By Karen Sternheimer In addition to travel itself, I enjoy travel planning. One of the first things that I usually do is figure out when to go, how to get there, and how to get around once I am there. When planning my most recent trip to Germany and Austria, I was excited to get what I thought was a great deal on a rental car, which would amount to about $20 a day. After reading so much about rental car shortages while making plans, I was particularly excited about this, and moved on to figure out lodging for the trip, about 9 months in the future. Eventually I stumbled upon news stories about ..read more

By Karen Sternheimer I recently had an embarrassing tourist experience. While on a hike in the Bavarian Alps, we had a choice of how to exit the trail: through a popular gorge, which would take about 90 minutes with a fee of 6 euros per person, or through an alternate route, which would add an additional 2 hours to the hike. We had already been hiking about 6 hours and were tired. Let’s go through the gorge, I said, knowing that we might not have the 12 euros in cash, but we had credit cards. Surely, they would work as a last resort in such a situation. They didn’t. We came up 50 cents short ..read more

By Karen Sternheimer Last year, I wrote about popular attractions in the French and Swiss Alps, focusing on how the privatization of nature makes ultra-scenic spots all but off limits for those without the means to pay to enjoy them. I was back again this year, this time in Germany and Austria for more Alpine hiking and sight-seeing. And while not as slickly marketed as in Chamonix, France, or the Jungfrau region of Switzerland, I observed other ways in which the natural world was monetized. Just as when we were in France and bought tickets to Aiguille Du Midi for a look around the Mont Blanc ..read more

By Karen Sternheimer I’m a sucker for an old town when I’m traveling, and based on the crowds I regularly find on these visits, I am not alone. Old towns hold out the promise of a walk into history and a chance to see something that we seldom get to see in our daily lives. They feel like they represent the most “authentic” aspect of a place, one that might distill the essence of what it means to visit this locale. In contrast to the mundane, everyday nature of most places, old towns seem like they offer something special. On a recent trip to Munich, one of the first things we did was walk arou ..read more

By Karen Sternheimer I recently visited what is arguably the beer capital of the world, Munich, Germany. I’m not a beer drinker, even casually, but the cultural meanings people create surrounding beer interest me. Through many ads and signs, it was clear that part of what beer makers advertise is its connection to a particular place. First, a brief history: Munich, called München in German, literally translates to “Monks” in English. Augustinian Monks brewed beer at least as far back as the fourteenth century, as the alcohol made safer to drink than water. Claims that the first brewery was nea ..read more

By Karen Sternheimer As a kid in the 1970s and 1980s, I remember waiting to be seated at a restaurant. There were occasionally vending machines for candy, gum, and even cigarettes in the waiting area. While cigarette vending machines were apparently only banned in 2010 (except in adults-only venues), I don’t remember seeing a single machine for decades. That is, until I visited Germany recently. We stayed in an apartment-style hotel, run by someone who also operated a bar on the first floor. When we stepped in the bar to check in, I noticed a cigarette vending machine. Oh wow, I thought, hadn ..read more

By Karen Sternheimer There’s really no such thing as good spam. I’m talking about the email variety of spam, not the canned pork from which unsolicited emails got their name (see this Monty Python sketch for its origin). Emails claiming to have money waiting for us, threatening us if emails go unanswered, or promoting questionable products are annoying and typically easy to spot. So easy that email platforms often identify it before we even see it. Spam is annoying, but it’s also sociological. Spam teaches us about social norms, and about the importance of power and status. The spams in my jun ..read more

By Karen Sternheimer It’s not hard to find stories decrying social media. From concerns about mental health, bullying and eating disorders, wasting time, and spreading misinformation, the presumptive “harm” of social media has become taken for granted, especially where young people are concerned. A recent Los Angeles Times article opined: Like a digital Tower of Babel, social media is evolving into an increasingly ugly and chaotic space — a real-time repository for our worst impulses, uninspired musings, scatological humor and ill-formed thoughts that should be kept to ourselves. It is an onli ..read more

By Karen Sternheimer Earlier this year I booked a flight using frequent flier miles that ended up costing me about $20 total (a good deal on this route is typically at least $200). Needless to say, I was pretty excited about this. But my luggage would not be so lucky: it would cost $100 to check a suitcase roundtrip, or $130 to carry it on and store in an overhead bin. Challenge accepted: I would bring only a backpack that could fit under the seat in front of me. This meant taking an extremely minimalist approach to packing. As I have written about before, I have been flirting with minimalism ..read more

By Karen Sternheimer Three years ago, Todd Schoepflin wrote about his love of baseball and its sociological significance. As a father of young players, he noted its absence during the pandemic-related shutdown of 2020. Because of its interdependence, the way it helps us understand the roles of others, and how it illustrates how and why rules can be bent, baseball helps us learn a lot about social systems and social interactions. In the years since, I have been able to observe my nephews play, my brother-in-law coach, and most recently, my teenage nephew umpire games for younger kids. Building ..read more