By The Hunger

Tourist hotspots frequently change as travellers search for the most exotic, the most real, the next adventure, anything and everything.  But are these hotspots more an oasis of opportunity or a manufactured mirage vying for a larger chunk of one of the world’s largest industries:  tourism!

Bangkok, Prague, and Machu Picchu were all la mode de tourisme at one time, and they may be again.  Nowadays, tourist hotspots change more often than Jordan changes her cup size.  A basic search on the net turns up various travel publications suggesting Antarctica, Cuba, Tehran, Venice, Copenhagen, Tunisia, and Burma to name a few of the current must sees.  Also important to note is that various publications endorse different places depending on their readers’ nationality, bank balance, age, ego and reasons for travel.

In theory, hotspots are hot for different reasons including novelty, danger, luxury, gastronomy, festivals, parties, museums, and sporting events.  The reality is that most cities/countries are accompanied with a political or economical wind of change which in turn makes them more accessible.  

Concierge.com’s list for 2010:  

1)   Marrakech

2)   Kyrgyzstan

3)   Vancouver

4)   Burma

5)   Venice

6)   Antarctica

7)   Cuba

8)   Sri Lanka

9)   Colombia

10) South Africa

Eastern Europe opened up when communism fell down with the Berlin Wall.  Prague quickly became the place to visit, as did Croatia after the end of the Bosnian War.

After reversing their policy on tourism – embracing it rather than boycotting it – it’s now cooler to visit Burma than its South East Asian neighbours.  Tehran has always been a place of wonder and mystery especially for the Hippie Trail of the 70’s, and after the political situation from the last election it has once again reached lava hot status.

Oscar Wilde famously quipped, “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about”.  This seems to be true with politics & tourism alike:  everyone knows North Korea and Iran; far fewer know the Republic of Benin.  My prediction is that North Korea could be the hottest hotspot on Earth if Kim Jong Il opened the border.

Sometimes it doesn’t have to be off the beaten path like Burma or the road less travelled such as Tehran for a destination to become trendy again.  Venice has always been a place “most travelled”, but recent major renovations have seen a tourism renaissance for the floating city.

What about flagging hotspots in 2010?

An article entitled Lebanon, so hot right now describes the boom period it has experienced post the 2008 war. 

“Beaches brim with bikini-clad, tanned women and come night-time, clubs host Europe’s top DJs who play to audiences of thousands, many of whom are flush with cash from jobs abroad and are happy to spend hundreds of dollars on food, drink and music”.

It’s no secret Beirut was once “the Paris of the Middle East”.  That reputation combined with a new face-lift could make it a flagging hotspot for years to come.  Whilst I doubt a domino effect will take place in the Middle East, it’s good to see a flagging oasis somewhere on the horizon and not just a mirage.

Flagging hotspots are no different to normal hotspots – the only way to find out if Lebanon or any other coordinates deserves kudos is to go.  See you in Beirut in 2011!

[Know any flagging hotspots for 2010/2011?]

Flags of the World, Middle Eastern flags, Lebanese flag

By Atlas Al

If you haven’t already heard about the terrorist bombings in Kampala, Uganda, Flagging Headquarters brings the story to you.  Earlier this month, Somali terrorist group, Al-Shabaab, bombed two locations where fans were watching the World Cup.  Their motive:  retribution for the 6000 Ugandan and Burundian soldiers keeping the peace in war torn Somalia. 

The UN-backed Somali government barely controls the capital, Mogadishu, and clans, warlords, pirates, and terrorists do as they please.  Since civil war broke out in 1991, pirates have come to control the coastline, and clans and terrorists everything else.  Pirates and terrorists even fight amongst themselves, in particular when pirates captured a Yemeni weapon boat in April 2010 intended for Al-Shabaab terrorists.  [Read full article here]

Lawlessness abound, it’s no wonder why the international community is paying attention to Somalia’s northwest region:  Somaliland. 

Officially, the Republic of Somaliland has not received any formal recognition from the international community since they declared independence on May 18, 1991.  However, they deserve some recognition.  Compared to their provincial Somali neighbors to the south, Somaliland is relatively stable with their own currency, growing trade and tourism industries, and a large army.  Landlocked Ethiopia signed a deal with Somaliland to allow them access to the port of Berbera for export/import that should boost trade in the region. 

European Union and African Union delegates have been to Somaliland to discuss the future possibility of cooperation and recognition from other sovereign states.  Ethiopia’s Prime Minister even acknowledged the President of Somaliland for the first time in June 2007. 

As promising as Somaliland may sound, they’re merely de facto independent and officially under the sovereign rule of Somalia.  Have sex with a Somalilander, you got the Somali flag. 

Flags of the World, African flags, Somali flag, Ugandan flag

By The Hunger

If you ever wanted to hook up with a Spaniard, World Cup Sunday was paying better odds than a defective poker machine.  Patriotism and partying, synonymous with Spanish football fans, hit a new national zenith in the wake of the country becoming the newly crowned world champions of football.  I gate crashed the Spanish World Cup festivities the day before the big match. (As luck would have it, I happened to be returning to Spain anyway!)

