Great Escape Publishing

Posted October 23rd, 2010 by The Photographer's Life & filed under Travel Photography.

“I was outside with one shoe on, banging a bottle of wine against the chimney with the other shoe when my 89-year-old neighbor, Fred, walked around the fence to give me some of his freshly grown tomatoes.” This was what my Editorial Manager, Bonnie Caton, said to me last night on the phone after risking public embarrassment to research today’s travel tip for you. I had heard that if you don’t have a corkscrew, you can open a bottle of wine by placing the base of the bottle into your shoe and banging it against a smooth, hard surface — just as the Frenchmen is doing in this video: Turns out, says Bonnie, it’s not so easy: “I ended up with a wine-soaked pant leg and a driveway full of broken glass!” However, she did find a less-embarrassing, more effective method involving a hammer (though if you forget to pack a corkscrew on your next trip when you venture out for wine, I highly doubt you’ll make plans to pack a hammer…and a screw…and a screwdriver, too). Still, watch how she eventually did it (with a little elbow grease), here: Over the past few months, I’ve been saving up loads of strange and unusual travel tips like this one. And what better time to share with you a series of bizarre tips than the most bizarre time of year — the week leading up to Halloween? Each day for the next nine days, I’ll send you a brand new tip you can use to save time, money, or even bottles of wine when you’re out seeing the world. Stay tuned for more. Enjoy! — Lori Lori Allen Director, Great Escape Publishing [Editor’s Note: Learn more about how you can turn your pictures into cash in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel. Sign up here today and we’ll send you a new report, Selling Photos for Cash: A Quick-Start Guide, completely FREE.]