The Titanic Awards

Name Howie Shapiro
Who? Former travel editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer, and a travel writer. Also theater reviewer  at www.philly.com
Age 60
Countries Visited About 25

Titanic Nominations
1. Worst Hotel I was in Barcelona with my wife and we just walked along the street looking for a hotel. We spotted one and I remember thinking how friendly they looked. And how many beautiful people seemed to be hanging out in the lobby. It wasn’t until after we checked in that I realized it was a whore house. When my wife removes her hearing aid  to go to sleep, she’s nearly deaf, so she couldn’t hear a thing. I, on the other hand, could hear everything coming through the walls. The next day I said we have to leave this  brothel and my wife said “Why? I got a great night’s sleep.” So we stayed a second night.
2. Worst Hotel Bed Sheets Baltimore, Maryland is a good place to get crabs. Both in a restaurant and, evidently, in the sheets of a Holiday Inn that no longer exists. I thought I had wiped off all the bugs I saw in the sheets before going to sleep, but I woke up itching and a doctor confirmed that I had a case of the crabs.
3. Worst Toilet The squatters in Greece. I actually liked them at first, but after using them in so many little restaurants, I desperately just wanted… well, a pot to piss in.
4. Worst Train Ride The train departed New York at 11:40pm and arrived in Philly at 840 am. It’s normally a 2 hour ride. All the wiring came down along the NE corridor and no one knew what was going on.
5. Worst City for Driving Lots of good contenders, but London takes  it (the only city where I crossed 5 lanes in 6 seconds), Jerusalem is close behind, and Boston is worst in the US.

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