Author - Bill Wiatrak

The Three Coolest Places to Sleep and Shoot Photographs in Houston.

We’ve all rented an Airbnb that has us scratching our heads of how we ended up there. There’s few things that are as depressing as being stuck in a room with a non-working AC, bare walls, and bedspreads that look like they came from someone’s Grandma’s garage sale. I try not to book such places, but on those occasions where I’ve rented a...

The Rise and Fall of Le Chat Noir

The Rise and Fall of Le Chat Noir “What is up with the man holding the umbrella over a cat?” “It’s Banksy. And the large cat on the door is the 19th century logo of Le Chat Noir, a famous night spot in Paris.” The room was full of Pearland residents who had come to oppose my zoning change. Their glazed-over eyes indicated that they’d never heard of this Banksy fellow...

The Most Famous Reindeer of All

Visiting Santa Claus's lair  while traveling in Finland was one of the highlights of my arctic trip but a refrigerator magnet just didn’t seem like a sufficient memoir for such an amazing stop. I settled on buying a fur of one of Santa’s “former workers” when the opportunity presented itself. For $130, it turns out that one can purchase a full reindeer hide at the...

How to Poison Your Friends in Tahiti

It was Sunday again. Like in the movie Groundhog day, I had lived an entire day that was being repeated all over again. Such is the paradox of crossing the international date line from New Zealand to Tahiti. I had half expected to find myself in a place that looked like a Gauguin painting, but the area near the international airport didn’t feel like a tropical...

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Samoa

I knew two things about Samoa before my plane landed. “Talofa” means hello and one of American most iconic movie stars, Dwayne Johnson is half Samoan. Oh yeah, Samoa is an island. I knew that too.  I’m not alone. There’s not a lot of information for visitors about this gem in the Pacific  and what one finds is often hopelessly outdated or just...

Wrestling a Cheetah in Somalia

Catchy title, huh? Its actually true (in a way) but more on that in a moment. Most of my friends thought I’d lost my mind when I told them I was going to Somalia. Maybe they’ve heard me say that I consider Mogadishu to be the scariest place on the planet. Maybe like me, they’d seen the movie Black Hawk Down with scenes filmed in Africa that were truly terrifying...

The Wreck of The Toa Maru

DIVING IN THE SOLOMON ISLANDS There’s not a lot to do in the Solomon Islands if you’re not a diver or world war 2 history buff. Over 900 islands spread throughout its archipelago with infrequent and/or expensive transport make traveling a challenge.  That’s the bad news.  The good news is the coral reefs and tropical isles of this country are stunning. If...

Visiting Kashmir- Beyond Led Zeppelin

Surprisingly enough, I never met one person in Kashmir who knew the song. Led Zeppelin Poster Art Led Zeppelin’s 1973 rock ballad was written by a band who had never visited Kashmir and the lyrics were inspired by a drive through southern Morocco. Robert Plant wanted to capture the desolation of the area in verse and Kashmir seemed like a better name than south...

Free Travel Advice

Looking for travel answers? I’m available (although possibly in another time zone somewhere on the Earth) and happy to answer questions about where to go, where not to go, what food to try, what country has the best places to visit and all that. I’ve been to all the continents, the 7 wonders of the world and 211 countries. I’m not finished by any...