Boris is an avid cyclist and a serial entrepreneur specializing in technology and alternative transportation. Anna is an environmental scientist who loves the outdoors, as well being a seasoned bicycle enthusiast. The pair have been on the road for over a month and on Monday, May 21, will speak about their bike trip and the unique bikes they are riding at the Denver Beer Company at 7pm. You can find out more about the bike tour here: transamericanelectricbiketour.com

For more about Monday’s event, click here.

First of all, it goes without saying that you should not try this at home, and that the activity shown here is extremely dangerous and potentially fatal. I guess you could say that this should be left to certified professionals, but since I don’t know what might qualify someone as a professional in this instance, other than being certifiable, just use your head. With the qualifier out of the way, this is freaking awesome. We here at The World by Road have always been fascinated with Russians and the latest trend out of Mother Russia has us salivating a bit and drooling over  some amazing and equally dizzying photos stemming from the latest boredom killing pastime for those who are not in the slightest bit faint of heart. It’s called skywalking or sky hacking and calling it crazy is an understatement.

While teens in America are probing malls, their Russian peers are seeking out the highest buildings and fixed structures they can find, climbing to the top, and taking photographs of themselves standing on the edge of the precipice between life and death. Look mom, no hands, I’m on top of the world, or at least on top of the soviet era radio tower behind the apartment block… but the top of the world is all relative. The crazy part? All of this is done without safety equipment, so one can only imagine the adrenaline rush… and what happens if you screw up.

One teen is credited with starting this new craze, or at least posting the most photos of him engaging in it, and it easily puts stupid American fads like planking and Tebowing to shame. Marat Dupri is 19 and to him, the risk of getting caught sneaking past guards or worse is well worth the reward. Marat bought a camera a year or so ago and started taking landscape shots from the roof of his building, but quickly grew bored with that. So why not climb to the top of a 33-storey building and take photos from the edge? To Marat and his group of growing dare devil friends; “It was such a thrill; we couldn’t wait to do it again. When I am on the roof I have a feeling that the whole world is at my feet. All my problems and troubles are left somewhere down. The height exhilarates me. I am enjoying my home town views. It gives me energy and fills with enthusiasm to make new and great shots.” Personally, I am happy viewing the world through Marat’s lens from the comfort of solid ground. When my heart plummets into my stomach while looking at his amazing shots, I can only imagine the exhilaration he feels. Just be safe Marat, and may the force be with you and the other young Russian skywalkers out there.

From Oderov

From Oderov

May 1st, otherwise known as May Day or International Worker’s Day. May Day celebrations take on different shapes, sizes and forms around the world but to most people, when someone mentions its May Day, at least to those who have heard of it before, images of large, left-wing, Marxist rallies in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and in modern day communist countries or those heavily influenced by socialism typically come to mind. While Map Day is a celebration of the international labor movement and causes typically associated with far left leaning governments, May Day has spread and is a recognized national holiday in more than 80 countries and actually began as a commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket Riot in Chicago. Still, I can’t help but associate May Day with hard core communism and no place is more hard core when it comes to communism than North Korea. Here at the World by Road Collective, we have long been fascinated by North Korea; in part because of what we do know about this reclusive country, but even more so by what we don’t know about it.

As it turns out, North Korea is starting to open up its doors to foreigners. One group of foreigners that were able to penetrate North Korea’s protectionist and isolationist bubble were the guys at Vice magazine. There aren’t too many people who have made it into North Korea, filmed their experiences, and made it out to share the footage, but the Vice boys managed to do just that and the resulting three part series The Vice Guide to North Korea in nothing short of fascinating although the footage doesn’t really answer many of the questions we have formulated with regard to North Korea; it only raises more. The goings on within North Korea are so strange, so foreign and so alien, the only way to truly believe it is to see it with your own eyes.

The Vice guide was filmed in 2008, and there have been some pretty major changes in North Korea since then. In the wake of a series of failed nuclear tests, UN sanctions and ongoing difficulties conducting diplomatic talks, North Korea is still very much the pariah state is was back when Shane Smith and Co. visited it, however, with the passing of the dear leader, Kim Jong Il, at the end of 2011, there is renewed hope that North Korea will step out from the shadow of its past. There are also other encouraging signs. In January 2010, North Korea lifted travel restrictions on American citizens, allowing them to visit freely in the company of a guide throughout the year and the lone western embassy in North Korea, Sweden, has been joined by about half a dozen more including Switzerland, Poland and Germany. The most encouraging news is that over a dozen travel agencies now offer guided, packaged tours to North Korea, although tourists to North Korea are still severely limited in what they can see, do and even say.

