3 Weeks in Scotland – Northern Highlands
When young Anne McGilvery refused a marriage being forced on her, she was kicked out of the family home on the fair Isle of Mull and sailed for Canada to work as a nanny. After a decade, the itch returned and she was once again high-tailing it – this time aboard a west-bound train, where…
Family Bonding Via Comfort and Terror
For most people, taking a break from normal life means going somewhere different, away from the usual people and foods and ways of meandering through life. In our inverted reality, it means returning to the land and people we’re usually away from. After the mountain-top dragons of Vietnam and the Komodo Dragons of Indonesia, what…
Double-Sunrise Flight and Credit Card Hack
At 2:00 Thursday afternoon we walk barefoot across the sun-sparkled sands of Le Pirate Island. It’s going to take a healthy tolerance for bland movies and a clever credit card hack to survive this upcoming 34 hours door-to-door odyssey to Chicago (well, doorless beachfront Indonesian cabana to door-full seniors’ residence in Chicago north suburbs). First…
Komodo Dragon Boat Tour
It was never my intention to see a Komodo Dragon, let alone a 3-day “liveaboard” boat tour followed by a deserted tropical island. Heck I didn’t even know they were around until a random Balinese batik-shirt salesman invited us to “come to my island.” Four hours later we traded plans to end our Asia trip…
Bali Brain
A month in Ubud has given us a delightful case of Bali brain. Relaxed, rhythmic, flowing. There’s a long Typical Tourist list of retreats and temples and waterfalls that we never bother to visit, opting instead for a life of good food, workouts, swims, easy outings. We work out at our fancy gym every day.…
Wandering outside Ubud, Bali
Sarah’s left me for a solo 2-night work retreat, so I go to my happy place – wandering. Ubud is like a giant Edward Scissorshands hand with parallel fingers shooting up North and South out of the town, each separated by deep river canyons. I’ve already travelled down our finger to town several times, so…
A Toast to our College-Graduating Son
Our little baby done grow’d up and graduated. With a B.A. in city planning and urban design from Haverford College, and now a summer internship with the City of Philadelphia’s bike-share program, he’s well on his way to realizing his incredible potential. But thanks to a clever 3+2 partnership with UPenn, he’s also already halfway…
Off-Gassing with Friends
I’m not hallucinating – not quite – but in this steamy 180 degrees Russian “Banya,” memories of old friends I’ve shared saunas with are blurring my eyes as much as the sweat pouring off my forehead. We’ve lucked out on an Aufgussing ceremony at our fancy gym/spa here in Ubud, Bali. In preparation, the leader…
Timeless Comfort: Traditions and Beliefs in Bali
Our host mother sits against the wall of the open-air living space in the middle of the compound. Legs straight on the floor, bamboo and flowers and leaves at the ready, she cuts and staples a different type of offering every morning. A set of several dozen each day that will be placed on the…
White Lotussing in Bali
At age 22 I backpacked around the world for 18 months on $7,000. A key to doing this was thinking in local currency – a fancy dessert might sound cheap at $2, but an inexcusable excess at 1,000 Costa Rican colones. Ordering in a restaurant was easy because I always chose whatever’s cheapest (no drinks…
Hanoi in One Day!
With only one day in Hanoi – a sprawling city of 8.6 million people – we have to prioritize. First priority is getting to my language school for the refund of 45 million dong I overpaid. My trust in humanity remains strong – the owner is there and happy to see me. The other reward…
Northern Vietnam: Hue, Ninh Binh
While we prefer long stays in one place to truly settle in, after two months in Central Vietnam (Hoi An) what a shame it would be to not broaden our understanding of this beautiful country with a week in Northern Vietnam. Thanks to a sooner-than-expected expiring tourist visa, we pack it all into a scant…
Broken Rice – Final Flavours of Hoi An
Broken rice – those discard, misshapen bits after the milling and cleaning process – has come a long way. From animal feed, to poor-man’s food during times of starvation, to the iconic Cơm tấm dish with fried egg and pork. Today it stands proudly as a cultural symbol of the hardships, poverty, and resilience of…
Stranger in a Splendid Land
We immigrants, we foreigners, we digital nomads and wealthy tourists and entitled expats – too often we’re loud, intrusive, whatever is the opposite of subtle. Our unnecessarily big bodies take up a lot of space. Our voluminous chatter in Babel tongues clogs the airways. Our tentative driving clogs up intersections. We do not blend. And…
In Praise of Praise
Empty Nest + Retirement + Nomadic Lifestyle aint for the faint of ego. I had expected more times of loneliness, boredom, and questions of purpose than I’ve ended up feeling. But I never anticipated how the triple-whammy of losing in-person-parenting, work and home community would dam up the steady stream of strokes that keep us…
A Typical Day in an Atypical Life
“What do you do all day?” I’m often asked. Other than “there’s still not enough time,” I’m never quite sure how to answer. We live here, so it’s not all tours and insta-photo moments. So here’s my journal from just this one random any ol’ day as a digital nomad in Hoi An, Vietnam. 6:15…
Tet in Hoi An – Year of the Fire Horse
We move from the beach over to the heart of Hoi An, Vietnam just in time for “Tet” – the lunar new year we narrowly call “Chinese New Year” in Vancouver. While the calendar new year in Montreal was met with kombucha, half-hearted resolutions and Emily in Paris, Tet in Hoi An is a full-throated…
A Million Dong Can’t Be Wrong
It’s 9pm on my first night in Vietnam when I become a millionaire. On the corner of a well-lit street, with no traffic noise to drown out the waves lapping on the shore one block away, I slip a crisp $100 bill to our AirBnB host, who opens her wallet and pulls out 2.6 million…
Chiang Rai (Northern Thailand Part Three)
Last stop of our Northern Thailand jaunt is Chiang Rai. Honestly it’s a lot like Chiang Mai but on a smaller scale, but there are some fantastical quirky sites (Condom Café anyone?) to make it a worthy stop. White Temple of Chiang Rai If Gaudi were to build a Buddhist temple, he’d come up with…
Mae Salong (Northern Thailand Part Two)
Chiang Dao may have been scenic, but three hours further north into the mountains we are ensconced in the beauty of Mae Salong. Twenty miles from the border of our old stomping grounds of Myanmar, this is also the region where refugee Chinese soldiers fought back against the Chinese Communist regime, and were subsequently welcomed…
Chiang Dao (Northern Thailand Part One)
After a week of bliss bubble yoga retreat, we’re on the road again. With no-one doing all our cooking, planning, exercise enforcement and entertainment, it’s back to navigating and discovering the wonders of Northern Thailand on our own (with two dear friends from Vancouver). First stop – Chiang Dao, a winding 45 miles (90 minutes)…
Suan Sati – One Week Yoga Retreat in Thailand
At 5:30 am the soft melodic gong ripples the darkness. I’ve been half-awake for a while, listening to the remaining echoes of the nighttime frog chorus ceding to the vibrations of pre-dawn stillness. Sarah and I embrace wordlessly, quickly dressing in the dark and slipping out into the cool air. Barefoot along the long wooden…
Chiang Mai – Thailand at long long last!