To be in a foreign country and witness a page being written in their history book is special.  Elections, sporting events, carnivals, festivals, revolutions, coup d’états are also events that bare watermarks of history (as are wars, terrorist attacks and assassinations albeit with a darker twist).  The feeling of that day is etched into the Spanish national psyche forever.  Just listen how the English talk about their 1966 victory; it’s as though they all live in a mental time machine.

There aren’t many days like this in life – everyone is naturally euphoric and people are more open to chatting with strangers.  When I was in Sydney for the 2000 Olympics, small talk had never been so interesting.  That combined with cervezas and sangria produced a powerful social cocktail of opportunity.

Imagine what it was like when man first landed on the moon on July 20^th, 1969.  It would have been one crazy night, even if you weren’t American or in the US.  I remember hooking up with an American girl in Australia the night President Obama was inaugurated.  Sharing this experience with someone with a home team advantage added another dimension to the evening; like how some would prefer to spend St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland drinking with a bunch of Irish.

Not everyone was fortunate enough to be able to be in Berlin in 1989 or to enjoy 1969 Woodstock.  Future historic events don’t stick to a timetable.  No one can predict when or where the next global ground zero will be, not even Google.

Increase your chances by checking festivals and global sporting event schedules or important anniversaries of past events.  However, each one of these situations is prototypical – that’s what makes them so unique.  Fans attended game 6 of the 1977 World Series of baseball with typical finals excitement, but nothing could prepare them for Reggie Jackson’s triple homerun magic.

Global events give a sense of history to our own timeline.  As the years pass and the memory fades, the global events that you remember most were the ones that were extra special.

Flags of the World, European flags, Spanish flag

Malta.  Biggest tease on Earth. 

I returned home after visiting The Hunger who’s doing a working holiday in Malta.  We caught up, discussed future plans for the site, drank (a lot), and naturally, I scoped out the local scene for any talent.  We met a cool Canadian guy named Andrew at a beachside hookah bar who told us he’s been living in Malta for 6 months and still hasn’t hooked up with a local yet.  So what are my chances if I’m on vacation for 9 days?

I wanted to recount my story of getting the Maltese flag; instead I’ll explain why they’re one of the most difficult to hook up with:

First, we’ll start with legs.  Paceville (pronounced Pashaville) is Malta’s nightlife nerve center and reminded me of spring break in Mexico.  Bars, clubs, strip clubs, and kebab houses thrive here. Your heart can’t help but change beats to the overpowering speakers as you walk past different clubs observing the miniskirts within.  I’ve never seen so many nice pairs in my entire life.  I’m all for flaunting it if you got it.  The downside is that you don’t know if you’re checking out a barely legal 16 or 17 year old that looks like she’s 22.

Whether local or tourist, most available women on the island are between 17 and 20 years old.  Locals usually have long term boyfriends by 18, and because the majority of the population is very catholic, they get married and have kids at a young age.

On the tourist front, many come to learn or brush up on their language skills because Malta is a hub for language schools.  High schoolers and university students prefer to come during their summer holidays to take an affordable language course, usually to learn English.

I started to believe there were no women left in their 20’s.  I received a tip from a couple of guys (both 19) working at the Diesel store in Valletta.  According to them, Club 22 on the 22^nd floor of the tallest building in Malta had older women.  The music, view, and women were all good.  But unlike the free entrance, you had to pay to get to know some of those older women.

Andrew said the best place to meet mid-20’s Maltese women is to have a BBQ on the beach. Apparently, that’s what they do because the Paceville scene is too young for them.  Unless you’re around 20 years old, your best shot at hooking up with a local is to seek out the divorced or widowed.  But where did they hang out, where did they drink?  I still don’t know the answer to this question.

Knowing what I know now, I’m going to hook up my future 17-year-old son big time and send him to Malta on a summer study abroad course.  Vicariously living through him will be the closest shot I’ll have at getting the Maltese flag.

Flags of the World, European flags, Maltese flag

By The Hunger

The World Cup schedule is a flagger’s menu.  What better way to meet someone from Cote d’Ivoire, Mexico, Australia, or any other country you fancy than heading down to the local World Cup village and checking out the international soupe du jour.

As Atlas Al already pointed out in his Ready. Aim. Flag! post, there are flagging advantages to the World Cup; fans from around the world dressed in national colours act as a “flagging bullseyes”.  Each morning on my way to work I pass a massive billboard displaying the World Cup schedule.  After I read Al’s post, the targeting potential of this dawned on me.

There has never been a better time to strike up a conversation with someone from a foreign land.  World Cup excitement is pandemic and runs through every football fan’s veins.  At a time like this, you’ll have a 100% chance to meet someone from one of the teams playing – flagging a la carte!

Numerous times I’ve heard people mention that they’re definitely going to the local because France, Italy, Denmark, Brazil or Spain are playing.  And in all fairness no one can really say the French or Italian teams’ performance was the main event.

Whatever your palate, some matches have produced some quarterfinal combos no one could’ve predicted.  Only half the teams qualify, so flagging bullseyes won’t be as easy to spot.  People have begun to play World Cup musical chairs with their support.

The country from where you’re watching The Cup will also influence the a la carte factor.  Take Malta (where I am at the moment), every Italy or England game feels as though the entire country’s population is in attendance.  When England made the quarterfinals the other day, people were partying in the streets as though it was 1966 again.

