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The 10 day silent meditation retreat I attended last July in Wat Khao Tham, a monastery in Ko Phangan, Thailand, was my 4th experience of this sort, all but one of them in the land of smiles, each of them in a different temple.
In this website Read more »
In this second in a series on the realities of being a being a travel writer, I want to mention something that is not only important to travel writing, but to the essence of good travel itself: Be open to surprising detours.
Case in point: A couple years ago I received an assignment to visit England’s Duxford Royal Air Force Base, a historic airfield in the countryside just outside of Cambridge. Duxford is part of … Read more »
The Paris Review is running a blog series called “Windows on the World” and asking writers peppered across the globe what they see outside their window. Which reminded me that part of my favorite thing about traveling is the view outside the window changes. Even beyond seeing, different ones let in various smells, sounds and the occasional unwanted bug.
From a hostel room one winters eve, I watched a candlelight … Read more »
Hitching a ride was, is and always will be evoking images of young, reckless, crazy travel. It is for adventurers, because you do not know who will pick you up and when you will arrive at your destination. And it is indeed for adventurous drivers too: our imagination is so full of hideous stories based on this phenomenon that, before you would pick up that random guy standing at the crossroad, you would … Read more »
Moral dilemma: there’s a country with wonderful sites you’d love to see, but your tourist dollars might end up in the pockets of a military regime. Should you still go?
That’s the central theme in this New York Times article: Visiting Myanmar: It’s Complicated. Since the nation has made small steps toward political reform, the U.S. has removed sanctions. This has created an influx of … Read more »
“When we have been home from abroad for a week or two, and time after time, in answer to our friends’ polite inquiries, we have retold our experiences, letting phrase engender phrase, until we have made quite a good story of it all; when the unusual people we encountered have, in retrospect, become fabulous and fantastic, and all the checks and uncertainties of travel had become very serious dangers; when the minor annoyances assume heroic … Read more »
Cost: $50 a day
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?
Two days of trekking through muddy paths deep into the mosquito infested jungle of Northern Guatemala’s Peten region brought me and nine other adventurous travelers to the ancient Mayan city of El Mirador. Upon first viewing the ruins I was struck by how thoroughly nature can reclaim its territory after human abandonment. Thick layers of soil and dense vegetation surround, infiltrate and in some … Read more »
Everyone has memorable travel moments from their lives. It could be from family trips when young. It could be from a study abroad opportunity, or maybe that first independent trip you took without your parents.
No matter what those memories are, chances are another person was involved. It could be someone you went on that trip with, or it could be someone you just met on the road. But the experiences you have with other … Read more »
I’m often asked about what it’s like to be a travel writer. I find that most people assume that it’s always fun and high-paying, which isn’t necessarily the case. I feel compelled to address some of these realities in this mini-series of blog posts.
Unlike the life of the Matthew Hunt, the travel writer protagonist of my new soon-to-be-finished novel, it isn’t especially glamorous, adventurous, or dangerous.
As I at the beginning of the book … Read more »
Since I got my own transport – a small 4 strokes Japanese motorbike -, I have not been considering the bus as a proper way of traveling. Instead, a bus line can be a great way to discover and feel a new city. I reconsidered this lost travel art while I was waiting for visa processing in Bangkok: staying for too many days, the sky train and the metro system were increasingly affecting … Read more »