Still, it appears North Korea is on the up and up, and seemingly things are slowing changing for the better, so much so that we have been seriously contemplating putting together The World by Road Collective’s Guide to North Korea in the near future. In the meantime, if you have ever considered satisfying your own curiosities about the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, here are some resources we have been eyeballing and a window into how much it might actually set you back to visit what is, in our humble opinion, one of the most fascinating places on earth. It’s interesting to note that the tours are pretty standard and essentially cover the same locations give or take a few, so its obvious the movement of foreigners within North Korea is still extremely restricted and tightly controlled.

 Koryo Tours – based in Beijing and run by British nationals so no language barriers to overcome

 New Korea Tours – based in the US and offering the standard tours and sights

For a more complete listing of tour operators, you can check here, although a cursory run through revealed several are not offering trips to North Korea at this time or cater to select groups of people.

Average “Standard” North Korea Tour Costs*

Five Days/Four Nights – $1791

Six Days/Five Nights – $2452

Eight Days/Seven Nights – $2732

* Most tours originate in Beijing and include travel between Beijing and Pyongyang, so you are responsible for getting to and from China.

Check out the May Day Stadium for yourself!

April 25th is World Malaria Day. Doesn’t really sound like something to celebrate does it? Fortunately, people in many parts of the world can sleep well at night knowing they don’t have to worry about contracting malaria, but there is a sizable percentage of the population to whom malaria still poses a risk, and that risk can be lethal. Malaria, which is transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito, kills about 650,000 people a year, although the number could be higher as under reporting remains an issue in many parts of the developing world. The key thing to note is that malaria is preventable and it is curable, and increased prevention and control measures have reduced the affect of malaria in many places. Obviously though, the fight is far from over.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) nearly 216 million people were exposed to malaria in 2010 leading to 655,000 deaths. The majority of those deaths were children in Africa. Its’ an alarming number considering there are treatments available. While great strides have been made to eradicate malaria, resulting in a 25 percent decline in malaria mortality rates in the past decade, scientists and public health officials believe we are at a critical juncture in the fight against malaria. Malaria parasites can adapt and evolve over time and can develop an immunity to anti-malarial drugs. Further complicating the matter, counterfeit anti-malarial drugs may be aiding in the parasites resistance to available treatments. So, in the absence of 100 percent affective post-infection treatments and with the threat of new strains of drug resistant malaria spreading, its important to maintain current levels of funding to support continued research into new treatments and permanent eradication.

In 2012, the Roll Back Malaria campaign for World Malaria Day brings together more than 30 international government and health organizations to promote awareness of malaria, promote the strides that have been made to fight it, and to raise awareness of the work still to be done. A significant push to eliminate malaria has come from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and they have put together the following infographic to illustrate the fight against malaria.

Click the Graphic to Open the Interactive Version

Increased awareness can also serve to prevent being exposed to this nasty little parasite yourself. Having personally been infected with malaria, I was lucky to have a simple, cost-effective, over the counter treatment in my medical kit, but for hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world, that option is not available. Until the fight is over, here are some tips if you plan on traveling to regions of the world affected by malaria so the next time you fall asleep in a hammock at sunset, you don’t wind up looking like I did. (Fortunately, that was in Fiji, where malaria has been stamped out.)

• Reduce exposure. Follow your doctor’s advice and purchase the recommended antimalarial medication, mosquito netting and insect repellents that contain up to 20-50% DEET.
• Avoid exposed skin especially when mosquitoes are most active, such as dusk and dawn. Mosquitoes also seem to be attracted to dark clothing so the lighter color the better.
• Mosquito nets treated permethrin can help reduce exposure if you are bush camping or in places where your accommodation does not provide protection.
• Malaria parasites can continue to reproduce rapidly and may not appear for weeks or months, so be sure to complete your antimalarial regimen after you return home as prescribed. Initial symptoms of malaria  can be confused with the flu, so if you develop flu like symptoms after returning home, you should seek medical advice and let them know you’ve been to an area prone to malaria. It might save your life.