Every four years, the world tunes in to the biggest sporting event on the planet.  For expats wanting to meet locals or expats that want to meet other expats, this is Christmas for adults; it doesn’t get much more universal than this.

Flags of the World

By Atlas Al

The World Cup always attracts heaps of visitors and earns the host country billions in state revenue.  The one industry South Africa won’t make money on is prostitution.

In the article, Prostitutes flock to South Africa ahead of World Cup 2010, The Christian Science Monitor reports sex workers from all over southern Africa, even as far as the Congo and China, are flocking to major South African cities where the World Cup games are being held.  Some South African politicians have called for its legalization which would bring tax revenue and industry standards like in Germany.  The Germans hosted the 2006 World Cup, and even though many unregistered prostitutes worked illegally during the games, imagine how much extra revenue the German government made.

Personally, I’m not into paying for sex, especially when I can rub one off for free if I didn’t get any that night.  If it is your thing, then by all means pay away; but remember:  you didn’t get the flag.  From a flagging point of view, I agree with the Christians – prostitution should be curbed.

In an online article I stumbled upon from The Sun, South African prostitutes were supporting England to qualify for the World Cup.  Why you ask – because they knew Englishmen would be keen for a good time if they visited for an entire month.  The same thing can’t be said about other countries.  I’m positive those same prostitutes weren’t as excited when Serbia, Honduras, Algeria, or North Korea qualified.

If someone you know went to South Africa during the games and came back claiming the South African flag, make sure to get “pay” or “no pay” confirmation.  Just like when people lie about having certain flags, people that claim a flag they paid for makes me equally angry. 

I believe you can’t pay for flags nor have others pay on your behalf.  In order to claim a flag, you must get it by your own wit and charm.  If you cannot pay for the flag, accepting money for it is unacceptable as well.  Just as unacceptable are prostitutes claiming the flags that paid them for their services.  It’s not right.  It takes the sporting fun out of the concept, watering it down.  Flags must be earned, not bought.

Whether football or flagging, it’s great when sports bring people together.

Flags of the World, African flags, South African flag

By Atlas Al

Fans of basketball, baseball, tennis, American football, the annual Lumberjack World Championship – all are God awful when compared to soccer fans.  You won’t see more beautiful women at any sporting event other than the World Cup.  Yes, this is a fact.

The well known cliché goes “…is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel”.  I say shooting fish in a barrel is as easy as flagging at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.  Whether looking at flag-painted fans in stands or watching their flag bikinis bounce on TV after their team made a goal, these flagging bullseyes can’t be missed. 

Supporting your national team goes beyond supporting your local team back home.  Local teams purchase and trade foreign players all the time.  Real Madrid’s players aren’t all Spanish:  Cristiano Ronaldo is from Portugal, Kaka is from Brazil, and English David Beckham had a stint with the team a few years back.  Every four years, however, football players put on their country’s uniform and play for their countrymen back home.  Fans feel the same pride when they slap on a T-shirt with their country’s flag and they’re well on their way to cheering their homeland.

I haven’t experienced a World Cup yet; but when I do, I think I might short circuit with so many foreign women around.  It’s too easy to spot who comes from which country because they paint themselves in their country’s colors and wear flag clothing. 

Sports fans aren’t the only ones who wear flagging bullseyes – Canadian backpackers are notorious for sewing their flag into their packs.  A Canadian once told me, it’s so foreigners don’t confuse them with Americans.  Very true.  Americans overseas would never broadcast their nationality for fear of unwanted attention.  So, if you meet someone with a North American accent and they don’t have any flags anywhere to be seen, they’re probably American.  My friend Dr Rim has been known to wear a Swedish flag on his pack, probably to take the piss out of Canadians. 

Don’t forget to wear your flagging bullseyes the next time you’re at an international flagging range.  Someone might snipe you.

[Check out more photos of Sexy World Cup Fans]

Flags of the World, African flags, South African flag, Canadian flag

By The Hunger

Having arrived in Malta a couple of days ago, I was greeted by the furnace-like heat this quaint little island is famous for. Naturally, the bevy of Maltese women sunning themselves like flamingos on vacation lured me to the beach.

After spending the last couple of months in Spain, I was reminded that the definition of beachwear varies from country to country and city to city. In Malta, topless sunbathing is uncommon, whereas in Spain there’s more skin on show than a Ross Meyers film. And this birthright isn’t only reserved for the beautiful or the rich. All walks of life – citizens with different shapes, sizes, ages and incomes – can make this choice if they want.

Cultural attitudes towards topless sunbathing differ considerably around the world. In my opinion, Europe has always been the most liberal, especially the sun-starved northern Europeans.

Australia a little less so; while there’s a visual smorgasbord of breasts on display at Bondi Beach, generally it’s a higher percentage of tourists.

The USA? Forget about it, unless it’s a nudist beach. Asia, no, and the Middle East, never!

Beachwear culture is knotted with religion and history. Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana and Ipanema beaches are famous for its nearly naked women sporting a tanga, (thongs) and it’s even skinnier sister called the fio dental (dental floss). A fio dental might be the same as nudity for some folk while for others this 2cm piece of cloth is just sexy.

You can’t miss the sexiness in the air or in the dancing, yet at the same time you can still feel a conservative undercurrent running through Catholic South America. Malta, Spain, and tens of other countries are Catholic as well, and all embrace their topless traditions differently.

