2010 is a year I am looking forward to putting behind me. The passing of my father was the single biggest event of the last year, which left a scar on everything. It will be difficult for 2011 to be worse. It was also a year in which I traveled both the more and less …
As I have mentioned many times, and will probably mention many times more, travel makes you perceive a place differently after you’ve been there. (Please read my 2009 essay on Travel and Tragedy and the corresponding quote from Adam Smith.) Last week there were riots and political protests in Tunisia and I watched the events …
I finally got around to seeing Eat, Pray, Love the other night. I have not read the book (nor do I plan to) but given that I write a travel blog I’ve had many people ask me what I thought about the movie, so I figured I should see it. To be honest I’m not …
I’m back in the US sitting in a makeshift office on a folding table in my parent’s basement amongst my boxed up former possessions. It makes a good opportunity to review the what, why and how’s of all the crap I carry with me. It normally isn’t something worth talking about, but the last few …
Read my thoughts from a year ago on my 2 year travelversay. On March 13, 2007 I sat in the offices of Edina Realty near my home in Minnesota and signed the documents which transferred ownership of my house to the family which purchased it. I handed them the keys and from that moment, I …
Winter sucks. All the crap you hear about a white christmas and freshly fallen snow is totally bunk. The temperature here has been in the single digits fahrenheit (-13C), the sun sets a little after 4pm, and there is over a foot of snow. It has been below freezing now for over two weeks and …
2008 marked the first calendar year I did not step foot inside the United States or its territories. What is amazing about traveling is how much you remember. Before I left on my trip, one day would sort of blur into the next. You develop a routine every day and it becomes hard to remember …
If you’ve paid attention to the news in the last several days, you’ve probably heard about the brushfires in Australia. I’ve been paying closer attention to that story than I normally would have because I’ve been to many of the places which have been damaged by the fire. I’ve driven through country Victoria, I’ve seen …
In August of 2012 I attended the Book Passage Travel Writing Conference and had the pleasure to meet Jeff Greenwald. He was introduced to me as being the world’s first travel blogger. Needless to say I was intrigued by this claim. As it turns out, he does indeed have a pretty solid claim on being …