We took the longest route in modern history to get to Thailand. Thanks to some life curveballs – dental work, sick son, revised Christmas plans – our simple (and nonrefundably-purchased) ticket across the Pacific from Vancouver to Thailand turned into: Vancouver-Albania-Philadelphia-CostaRica-Chicago-Montreal-Pittsburgh-Philadelphia-NewYork-AbuDhabi-Bangkok-Chiang Mai! Last chance to be a neck-craning New York tourist Halfway there – another…
All We Are Saying… is Give Pittsburgh a Chance
For our first new adventure of 2026 we choose the exotic tourist mecca of… Pittsburgh! Home of many championship sports teams, voted America’s most livable city in 1985, and a decayed steel empire – surely those three claims to fame merit a week of our lives? Really we’re here housesitting and spending a final week…
Vive le Québec!
Looking for a cool (minus 20!), fun place to celebrate New Years with family who live in New Brunswick, Philadelphia, Vancouver, Costa Rica, and (us) everywhere? Montreal fits the bill. Yes, we’re at that stage where we magnamoniously fly everyone (kids & partners, grandma, Costa Rican neice) to somewhere awesome, rent a funky airbnb with…
Seasons of Love – 12 PostCards from 2025
525,600 minutes – how do you measure, measure a year? In countries (12), in flight miles (33,763), in busses, cars, and ferries (10,875 miles). In carbon emissions (9 tonnes), in blog posts (46) and subscribes (106) How about money? (Our theory that we can live in less expensive countries cheaper than owning a house in…
Rooted in Community
On Wednesday morning, 10-year-old Ashley shuffles into the Quaker meeting house for 45 minutes of silent worship. She pauses at the entrance, scans the room for friendly faces, then hesitantly walks up to an already crowded bench. The children squeeze even tighter together, shuffling bums over to make space for another friend. Monteverde is that…
Monteverde Water Colours
How to know you’re in bed with the right woman in the right place? When you wake up at 6:30 to a hard rain and you both want to rush out for a walk before you miss it. You can easily spot tourists in Monteverde. They’re the ones wearing clear plastic garbage bag ponchos. Even…
Cloudforest Bathing
I seem to have three gears when it comes to venturing into the cloudforest out my Monteverde back door. On fitness days I jog, straight up those steep paths that have me winded within 2 steps and gasping and burning within 2 minutes. This is the run I did two or three times a week…
Manly Movember Mischief
“Have you ever had fun with your facial hair?” asks the guru of our men’s retreat. This seemingly casual flippancy belies deeper questions of ownership and masculine identity. College Rick tried the pathetic scraggly look, knowing it looked ridiculous. Grad School Rick had long-enough chin hairs to string a globe bead into it, thinking it…
Stress (please!)