Should nationalities with a more liberal attitude towards nudity and sex adopt the beachwear traditions of other more conservative countries?

Residents of Barcelona think so. They’ve begun a campaign to stop people wearing bikinis and board shorts away from the beach. A spokesmen for the city said, “It’s not something which is banned, but it’s an attitude we don’t like”. They don’t mind if you’re nearly naked on the beach, but you need to adopt street wear etiquette once the sand ends. In other words, what happens on the beach stays on the beach.

Even within the topless realm, there are variations of toplessness that some enjoy and others object to. Facedown topless, or face up topless? It takes a different kind of confidence to walk down the beach topless or swim topless. I remember I was at the beach in Spain talking to an English friend (who was topless) and she couldn’t believe that some girls swam bare-breasted. It comes down to your confidence and comfort level, just like you won’t see me wearing Speedos any time soon.

The beach should be a place where sand and sun supersedes standard clothing etiquette. Since we spend 99% of public interaction in clothes, that other 1% is going to be pretty exciting.

Everyone is always looking at everyone else at the beach anyway. Whether topless or not, bikini, burquini, or Speedos, there’s more primal psychology happening at the beach than on Freud’s couch. Ironically in some countries, the more you wear the more naked you feel.

Flags of the World, European flags, Maltese flag, Spanish flag

By Atlas Al

Congratulations to German pop singer, Lena, who at the age of 19 has won the 2010 Eurovision singing contest in Norway with her song “Satellite.”

However, I lost some respect for the largest singing contest in the world. To call something Eurovision, shouldn’t it be European? Countries from Morocco to Jordan are eligible to participate in the contest; Israel won the contest in 1978, 1979, and 1998, and Turkey in 2003 – are they European flags?

Northern African and Middle Eastern (Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon) countries are definitely not European, and Turkey and the Caucasus region are questionable.

While it’s more than possible to hook up with foreigners in your own country (one of my friends has 10 flags and has never left his country), travel is such a huge component of flagging.

What once started as a simple guide for backpackers in SE Asia, Lonely Planet is now the leader in travel guide books. On their website, they have a Destinations page with info and tips on every country in the world. We use LP’s country grading scale as a guide to separate countries into their appropriate continental/regional sections. If you’ve already checked out our European flags section under the Flags of the World page and saw many questionable European countries, it’s for this reason.

Watch American Idol, Australian Idol, Britain’s Got Talent, or any similar show and you’ll mostly see people from that country competing. Likewise, if I watch a “Eurovision” contest, I expect to see Europeans battling it out.

I think it’s false advertising to call a singing contest Eurovision if neighboring non-European countries are able to compete. Let’s avoid any future scandal and just call the damn thing Worldvision.

Flags of the World, Norwegian flag, German flag

June 11^th is just around the corner and the whole world (even New Zealand) is getting ready for FIFA World Cup 2010. Whilst everyone with a passport has an automatic favourite, the tournament is limited to only 32 nations. With 30 countries destined not to make the final and 161 nations without a home team, whom do they choose to support in their home country’s absence?

The following 32 teams qualified for the tournament:

Arsenal or Manchester United, Real Madrid or Barcelona, Boca or River? Teams embody their region and the people that live there. There are one thousand different ways to score a goal.  African and European football teams’ styles both reveal the different brains behind the legs that kick the same Adidas football. Same bodies, different psychology, no two styles are identical.

Why is it that we feel more of an allegiance to a country, city, or team (even when our team isn’t playing) though we might not know anything about the place? If little known countries Lesotho and Comoros were playing in the World Cup final, which team would you cheer on and why?

I’m sure it wouldn’t take long to make a decision after you checked out their flag, watched their playing style, consulted Wikipedia or heard a sound bite from a commentator or player. In a word – information; in fact, any bit of information that’ll make this foreign place seem more familiar.

Ultimately, it’d come down to what your gut instinct tells you and which country you relate to more. Paraguay or Uruguay? Slovenia or Slovakia? Geographically and phonetically they look like cousins; however, the 3-5 letter difference misrepresents the cultural proximity.

Positive and negative experiences with a nation or nationality are captured in the mind for later information retrieval. I had a great time in Argentina a few years ago, so I have an affinity for all things Argentinean. Maybe if I had had a disastrous holiday or bad experience with the people I’d be happily anti-Argentinean and root for the team they were playing against.

Sport is modern day warfare, and with war comes politics: both the football and world varieties. (Read Atlas Al’s post, No one is a winner in Cabinda, about the Togolese football team getting shot up by Angolan rebels.) When we support one team over another, there are many factors that affect our decision.

You’d be hard pressed to find someone supporting the North Korean team unless they have a peculiar penchant for Stalinist underdogs. If North Korea were to win the cup, their “axis of evil” brand would never have sounded so good and it could very well throw the Earth off its axis.

South Africa will have monumental support from everyone considering they’re the host and everyone knows what it would do for the country. (As it did when they won the 1995 Rugby World Cup.)

Cuisine, history, culture, politics, women? Everyone loves watching the Swedish fans as much as the game – could how beautiful the women are, be another factor in defining honorary citizenship? Maybe if it were a Miss Universe pageant I would go on beauty, but for me it wouldn’t come into the World Cup equation. (Having said that, I’ll probably be watching the foreign fans as much as the game.)

