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I’m always struck (and pleased) to learn that a town I’m visiting has a “sister city” somewhere in the world. For example, my current town of residence, Santa Rosa, CA has, as its “sister,” Jeju Island in South Korea. How cool that there’s a connection between two very-different cities, way across the world! I do […]

Travel, like life, is full of unexpected mysteries. There was this time, for example, on a trip to India that I spent half a day at the post office, trying to send a package home. The package went from person to person, station to station, getting dressed up like a bride for her wedding. First […]

“So you’re a London cab driver, Steve?” “Yes, I am.” “Cool. And what do you do for fun? “I collect 1930’s art deco items.” What a fascinating contradiction, huh? A London cab driver, as blue collar and as Cockney as they come, collecting 1930s art deco curios! But that’s part of the fun of travel […]

I arrive at Ranakpur Jain Temple at mid-afternoon, with no back-up plan. Either they put me up at the temple, or well, I don’t know what I’ll do. Maybe find something in town, if there is anything? It’s one of those chutzpah moments, when you just trust that if you ask, the universe will provide. […]

Growing up, my best buddy Mike and I were game fanatics. Every weekend, we would spend our days playing Sorry, Stratego, The Game of Life, Parcheesi, Battleship, Risk, Mancala, Chess, Checkers, Backgammon, etc. When we had exhausted all the board game options, we would crack open our battered addition of “According to Hoyle,” learn the […]

“There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments.” –Janet Kilburn Phillips One of the reasons I stopped traveling as much in Europe is that I got completely “churched out.” It’s like Ronald Reagan once said, “A tree is a tree, how many more do you need to look at?” By my fifth trip to Europe, I […]

“A pessimist gets nothing but pleasant surprises, an optimist nothing but unpleasant.” –Rex Stout It took me a few minutes of pondering to unpack Stout’s quote above. A pessimist always expects the worst, so by contrast, a surprise to them would be something positive. Okay, got it. On the flip side, an optimist expects the […]

“Sometimes the best things are right in front of you; it just takes some time to see them.” – Gladys Knight Every year, my wife and I look forward to our big international trip. Couldn’t we just save money and travel locally? Of course we could. The place where we live, California, is a beautiful […]

“You are you wherever you go.” – My friend, Tim Armacost One of my favorite parts of travel is how it brings out some of my best qualities: resilience, curiosity, spontaneity, organization, humor, and enthusiasm. But along with physical bags, travel also insists that I schlep along some of my less-desirable “emotional baggage”: judgment, irritation, […]

“Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us.” – Boris Pasternak There are two types of surprises: welcome and unwelcome. Because they are, by definition, “surprises,” both experiences tend to arrive unexpectedly, seemingly out of the blue. Take for example, the first time I visit Moody Gardens. Brought here by a Houston-based client […]