Today is Earth Day, a day when people around the world take time to recognize and appreciate the earth’s natural beauty and environment and take some proactive steps to protect it. Some people plant trees, others pick up trash. The first Earth Day took place in 1970 and now is recognized in 175 counties around the world. As popular as it is, Earth Day still remains a somewhat controversial event for some, but regardless of whether or not you think Earth Day is some Pagan holiday celebrated by freakish hippies, I think most people can agree the environment is something that should be respected and protected. You don’t have to believe in global warming to feel uneasy about the buildup of trash along your local highway, and you don’t have to worship Mother Earth to appreciate the beauty of a nature preserve. So in honor of Earth Day 2012, whatever that means to you, here are some pictures from a pretty unique place in Chile, Reserva Biologica Huilo Huilo. I think everyone can agree its a place worth enjoying now and saving for the future.

Montana Magica Lodge

Baobab Hotel & Spa

At some point, anyone with a bit of wanderlust has thought about the big trip; the trip around the world. Whether you decide to quit that 9 to 5 job that rewards all of your hard work and dedication with only two weeks of vacation time a year or you managed to talk your way into being granted a sabbatical or extended leave of absence, you’ve taken a major step towards making that around the world trip a reality. Then comes the logistics. Booking a plane ticket isn’t something many people look forward to, even for a short domestic return trips, so now that you’re facing the prospect of booking multiple point to point flights, where do you start and what’s the best option?

Fortunately, the concept of an around the world ticket has been around for a while and there is enough demand that not only have people done some research on the subject, but there are companies specializing in around the world airfare. Recently, BootsnAll, a popular travelers forum and resource, released the latest edition of their Around the World Airfare Research Report. Claiming it is the “Definitive Report on the State of RTW Tickets,” researchers from BootsnAll put together several around the world itineraries from basic to extremely complex, departing and returning to several major international cities and hitting nearly every continent in the process. They even tossed in some curve balls, including more obscure locations like Easter Island.

In sum, the report reveals some interesting information and is worth a read, but ultimately leaves it up to the reader to decide what is best based on a few major categories including price, customer service, date flexibility, route flexibility and the ability to use accumulated rewards points and earned miles. For some, price may be the ultimate determining factor in their decision and if that describes you, the do it yourself options (DIY) such as Kayak seem to offer the best prices.

For those who want the added element of customer service, and some degree of flexibility when it comes to shifting dates or modifying tickets, a specialized agency such as Airtreks or Round About Travel might serve you best.

Personally, I have always been a do-it-yourselfer and even though it might entail more work to browse through different sites for the best airfare, I prefer being in control. Maybe DIY’s find the lowest price, maybe not, but here are a few tips to help. Out of curiosity, I followed one of BootsnAll’s complex around the world routes, searching  for airfare over the course of a Monday and a Tuesday using Kayak and another search engine I’ve had some luck with in the past when it came to international tickets, Vayama. The searches yielded some interesting results, leading to the following tips:

1.  High Season vs. Low Season travel It’s important to point out that BootsnAll’s trip started on February 1, 2012 whereas my itinerary started in May, pushing it closer into the peak seasons of travel for the southern hemisphere, potentially explaining the higher fares I encountered in my search. Time of travel can have a significant impact on airfares; just pushing the itinerary out three months resulted in an increase in the cost of total airfare of almost 14 percent.

2. Buy tickets on Tuesday Typically, Tuesday is the best day of the week to buy plane tickets because airlines usually initiate fare sales at the beginning of the week. Sometimes this will encourage other airlines to do the same and as the competition heats up, the fares come down, but by Tuesday, airlines know if the price shift is having the intended affect on sales and if not, the price will jump back up quickly.  Some differences I found between purchasing a ticket on Monday versus purchasing the same ticket on Tuesday were as much as 15 percent.

3. Purchase tickets later in the day on Tuesday Oddly enough, purchasing tickets later in the day on a Tuesday, mainly around 3pm, can yield even bigger savings. This is when the fare wars are peaking, but be careful, waiting too long can also lead to some increases if you miss that magic window. The price on an Auckland to Santiago ticket fell nearly 25 percent between 1:30 and 3:30 on Kayak and a Sydney to Auckland ticket dropped over 40 percent, but a Perth to Sydney ticket increased 23 percent and the Easter Island flight increased by 38 percent.

4. Fly on certain days Another important consideration is choosing which day of the week to fly. Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday are consistently cheaper flying days than Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, sometimes by as much as 20 percent.

5. Flexibility Cost savings were also identified by deviating a bit from certain cities and exploring alternate routes. Flying to Easter Island from Peru instead of direct from Australia was about 15 percent cheaper. If you are already planning on going to Peru, shuffling your schedule around a bit can save you some measurable cash.

