Thanksgiving: next time, give thanks away from home!

As an airline employee, I have standby travel privileges. That means I can fly on any flight with open space. It also means that it is impossible to fly when demand is high, like Thanksgiving weekend...only there's a caveat to that.

Most of us think Thanksgiving is the busiest travel weekend of the year, and that's true domestically. Flying internationally is a completely different story because most people only fly home - domestically. It means that I have a better shot at traveling internationally on Thanksgiving than at any other time of the year. I haven't purchased a full-fare ticket in a long time, but logic would suggest that tickets for international travel are priced very low during Thanksgiving, if you're so inclined.

I have taken two trips during Thanksgiving week so far: once to Curacao (Netherland Antilles), and another to Taiwan. In both instances, I was happy with my decision to get away, and in both instances, I had interesting Thanksgiving meals.

In Curacao, I stayed with a friend who lives there, and we ate at his parents' place. From their backyard, we had a great view of the countryside. We had a server to keep our champagne glasses full, and there was a display of food that probably took 10 people all day to make. From yams, to real cranberry sauce (as opposed to that canned stuff), to a variety of vegetables, to a humungous turkey that was marinated the best way possible, and to the many pies and desserts, I'm not sure I was ever more thankful for my Thanksgiving than I was that day.

In Taiwan last week, I ate "Thanksgiving" dinner in central Taiwan in a resort area near the Sun Moon Lake. I was a bit disappointed not to have Turkey, but I wasn't expecting Turkey to be served in Asia. What I didn't expect was to be served "some sort of seafood", as my wife described it as the dish was served. It was VERY fried food that could have been tentacles of some sea creature, but very much took the shape of an insect. I didn't find out until after I finished that I ate fried bees, but it was a fairly good dish. I can't really describe it at all. It tasted like sweet fried food. There was no texture beyond the fried batter that made this dish unique. Thank goodness.