#26: Honduras
Wanderlust When I transformed this blog from a policy and politics focus into a travel blog over seven years ago, I set out with the goal of recounting a short reflection from each of my travels around the world. It took a few years (and is still ongoing), but it was an enjoyable and rewarding […]
A Winter Day in Amsterdam
A Winter Long Past I can still remember it: that Christmas morning in 2000 when my stepdad, Ken, bought me a bike. I insisted on riding it all around the freshly fallen snow of Leebrook Drive in Cincinnati. Sliding on the small hills of the empty streets, all of the sane kids still warm in […]
Going Off-Script in London
https://youtu.be/x2Z7bVPjX-s?si=fbuRzETeEnpWUM5r Getting There The short walk from Trafalgar Square down to Big Ben was fraught with many tears, comments that walking was not an acceptable form of transportation, and demands that an Uber must be called immediately under the threat of a meltdown which was already partially underway. This walk, a mere few blocks, was […]
Part VI – Acquafondata
https://youtu.be/IO9DZCKf-bc Preface: The small municipality of Acquafondata lay high in the mountains at the nexus of the Winter Line and the Gustav Line, the fortified Axis defensive lines where Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring’s Army Group C made their stand against the US 5th Army as it pushed towards Rome. This tiny handful of less than a […]
Unfiltered: Bambinos in Italia
https://youtu.be/ruAy6FiXX88 The Journey Begins Again I’d like to think that Jenn and I are fairly experienced and efficient travelers. We breeze through airport security, know how to pick the right seats on the plane, take advantage of points and perks offered on travel credit cards. We find a good balance, leaving parts of trips open […]
In Another Country
As has been the case several times during the telling of letters home, the next chapter was one in which I came in thinking I knew what story I wanted to tell, but had it completely reshaped from what I found. It all started with a simple entry in a US Army Morning Report, the daily […]
An Unexpected Adventure to Newcastle
https://youtu.be/4hrT9vI-yPk?si=4jQU9lfjC1Q8ZK7c Dreaming up an Adventure It was just before Jacob’s bedtime, and we had out his big illustrated children’s atlas that he loves flipping the pages of… looking at the animals, the food and the structures in all of faraway places of the word and unloading all the questions that his curious mind could think […]
A Fall Day in Amsterdam
Being a Tourist Again In October, the Dutch weather turns bad. The days are darker, the sky is gray, and rain comes all the time from the North Sea. Amsterdam’s neighborhoods carry the scent of wood fires as everyone tries to get warm. Pedaling back on the bakfiets from picking up Jacob from school, we […]
Part V – Africa
https://youtu.be/mgCKgRdUQvI?si=eBcRomWeUKotnt44 My Dearest Darling, Just a few lines honey to let you know I am just fine. Hoping you are the same…. Do you ever go to Indiana? I never did like Indiana much myself, but I would like to be there now. These Jerrys are not going to get me… How long do you think the […]
A German Story
https://youtu.be/VRT2h_JlFmc Beware that what follows is a raw account of a dad granted an unexpected hall pass to embark on a solo journey to Oktoberfest in the heart of Germany. You may be wondering: How did this man return to tell the tale? Allow me to regale you with the story. On a seemingly ordinary […]
