“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” — Bill Bryson When I was doing research for last week’s trip to Stanfords … Read More
“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air…” — Ralph Waldo Emerson When a room comes with its own pair of binoculars, you know you’re in for a good night’s stay. The minute I walked through the door of my hotel room in Brighton, looked out the wide bay window, and saw … Read More
“Look at a tree, a flower, a plant. Let your awareness rest upon it. How still they are, how deeply rooted in Being. Allow nature to teach you stillness.” — Eckhart Tolle, Stillness Speaks When you start thinking in iambic pentameter, it’s a sign you need to go outside and get some air. This week we … Read More
“Get a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live.” — Mark Twain When driving around the North Island of New Zealand last year, I spent a night on the Coromandel Peninsula in a hostel not far from the famous Hot Water Beach. That night I got to know three Germans (well, two Germans … Read More
“God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages.” — Jacques Deval I hadn’t been looking for a market. Indeed, on such a lazy Sunday morning in Porto, Portugal, I hadn’t been looking for anything much at all–but isn’t that when the great finds always happen? From the bus on … Read More
“Derive happiness in oneself from a good day’s work, from illuminating the fog that surrounds us.” — Henri Matisse It’s funny the things that remain with us after we leave a place. After a weekend in Porto, Portugal, I’m left with the usual roundup of activities to look back on–the four-hour bike ride along the coast to … Read More
“Where then? Spain or Sardinia. Spain or Sardinia. Sardinia, which is like nowhere. Sardinia which has no history, no date, no race, no offering. Let it be Sardinia.” — D.H. Lawrence, Sea and Sardinia Right after my flatmate Claire and I first booked our flights to Sardinia, I typed something, who knows what, into Google, and whatever it … Read More
“My favorite thing is to go where I’ve never been.” — Diane Arbus Little Sweden USA. It’s an unusual title to hear no matter where you happen to be in the States, but perhaps even more so in a place like Kansas. But such is the claim to fame held by Lindsborg, a little town … Read More
“A blog is merely a tool that lets you do anything from change the world to share your shopping list.” — Unknown I never thought I’d be a blogger. I can remember, ‘back in the day’ of Xanga and the like, when the thought of blogging seemed like nothing more than a glorified diary…only put out … Read More
“The feeling of friendship is like that of being comfortably filled with roast beef; love, like being enlivened with champagne.” — Samuel Johnson I always pride myself on being a good expat. Whatever my adopted country may be at the time, I aim to become a student of its culture, soaking up the new traditions, … Read More