Look for the one going to the Hard Rock Café when in a far away land with tons of things to see. I have a collection of Hard Rock guitar pins. It started when I was in 5th grade and I had my first guitar, which happened to be white. My parents went to Las Vegas, leaving me home with a horrible old lady baby sitter (who once neglected to pay for our food at the Pizza Hut drive in…). My parents brought back a white guitar pin for me and I have been collecting the pins ever since. I go back and forth on this concept, I don’t particular like Hard Rock, and I definitely am not one to go to American chains in foreign countries (most the time anyway). But I have two guitar straps hanging on my wall with 50+ pins from cities all over the world. It is the closest thing I have to a tracking of all the places I have been, I don’t always buy other souvenirs, and plenty haven’t survived various moves over the years. So part of me figures why stop now. But then I have an experience like in India when I'm spending precious time looking for the Hard Rock, and having to admit that yes I am that American that wants to find the Hard Rock Café instead of a local gem. To top it off, this Hard Rock wasn't in the city center like many are; instead it was in a mall somewhere and took us (me and my posse) well over an hour to get there and back. Going at rush hour wasn't too smart, but the driver and guide were at my beck and call and wouldn't provide me an estimate of how long it would take or go with my suggestion that maybe it wasn't worth it. If I wanted to go, they were going to make it happen. So we finally get there, my guide comes with me, trying to figure out what this place is. The top two contenders for the image on the pin were India Gate or a cricketer. My tour guide thought the cricketer was too cliché, and didn't quite get it when I told him that was exactly why I liked it. But I relented and went with India Gate. As is apparently the norm in India, the clerk kept trying to sell me more pins, how could I buy just one? I finally convince him I am not getting more and am both shocked and more embarrassed when he tells me the pin is 1800 rupees. $30, I automatically assume I must have done the conversion wrong. But nope, $30 for a pin. Most expensive I have bought. And then I have to explain this ridiculously expensive little pointless pin to my tour guide who is a student and my driver who is willing to work 24 hours a day to make a living. Stupid American. But….I got a pin from India, yay!

Flip Flops & Passports