Shalom! First Thoughts of Israel

I have arrived Israel. 40 years ago, Apollo 8 took the famous photo of the Earth rising over the surface of the Moon. After that photo, many people ooohed and aaaahed about how when you look at the Earth from space, there are no borders or countries and everyone is really just part of one …

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My Big Fat Greek Layover

I only have a few hours left in Israel. At 4am tomorrow I take off to the airport for my 7am flight to Rome. I’ll have an eight hour layover in Athens, so I’m going to try and make the best of it and so see the Acropolis in the time I have. It should …

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Paris Part Deux

Suffice it to say that my Paris experience has improved dramatically since the weather improved. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the last several days wandering around the streets of Paris, eating in the restaurants, and seeing the sights. Unfortunately, that hasn’t let much time for blog updates, especially considering the hotel I got moved into does not …

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Not So Gay Paris

Since I’ve arrived in Paris, I haven’t been having the best of times. The weather here has been cold and raining. Temperatures have been hovering around 10-15°C (50 to 60°F). On top of the weather I did something stupid on Sunday and ate a slice of pizza which was stupid as it kicked off the …

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First Impressions of Florence

Rome’s heyday was back in the days of emperors and gladiators. While many of the current structures in Rome were constructed around the time of the Renaissance, most of that talent and money to create those structures came not from Rome but from the north of Italy, in particular Florence. While Florence’s history does trace …

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The Dark Side of Traveling

I get a lot of comments about my site that are like: “wow. what your doing is amazing. I wish I could do that”. Indeed, traveling is pretty nice. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be doing it. I’ve been able to see things, go places, and meet people that most people would never do in …

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First Impressions of Melbourne

I’m plowing through my photos. If you take a look at my Flickr stream, you can seem I finished Sabah and Jakarta yesterday. I’m hoping to get everything else done today. I think everyone at this hostel thinks I’m weird because I sat in front of my computer most of yesterday. The process of getting …

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Fear and Loving in Bali

I have found that you get the same questions from every cab driver in the world: Where are you from? Is it your first time here? How long are you staying? When did you arrive? In the few taxi trips I’ve taken in Bali, after saying I’m an American, every cab driver has said the …

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Pacific Itinerary – Part One

The question I get all the time from everyone I talk to about my trip is “where are you going?” My reply is always “everywhere”. I really have no set schedule I’m going to follow because I’d rather be flexible and I think if you plan more than a few months ahead, you’re going to …

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