I laid out my new sleeping bag on the thick mat under the stars. It was muggy outside but I still got into the down sleeping bag else I felt too exposed. I turned off my head lamp and said goodnight to my fellow travelers going through the same ritual nearby. As I lay there, [...]

“A commissioned piece of graffiti on your home can actually raise the value of your home in Buenos Aires.” she says in a factual manner. As my brain catches up with my ears, I interrupt our guide and say, “What, can you repeat that last part about increasing the value of your home?” Clearly I [...]

I had seen those people before – the ones with the duct taped boots or better yet the people who left their torn up destroyed boots on the trail as an offering to the hiking Gods. I always thought, “What idiots!“, I couldn’t understand how these people could be so horrible at planning. How could [...]

My hands vibrate, the noise is deafening, and there is so much dust I can hardly see the dirt path in front of me. My lips are tightly pursed so as not to take in too much dust in my lungs – but even though my lips are sealed – I am smiling inside. Yesterday [...]

We met at the Starbucks, a bit cliché for Seattle, but it was warm inside and I wasn’t going to complain when I was handed a white chocolate mocha drink as I was peeling off my mittens. Mark introduced himself as our Savor Seattle guide for the morning and then introduced rest of the international [...]

Politics are normally conducted behind closed doors – seedy deals, negotiations, handshakes, promises, and sometimes even sexual favors (aka – the blue dress). But in Berlin, a city with a dramatic political past, politics are transparent. Politics The Reichstag building was part of that dramatic past and paid the price in many ways including burning [...]

Even fun has a shelf life – this is what runs through my mind as I walk around Spreepark, the abandoned, dilapidated amusement park in Berlin. I can’t help but get visions of the many cemeteries I have visited in the past – the former amusement park is like a graveyard of fun. I walk [...]

“I know you, you’ve been here before?” I was stunned that they would remember me after 4 years and countless travelers coming through their doors. I don’t really think that I stand out at all, I have no real defining features, no distinct accents, and with each year the landscape of my face changes with [...]