I learned two things on the first day of grad school. The first was that “worker satisfaction is not correlated with increased productivity” and therefore just keep workers happy enough that they don’t quit. My first inkling that Industrial-Organizational Psychology would not be for me. Professor Dobson then told us that we were basically wasting…
Overgrown
Nature adores a vacuum. The carefully groomed paths of Curi-Cancha reserve are an irresistible playground for nature. They are the cloudforest equivalent of Leonard Cohen’s crack – a flattened swath that could be seen as a scar, instead is a bold opening letting the light in and giving nature a chance to stretch and play…
When Bad Things Happen to Good Me
For my 58th birthday, I’m lying motionless in a cold MRI coffin in Albania. Bright lights and loud whirring mechanisms shout at me that I’m old, maybe sick, definitely dying (someday). Hopefully not soon, but for 45 minutes there’s nothing to do but contemplate mortality and assess life. If this is the beginning of the…
Philadelphia is Always First
The only thing I knew about Philadelphia growing up in the 70’s was that the Broad Street Bullies were the toughest hockey team ever. A Canuck fan once held up a sign saying “Dave Schultz is a baby” and I was so scared that Schultz would jump into the stands and pulverize him. An unplanned…
No Kings (except Elvis)
Last weekend’s No Kings march was mostly business as usual. Clever signs and costumes. The flood of relief of being in a big group of people who still believe in humanity and democracy. Even an occasional glimmer of hope. But three things still surprised me. 1. Size Matters We know there’d be a crowd, but…
Familiarity Breeds Content – Albania Revisited
Nothing ever gets ticked off a Travel Bucket List. For every place we visit, we learn about four more adventures we want to explore (the Excel spreadsheet has swollen to 104 rows). And behind us, the number of places we’ve fallen in love with and would like to return to grows. We are forever deciding…
Same Old Paris
Sacre-Couer and I go way back. On my first solo Europe trip in 1988 I sat out on the grass with two beautiful Israeli girls. They were unsuccessfully trying to explain the word Chutzpah when a very stern policeman started yelling at us. Efrat started speaking Hebrew and pretending not to understand, but the officer…
For Sale by (Quaker) Owner
Exactly two years ago, we accidentally sold our house. We were going to ease into this travelling thing by renting it out for the winter, but the neighbours surprised us with, “What if we were to just buy it instead of renting?” And just like that, we were selling our 4th house in 24 years…
Everything Everywhere All Too Much
Aren’t you tired of always travelling? Two years into this lifestyle, that’s by far the most common question (followed by favourite country and best food). After a summer packed full of obligation, adventure and change, we can finally say “Yes, we’re tired of it!“ Tired of constant change, that is. Two months has emerged as…
Ultralight Backpacking in Banff
If I had to spend the rest of my life on a desert island, you are the 10 men I would want to spend it with. Thus began Jonathan’s invitation to go on a “Long Walk” two years ago. Honoured to be among the chosen disciples, and trusting that anyone whom Jonathan could love that…
Newfoundland Nature – through Galen’s lens
I’ve already waxed poetic about Newfoundland’s dynamic culture, and the unique feeling of being at the very beginning (or end) of land and time. Now, the windswept edginess of her landscape and wildlife deserves its own portrait, coloured by the artistry of Galen’s photography and the keenness of his partner Cairo’s birding eye. Rugged, raw,…
Nicaraguan Justice
Or: “The things my mother would rather not know about my young backpacking days: How I got robbed, ended up in a Nicaraguan jail, and was almost doomed to a Tom Hanks “Terminal” existence in a Honduran ditch.” 1. Wandering Oblivious into a War Zone Someone at the Tica Linda youth hostel in Costa Rica…
Come Home! St. John’s Cultural Embrace
“Is ye a Newfoundlander?” Skipper Lukey asks/challenges. “Indeed I is, me ol’ cock, and long may your big jib draw!” my son and his partner boisterously shout back at the completion of their “Screeching-in” ceremony at Christian’s Pub. They’ve downed a disgusting rum shot (so bad it’ll make you screech) and kissed a frozen cod…
So Happy Together
“Your life is so different than my own right now and seems so enviable. You and Sarah constantly have new things to talk about with the changes in destination and history and culture going on around you. That must be so refreshing at your stage of marriage.” Refreshing, yes, assuming the relationship is strong. Living…
Mile Zero – Newfoundland
Dukes of Hazzard at 8:00, 8:30 Newfoundland. Canadian childhood included constant reminders that Newfoundland is special. Apart. So far gone that it gets its own time zone. It really does feel like we’re perched tenuously on the edge of everything here. But not the end of the world, like at Finisterre which was clearly the…
No Country for Old Cyclists – Cape Breton
Cycling the Cabot Trail of Cape Breton ain’t for sissies. It may not even be for old men. It may even be that I’m old… Part-way up this mountainside that has no visible end, I’m negotiating with myself to just make it to that next bend. Or maybe just to that next phone pole. Reminding…
British Columbia: Still Beautiful, Super, and Natural
I grew up proud of the “Beautiful British Columbia” license plate on the back of my Dad’s ’74 Ford Gran Torino. Simple, understated, confident. And oh so true! Then BC Tourism jumped on the 1980’s hyperbole bandwagon and launched the “Super, Natural” slogan that, until an AI search 10 minutes ago, I thought was “Supernatural.”…
Three Best Places to Retire in Nova Scotia
I’ve written before about the challenge of choosing where in the world to travel when the whole world is on the menu. Imagine the higher stakes of picking a place to Settle Down when the options feel almost as vast. No, we’re not settling down yet. But sometime probably in this decade we’ll plant some…
Oh Canada! Why Now?
I wake up early this Canada Day morning, go for a swim the park rangers promised would be much colder than it was, then walk around the 100 wooded campsites of Notre Dame Provincial Park. Unlike our sad little site with nothing but the little backpacking tent from our honeymoon 26 years ago, these campers…
Magdalen Islands through Galen’s Lens
What better way to celebrate graduation than taking Galen on one of his dream photography tours, and his partner Cai on one of their dream naturalist tours? The first photos below are taken by me, mostly to give contrast to the stunning quality and artistry that is Galen Juliusson Photography. We finish the graduation bonanza…
Six Degrees of Proud for my College Graduate Galen
I watch my first-born glide across the stage to accept his college graduation certificate. Big goofy smile reminiscent of his old “Did you see that kick?” glances at us ever-attentive parents shivering on the soccer sidelines, he bounds over to the President and gives him a full hug instead of a handshake. Then just like…
Welcome to the USA?