Whilst we’re all citizens, our honorary citizenship preference can also change depending on the situation. For example, Brazil is always a crowd favourite because of its magical plays and all round sporting panache. They’re in their own element – the same cannot be said about its ice-hockey team.

Every man has a story. So too does every country that wears the World Cup crown for 4 years. If your team isn’t in contention, it’s always good to have an honorary country to bet on.

Flags of the World, African flags, South African flag

It looks as if there’ll be no end to the Cyprus crisis. Dervis Eroglu, the prime minister of the occupied Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, won the recent presidential election. And why should I care about all this? Because he’s a nationalist who’d prefer not to reunite with the rest of Cyprus, and he represents an illegitimate state.

During the last two centuries, bad blood has been spilled between Greece and Turkey:  four major wars, ethnic cleansing pogroms in Istanbul, skirmishes between Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots, and a failed coup d’état in Nicosia backed by Greece’s military junta in 1974.

The British gave independence to Cyprus in 1960. Perhaps they thought that by making Cyprus an independent state rather than being controlled by Greece or Turkey it’d smooth over the centuries old conflict. Cyprus’s independence made matters worse between Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots and escalated into a full-blown Turkish invasion of the island in 1974.

The root of the Cyprus crisis stems from ethnic Greek and Turkish communities not viewing themselves as Cypriots. With this kind of deep cultural divide, they should’ve remained a British colony, been wholly controlled by Greece or Turkey, or accept the split as it is now.

I hate it when people refer to themselves as Greek-Cypriot, Turkish-Cypriot, African-American, Chinese-American, Japanese-Brazilian, an English Jew, Catholic or Protestant Irish. This “us versus them” mentality creates social friction and is unhealthy for society (consider the past conflict in Ireland, for example). Never in my life have I said I’m French-American – I’m just American.

From a flagging perspective, it’d be much easier to assess the flag status of a person who came from Northern Cyprus if Turkey just claimed it as one of their provinces. Instead, they play political games and are the only country in the world to recognize TRNC sovereignty.

From 1960 to 1974, the entire island was under the sovereign rule of the Republic of Cyprus. Northern Cypriots (no matter if they were Turkish or of another background) are essentially squatters on the Republic of Cyprus’s land.

Northern Cyprus’s limbo state of affairs doesn’t mean they don’t have a flag. They must be something. They’re probably not Greek because most Greeks and Greek-Cypriots live in the southern half of the island. The only people who can say they’re Turkish (i.e., from Turkey, aka, Turkish flag) are the immigrants who came to Northern Cyprus since Turkey’s invasion. Everybody else (mostly of Turkish heritage) isn’t Turkish because they come from the island of Cyprus and not Turkey, hence they’re Cypriot.

If you shagged someone from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, you got the Cypriot flag.

The only lasting peace will be in the form of a standstill unless Turkey renounces her support for the TRNC. When that day comes, reunification talks will resume.

Flags of the World, European flags, Cypriot flag, Greek flag, Turkish flag

Cue dramatic movie preview voice, “In a world where you get to live and work on multimillion dollar yachts, travel to the crème de la creamiest of world locations, cruising the Med in summer, the Caribbean in winter, and get paid well for it. Welcome to the super yacht industry.”

Living in Palma de Mallorca, one of the world’s super yacht Mecca’s, has given me insight into how the world’s richest 0.00001 percent and their crews live. Could this be the flagging utopia one imagines?

What draws people together from such diverse longitudes on land to pursue the same latitudes on water? Their love of adventure, their love of sailing and their love of the water – these people are called “yachties.”

Super yachts voyage to all four corners of the globe; however, the majority of yachting crews come from the same 5-10 nations. With such a highly concentrated anglophile population in the industry, it’s the usual suspects of world nationalities that make up these mobile anglophile enclaves.

It’s part colonial history and part geographical positioning of these countries that primarily makes the super yacht industry to be made up of Antipodeans, and it’s colonial mother. All countries share the same adventurous blood type. Nationalities most likely to bump into in a yachtie port:

1. United Kingdom
2. Australia
3. South Africa
4. New Zealand
5. United States

Significant numbers and nationalities are harder to define for the second group. Also, second group numbers would rise and fall depending on which port you’re in. Honourable mentions include:

1. France
2. Spain
3. Canada
4. Netherlands
5. Philippines 

It’s interesting to note that while most super yachts are registered in one of the many tax havens of the world (The Cayman Islands, Antigua, The Bahamas, Malta, Isle of Man, Jersey, Canary Isles, and the UAE to name a few), these exclusive nations make up a tiny percentage of the crews in the industry.

Yachties are an interesting bunch. Most live by a “work hard, play hard” attitude that produces a sizeable amount of debauchery. And let’s face it:  when you’re seeing life through the eyes of a billionaire, why wouldn’t you? The shagging potential in the yachting scene is high, and with so much time spent at sea, I’d be carpe-diem-ing the fuck out of it too when I got back on land.

Imagine living and working with the same people 24/7 – if you’re lucky you might get some hot crewmembers to help starve off boredom and seasickness. There are lots of hot stewardesses out there riding the high seas. If there weren’t any on my yacht when I got back on land, I’d want to compress my life by pressing the rewind button too.

