Tell us a little bit about your most recent UnTour? When Marilee asked me some questions about our experiences with UnTours, the review of memories turned out to be fun for the most part, funny in some aspects, and always enlightening. A bit of background: we have completed 19 UnTours, with the 20th to be…
One of my favorite definitions of culture is “Groups of people solving problems over time.”. It’s an interesting puzzle to take a glance at Dutch ‘problems’ throughout their history, and deduce from the solutions they found, what sort of culture is the result. Wikipedia, described the Dutch, in its first paragraph as ‘a seafaring people…
A Leiden canal under Holland’s ever-changing skies (Photo by Daniel Yett) This Monday, the UnTour bloggers (here in our suburban Philadelphia offices) have a certain lady in mind…..Sandy. As in Hurricane Sandy. We hope everyone is battened down properly, if you are in the large lady’s path. If by some chance, you find our…
A bicycle bridge in the background, just one display of the awesome infrastructure Holland has created for the bicyclist citizen. While biking has been prevalent in Holland since the advent of the bicycle, Holland has not always had the bike friendly culture is it now. That was a surprise. I had always been under the…
Jack, Lila and Jack (the grandson!) in where else? Holland! If there was only one family that could be the “UnTourists of the Week” for Holland, it might just have to be Jack and Lila Korvink. Jack and Lila come to the Holland UnTour by a slightly UN-typical route. Jack was born in Holland. As…
Hal Taussig, UnTours Founder, enjoying a bicycle ride, on a boat ride. This photo was taken on along the Rhine, on our Rhine UnTour in Germany, but Hal has been a Holland fan and bicycle advocate since he gave his last car away forty some years ago! When once asked if there was one UnTour…
Arial view of Leiden from LaPlace eating cafe on the top of the VD Department Store. Did you know that we have a wealth of Holland UnTourists who’ve had wonderful trips to Holland and shared it on UnTours’ own social network, UnTours Cafe? Here’s a sample: Patricia and Jay Edie have writing a wonderful Triplog,…
Perhaps the biggest culture difference that most visitors to Holland notice (in social behavior) is what some call the “Dutch directness.” Our Dutch team here at UnTours says: “They always speak their mind and ask questions that most would deem personal. This gives the impression they are rude or crude–attributes they refer to as openness….
We couldn’t resist. After last weeks profile of Jerry and Deena we realized we didn’t have room for any of the photos that they always come home with and post on UnTours Cafe. So this Monday, we wanted to share with you their photos from Holland. There’s something for everybody, from stunning fields of flowers,…
Some of you may know that before I worked at UnTours, I was a consultant to corporations and my main role was in the delivery of workshops on cultural diversity. I wrote workshops and delivered them, spending a lot of my time training trainers, who would then teach the workshop to lots and lots of…