DISC Rose and Thorn

When my son David was in the Boy Scouts, the troop would often go camping or on a high adventure hiking trip.  We had the tradition of taking a few minutes after each long day to reflect on events.  Each boy was asked to name the day's rose (best thing) and thorn (bad thing).  With so many boys in tight quarters tempers were sure to flare.  These events were often the thorns and the reflection time gave the adult leaders a chance to talk it out with the group and then follow up with all the good things that happened.

In that vein, I humbly offer this list of roses and thorns from my year as DISC instructor for 2012.

Most amazing place:       Sugar loaf mountain (Rio)

Favorite place:           Narita, Japan

Most amazing building:    Galleria (Milan)
Most amazing event:       Earthquake (Milan)

Most traffic:             Moscow 

Least traffic:            Midland

Worst passport line:      5 hours (Saudi Arabia)

Best view:                Atop Sugarloaf (Rio)

Best food in general:     New Orleans

Best meal:                Dora(Buenos Aires)

Best vege food:           Le Grenier(Paris) 

Cleanest city:            Narita, Brisbane

Most crowded:             London
Best castle:              Dunnotar(Aberdeen)

Least crowded:            Stavanger 

Most graffiti:            Paris 

Most expensive hotel:     Moscow 

Most expensive taxi ride: Milan

Most expensive beer:      Stavanger 

Biggest airport:          Beijing

Smallest airport:         Midland

Best airport:             Brisbane

Largest class:            110 (Calgary)

Smallest class:           5 (Copenhagen)

Hottest:                  97F/36C (Midland)

Coldest:                  38F/3C (Stavanger in June)

                          31F/-1C (Istanbul in Dec)

Best pub:         Little Creatures Brew Pub (Perth)

                  Warwick Arms (London)

Best coincidence:         
                  Antiquarian book fair (London)

Worst incident: 

                  Slide problems at DISC 1 (Brisbane)

                  Counterfeit $ scam (Buenos Aires)

                  Missed flight (Villahermosa)