“Please don’t excite the dawgs or they’ll pee.” If US Immigration wanted to make people smile, they could have adopted my highschool buddy Kyle’s front door greeting (in full slow Arkansas drawl). First impressions are lasting (just ask Head ‘n Shoulders dandruff shampoo), and the US could choose to make a welcoming, “you’ve come to…
Walking with my Toddler Husband
Me ‘n Sazza, we walk and explore together – a lot. And me, I get amused and curious and blown sideways – a lot. As a creative writing exercise with my Albanian Writers Group, I played with how all the beauty cuts and I’ll-Be-Right-Back!’s and Did-You-See?’s might look from her perspective. Walking with my Toddler…
Poland is all it’s Krakow’d-up to be
It’s our last week of this 9-month Europe/North Africa jaunt. Part of me wants to hole up in our current home – Krakow – and just Live like we did in Albania: get a one-week gym pass, write, knock off a few more of my Netflix things-to-watch, idle in coffee shops. It’s my last chance…
Clean Corners in Copenhagen
Everything works in Copenhagen. Corners are 90 degrees. Metro trains are every 4 minutes. Cyclists use proper hand signals. After all the delightful quirks and imperfections of Albania, Tunisia and Turkey, it’s relaxing and pleasant to be in a place where the quirk is to make sense. We are here in Denmark to visit Zekiah…
Albania’s Small Towns
We could easily spend our entire 7-week Albanian stay in the capital Tirana. Comfortable, friendly, safe – it lets us settle into Living instead of Travelling. But what a shame it would be to not take advantage of easy access to gorgeous Albanian countryside and fascinating smaller towns. We recollect how glad we were to…
Lessons in Authoritarianism: Albanian Ghosts Dance in the White House
Much has been written about how Trump (and his Maple-MAGA admirer Poilievre in Canada, if he gets the chance) is following Hitler’s playbook to destroy democracy, but Albania offers a much more recent example. Learning the horrors of Enver Hoxha’s 41-year authoritarian reign has been emotionally draining as I see the parallels to current affairs…
Weekend in Kosovo
One reason we chose to set up camp in Albania for 2 months is the easy access to several other countries we know nothing about. With a half-day drive one can cross the border into Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia or Greece, and the outer ring of Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Italy…
For Americans Wearing Canadian Flags
At a bar the other night I met yet another three Americans who laughingly admitted to wearing a Canadian flag when travelling. Here’s what I wish I’d said to them. What part of you can possibly think that’s okay?! “People treat us better,” is inevitably your reason. Sometimes hiding behind a “We don’t like our…
You Can’t Paint Over Poverty
Everything I wrote in my “Extreme Makeover Tirana” post was true – for me. The murals and painted buildings make every walk an adventure, and the brave new architecture is literally fantastic. But fading rainbows and optimistic green arrows can’t mask the continued hard times for the average Albanian. The young woman in the photo…
Extreme Makeover – Tirana, Albania
Grey – I couldn’t imagine any colour but grey. We have come to Albania because the only image I could conjure was rows of bleak featureless communist-era cement buildings. Populated by grey, emotionally-flattened post-Communist-era people. My Western cold-war propaganda indoctrination sunk in deep. Antiquated propaganda-based assumptions are inevitably wrong, as they thankfully are here. The…
Cold ASS, Warm Quakers and a Hot Vicar – Alderney
Our first exposure to Alderney’s ASS occurs at the Nunnery. The venerable Alderney Swim & Soup club has kindly invited us for a polar plunge that they do every morning. Though not every morning has 30mph winds blowing the 4 degrees air over the 6 degrees water. And no-one told us that they all wear…
Hike Around Alderney (all 10 miles of it)
The sweet and salty are swirled together. Beauty framed by tragedy, today’s Peace tinged by yesterday’s war, carefree days more poignant after last night’s nightmares. Alderney is a yin-yang paradise of light layered over a heavy, dark past. On a warm (10 degrees) sunny (ish) February morn we set out to walk around the entire…
Walking with Jane Austen
North Waltham is “a village and civil parish in the borough of Basingstoke and Deane in Hampshire, England.” With one school, one store, one church and two pubs, it is a very ordinary and properly-proportioned English town (except that neither of the pubs show live soccer matches!) What distinguishes North Waltham is that one of…
Speaking English in London
For the past 6 months we’ve been functioning primarily in French & Spanish while trying to decipher Turkish and Arabic. Does that sign say Open or Closed, Push or Pull? Is this baking powder or baking soda? Is the yoga teacher telling us to lock our knees or clench our bums? It’s been exciting to…
Feelin’ Easy-ahh in Tunisia
We chose Tunisia rather randomly – the cheapest nearby country to fill 2 weeks before our upcoming UK housesit – and very ignorantly worried that it might just be a continuation of our Moroccan experience. More mosques, more North African landscape and culture, more medina market peddlers and walled old cities and offers of camel…
2024 – A Review and a Rewrite
When it came time to write the traditional Family Christmas letter, I was stuck. After 61 blog posts, was there anything new to say? So I took a deep breath and re-read every post, beginning to end, Minnesota to Morocco. While there wasn’t much to be added, there was an arc, a development or evolution…
Morocco through fresh eyes (and professional lens)
One of the most humbling and joyous achievements of parenthood is watching your children get better than you. I have been quite good at lot of things, then watched my own flesh and blood do them even better. Zekiah blasts past me in soccer, logical thinking, even professional networking these days. Galen’s fingers dance beyond…
Just the Two of Us (in Morocco’s Blue City)
We don’t know what to do. Our boys have left us – off to Portugal for four days of Bro Time (our Christmas gift to them) then back to their real lives – and we’re feeling once again the Empty Nesting Blues and trying to get our travel mojo back. Morocco has been great for…
Parenting, Still (and Joyfully) in Fez
“Papa, hold me!” My little boy would look up at me plaintively, arms upstretched, wide teary eyes, clearly and unabashedly expressing his need for comfort and connection. I vowed then and there to always respond. Once in a while the response had to be a deferral to a later time that I would be careful…
