As a former musician myself, I shake my head sadly at musicians who think they’re getting the folk zeitgeist of a given genre just by listening to records. You learn folk music by listening to …

I was sitting on the sea wall with my friend Ben, watching the sun set over Havana Harbor, when I smoked my first cigar. And my second. And my ninth. During our sunset routine on …

Hassi Labied (population: 2,000) is one of the places you go in Morocco if you want to sleep in the Sahara. It's about 30 miles from the Algerian border; and its dunes (Erg Cheggi) are …

“Get over the [lack of] smiles, the harsh tones of voice, the unemotional stares.” Well maybe I shouldn’t put this in quotes – it’s only been a recurring thought in my head walking around Kiev, …

We older folks who remember the moon landing or seeing the space shuttle land at Edwards can check one more item off our bucket list – and do it just five hours north of San …

A shirtless hippie with long, flowing hair and an orange tan gives me a wink as he floats by on his bicycle. After a few minutes, a large man carrying a CD player and headphones …

June 6, 2014 - Ok, so my first 12 hours here in Kiev were, umm... interesting. I remember looking up at a sign in the airport reading “Red Zone” and thinking it was a USSR …

I was in Israel when three teenagers in yeshiva – Jewish seminary – had just been kidnapped. As I left the country, they were discovered to have been killed, which touched off a firestorm between …

Several months ago Kay and I enjoyed several days in Haight-Ashbury – prior to my fortuitous discovery of nearby Cole Valley. We had been kicking back at the no-frills, creaky Red Victorian Hotel on bustling …

Prague is a strikingly beautiful baroque city and the prime gateway for Americans into Eastern Europe. The city has intrigued me ever since I became enamored with Franz Kafka’s books as a teenager. An Old …

A digital detox vacation is one where you can’t get cellphone, satellite or internet service of any kind. Ok, I might've just sent you into a panic attack with this thought – so take a …