Hotels.com - Typical Transportation

Hotels.com - Typical Transportation
Pen, ink, watercolor, and digital
7.25 x 21 inches

Lid
5.5 x 5.5 inches

The final project for Illustration markets was to create an illustration for Hotels.com for a promotional gift package that would come in the form of a paint can filled with goodies.  The image should have at least four demographic locations that Hotels.com services and also have points of interest like landmarks, beaches, restaurants, etc.

The cities and monuments I chose were:
New York City, USA - Statue of Liberty
Beijing, China - Forbidden City
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania - Askari Monument (tribute to Tanzanian soldiers who fought in WWI)
Agra, India - Taj Mahal
Venice, Italy - Rialto Bridge

I also chose modes of transportation typical of those locations as my other element.
Agra - auto rickshaw - rickshaws are common all over India but I needed a city with a recognizable monument
NYC - yellow cab
Venice - gondola
Beijing - bicycle
Dar es Salaam - dala dala - the privately owned city buses that have loosely set routes and no time table (they are also packed to the high heavens during peak hours, which means it's normal to see people hanging on from the open doorway).  The term "dala dala" was coined back in the 1960s when the fare was five cents, according to Wikipedia, "dala" is jargon for five.  According to my mom other possible origins of the term:
the exchange rate back then was 5 cents to a dollar
a 5 shilling coin was the same size as a US dollar coin

and the way Tanzanians pronounce "dollar" would be "dolla", dropping the R, which probably turned into "dala."