This is a place of extremes. The name alone brings to mind images of explorers and traders in tall sailing ships working their way against horrendous seas and hurricane-strength winds. Set on its own small …
April 11, 2013
Go Abroad!
The World's Edge: Cape Horn
Mesmerizing Mycenae
About 1.5 hours outside Athens, Mycenae is one of the essential stops for any visitor to Greece with an interest in ancient history. Arriving here, you're awed not just by the site and the ruins, …
April 2, 2013
A Discovery: Prague's Josefov
“Josefov.” The center of Jewish influence in Prague. A few other temples are scattered around the oldest part of the city, but Josefov is the vortex of Prague’s Jewish past. It was this name of …
March 21, 2013
Trip to Basel, Birthplace of LSD
Behind Basel, Switzerland’s bourgeois persona is a mind-blowing history currently experiencing its 70th anniversary. Inside the walled-off compound where multinational pharmaceutical giant Novartis (formed when Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz merged) is headquartered is a futuristic glassy-steel …
March 21, 2013
Leopard Lessons from the Maasai
Spending time in Kenya with my Maasai friend Moses was an education in animal behavior. Wandering through the bush around his village together, he would point out tracks and scat, patiently explaining to this greenhorn …
Istanbul Spice Market
Making my way through thick crowds of people slowly walking, talking on cell phones and holding shopping bags, I found the mounds of spices in the marketplace in Istanbul, Turkey. I'd arrived to buy various …
March 19, 2013
Motorbiking the Ho Chi Minh Trail
The Ho Chi Minh Trail follows the infamous supply route created by the North Vietnamese guerrillas during the Vietnam War. We began our motorbike journey from Hanoi (left), headed toward the south to Ho Chi …
March 14, 2013
Kibuye, Rwanda: Three Days Out of Thirty
MONDAY I could write for hours, but I am toast. The Kibuye stadium is being torn down; the walls are gone and only a portion of the stands remain. It is best that the horrible …
Dniprodzerzhynsk
I’m playing with my hair out of nervousness. I never do this. Isn’t this the behavior of a preteen boy, mustering up the courage to ask a girl out on his first date? Yet there’s …
March 11, 2013
Israel… A Tale of Two Cities
In no other country in the world are the two largest cities such polar opposites. Jerusalem, Israel's ancient and current capital city, is both informed and haunted by its history. Tel Aviv, on the other …
March 7, 2013
Laos: Same, Same but Different
It was still dark outside when the roosters' crows aroused me from my slumber. Surrounded by a mosquito net in an unfamiliar cabin, the aching of my body from the previous day's excursion reminded me …
March 5, 2013
I Am Rambo in Chiribiquete, Colombia
Strangely, the noxious swarm of mosquitos intent on doing me harm had ebbed, and the growl of the Chiribiquete waterfall (below) no longer sounded, as if its familiarity to my ears after a few hours …
March 4, 2013
Hill Tribes of Sapa
“Also, being a photographer gives you a license to steal experiences that you ordinarily wouldn’t have. You enter into other people’s worlds who are usually very highly specialized, very rare.” ~ Jay Maisel I love …
The Fetish Market in Lomé, Togo
The fetish market in Togo, Africa, is a one-stop shopping paradise for witch doctors and medicine men – as well as a must-see for tourists. This dusty lot in the center of town covers an …
February 26, 2013
What's Wrong with Switzerland?
The problem with travel writing in Switzerland is that there are no problems. Every writer knows there has to be a little sand in his shoe, some gritty irritation to kick off a story either …
February 22, 2013