Because of the disturbingly high number of antipodeans and ubiquitous yachtie hangouts the world over, the flagging potential is lower than one would think, unless you employ one of two strategies. 1) Mostly hang out with other foreigners (i.e. non-natives of the country you’re in), or 2) Mostly hang out with the locals.

But if meeting people from exotic countries doesn’t interest you, I’m sure you’d have an antipodean buffet of fun from port to port and more stories than Odysseus after living in this water world.

For some, seeing the world on turquoise waterways is a dream. For others, it might feel like a floating Alcatraz. Yachties will tell you “everything is better on water,” and from what I’ve seen, they have a pretty good time on land as well!

Flags of the World, European flags, Spanish flag

Resident DJ at Supperclub in Amsterdam, DJ Roelove, has been spinning records professionally since 1998. His passion for electronic and house music has brought him to many countries, and I caught up with him at Buddha Bar in Oslo to talk about life on the road as a traveling DJ, and of course hooking up abroad.

He may have told Flagging HQ how many total shags he has (between 50-60), but that is irrelevant; we want to know how many flags he has. Watch to find out…

DJ Roelove can be found on his Myspace page here.

Flags of the World, European flags, Dutch flag

By Atlas Al

Since my first foreign shag, I’ve been traveling around the world talking about sex with foreigners. Before anything structured came from it like theories, terminology, or a website, all these ideas had been running around in my head.

For nearly a decade, a continual refining process has been occurring. I wanted other people’s opinions on this new spin to international relations. I engaged people from many different countries and walks of life. I wanted clarification on what it meant to come from a place, and what variables one considers when determining which country/culture they come from. To some it may seem shallow (if I gave a damn I wouldn’t be writing about it), but I wanted to know which country I could brag about shagging to my buddies back home. Which flag had I just “captured?”

Never before has sex and politics been tied so closely together. To me, flagging embodies a unique idea that’s thought-provoking and fun. What do you call it where you come from?

Below are all the terms I’ve heard people use:

– Capture the flag

– Wave the flag

– Raise the flag

– To salute the flag

– To have “been to” or “visited” a country

– To collect “sex stamps” in a “passport of love” (cheesy, I know)

– World Domination (fitting that an Englishman said this considering Britain had the largest empire the world has ever seen)

Flags of the World

Two girls leave to go to the toilet. That’s when you tell your mate you wouldn’t mind hooking up with one of them. Whether you know them or not, you can’t let on that the topic of the last conversation was about them. Changing the conversational direction to something interesting and unrelated to getting in her pants is called “Renaissance-ing”.

The ability to change conversation within an inch of the opposite sex’s arrival is a skill, especially when you speak with passion and knowledge, pseudo or not, about an esoteric subject.

Example:  My buddy and I are talking at a party when some new girls have turned up and we guy-talk in High Def precision about how attractive they are. When they start walking towards us, we’re still talking about them (most likely in graphic detail at this point), until they enter the red zone – reminiscent of a croupier at a roulette table saying “no more bets”. A conscious button is pressed in both our minds. The conversation changes to us debating the greatest achievements of the Renaissance period or perhaps pondering the contemporary definition of the word Renaissance; Renaissance in French means revival or born again, which stems from its Latin root of, renascim: to be born, blah blah blah – you get the picture!

When the girls appear, or return from the toilet, the conversation will go one of two ways:  1) They’ll actually believe you weren’t talking about them (hard to believe when you were debating Hawkings Universal Theory or the difficulty with cooking the perfect crème-brulee), or, 2) They’ll understand this to be code that you were talking about them.

Girls do this kind of thing all the time as well. Ever gone back to a table of girls and they begin talking about some left field crap about which actress from Friends they’d most want to have a lesbian experience with? Bet you felt kind of special, kinda like when that stripper in Vegas laughed at all your jokes. They don’t talk about that stuff all the time, only when they’re girl-talking and in the mood to be Renaissanced.

The “Renaissance” is whatever you want to make it. For some, it could be what year Orwell’s book 1984 really stands for and why. For others, it could be the secret ingredient in Coca-Cola, or what the film title Reservoir Dogs actually means. It needs to make people think, and be your perspective on something interesting, preferably something mildly intellectual.

When talking about it, try not to discuss it in a David Attenborough BBC tone otherwise you sound like a right wanker in this context. Think more Will Ferrel in Anchorman giving his “A whale’s vagina” spiel. If it has an existentialist vein running through it, that’s always a bonus as it’s more difficult to be wrong. And be sure to pitch the right idea to the relevant target audience otherwise you’ll be as interesting as a whale’s vagina. I wouldn’t go talking about the footy scores on Sunday or how your friend once met the Canadian Prime minister. It’s not interesting and they can’t relate to it.

Renaissance-ing can prove to be a bit tricky when you’re in the company of foreign women because a) they may not understand English enough to pick up on it, and b) they might be used to a different form of Renaissance-ing.

Still, the primal principle is the same, so playing up the comical element or making sure they’re included even more in your chat ensures they know you aren’t trash-talking them.

To be able to switch conversation topics in a nanosecond, but not change the audience, is like watching two TV’s at the same time. Maybe this is the renaissance of men doing two things at once.