6. Mix it up  Vayama was close to Kayak for many of the legs, bested the price for some flights, but was significantly higher for others. Plugging your itinerary into multiple airfare search engines and picking and choosing the best prices can save you money compared to sticking with just one site.

Again, all of this takes time to research and compare, but if you have a few hours to spend, your itinerary is flexible and you keep a few of these tips in mind, you can save yourself hundreds of dollars in the process. The best bet to stay on top of things is to sign up for a real time fare alert from airfare search engines. You will get notified the instant any change to a selected itinerary takes place. Ultimately there are no silver bullets capable of completely killing the airfare beast, and an around the world ticket is certainly a beast, but there are resources out there to help you focus on what really counts; enjoying your travels.

Anyone in the Boulder, Colorado area should check out the 64th Annual Conference on World Affairs running all week at the University of Colorado Campus in Boulder. The conference includes more than 200 panel discussions, artistic performances and lectures presented by more than 100 experts in fields ranging from Foreign Policy to Technology and Social Media and the best part; it is completely open to the public. Anyone interested in learning more about the issues shaping our society should check out the schedule and try and attend some of the panels and workshops. You won’t be disappointed.

Official Press Release:

The University of Colorado Boulder’s Annual Conference on World Affairs returns to campus for the 64th time April 9-13, with 200 events including panel discussions, performances, and plenaries.

Over 100 participants from around the country and the globe will pay their own way to travel to Boulder to participate in what Roger Ebert termed “the Conference on Everything Conceivable.”

“The Conference on World Affairs is one of the few events in the country where both sides of the political spectrum can come together to have wide-ranging bi-partisan discussion,” says Juli Steinhauer, CWA co-chair. “It’s dialogue as it should be.”

Mike Franc, vice president of government studies at The Heritage Foundation, echoes Steinhauer’s words, “As conferences go, the Conference on World Affairs is entirely unique. Conferences that address the major issues of the day are a dime a dozen, as are conferences that sort the like-minded into windowless hotel ballrooms or exclusive resorts to preach their shared perspectives to one another. The organizers of the CWA, in contrast, work overtime to invite participants with a variety of opinions.”

This year’s keynote address will be delivered by Alice Rivlin, senior fellow at The Brookings Institution and founding director of the independent, nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Her address “Can the Center Hold: Democracy and Governance in a Polarized America” will take place in Macky Auditorium on Monday, April 9, at 11:30 a.m. Rivlin will be introduced by CU chancellor Phil DiStefano. The keynote address will be preceded by the CWA’s colorful, annual opening procession. Led by Rivlin and DiStefano, the procession will advance at 11:10 a.m. through the avenue of international flags on display in Norlin Quad and into Macky Auditorium.

Mark McKinnon, a leading Republican strategist, will deliver a talk entitled “The Architecture of a Successful Message” on Wednesday, April 11 at 11:30 a.m. in Macky Auditorium. McKinnon is the global vice chair of Hill+Knowlton Strategies and is the co-founder of No Labels, a political organization made up of Republicans, Democrats and independents whose mission is to address the politics of problem solving.

New York Times columnist Drew Westen will deliver a plenary talk on “How Politics Lost the American People” on Monday, April 9, at 1:30 p.m. in Macky Auditorium. Westen is a leading voice on the psychology of politics and is the author of The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation. He has been a political advisor for a range of candidates and organizations, from presidential and congressional campaigns to Fortune 500 companies.

“Particularly in a Presidential election year, when so many issues will be bubbling to the surface, I’m really looking forward to this year’s Conference on World Affairs,” says Westen. “It will be a pleasure to be in an environment where thinkers left, right, and center can have a civil conversation without all the posturing and venom that comes out in a political season.”

As always, the CWA will offer not just political sessions, but a broad range of subjects and speakers. Conference panels and performances encompass everything from music and literature to environment and science, journalism, visual arts, diplomacy, technology, film, business, medicine and human rights.

Highlights from the 2012 schedule include:

- Bill Reinert, the national manager of advanced technology for Toyota and who leads efforts on research, design and marketing of alternative-fueled vehicles and emerging technologies, will deliver a plenary address on the topic “Peak Oil” in Macky Auditorium on Wednesday, April 11 at 10:30 a.m.

- Chicago Sun-Times technology columnist and long-time CWA favorite Andy Ihnatko will give a plenary talk on Steve Jobs and Apple on Wednesday, April 11 at 12:30 p.m. in the University Memorial Center Ballroom. Ihnatko is also a longtime columnist for Macworld magazine and one of the most in-demand commentators on Apple.

