"What Every Ramsey Should Know about the Great Ideas Tour", by Jan Duvall

What Every Ramsey Should Know About the "Great Ideas" Tour, by Ethan Tidmore:

Trip Motto: "This is where you see a Ramsey go spaz." --- Quote by Scott Dickerson to me in Budapest while standing outside of a phone booth on July 8, 1998 (story behind this quote much too long to relate here).

Tips:

1. There are at least 2 ways to approach the organization of one's tour --- one can go the Scott Dickerson route and say, "if you're having fun, don't be afraid to toss your plans"; or you can take my route which involved planning one's trip out in detail beforehand and sticking pretty closely within this itinerary framework. Scott's way sounds more fun (even to me), but my way ensures that you do not spend multiple nights sleeping on park benches, doorsteps, and in train stations (no offense Scott -- who actually did this a few times as I recall). Probably the happy medium is the way to go, but the fact that you are a Ramsey recipient likely means that you have been unable to find the happy medium thus far in life. So, take your pick.

2. Make sure that you have your main addresses/contacts for your trip written in more than one place. I lost my handy address book the third day of my trip, and would have been in a real dilemma without my backup.

3. Contact Dr. Russell Bryant, Ramsey family member and retired UA History professor who now resides in Florida, who now has many contacts with young people from all over Europe due to his involvement with the Atlantic Council. He may know of some people who you may can try to meet up with in various cities in Europe. Besides his contacts, I found Dr. Bryant to be an excellent resource in helping me plan my tour . . . where to go, what to see, etc.

4. Start talking about your potential trip to people early and often. It is amazing how many people I talked to in Tuscaloosa before I left who offered names of people to contact in Europe, etc. I ended up using at least 3 of these contacts for places to stay, etc. I also got to meet up with UA professor Joe Hornsby in Paris as well simply by mentioning my trip in a passing conversation.

5. If you do plan to stay with some hosts along the way, it is nice to carry a little something with you from Alabama or UA to thank them for their hospitality. It does not need to be expensive and certainly not bulky. Just a little token of your appreciation to them.

6. Of course, pack light. I packed in one large, hiking style backpack, but also carried a regular back pack which was useful for my day-to-day use in the cities.

7. Make a copy of your passport and store it in a separate place.

8. Definitely take a journal. It is amazing how quickly you can forget such great memories if they are not recorded.

9. Be safe.

10. Enjoy this wonderful and unique opportunity.