I got my bags packed on a roll heading out there and I'm ready to go looking real good

in my passport photo.

Amateur Traveler episode 396. Today the amateur traveler talks about political murals, a black taxi tour, and the Titanic experience as we go to Belfast in Northern Ireland.

I know that I should be heading home,

but maybe not, maybe not to the day. Welcome to the amateur traveler. I'm your host Chris Christensen. Before we get

into this week's interview I do have three news stories for you. The first one is

one of those usual somebody gets kicked off a plane. In this case it was a blind man and his dog got kicked off a plane because during a delay on the tarmac the dog would apparently come out from beneath the seat. The flight attendant became upset, words were

exchanged and the man was kicked off, but everyone else and the plane was so upset with the flight attendant

that the whole flight was cancelled. I'm thinking the PR Department of U.S. Airways is

cringing. In technology news, IBM's Watson computer may be competing

against travel agents. IBM announced last week that they're planning on

targeting specific markets for their handy-dandy computer device

and in this case they decided to go after one that was already in trouble so I would have thought

Watson might have looked for a higher paying job.

Speaking of paying, during Vienna's design week, which took place in September, one particular

restaurant wanted to promote recycling, and therefore you could pay for your bill by bringing in trash.

You were given a voucher equivalent to the value of your garbage.

All of the rubbish had to be compostable and it was sent to local farms.

For links to all three of those stories check out the show notes at amateur traveler.com.

I'd like to welcome back to the show Mary Joe Manzanaras who's coming to us from

traveling with M.J. and come this time to talk to us about Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Mary Joe, welcome back to the show.

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