- Grammy-winning pianists, composers and brothers Dave and Don Grusin will close the week with a talking and piano-playing duet at Macky Auditorium on Friday, April 13 at 2:30 p.m.

Members of the public attending the Conference on World Affairs are encouraged to use public transportation, as there is no event parking on campus. Free parking is offered on the third level of the Macy’s parking structure at the Twenty Ninth Street shopping mall in Boulder, located at the southwest corner of 30th Street and Walnut Street, from which a free HOP bus ride is available to campus during CWA week.

The HOP will run on its normal route arriving 7 to 10 minutes between the hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. The two stops nearest the Macy’s parking structure are at 29th Street and Walnut Street and 30th Street and Walnut Street.

There has always been a sizable segment of the U.S. population that has viewed those who travel with a bit of contempt, believing travel is nothing more than an escape from reality, avoiding responsibility, taking a vacation. Given the stigma attached to travel, its not surprising that there is a similar stigma attached to studying abroad, but recent studies are finally starting to reveal the value, in quantitative terms, of international educational experiences.

The taboo associated with traveling is tough to dispel because it is difficult to explain the value of travel to someone who has never traveled. However, other countries and cultures have long recognized this value; from the British, the Kiwis and the Australians who champion the concept of a Gap Year, fully expecting their students to spend a year traveling abroad between high school and college, to the time honored rite of passage in aboriginal culture, the walkabout, where young adults are expected to leave the comfort and security of their village, spend time in the bush and use the knowledge they gain from the experience to make the village a better place upon their return and the changing dynamics of the world we live in demand increased recognition of these experiences and interactions.

The world is a lot more connected today than it was a 10, 15 or 20 years ago. Technologies such as the internet, mobile phones and Skype allow people all over the world to connect real time and we truly are part of a global community now more than ever, so maybe this connectedness and a desire to compete and thrive in a global economy has led to an 8% increase per year in the number of students opting to study abroad as part of their college experience. This doesn’t mean though that the misconceptions of studying abroad have abated. Older generations, the ones who often foot the bill for a university education, remain skeptical and are quick to argue that studying abroad is just a guise for a semester filled with bar hopping, partying, being a tourist and occasionally opening a textbook or stepping foot inside a classroom, but a long term study by the University of Georgia seems to indicate otherwise. According to Don Rubin, professor emeritus of speech communication and language education at the University of Georgia and research director for the Georgia Learning Outcomes of Students Studying Abroad Research Initiative:

“I think if there’s one take-home message from this research as a whole it is that study abroad does not undermine educational outcomes, it doesn’t undermine graduation rate, it doesn’t undermine final semester GPA. It’s not a distraction. At worst, it can have relatively little impact on some students’ educational careers. And at best it enhances the progress toward degree. It enhances the quality of learning as reflected in things like GPA.”

The study highlights the numerous benefits students obtain from their international experiences and is worth a look if you are trying to convince someone that studying abroad is worth while. To a lesser degree, you might also be able to use it as proof that your upcoming travel sabbatical will make you a more valuable employee when you return to the office.  If the study is not enough to convince you of the benefits of international education, here is a nice info graphic I found created by the people at Course Hero for you to digest.

I never studied abroad and I’ve regretted it ever since and today there are so many more options available to young students. Armed with some facts to justify studying abroad, hopefully, a majority of them will make the most of those opportunities.

Let’s face it, no one likes going through security at the airport. It is arguably one of the least enjoyable aspects of boarding a plane and traveling domestically or internationally. Most people have come to realize screening is a necessary evil and put up with the inefficient, invasive and sometimes humiliating process of going through security at the airport.

It’s been almost six years since I first wrote about strange encounters with the TSA and their seemingly inconsistent application of security at LAX. Now, in 2012, if scanning through the headlines about the Transportation Security Administration is any indication, things have not gotten any better and in some case, one could argue they have gotten worse. Ultimately, the million dollar questions remains; is all of this added security actually making us safer? Recently, I came across this information graphic on Daily Info Graphic related to the TSA funding and airport security. As the say, a picture is worth a thousand words and to borrow the thought pattern of Edward Tufte, this graphic is an excellent visual display of quantitative information.