RELAX! It’s just the Sahara…
Africa is embedded deep within me. A childhood of African dreaming after cousin Sharon came back from Peace Corps with drums and jewelry and tie-dyed cement-bag robes. Backpacking through Egypt-Kenya-Uganda-Zaire after college grad. Seven years there with Habitat for Humanity then another four back&forth to Kenya with ACCES. But of course, Morocco ain’t Zaire, and…
Christmas in Casablanca
With two of us in Turkey and one child (Zekiah) flying to Europe anyways to start a semester of Urban Design studies in Copenhagen, it was cheaper and wilder to bring the boys here for Christmas instead of us flying back across the pond. After much deliberation, we agreed to give them their first taste…
Ignorance is a Miss – Cyprus
This isn’t the first time I’ve gone somewhere in complete ignorance. Sitting on an airplane in 1989 on my way to Costa Rica I couldn’t find it on the airplane magazine map – I thought it was an island (and didn’t know they spoke Spanish, nor how to find a hotel when we arrived at…
Cappadocia – Fairy Chimneys and Cave Churches
Remember those drip sand castles we used to make at the beach? Let some very wet sand dribble through your little kid fingers to form little plop chimneys. Well, imagine valley after valley filled with those chimneys, and you’ve got Cappadocia Turkey. Now remember that God uses a much bigger sand bucket, and was smart…
Only one “n” in Istanbul
Four weeks living in the Turkish capital and I still sometimes spell it Instanbul – like it’s an Add Water & Stir cow mix. Four weeks in a place where Rick Steeves recommends 2-4 days, and I’m still discovering and reaching and wondering. Where have all the churches gone? After a month on the Camino…
Here’s to Crazy Aunts (and Rock-Solid Uncles)
Everyone deserves a crazy aunt. The one in the movies who pushes the boundaries, buys outlandish presents and wears outlandish clothes, travels to exotic places, drinks with flair, and uses the word “Sex” in everyday conversation. I was blessed with two. Aunt Sally Aunt Sally, whose laugh was as full and real and nourishing as…
Winter Swim in the Black Sea
Stimulating or overstim? After 2 weeks of Istanbul delights and Turkish markets, our souls are crying out for fresh air (today’s air quality index is 71: “The air quality is generally acceptable for most individuals. However, sensitive groups may experience minor to moderate symptoms from long-term exposure.”) We hastily pack an overnight bag and head…
Turkish Markets
Today I’m going to take you on a photographic tour of the many markets we’ve enjoyed around Istanbul. Each outing includes a long walk there and back where we stumble upon other sights and discoveries about Turkey. Fish Market Just 10 minutes downhill from our AirBnB, winding through steep narrow streets filled with electric lights…
Turkish Delight
“Find us our next adventure,” we asked our panel of friends and family. A place where we can recover and build from the Camino experience. A place with new foods and smells and sights. A place we’ve never been and maybe wouldn’t have thought to choose on our own. Our fantastic five zoomed together, swirled…
to the End of the World – Camino Bonus Days 40-44 (Finisterre)
I’m blissfully alone in the world. Legs crossed, back to the lighthouse, shrouded in fog, mesmerized by Tofino-worthy waves crashing up and over the rocks. I suppose Sarah’s somewhere on some rock doing the same thing, but for this hour or hours it’s just me and the rest of my life and the end of…
We Did It! – Camino Days 35-39 (Santiago de Compostela)
39 days ago I wrote about starting a camino family, not really believing that the random group of pilgrims who just happened to start the same day and walk about the same pace could be any more special than the ones from the day before or the day after. But in these final 5 days…
Beauty Cuts – Camino Days 31-34 (Somos)
Shortcuts are the fast route to missing life. By definition they cut something short in the name of efficiency. That’s why I’m notorious in our family for “beauty cuts.” When I announce, “I think this will be a better route – trust me!” the family groans (which I generously interpret as endorsement) and knows their…
Chariots, Crusaders, and Baby Jesus Playing Cards – Camino Day 30 (Cacabelos)
Before the invention of ATM’s, trekking the long isolated Camino with everything you needed to survive was a dangerous game, and the Knights Templar were created to provide protection. At sunrise we’ve reached Ponferrada, home to the Game-of-Thrones-worthy Castle of the Knights Templar – a church-created army designed in 1119 to safeguard pilgrims to Jerusalem…
Gonna Lay Down My Burden – Camino Day 29 (Iron Cross)
At the start of the Camino, Sarah told me to pick up a rock that I would later lay down at the famous Cruz de Ferro. Choosing (as always) to walk in ignorance, this is the first of only three things I knew to look forward to on the entire 800 km pilgrimage (the others…
This is Not My Beautiful Wife! – Camino Days 26-28 (Astorga)
One of our favourite couples on the Camino isn’t a couple at all. Zois & Gemma met nine years ago and found they had similar walking paces and life outlooks. They enjoyed walking the rest of that journey so much that they agreed to meet up on another camino in the future. And unlike most…
Simply Walking – Camino Days 23-25 (Mesita)
Pack – walk – eat – walk – eat – walk – nap – eat – sleep. Repeat (times 38). The Camino is that simple. No wondering what we should do tomorrow. Each day will unfold with its own wonders and blunders. Landscapes softly transition from field to forest, hill to plain, green to brown…
Singing Nuns and True Caring – Camino Days 19-22 (León)
At the end of a long day of 27 km and 39,000 steps, we stumble into Casa Susi in Trabadelo. As the owner glides down the stairs, I preemptively answer the question they always ask, which is, “Do you have a reservation?” As I rush into this un-greeting, he doesn’t even answer, he just smiles…
Retirement Role Models – Camino Days 16-18 (Castrojeriz)
Foggy pre-dawn starts up a final hill and officially onto the Mesita – the flat table-top plains that some find boring and is supposed to challenge us mentally for the next ten days or so. A time to ponder big questions, and for these first few days it seems that the How and Why of…
Ugly-Yummy-Real – Camino Days 14-15 (Burgos)
This 2-day walk from Belorado to Burgos is one of great contrasts – in landscape, emotions, history, geography. We leave yesterday’s windy open hillsides and plunge uphill into beautiful forest land. So many branches and trees down, thankfully no-one was hurt in yesterday’s gale force winds. In hindsight, we maybe should have taken a safety/rest…
