ETHIOPIA | Tuesday, 9 Apr 2013 | Views [397] | Scholarship Entry
In Ethiopia, mastering how to tear off the right amount of communal injera and propel the morsels into your mouth without tasting your berbere-stained fingers scores big points. The contrast of my guide Gitachew’s smile against the shadowy gojo bet served ... Read more >
Tags: Travel Writing Scholarship 2013
PERU | Sunday, 22 Jul 2012 | Views [367]
This time, the tour bus came to our doorstep. Jill had found a cheap company running box vans to Arequipa…Peru's second-largest city, and therefore a more popular transit point than Puno. We greeted our driver, Oscar, and took our place ... Read more >
PERU | Wednesday, 18 Jul 2012 | Views [583]
Perhaps our greatest triumphs and tragedies occur in youth, when our skins are thin and wisdom is wrought from new experience…when the first taste is the sweetest and the first cut is the deepest. For yours truly there are seldom memories as saccharine ... Read more >
PERU | Thursday, 12 Jul 2012 | Views [354]
Although little can be done if fate fingers you for a victim of soroche sickness, Jill and I had taken all precautions possible within our power, including ample time for altitude adjustment. But, in a rookie mistake that a now globetrotter like yours ... Read more >
PERU | Wednesday, 4 Jul 2012 | Views [455]
There are pros and cons to traveling alone. Advantages include the freedom to follow your own itinerary and move along at your own pace, as well as the oft-overlooked fact that flying solo forces you to engage with locals, as well as fellow adventurer-... Read more >
SPAIN | Sunday, 1 Jul 2012 | Views [650]
I would not dare complain about a trip to Europe, but by my third week there, and well into my third month abroad, travel fatigue began to set in. The ennui of moving from city to city and room to room was further aggravated by two factors, one the obvious ... Read more >
PORTUGAL | Thursday, 28 Jun 2012 | Views [482]
In a pluvial disproval of My Fair Lady , nary an airborne drop would meet the Spanish soil. As I watched the verdant champs of France give way to the sepia vegas beyond the Pyrenees, I would soon meet the heat of Madrid in the summer. With ... Read more >
FRANCE | Saturday, 23 Jun 2012 | Views [308]
When my guitarist/roommate/buddy Tripp and I made a brief visit to England to play some gigs and party with a producer we met in Texas, it was the dead of winter, which in London is dark and cold. Still, it was a marvelous trip, but making my first fair-... Read more >
BELGIUM | Wednesday, 20 Jun 2012 | Views [333]
After a long solo sojourn, I've learned to appreciate the value of visiting someone you know. Of course, I’ve made acquaintances along the way, but these are new relationships based on new experiences, so it’d hard to say how many, if any, ... Read more >
NETHERLANDS | Sunday, 17 Jun 2012 | Views [302]
Originally, my plan after landing at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam was to immediately catch a southbound train, so I might mooch off of my friend Marieke and crash at her place for a couple of days. But, if there's anything I’ve learned in my months ... Read more >
GERMANY | Friday, 15 Jun 2012 | Views [296]
My Grandmother ( Oma ) told me this is what JFK said when he visited Berlin. But, pastry aside, folks from Berlin are called Berliners, just like volks from Hamburg are Hamburgers, and hunds from Rottweil are Rottweilers. Years before President ... Read more >
ISRAEL | Wednesday, 13 Jun 2012 | Views [319]
After returning my rental car and spending a couple of warm sunny days in Tel Aviv, it was time to end my 2-week visit to the Middle East. Because I'd heard that the security at Ben-Gurion Airport is tight, I pulled an all-nighter and arrived for my ... Read more >
JORDAN | Saturday, 9 Jun 2012 | Views [323]
Just like with the West Bank, cross-border driving was off-limits according to Avis. After doing some research on making the trip to Petra on my own, I realized it would cost me the same amount of money to join a tour group, plus, I'd get a free buffet ... Read more >
ISRAEL | Thursday, 7 Jun 2012 | Views [304]
I woke up tired and sore on the morning following my bike ride, but I was ready to jump in a car as soon as possible, so that I had the freedom to explore at my own pace. That morning at Avis, I ran into Julio, whom I hadn't seen since the West Bank, ... Read more >
ISRAEL | Tuesday, 5 Jun 2012 | Views [307]
As the Egged bus wound its way from the top of the hill, we passed a sign marking the point where we were now below Sea Level. Still many meters below us, along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, lay the town of Tiberias. As soon as I saw it, I realized ... Read more >
ISRAEL | Sunday, 3 Jun 2012 | Views [329]
When Robbie Robertson of the Band wrote my titular line, he was referring to Nazareth, Pennsylvania, and Levon Helm, the man who sang it, has sadly only recently become all the way past dead. But, it was fitting that I should arrive in the original Nazareth ... Read more >
PALESTINE | Saturday, 2 Jun 2012 | Views [339]
While Shabbat shuts down the Jewish part of the Old City, to Jerusalem's Muslim population, it’s simply Saturday. Still excited about seeing the Holy Land, I decided to return to East Jerusalem and catch an Arab bus to Bethlehem. After seeking ... Read more >
ISRAEL | Friday, 1 Jun 2012 | Views [636]
Even after recollecting its repeated references in the religious services of my youth, nothing could prepare me for actually arriving in Jerusalem. After hopping a hired Sherut (Minibus) from Ben-Gurion Airport for the 45-minute ride, I was dropped ... Read more >
TURKEY | Thursday, 31 May 2012 | Views [375]
As I mentioned before, after six weeks in India and Ethiopia, I expected Istanbul to be a breath of fresh air. I'd heard so many nice things about the city prior to my arrival, and I found the previous praise well justified. However, as an unplanned ... Read more >
ETHIOPIA | Tuesday, 29 May 2012 | Views [531]
Ah, Ethiopia…So much to abhor, but much more to adore. I'll have to review my previous entries, because I might have said this about each country I’ve visited thus far, but Ethiopia really has been my favorite destination of them all. ... Read more >
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