Flying with your Service Dog takes a bit of pre-planning. Most airlines require 48 hours advance notice about your canine partner. Initially tickets can be booked online through a collective search website like CheapOair . Before purchasing tickets, check out the Airlines direct website for Service Animal rules. Under Federal Law airlines are required to...

Cost/day: $40/day What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately? With a pint of Guinness in hand, I listened to an old, Irish man play his guitar and sing folk songs about Ireland’s beautiful country side, fight for independence and love of drinking while the entire bar sang along. It is rare - and strange -...

A week from now is All Hallows Eve “vigil of All saints” or commonly known in North America as Halloween . The holiday’s roots are of pagan Celtic origin; but it seems to be spreading around the world in modern fashion. When I was young, it meant dressing up in a costume and walking around...

Don’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling. Seriously, you've got what it takes. It will take everything you have, but you’ve got it. Don’t be afraid to dream. Big. I think we all feel inadequate. We feel like we’re not good enough for our dreams. Dreams are what other people achieve, not me....

Who doesn't like getting a postcard in the mail? With the overwhelming evolution of technology, the act of putting pen to paper almost seems old-fashion. Words have the same definition whether typed or scrolled by hand. But handwriting can reveal clues about an individuals personality where digital text lacks that touch. Years ago I discovered...

How does one make the decision to buck the traditional demands of society to live their dreams? How do you go about throwing away everything you’ve been raised to want in order to make your own way through life? In the end, the answer comes down to priorities. We will make time and money for...

Cost/day: $150/day What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately? It is a toss-up between me eating a scorpion and some of the “characters” I saw on Bourbon Street. Describe a typical day: Start the morning off in the French Quarter at Café du Monde to try their famous beignets and coffee. Walk over to the...

In this second installment of Realities of Travel Writing, I’m continuing on the topic of getting the assignment. It bears fleshing out, as you can’t board the plane until you land the gig. So, first thing’s first. After you’ve come up with a great article idea and researched the websites, blogs, or magazines you want...

An eleven-year-old British boy and his father will soon embark on a 3,500 mile overland journey from the UAE to the UK along the safest route possible. The family is relocating back to London. Their son, Joe, experienced paralyzing anxiety about flying for the first time. Several failed attempts to re-board the plane have been...

You’ve been there. I’ve been there. I think we’ve all had some kind of dream and spent many weeks and months planning, preparing, and dreaming. And then we get overwhelmed by it all and scared by all the what-ifs and we decide we don’t want to do it after all. Overplanning is the death of...

Cost/day: FREE (airfare not included - ha!) What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately? As I write this, it is now 3:40am and I'm bunking in the San Francisco Airport after 16 hours of flight changes, delays and one emergency turn-around. Some of the things I've seen tonight include: Watching the pilots pack their bags...

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...

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,...

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...

Cost/day: $30/day What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately? After spending several months in Africa, I have seen a lot of strange things and it has all begun to be quite normal. Therefore, the contrast of Kigali, Rwanda was actually the strangest thing I have seen in a while https://mirziamov.ru/zaym-bez-otkaza . The streets were impeccably...

There were a lot of comments on my last blog entry for this site, relative to the normal amount these posts receive. (“The What-ness, part 2: Choose what to lose”, can be read at /the-what-ness-part-2-choose-what-to-lose.html ). The post was about avoiding easy clichés and sterile recounting in your travel writing, and putting in the effort...

It’s not every day you see a 1985 camper painted like a giraffe. I’d spotted this distinctive vehicle a few times over the past week and a half. But as luck would have it its driver, Steve pulled in behind me at the post office parking lot. Across both sides in large white letters reads,...

With over 20 million people, Seoul is the second largest urban agglomeration in the world, far behind the endless tentacles of that postmodern monster commonly known as Tokyo. But Korea beat Japan in something his neighbour is famous: in fact Korea is the most ethnically and linguistic homogeneous country in this planet , even with...

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My college philosophy professor was fond of the term “what-ness.” As in, the “what-ness” of a place or feeling. Meaning, the core essence of it. Being a callow young man, I rolled my eyes and thought, “He’s nuts. That’s not even a word!” But in time I became a fan of the concept, because it...