As a follow up to the post a few days ago about Transparency International and their annual Corruption Perception Index, today we will discuss the issue of corruption in a little bit more detail, focusing specifically on one of the most visible byproducts of corruption: bribes. Bribes can come into play just about anywhere and can range from petty shakedown attempts for a few extra bucks to graft in the thousands of dollars. Depending on where you travel in the world and what mode of transportation you are taking, bribes may come in different shapes and forms and be initiated by different types of people. In the case of The World by Road, bribes usually came from street and traffic cops, and anyone who has driven their own vehicle through a foreign country, especially in a developing county, has almost certainly been flagged over and been accused of some falsified infraction that is easily forgotten or overlooked for a price.

Bribes can come from anyone in a position of power; people who have the ability to deny something you need or take away something you have. Most visibly, these people are the customs officers and the police, but it can go all the way up to the top levels of government in any country. Corruption is a serious problem throughout the world and its causes are complex and solutions difficult to come by. One potential contributing factor is poor compensation for those in positions of authority. Among the ranks of the employed, police are at the bottom of the pay scale in many developing countries and in some places, compensation is so lousy, it almost guarantees corruption and abuse of power. It’s hard to expect someone in a position with as much responsibility and exposure to potential danger as a police officer to support a family on $50 a month.

It’s easy to sympathize with their plight, but it’s also difficult to rationalize paying an illegitimate fine and perpetuating one of society’s worst plagues. Whenever possible, The World by Road took a DON’T FEED THE BEARS! approach when it came to dealing with corruption. Throughout national parks like Yellowstone, Yosemite or anywhere else bears can potentially co mingle with humans, signs posted in the area proclaim DON’T FEED THE BEARS! The logic is simple. If you feed the bears, they learn to associate humans as a source of food eventually leading to problems down the road for everyone involved. The same logic can be applied to extortionate people; the more people pay bribes, the more likely bribery is to continue. Sadly, many bears that become reliant on humans as a food source are labeled problem bears and destroyed. If only the same could be said for corrupt individuals. If the thought of an encounter with a hungry bear seems scary, think about rotting away in jail for refusing to pay a fine for a crime you didn’t commit.

Encounters with a hungry bear can be prevented; don’t feed them and don’t leave your trash lying around for them to scavenge. Avoiding corruption is a little more difficult, but there is one strategy that can help you to gain the upper hand in either situation and that’s distraction. In wilderness survival classes, students are taught to make as much noise as possible to annoy and distract a hungry, curious animal and drive it away. Banging pots and pans together and shouting is not likely to help shoo off a cop with dollar signs on the mind, but other distractions and annoyances can have the same effect.

Successful distraction techniques we employed while driving around the world came to be collectively referred to as Jedi mind tricks and here are some that worked the best:

1. Make them do paperwork. Cops hate doing paperwork, especially corrupt ones, so shove as much paperwork their way as possible and ask for a ticket. Repeatedly asking for a real ticket can actually help get you out of a fake one.
2. Play Dumb. Do whatever it takes to convince them you have no idea what they are saying. Make it hard for them to explain what they want and frustrate them.
3. Call The Bluff. Most people cave when cops employ the scare tactic of threatening to take you back to the station. Depending on the country, they might be the ones facing the heat at headquarters if the charges are trumped up.
4. Draw Attention to Yourself. Similar to calling the bluff, make sure that every passerby sees that they are trying to take money from you–wave the money in the air.  Make it apparent to everyone around you that the official is doing something shady.  They will get scared that a superior might see what is happening or word will get out that they are crooked and often will take off running with their tail between their legs.
5. The Dosvidanya Technique. In Russian speaking countries, the only Russian word we spoke in the presence of a cop shaking us down was dosvidanya. Goodbye. On several occasions we said dosvidanya so many times, the cops started saying it too and that’s when we left. Repeat yourself a lot and refer back to number 2.
6. Waste Time. If you have time to kill, murder it. The longer you sit there refusing to pay a bribe, the less time the cop has to fleece someone else.
7. Focus Their Attention on Something Else. Ask directions, show them your tattoos, let them look under the hood of the first Toyota Tundra they have ever seen. After a while, they will forget why they flagged you down in the first place.
8. Name Drop. Even if you do not actually have the phone number of a superior or someone that can put pressure on the official trying to extort a bribe, go ahead and drop a name.  Before you go through a country, if at all possible, get the names of leaders, police chiefs or heads of departments. The little guys do not want you raising a fuss with their bosses…and most of the time they won’t call your bluff if you start dialing the phone.

I am sure there are a lot of savvy and creative people out there, as well as those who have traveled and experienced their fair share of shakedowns, so what are some other ways people have used to get out of paying bribes? The list above worked for The World by Road, but it is far from complete and nowhere near comprehensive, so what’s worked for you?