Blog

As a traveler, I’m always on the hunt for “authentic” experiences and thankfully, they do still exist out there in the world. It’s one of the reasons I like countries like India so much – the culture is so thick, dense and historic; you just can’t Disney-fy it! And yet, what to make of places […]

Do you remember that scene in the movie 48 Hours where Eddie Murphy’s character, ex-con Reggie Hammond, walks into that all-Caucasian cowboy bar? Through bravado and bluster, he somehow manages to take control of the situation, at last declaring, “There’s a new sheriff in town!” That’s a little bit of the attitude I adopt when […]

When it comes to zoos, my feelings are conflicted. On the one hand, as an animal lover and a vegan, I find it hard to rationalize, snatching creatures out of their natural habitats and putting them in cages for us humans to gawk at. Isn’t that species-ism at its worst? I’m reminded of a scene […]

If you watch enough Looney Tunes cartoons (as I did as a kid), you’ll eventually see a scene where one of our heroes has been captured by their enemy and placed in a stew pot. The nemesis might be Elmer Fudd. It might be Native Americans. It might be aliens. Our hero might be Bugs […]

On a Japan Travel Facebook group I belong to, someone almost inevitably will post (for advice) the itinerary of an upcoming trip to Tokyo. It tends to look something like this: 6am Tsukiji fish market; 9am Asakusa temple; 11am Harajuki; 12pm Meiji Shrine; 1pm Shibuya crossing; 2pm Akihabara; 3pm Ginza shopping, 4pm cat café, 5pm […]

There are some places in the world that stand apart from local politics: Bagan in Myanmar (Wow Place #9), the Great Wall of China, the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, etc. Whatever you may think of the governments of the host countries, the sights, themselves, remains eternal. Once other such site is the Dead […]

I’ve noticed a curious phenomenon about travel; it’s called, “How will I EVER?” It occurs when you’re still at home, thinking about an upcoming journey. As you’re making your plans, it feels inconceivable that you’ll ever be able to figure things out – especially if you don’t speak the local language. Questions arise like, “How […]

One of the joys of travel is stumbling across unusual juxtapositions. A tiny temple in the middle of a shopping mall. A Mexican restaurant in an obscure Mongolian town. A Starbucks coffee shop in the middle of an Arabian Souk. In such places, you can’t help but wondering, “What is this place doing here? Who […]

One of the pleasures of traveling is visiting places where famous people once spent time. For example, if you’re interested in the life of Jesus, you’ll want to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. If you admire Winston Churchill, you’ll want to drop by the Churchill War Rooms in London. If you […]

I’m intrigued by roadside attractions. What exactly compels a budding entrepreneur to say, “I will open a business on the side of an isolated highway”? Such folks are essentially trading on the boredom of the open road. Ie. Driving long stretches of freeway is tedious. People crave variety to break up the monotony; they need […]