Against the Wind – Camino Day 13
Today’s test was wind. Constant 35-50+ mph headwinds had us bent over, pushing hard on poles, and sometimes doing a quick about-face to withstand the strongest gusts. It never let up for more than a few seconds for an entire 6 hours of trekking, sometimes pushing us a few feet to the side, making us…
Bright Lights, Big City – Camino Days 8-11
Slipping out of a 12-bunk-bed dorm room at 6am without a light is a fine art, but with minimal rustling we can be on the road under the stars for an hour before the gentle blue awakening in the east behind us starts to chase the stars away. Slowly the shaggy world shakes itself from…
Castles in the Sky – Camino Day 7 (Villamajor)
The new ankle brace and effective cream have me feeling positive and strong as we leave town through the medieval “Saint Nicholas Gate.” To be safe, Sarah’s made me agree to just a 10km walk today, and to send my big backpack ahead with the “donkey” transport company that shuffles packs between hostels for just…
Let’s Get Physical – Camino Days 2-6
“What are you, a mountain goat?” asks Shelley as I bound ahead up the rocky slope to capture a picture of our fellow pilgrims on one of the steepest and most dangerous part of the pass over the Pyrenees Mountains. Not sure if she’s impressed or exasperated, I answer honestly “This is PLAY!” The first…
Starting a Family – Camino Day 1
A professional trumpeter, a Catholic marriage counselor and a physiotherapist start hiking and get lost at the first intersection… It’s not the beginning of a joke; it’s the beginning of our five-week adventure hiking the Camino Francés to Santiago (Spain). Martin Sheen’s movie “The Way” promised us a quick quirky family, each with a burden…
Atlas Obscura – The best travel hack for Bordeaux and everywhere
Finding good wine, visiting the impressive National Theater and a few of the 362 historic monuments, walking the vibrant old streets, and putting together a fresh local charcuterie tray for my wife’s breakfast are all easy and obvious things to do in Bordeaux. But to find the odd, quirky surprises, I turned as always to…
Nice! (France, that is)
When you get invited to Diana Ross’ 170th birthday party in a swanky boutique hotel overlooking the French Riviera, the only possible answer is Yes! My mother Diana turned 80, and her foxy beau Ross turned 90, so they brought us, my brother and Ross’ granddaughter to Nice for a week of luxury, food, a…
Genoa Italy and Movie Sites
When Galen found out we were in Genoa Italy, he insisted we visit “the multi-coloured fishing village” but didn’t say why. It wasn’t until we arrived that we immediately recognized it as the beautiful setting for the animated film Luca (fish boy grows legs, rides bike, defeats the town bully…) On the earlier bike ride…
Rome in a Day
If you were raised in North America in the 70’s, you might remember eagerly plunging your dirty hands down to the bottom of the Kellogg’s cereal boxes to pull out the “Seven Wonders of the World” cards. Tony the Tiger at the Taj Majal or Egyptian pyramids, the Fruit Loops bird nosing a Greek acropolis…
Cycling “The Wolf’s Lair” in Italy
A week of bikepacking “The Wolf’s Lair” in Italy to celebrate a friend’s 60th birthday? YES! Do I know where the Abruzzo region of Italy is, or who are the other 3 Rugged Men I’ll be sharing meals and beds with, or how to say “Flat Tire” in Italian, or how to ride a bike…
Rocca Calascio – Italy’s Castle in the Sky
Day One of cycling through the stunning Italian countryside ended at the fairy-tale “Rocca Calascio,” which has been declared one of the 15 most beautiful castles in the world by National Geographic. The first day of any ride is always hard as muscles and mind take time to toughen up. Leaving L’Aquila was particularly gruelling…
L’Aquila, Italy
For the next 8 days I’ll be cycling way up in those Abruzzo Mountains of Italy. For now, here’s a quick photo dump from this beautiful city of L’Aquila. It took 6 hours and 3 trains to get here, but oh so worth it! After a devastating 2009 earthquake destroyed much of the town, and…
Living the Legends of Ireland
For a wee tiny nation, Ireland has a huge footprint in global consciousness. In Canada we grew up with Lucky Charms cereal, the Irish Rovers music, leprechauns on 4-leaf clovers, green McDonalds milkshakes for St. Patrick’s Day, and sturdy men in outdoor showers lathered with Irish Spring soap. But a two-week house sit in Schull…
Perfect Day in Ireland
On a lazy Saturday in County Cork, Ireland, we decided to do a Camino training day by walking 20 kilometers. After a half-hour morning dog walk (not part of the 20 km), we drove half an hour along the coast to hike the 14km Goortdubh Loop out of Goleen. The winding one-track road took us…
Turning a House-Sit into a Home
We come through the door timidly, respectfully. The host family welcomes us into Their Space, introduces us to Their Dogs, informs us of how to find and use Their Stuff. They are entrusting Their Precious Home (and animals) to us, their Trusted Housesitters, and in exchange for a free place to stay, our job at…
Paris and the Slow Movement Movement
Paris seems like an odd place to muse upon Going Slow. But a Joy of travel isn’t just seeing new places; it’s how they help you reflect and reshape your understanding of your own wacky ways and world. Slow is not my habitual gear. Whether on the soccer field or plowing through the endless Things…
Flavigny-sur-Ozerain: Medieval Magique
Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche fell in love here in Flavigny-sur-Ozerain. Belle lamented that “there must be more than this provincial life” in a French town just like this. For one week at least, there was nothing to lament about this Peaceful medieval town. A few hours by fast train South-east of Paris, the long…
Iceland in 3 Days
What can we say about Iceland, or any country, after just three days? For our 25th anniversary we treated ourselves to a stopover in Iceland, just long enough to know that we want to come back for months, not days. A friend asked us for one word to describe Iceland – I’ve managed to winnow…
25th Wedding Anniversary
In celebration of our 25th anniversary, here’s something I wrote just 4 tender weeks into our union. Still every bit as enraptured 25 years later. This time four weeks ago i was a single man, camping with a growing number of close friends old and new along the paths of Mt. Ranier, preparing for a…
Help! Where should we go after Iceland?
