their bills wide and shut them with a loud clap, often alternating with rapidly clattering their bills or slapping them back and forth. If that isn’t strange enough, they will also bow and circle each another while swaying their heads from side to side in an exaggerated manner.  The newer the pair, the longer and more elaborate the dance. (New reality show on Animal Planet: Dancing with the Albatrosses)

For detailed itineraries, visit http://www.wildplanetadventures.com/.