Stories
Travel tales of fact and fiction
A good writer is basically a story teller, not a scholar or a redeemer of mankind.
– Isaac Bashevis Singer
If I take these words to heart, everything I write about travel can’t merely be a chronicle of my travels or a delineation of plans. Somewhere along the way I have to tell some stories.
Some of my stories are, alas, not really stories in the traditional sense. My stories of buying a camera or buying new luggage are not about dramatic events or interesting characters. There’s no plot to speak of. But I hope they reveal something about how I do stuff.
Sometimes a story can arise from an actual travel experience. Sometimes a picture tells a story or suggests a story that is begging to be told. I hope to write some actual stories, to share a little about my internal journeys, to tell some tales, and to create some narrative. By all means, come along for the ride!
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Egmont Pușcașu: A story of the Romanian Revolution
Egmont Pușcașu was fifteen years old in December 1989. Yesterday we met him and he shared his story.
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My ten most memorable travel experiences
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my most memorable travel experiences. Sometimes it4. comes down to moments that just made me weak in the knees. Sometimes it’s a monument or edifice or place that wowed me. Other times it’s a day like none other. I’ve given this a lot of thought after my last trip,…
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The Three-Month Journey: A Retrospective
I’m recently back from a three-month journey. (Actually 89 days.) This was by far the longest trip I’ve ever taken. Friends and family have asked me how it was to be gone for so long. Was I tired of being on the go? Are you happy to be home? Here’s my evaluation of the trip.
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15 years of travel blogging
In May 2009 I wrote my first entry in what ultimately became this blog. Here’s a look back at 15 years of travel blogging.
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Ten-Hour Layover at LAX
I am sitting in the One World Lounge, 40 minutes into my ten-hour LAX layover. Since I have no idea how to spend ten hours in this lounge, I thought I would write about it.
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Finding Our Cabin, and Then…
This is a story about finding our cabin in Pinal de Amoles. And more. When I started writing this, it was the morning of Day Four in our road trip to the states of Guanajuato, Querétaro, and San Luis Potosí. The agenda for this trip is to visit twenty Pueblos Mágicos and to see some great…
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2023: The year in review
As the year is about to end, I thought I’d take a look back at 2023 and remember the highlights and lowlights of the year. This was one of the busiest travel years I’ve ever had. I spent a total of 85 days away from home, and I visited five countries, all of them for the…
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How to travel in Scotland (or anywhere)
I’d like to think I know how to travel, but occasionally I learn something new. Looking ahead to my trip to Scotland, I recently posted on the Rick Steves Travel Forum asking for thoughts about how to fill my time on the Isle of Skye. I have three full days there, and only one all-day…
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The Most Beautiful States in the USA
Early last year, before the global pandemic put the kibosh on the trips I was going to take, I was lucky to do some traveling. I have officially postponed my trip to the Middle East until the fall of 2021, and I’m about 50–50 on whether to postpone further. I could just skip adding any…
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Heroes
Note: I began writing this post while I was traveling in Poland in April 2019. I didn’t finish during the trip, and have finally completed writing about these heroes now in July. Most of my research comes from Wikipedia.
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It’s Where the Train Stopped
“This is what I want you to understand,” said Mateusz as he drew lines and dots on his crude map of Poland.
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A story about Mexico that’s also about me
I have been thinking a lot about the situation here in Mexico that has led to long lines for gas and an explosion killing 90-some people in the state of Hidalgo.
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The Holy Land: Israelis and Palestinians Today
Chapter 9 in Rick Steves’ book Travel as a Political Act covers a topic that is close to my heart and about which I have strong feelings: the Holy Land. In 2013, after Rick got back from his trip to Israel and Palestine to produce a television documentary about this troubled area, he gave a…
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Europe: Smart on Drugs
The full title of Chapter 7 in Rick Steves’ Travel as a Political Act is “Europe: Not ‘Hard on Drugs’ or ‘Soft on Drugs,’ but Smart on Drugs.” It’s an awful title in my opinion, but it’s an interesting topic. Rick is a strong advocate for the legalization of marijuana in the United States. He…
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Denmark: Highly Taxed and Highly Content
Chapter 5 of Rick Steves’ Travel as a Political Act is about Denmark. I visited Denmark in 2012 and really fell in love with it. I didn’t look upon my visit to Denmark as a political act, so it was interesting to get Rick’s perspective. (This is the fourth part of my series of chapter-by-chapter…
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Europe Unites: Successes and Struggles
Chapter 3 of Rick Steves’ Travel as a Political Act covers a broad range of topics: economics, diversity and immigration, the refugee crisis, sex, drugs, alcohol, nudity, and the wide range of European passions for their culture. I will only touch on a few of these topics here. (This is the third part of my…
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Lessons from the Former Yugoslavia
In 2014 I traveled in the former Yugoslavia. I wrote about my walking tour of Sarajevo with someone who had grown up during the siege there in the 1990s. And I wrote about three of the local people I met in Mostar, people who almost made me forget about the beautiful bridge that is the…
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Travel as a Political Act
I recently finished reading Rick Steves’ Travel as a Political Act. Originally published in 2009, its third edition was released last month. I found the book provocative and illuminating. I learned a lot and found much to ponder. This is the first part of my series of chapter-by-chapter reviews of Rick’s book. See the tag…
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Worrying
I’m a worrier. I don’t know why I’m a worrier, and I’m not going to worry about why, because I have enough other things to worry about. But here I am, just about two weeks from my next big trip, and I’ve got all these things I’m worried about. Will I pack efficiently? Will I forget…
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Traveling While Gay
Is there is a difference between being a gay traveler and traveling while gay? One of the blogs I most enjoy reading is called “Travels of Adam.” Adam Groffman started his blog in 2009, when he was still working as a graphic designer in Boston. He was on the verge of turning 25, and he was…
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And a new camera too…
Not content with buying new luggage, I also just bought a new camera. It is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS100. I picked it based on reviews I read online, and because it seemed like the best option within my budget. My previous camera was the much smaller and cheaper Canon ELPH.