Everybody loves a Renaissance man.

By Atlas Al

When I first met Magnanimous, I thought he was Irish. Not only did he speak with a perfect Irish accent (at least to my American ears), he used idioms and phrases unique only to Ireland. To me, he passed as an Irishman and I thought nothing of it.

A couple of weeks ago, I was at an Irish pub and saw an Irish band jam with three Irish stepdancers (think Riverdance). They, too, spoke with an Irish accent. But when one of the band members asked where one of the stepdancers was from while pointing at a map of Ireland, she said in perfect Irish, “I’m Norwegian.”

It turned out Magnanimous was Norwegian, but has an Irish father, and the “Irish” stepdancers were Norwegians as well, but took stepdancing classes in Norway and in Ireland. Most likely they’d spot these two immediately in Ireland and ask where they were from.

Even though I consider myself pretty good at detecting foreign accents, I hear regional accents better from my own country, and of course Canadians when they use certain accented words like “eh”, “out”, and “about.”

Australians are able to hear a New Zealander’s accent and vice versa while those with untrained ears have to ask, “Are you Australian”, only to be made firmly aware of the fact they were from New Zealand. Same goes for people asking, “Where are you from in the states”, only to be told they’re Canadian. If it’s difficult to distinguish between an American and a Canadian or an Australian and New Zealander, imagine the difficulty trying to decipher more complex accents.

The people best at uncovering accents are the ones who speak the language as their mother tongue. For example, my dad has a heavy French accent, so heavy that to the untrained ear you could mistake his accented English as French. Even if a Frenchman spoke perfect English with an American accent, he’ll slip on certain words and a native speaker of American English will catch them.

American movies, television, and music is consumed the world over. Many international schools teach in American English and many foreign students come to the United States to study abroad in high schools and universities. The higher education system in the USA is commonly accepted as one of the best in the world with education being one of its major exports.

Since American English is the accent franca among many foreigners, Americans are more able to pick up on someone’s accent – when speaking American English – than non-Americans. For this reason, we should pay attention to foreigners who speak in a perfect or near perfect non-American English accent. You might mistake them for the wrong flag.

[Never assume that the accent a person has is where they come from. For flag status confirmation at the get-go of any convo, read Five Ways to Spot a Flagger.]

Flags of the World, North American flags, American flag

By The Hunger

There’s more than one way to say hello. Whether Kenyan or Klingon, every culture has a unique way of greeting each other. When you meet a guy from most foreign countries, a right-handed handshake will suffice. However, when meeting girls from different countries, an uncomfortable hello can easily turn into a comfortable goodbye.

Thousands of years of human evolution has resulted in each country, culture, and group saying hello differently. In France, they do a double kiss on the cheeks. In Holland, they do a triple kiss. In Japan, they bow. Even in the USA, people coming from different backgrounds (African Americans, Hispanics, and Caucasians) have different hellos. Greetings speak volumes about a nation’s people.

In Thailand, it doesn’t take tourists a long time to realise that a good smile and a heartfelt sawadee will open more doors than Gene Wilder’s character in the film Willy Wonka.

Could you imagine doing the wai outside of Thailand?  Hmm, I don’t think so. Normally, if you meet someone in their country or territory, you should subscribe to their method of greeting. If I go to the Arctic one day and met an Inuit, the “Eskimo kiss” might make an appearance.

In Scandinavia, kissing someone on the cheek when you first meet them is akin to accosting a goat publicly. I think developed countries tend to be (but not always) less affectionate when it comes to greetings.

Coming from Australia, unless you know her well, we’re in limbo land when it comes to kissing a girl on the cheeks because it can be seen as too personable, too soon, no doubt stemming from our Anglo-Saxon heritage. This results in a cordial handshake. Something doesn’t sit quite right about just shaking hands with a woman. However, after a couple of drinks at a Sunday session and BBQ, it’s interesting to see how quickly handshakes can turn into friendly cheek kissing.

I was at a party the other day and saw first-hand how different flags greet each other on neutral ground. The English guy tried to shake hands, the French girl tried to kiss, resulting in the dreaded kiss-handshake. To see this in real-time was like watching someone sink the black ball by mistake. It’s probably easier for handshakers to adapt to cheek-kissers than the other way around – especially with a beautiful girl.

The biggest benefit of kissing people on the cheek is that it’s less mechanical and more human. Having to kiss more people than Oscar Schindler just to be polite can be downright annoying – it’s pure logistics. That’s why I change it up depending on the situation. When there’s a big group of people I might quickly acknowledge and wave hello, and if I meet them later, I might re-introduce myself again, this time with a kiss, this time it’s more personable. I wouldn’t just kiss for the sake of kissing.

Saying hello is the same as opening the front door. Knowing a little bit about what nationality you’re talking to might change how fast it closes. And if it’s your first time to a new country, it’s always good to learn anyways.

Flags of the World

By Atlas Al

Normally, it’s considered bad to have a flagging sex life.

Dictionaries describe flagging as: drooping, declining, languid, tired, weak from exhaustion, waning, giving up, decreasing, slowing down, deteriorating, faltering, ebbing, and is usually referred to the economy, strength, sex life, and/or to lay flagstones.

