Charles Stricklin

I haven’t been to Florida since I was a teenager, but I remember the beaches and Disneyworld and orange trees in the front yard and lakes everywhere you looked.

I lived in Diamondhead for two years, I got my bachelor’s from Mississippi State University, but all in all, Mississippi is about as country as country can get, and in my heart of hearts, I’m a city boy.

I spent a week of liberty in Cairns in 1993, and I love the climate, I love the attitude and I love the people.

Possibly the best week of my life.

During the Gulf War and afterwards, I became very familiar with Bahrain.

Great place to buy gold, perfume, rugs or have a custom suit made, but I can’t say I’d want to go back anytime soon.

My only real experience with the Philippines deals with Subic Bay Naval Base (now closed) and the adult Disneyland outside its gates that was Olongapo.

I’m a different man now and I wouldn’t want to return to a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah like that.

I’ve spent a great deal of time there. The people are wonderful, their MRT system is amazing, they’re got a great zoo, it’s a fantastic place to buy electronics and other things, it’s just a thoroughly enjoyable city/country.

I spent a few days in Hong Kong before the turnover and thoughly enjoyed myself. They have walkways which extend from building to building, with shops and such on either side of the walkways, so you could probably walk from one end of the city to the other and never even walk on the street.

Beautiful beaches, friendly people, pasty white Europeans in Speedos, topless women who should have kept their clothes on, “hospitality girls” everywhere.

Still, just about everywhere’s worth seeing once. I just wouldn’t put Phuket at the top of my list.

My ship stopped here for about a half of a day for refueling, and I never even got off the ship. The people seemed nice, though.

I really wish there was an option other than “Worth visiting” and “Not worth visiting” for circumstances like this when I don’t have an opinion one way or the other.

It’s hard to claim that any place isn’t worth visiting, but I’ll tell you why I said that about the UAE. The place is such a culture shock to Westerners, and you get such mixed feelings about your hosts that I simply didn’t enjoy it there.

I’m sure there are lots of fine people living there and they enjoy life in their own way, but it’s just not my idea of a good time.