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New Luggage, Part Two
Okay, my trip is still more than seven months away, and I’m obsessing about luggage. I think it’s because it’s a tour, and I don’t have any other plans to make. Still, I’m pretty sure I’ve taken it too far. I returned the bag I got from eBags. I decided it was too big. And I’ve…
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New Luggage
I will never forget the huge suitcase I brought along on my first trip to Europe, a ten-day tour in the middle of the summer to Austria, Germany, and Hungary. Gradually in my travels I have reduced the size of my luggage, and on my four independent Europe trips (Italy in 2009, Nordic countries in…
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Paris je t’aime
My first trip outside North America was in 1989. It was a choir tour to Germany, Austria, and Hungary, but we flew through Paris, where we had an eight-hour layover, so we arranged for a quick tour around the city. There was maybe just enough time for a quick photo stop in front of…
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I’m Just a Broadway Baby
When you grow up gay in the suburbs of New York, you develop certain affinities. Like, for instance, the Broadway musical. (I don’t mean to perpetuate any stereotypes. I actually know plenty of people who like musicals who aren’t from New York. And some of them are straight.)
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Anxiety
I’m feeling anxious. I’ve had generalized anxiety before, nothing severe, but I’m feeling specifically anxious about this trip. I’ve got a nervous feeling in my gut and I’m not sleeping well, waking up in the middle of the night or much too early in the morning. I’m not sure what I’m anxious about, though there…
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A Balkan History Lesson
Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going. Paul Theroux I started this post writing about my enthusiasm for seeing Sarajevo because of the extraordinary history that city has experienced. This is the centennial year of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, the touchstone for…
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Globejotting
I bought this book today. I hope I will get some value out of it. And perhaps you are hoping I get some value out of it even more than I am!
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Europe is (just) a dream
Europe doesn’t actually exist. It’s a huge myth invented by fantasy writers. The myth became so real that it took on the legitimacy of history and geography. All the people, cultures, landmarks, museums, rivers, mountains, cities — all of it is made up.
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Pinot Noir: Not my favorite
I spent the Labor Day weekend in the wine country of the Willamette Valley, in and around McMinnville, Oregon. I went with my friend Margot to attend the wedding of my friends Lisa and Steve, who are wine aficianados, or oenophiles. They have spent a lot of time in the region, even got engaged down…
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Comfort Zone
In the two weeks since my last post I have been thinking a lot about my difficulty with getting out of my comfort zone when I travel. This might seem ridiculous to people who can’t imagine going to Europe all alone. They might consider me enormously daring to even consider doing such a thing. And there was…
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The frugal traveler in my footsteps
I was both delighted and wistful to read The Frugal Traveler’s most recent post about his journey through Scandinavia. Before he began his trip (and while I was in the last week of mine), Seth Kugel posted requesting readers provide him with ideas for a five-day intinerary in Sweden for under $100 a day. I found…
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But it’s in Arizona
Even though I’ve been to all 50 states, there are a lot of places in the USA where I haven’t been and still would like to see. Near the top of my list is the Grand Canyon.
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Why Stockholm? Why anywhere?
This is the itinerary for Rick Steves’ three-week Best of Europe tour:
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The next great adventure
I recently got back from what was, for me, a great adventure. Blogging each day during my three-week vacation in Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Finland, and Iceland was part of the joy. I returned home with many wonderful memories and well over a thousand photographs. And I have come to realize that what I miss most…
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Cinque Terre Floods
This post is not about my upcoming trip. I feel compelled to say something about the terrible tragedy that has befallen the Cinque Terre and, in particular, the charming village of Vernazza, where I spent two idyllic days in May 2009.
