A new game's afoot!

To all my brilliant computer programmer and gamer friends: As I was standing in the train station in Prague trying to figure out which track my train was going to leave from, I started thinking about what kind of training a "World Traveler" should have. Of course, the first thing I thought of was that a world traveler should be able to arrive in a city in a foreign country where she does not speak or read the language, buy the correct fare ticket, locate and board the cheapest public transportation, and get off at her hotel stop. I got to thinking that you could get double points if you used a machine that didn't have an English screen to buy your ticket. You lose points if you board the subway going the wrong direction.

So fare, five different countries, five different currencies, five different languages, and three different alphabets! And that doesn't include landing in Japan to change planes, a month in Thailand, or a stop-over in Abu Dhabi. Three more languages, currencies, and alphabets!

Entering Romania. Don't forget the game has to include large armed men collecting your passport and returning it half an hour later while you wait on the train.

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Wow! It would almost be like a game. Play "World Traveler" today! You have a budget of $100 per day to visit Nerdavania for a week. You must, exchange currency (learn where and how to get the best rates), find lodging, get transportation, read a menu and order food, visit the top attractions of Geekout, Nerdavania, and never EVER be without your passport. But don't worry! Your host will speak English and you will actually understand every fifth word that is spoken! In the expert edition, you get only $50 per day.

Lodging can be acquired after you arrive or just before you embark on your adventure, but the cost has to be included in your daily allowance--including the extra day's fee that the website charges for the convenience. You have to balance cost of lodging against the safety factors and convenience. If you have to pay $10 a day for transportation from lodging to anything else, you will lose money. And is there someplace reasonable to eat nearby?

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I'm sure someone out there could make a really cool game out of this. It would be packed with maps from Microsoft so you will never know if what you are seeing is true. (Nor is there a key or scale of miles or any other cartographic information that is actually standard on a map. But you can see where you are within fifty meters from a satellite view.) Your cell phone won't work unless you invest in a local tourist SIM (after you find a store that sells local tourist SIMs). And "Free WiFi" traps abound! We could start having the timid World Traveler go from the U.S. to Canada. Advanced Travelers could go to hostile countries or to countries that lack the infrastructure that we have in the U.S. and Europe. What happens if you get sick? And in "Extreme World Traveler" you get to be kidnapped or even killed. Where will you rest in peace? (The game continues as getting your body back could bankrupt your family!)

What will you eat? On a budget. A $5 meal (above) could easily turn into a $30 meal (below) if you forget what the currency exchange rate is.

Where the food is can be just as important as what it is or how much it costs. Don't forget that if you go out for a meal at 8:00 p.m. (a common time for dinner in Europe) that you will be coming home in the dark. Can you find your way? Is it safe? Are you too drunk to know?

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I'm too old to program manage this, but I'll be happy to test and research. I'm sure you can see the possibilities. The big benefit, of course, is that it might get some Americans who successfully play the game to get up off their duffs and go visit someplace besides the local bar or church.

Finding a bathroom can be a challenge. Are the only choices for skinny men and fat women? Is a toilet, WC, toalet, banya, salle de bain? And don't forget that you might need local currency to pay the bathroom attendant. 150HUF in Budapest and he handed me my toilet paper allotment.

No matter how liberal the bathroom laws are as you travel, this is frowned upon almost everywhere. However, at my cabin in Hawaii the instructions were to "pee in the yard and poop in the bucket."

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I just think there are a world of possibilities here (so to speak). I've even come up with a concept for a U.S. version because traveling from state to state and city to city in the U.S. has many of the same problems. Is this the state where the speed limit is enforced at exactly what is posted? Can I pump my own gas? Can I smoke pot? And what was it that Yankee, West Virginian, Texan, or Valley Girl said? Is this really the way to San Jose? 

What do you think?