Stuck Inside Of Kingston With The Mobay Blues...

3 min read

Ever been stranded on an island?  I was. It was a surprise. But then, being stranded usually is…  unless you’re living in a romantic comedy and you planned the stranding. I don’t live in a romantic comedy.

The Greenland Ice Is Melting... In My Drink

4 min read

Greenland is not green. It’s white, covered with a gigantic sheet of  ice - 660,000 square miles - roughly a quarter the size of the U.S. Incredibly, this ice sheet also rises one and half miles into the sky.   

How Amanda, The Teenage Ghost Haunted My Cell Phone

4 min read

Well she was just 17. And you know… she was a ghost.  At least, that was the story. But it didn’t seem to matter that she was a ghost. Like all teens she loved cell phones. Except… she texted from another dimension.

Kiddie Cabin Pressure

5 min read

I like family vacations. I really do.  Even when things go south.  Even when the kids are whiny and miserable. Even when everyone is crying and fighting and having a terrible time.

The keyword here being time.  Time is the most valuable currency in a family.  Because we never, ever have enough time together.  Best of times, worst of times… who cares?  The point of family vacations is that we finally stop everything else we’re doing and spend some time together.

Paris On $1 A Day

Paris On $1 A Day
4 min read

Ever get trapped in a cemetery? Ever get trapped in a cemetery surrounded by celebrities? It would have been cool if they had been alive.  I could have gotten to know them – swap stories, joke about our shared adventure, you know… keep in touch.

Hizoner, John Gotti And Me

4 min read

This is a New York kind of story about a New York kind of trip. I love traveling to that tough talking town and there was a special bonus this time: I got to cross paths with a couple of Wise Guys.  Plus a future mayor of New York and a New York Times reporter.  Like I said, it was a New York kind of trip.   

Captain, There's a Warthog On The Runway

3 min read

You can know a lot about a place by its airplanes. 

A friend told of a flight she took in Africa back when there were smoking and non-smoking sections. On this particular flight, however, those sections were divided lengthways, right down the middle of the plane. Pure Africa. 

How Does Shimon Peres Get All The Girls?

5 min read

If you don’t know who Shimon Peres is – you should.  President of Israel.  Also Prime Minister of Israel… twice. Plus:

  •       Nobel Peace Prize winner
  •       Knighthood from Queen Elizabeth
  •       Medal of Freedom from President Obama
  •       Awarded the title of Sheikh for his work to achieve Middle East peace. 

But what I want to know is... how does 92 year old Shimon Peres get all the girls?

Lost Bags & Found Briefs In Rajasthan

5 min read

You learn many lessons when you travel.  One is how to pack – what to take, what not to take. But, even more importantly - what to take with you on the plane should your luggage not arrive the same time or place as you. 

This I learned on my first trip to India.

Planes, Trains & Automobiles... Also Choppers & Butterflies

4 min read

When you travel with a head of state, everything is about security… and transportation.  The presidential plane, the presidential helicopter, the presidential motorcade – these are the trappings by which we recognize the power and prestige of the office.

Elaine!! Bring Back My Plane!!

3 min read

Do you remember near the the end of "The Graduate" where Dustin Hoffman finally realizes he's in love with Kathryn Ross and wants to be with her?  He jumps into his Alfa Romeo and races to the church where she is about to be married.

Ben (Hoffman's character) gets to the church, runs up the stairs and spots Elaine (Kathryn Ross) at the alter.  He's too late - she has just gotten married. It's too much - he erupts in despair. 

I Hate This Fu**in’ Town!

3 min read

The Birth of Venus.  Michelangelo’s David. Yes, we’re talking about Florence.  Or Firenze if you want to pretend you know Italian.

It had been a crazy year and I had found myself in Florence five or six times.  A few of those were with the family.  We ran around like the tourists we were – buying Florence t-shirts and toys for the kids, laughing and eating gelato on the terrace of the Uffizi Gallery.

Aruba: Doing The Heimlich At The Hilton

4 min read

Aruba is One Happy Island – it says so on their license plates. 

The first happy inhabitants were the Caquetio Indians who came from nearby Venezuela to escape persecution.  Then came the Spanish who enslaved the Indians, ending their happiness.

In 1637 the Dutch arrived and made everyone speak Dutch.  Then came the most blood-thirsty intruders of all: the Tourists.  Their invasion has been relentless and unforgiving.