As I’ve written before, choosing where to rest our heads when the whole world is our oyster can be difficult. So, we’re asking for your help – where should we go in November? Until then, we have a great itinerary. I’m writing this from the airport on our way to Iceland for 3 days of 25th anniversary celebration. …
3 Ways to Kill Time in Minnesota
Minnesota is a pretty swell place to spend a summer. After selling the house and hitting the road last October, we found ourselves back in the Twin Cities for the summer with the precious opportunity to be with Zekiah for his first professional internship (transportation planning with HR Green, which he rocked!) But at a…
Master Cleanse: Ten Days on the “Lemonade Diet”
After 4 days of Winnipeg Folk Fest, 200 miles of cycling home and a 10-day media cleanse, I was feeling free, clear, strong of body and spirit. It bubbled up in me that it’s time to do another Master Cleanse – the 10-day “lemonade diet” I “enjoyed” 18 years ago. Time to take back control…
Mexico City – the Most Magical of All
I have always been afraid of Mexico City and never wanted to visit. Just as my preconceived notions of Africa paralyzed me my first time there, I somehow envisioned “CDMX” to be a monstrously wide basin so smoggy that it’s dangerous to breathe, so teeming with druglords and pickpockets that leaving the hotel would be…
Mexican Magical City #2: Merida
After the food scarcity of Cuba, Mexican cuisine was an explosion of senses. From the phallic frivolity of street food like the photo above (filled with cream cheese and nutella), to the sophisticated fusion of traditional and modern cuisine of the Yucatan, our final two stops in Mexico were a constant culinary cacophony from market…
Mexico’s Magical Cities: Tekax
After the “boring” beaches of Bacalar, it was time for Ricky to get his small town fix. A deliciously long, slow local bus crawled us to the Mayan town of Tekax, supposedly one of Mexico’s “magical towns” that has been developed to showcase its unique beauty and culture for tourists. Beautiful and cultured it was…
Media Cleanse
Someone told me Trump was shot last week. It bubbled briefly through my bliss then floated away again, unperturbed, unexamined, unrelated to my reality. I’m on day 10 of an unplanned media cleanse. Just imagine: no emails, no New York Times daily digest and Heather Cox Richardson’s “Letters from an American”, no facebook, no netflix.…
Mexican Food Market
The photos I shared from the flower market for Mother’s Day only told half the story – the other side had a bounty of fresh, local, mostly-healthy foods, many of which I actually recognized. I haven’t yet found my writing mojo since landing back in Minnesota, but please enjoy another visual walk through this Mexican…
Beach Bummed in Bacalar
I’m bored. Lying under a palm tree beside the famous 7-coloured lagoon in Bacalar, Mexico, a few hours inland from Cancun. Sucking on the fresh slice of pineapple garnishing my virgin mojito, waiters in crisp white shirts conjuring fresh shrimp ceviche and fish tempura. Clear water just cool enough to be refreshing on this 90…
Mothers Day in a Mexican Flower Market
Mothers Day used to mean a walk down to Fleugers Nursery to buy a few pretty potted plants. But nothing in that annual ritual compares to a visit to Mercado Jamaica – the flower market in Mexico City that never sleeps (or at least, never closes). Now that I’ve finished my 3-part Cuba series (see…
Two Weeks in Havana
“Our time in Cuba was one of my favorites in all our years of travel,” declared my extremely well-traveled wife. The culture shock and sober analysis I shared in my last two posts were real, but the overwhelming experience of two weeks in Havana was WOW! Colonial Architecture Every day we jumped in a “collectivo”…
What Went Wrong in Cuba?
Disclaimer: Anything I might proclaim here about Cuba is incomplete, naive, and based on a dangerous combination of ignorance and idealism. I spent two short weeks in Cuba, only in a few neighbourhoods of Havana. My sources are a university graduate whom we paid twice to spend a few hours with us to answer our…
Cuba Culture Shock
I thought I was immune to culture shock. I have visited 41 countries (meaning I’ve slept, ate and talked to people there, not just a layover). I’ve been deported and refused entry from more countries than my mom knows. I’m 57 years wise as of last week. So my trepidation and disorientation upon arriving in…
Everyone is Special; No-one is Extraordinary
No-one can make you feel special like the Monteverde Friends Meeting. After 6 long years away, just walking into the beautiful timberframe meeting house elicits joyful smiles and “So glad you’re back!” waves from long-lost Friends. More surprised delight as more people trickle in. The enthusiastic but appropriately-muted murmurs of “Welcome” after we stand up…
Sweet Home, Monteverde
I think the first hug was from Rita. On that dry-season-dusty-green, oh-so-familiar corner at the base of the hill the boys and I climbed every day to school, outside La Colina Lodge where Greg and Amber used to host Hamburger Night, right by the favorite fencepost where the green-and-blue mot-mot would greet us every morning,…
La Fortuna, Costa Rica
Our overly-affectionate friends from Minnesota treated us to an overnight at La Fortuna at the base of Arenal volcano. The drive there through the rural, mountainous interior of Costa Rica was already worth the price of admission – an easy (3.5 hour, 70-mile, you do the math) drive from Monteverde – rent a 4×4! Our…
Narrowing Down “Anywhere in the World”
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be? For most people, that’s either a dreamy party game or a one-shot, two-week opportunity to hit that beach or volcano or mardi gras. For us, it’s an ongoing question – making one selection does little to narrow down the options for the next…
When the Kids Come Home to Visit
How do we show love for our children after they leave the nest? One way is rolling out the red (or, in this case, green) carpet when they grace us with a visit. Yesterday morning, as Zekiah and three roommates were having a last swim at Tamarindo Beach then hopping a bus up the mountain…
She Walks These Hills (in a bright flowery scarf)
I keep thinking I should miss you, Margaret. Sitting here today in this meeting house, last week in your own home where Shakespeare and Bach and Jesus Christ Superstar danced together, embraced in the brazen bosom of your beloved broccoli forest. But you’re still here, aren’t you? Our silent worship on the porch on the…
Twisted – A Morning Cloudforest Walk
Vines cascade and dance down from branches, take root, then twist and claw their way back up and strangle the host, becoming a new gnarled twisted “Strangler Fig” tree you can climb inside. Orchids clutch the side of.a tree and blossom proudly. Thick twiny wood vines curl like horror movie fingers. Two and half hours…
Old Friends
Two mornings in a row, we were kicked out of some of Vancouver’s finest establishments. No, I don’t mean the Surrey pub crawl for Zekiah’s 19th. I mean quiet little coffee shops in North Vancouver and White Rock. Young managers who aren’t used to throwing out rowdy old folk like us. My roots run deep…
Cry, the Beloved Cowichan
Who says you can’t go home? – Jon Bon Jovi, Jennifer Nettles In 2008, life was crazy. We’d put our 4- and 6-year-old boys to bed then work side-by-side on our laptops until midnight – Sarah running two businesses, me leading a non-profit (ACCES) and serving on too many boards. We bought a hot-tub just…
Waterfalls Everywhere!
