Damascus, Syria "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," wrote Charles Dickens in the opening line of A Tale of Two Cities . He was referring to life in an area of Europe in the late 1700s, but one could also feasibly slap this line into a book about overnights...

Maaloula, Syria If passing through the Syrian town of Maaloula , particularly if you are passing by the slightly expensive restaurant some 100 meters shy of the entrance to Mar Thecla Convent , you might notice a young man with Aramaic writing tattooed on his arms. Curious, you might then walk over and ask, “Excuse...

Mt. LeConte, Great Smoky Mountains National Park "There is little favorable to be said about poverty," wrote Nelson Mandela in his book Long Walk to Freedom , "but it was often an incubator of true friendship." I first read this line (and book) a decade ago, and I remember it sometimes in my moments of...

Damascus, Syria I had seen the ads for television extras in Bangkok hostels, and I had spoken with travelers about their Bollywood background roles in Mumbai. But I had never made an effort to pursue this myself. But last Monday at 9:00 a.m., while stepping out of the hostel to buy a bottle of water...

Damascus, Syria Yes, it is the last in my five-part series on the senses, and this post will address the fact that we vagabonders smell. We do sometimes have an odor about us, especially after a long day in the tropical or desert heat, but what often stands out more are the other things we...