Online dictionary, thefreedictionary.com, offers visitors a broader scope of a word’s definition by providing alternative references to the word you’re researching. I love the ability to view the usage of flagging in classic literature and see how no one has ever referred to it as we do at Flagging Headquarters.

Whilst being subject to approval from its editors, Urbandictionary.com allows users to contribute new words and new definitions of words. At UD.com flagging can mean: a mountain climbing position, pulling someone’s pants down, holding your body horizontal on a pole, to say you’re going to do something and then not do it, taking an item into the restroom with you, wasting one’s youth, a term in the game Capture the Flag, and to point the barrel of a firearm at one of your fellow soldiers.  

At Wikipedia.org, flagging can be non-adhesive tape made from PVC or vinyl, a type of flag dance or flag spinning, or used in the gay community by putting a handkerchief in your back pocket indicating what you’re interested in. Flagging can also refer to “flaggers” using colored flags to direct traffic at a construction site.

The newest of flagging’s family of definitions says: hook up with a foreigner, you get their “flag.”

Next time you’re out socializing, traveling, or commuting to work, ask yourself how good your sex life is. If it’s too normal/bland/boring, a flagging sex life might be for you.

Flags of the World

By The Hunger

I doubt Woody Harrelson and Woody Allen speak the same way. So why would they write, text, or email the same? In the English language, everyone has the same 26 letters to work with. But word choice and how you punctuate those words make up your instinctive alphabet.

How many times have you re-read and re-re-read an email or text a girl has sent you, or one you sent to her, especially one you really like? If you’re reading the invisible ink between the lines, I bet she’s doing the same thing trying to interpret what you meant by the double question mark, or the smiley face, or the word kiss as opposed to the letter x or xxx. Someone’s understanding of the same text can be as mystifying and misinterpreted as Stone Age wall carvings.

Are you a dot dot dotter… are you a double question mark man?? Are you a LOLer? Think back to past relationships, you’ll realise everyone’s texting and sexting styles leave a trail of invisible text. Some you love, some you hate.

Flags of the World, European flags, Spanish flag

By Atlas Al

The well-known children’s song goes something like:

“Mirza and Malik, kissing in a tree, K.I.S.S.I.N.G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage!” It’s safe to assume they’ll have kids like most married people do.

Sania Mirza: one of the best female tennis stars to come out of India.

Shoaib Malik: an accomplished cricketer and previous captain of the Pakistani national team. What should have been a sports marriage made in heaven turned into good old Indian-Pakistani squabbling.

India and Pakistan have had a rough history since the British pulled out in 1947: three wars, constant dispute over the region of Kashmir, both countries have nuclear weapons, violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims.

So when Sania Mirza, a Muslim Indian, announced she would marry Shoaib Malik, a Muslim Pakistani, some Indians felt betrayed. I was laughing as I read worrisome comments made on CNN.com articles about the marriage. One such person was worried that Mirza would start playing tennis for Pakistan – god forbid.

The Mirza and Malik families thought it’d be best if Sania and Shoaib based themselves out of neutral Dubai for several reasons: 1) Everyone’s happy because they aren’t taking sides on where to live, 2) It’s far enough away to avoid the media, yet only a 3-hour flight to Hyderabad (where Sania’s family is from), 3) They can focus on their sports careers, 4) Shoaib already owns an apartment in Dubai after playing in a 2008 Canadian cricket tournament giving him – and his new bride – legal residency in the United Arab Emirates.

At the moment, not taking India or Pakistan’s side is wise until the media downpour passes. But they will be forced to make that decision when a baby comes.

The UAE’s immigration and citizenship laws are very strict. 82% of their population is foreign born, meaning those 82% aren’t and will never be citizens. Justlanded.com – a website of living abroad guides for expats and travelers – says it’s nearly impossible to get Emirati Arab citizenship for foreigners. Furthermore, “Children of foreigners born in Dubai don’t have rights of local citizenship and automatically assume the nationality of the parents.”

When Sania and Shoaib are ready to start a family, what flag will their kids be?

If your mother is Jewish, they say you’re Jewish as well. Is there a rule of thumb if you’re born to an Indian or Pakistani mother or father? What I do know is that dual citizens must choose which nationality they identify with more. No one is ever 50/50, never. You’re either more one than the other. One person, one flag (or as I like to say, “one flag per shag”).

Genetically speaking, their children will be one half Indian and one half Pakistani; however, their children’s flags depend on what culture/country they’ll be raised in. The Dubai move seems like a temporary fix until the marriage hoopla settles down. And when it does settle, where will they eventually call home?

My prediction: Sania and Shoaib will call India home and their children will be Indian flags, and here’s why. They married in Hyderabad where Sania comes from; Sania doesn’t want to live in Pakistan because of security issues; and if the children spend the first few years of their lives in Dubai, there’s a good chance they’ll be surrounded by Indians since the majority of foreign born people in Dubai are from India.

Moving to Dubai merely postpones the inevitable difficult choice of where to settle down, call home, and raise a family. If they received this much media coverage from the wedding alone, wait until we hear reports of a pregnant Sania Mirza. Tick tock, tick tock…

Click here to read the article in The Times of India.

Flags of the  World, Asian flags, Indian flag, Pakistani flag , Emirati Arab flag,