Lateral Movements

I’m not sure when the word ‘vacation’ was replaced by ‘travel,’ or why it needed to be. Because for 21 years, I took vacations, and they were awesome. Exhibit A, “Vacation”: Exhibit B, “Travel”: Most summers we loaded up the van the night before, anticipating a four AM start to the vacation. “I’m going to [...]

I was a nerdy kid. What am I talking about? I’m still a nerd. As I get older, I’ve really come to embrace my inner nerd. It’s sort of comforting to know that, given a square of paper, I can still fold up a book or a cup. Because you know what? I had a [...]

My cousin Sarah, a Florida native, has lived in New York City for 9 years. I trust her judgement. So after a rousing Mexican feast at Blockhead’s on the upper west side, she suggested that we hit a local dive bar and I readily agreed. “It’s kind of a weird mix of locals, travelers, and [...]

The other day ’60 Minutes’ ran a feature on the Sagrada Família in Barcelona. I didn’t see the show, but I did read several posts on Facebook by people who were fascinated by the story, and who had never heard of the Sagrada Família before. Never heard of it. I gasped (for real) because I didn’t [...]

Sometimes, life moves at an astonishing speed. This is never truer than it is when I come back to the US, and this time around I’ve learned it all over again. What? Didn’t realize I was in the US? I know. I’m waaaay behind on the real-time blogging. I kind of thought that these three [...]

After the Galapagos and before the Amazon, we spent two nights in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. It sits at an altitude of 2,800 meters and kind of has a reputation for crime. I wasn’t over the moon about spending time in Quito (altitude and crime don’t do it for me), but I was curious. [...]