A friend today reminded me of a story I once told her that rings of youthful (and hopefully lifelong) positivity. I was 25, driving from Connecticut to Ohio with a beautiful girl who suggested we picnic at a waterfall she’d heard about. She pulled out the map (yes, paper!) and bravely started detouring us through…
Family: Can’t (and do) live without ’em
Having lived away from our home bases for all but 4 of our 25 years together, we’ve become experts at lightning strike visits. Packing as many loud gatherings, quiet washing-the-dishes-together chats, and helping-move-furniture-chores into a short visit as possible. Drinking full (or rather, chugging quickly) from the cup of family love to sustain the next…
Too much Stuff!
Phase One is over. “Elvira,” our trusty electric vehicle who carried us over 6,000 miles in 3 months, is now parked comfortably in a Minnesota storage unit while we have flown to British Columbia with just carry-on bags. Let’s burrow through the packed paraphernalia and evaluate what we did and didn’t need to enjoy a…
Quebec City
Three nights in Quebec City – not enough to see everything, but enough to drink it all in, absorb the magic and uniqueness that is North America’s only fortified city (it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site). Taking our own advice from an earlier post, we broke up a long drive out of Nova Scotia into…
Pugwash, Nova Scotia
When we told locals that our next stop was Pugwash, each one would ask “Why?” The answer, as always, was that surely something interesting would surface. And, as always, something did. At the height of the cold war in the 1950’s, Pugwash hosted a series of nuclear disarmament talks with top scientists from both sides…
Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia
I’ve lived in some magical places around the world. Communities that immediately and genuinely invited newcomers in – all the way in. Communities that feel like the Cheers bar, were they’re always glad you came. In Monteverde, the response to the endless stream of visitors and new short-term residents was an enthusiastic, “What new blessing…
How to afford a long, long trip
So many people say they would love to be travelling like we are if they only could. One of the biggest concerns is finances. While acknowledging the incredibly lucky and privileged place that Sarah and I are starting from, I thought sharing how we overcame key barriers might inspire y’all to see things in a…
What do St.Louis, Columbus, Philadelphia, and Maine have in common?
Sometimes it’s good to write daily, catch all the fascinating details, see the pebbles in the mosaic. Other times it’s good to let a bunch of Wow’s and Ugh’s blow past then look back to see which gems stand out, what patterns emerge. At least, that’s my excuse for now trying to make sense of…
Playful Mice in Wichita Kansas
“True character is what you do when no-one’s watching,” they say. They also say, “When the cat’s away, they mice will play.” So what does an unwatched Ricky play when his wife runs away to a Florida work retreat and leaves him in glorious Wichita Kansas? 1. Overload on Community Events Day of the Dead…
a Real drum
Moving from a house into a car requirs a lot of pruning. But why am I giving this precious drum away? Well, it turns out I’m not that young hippie traveller who ends up in random drum circles anymore. And as beautiful and resonant and “real” as it is, it just barely stands on…
How Barbed Wire Won the West
“It is not difficult or expensive to start a basic barbed wire collection…” – encouraging words from the Kansas Barbed Wire Museum website. We almost missed this Kansas treasure (most travellers do). The first 120 snow-laden miles out of Boulder took 3.5 hours, following snowploughs and cars skidding into the meridian and the occasional passing…
So long, Snug
It was harder than I’d somehow convinced myself, ending the life of a beloved family member. We’d spent the last year agonizing over the decision. Snug’s cancer had clearly spread. She was clearly in some pain But she still also clearly had a good life, loving our walks, loving belly rubs and neighbours and snow…
Three Saturdays
Just 2 Saturdays ago, we were frantically finalizing a house sale… Our plan to rent it out fully-furnished was usurped by a neighbour casually asking to buy it instead. Suddenly we had 10 (ten!) days to sort literally everything we own into 3 piles – bring with us, store in the basement, or sell/give away. …
On the road to find out
What do you get when you combine empty-nesting, retirement (mine), a wife who works remotely, and a new EV with a 320-mile range? Well, you get Colorado, Kansas, Philadelphia, Nova Scotia, and Vancouver for the first four months. Then the world awaits… St. Paul house sold. Possessions winnowed down to 6 tupperware containers and a…
Currently in...
France (Amiens, Mer Les Bains) for Sarah's knee replacement
Heading to...
New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Uruguay, Chile, Monteverde. Please share any sites, people or ideas by email.