The spiky wooden dolls that had been blessed with my name stood facing me on a dusty animal skin. I had been handed a smooth ebony nut, a tiny cloth bag on a necklace and an oddly shaped wooden talisman that I had been instructed to whisper into. The shaman and the guide were talking in an unintelligible language as they pushed the tortoise shells towards us. “Place...
Austin is a city unlike any other in Texas. With it’s west coast vibe, music scene and hipster culture, there’s a lot of different travel choices you won’t find in Houston or Dallas. Gentrification is the buzzword the locals use for the new spaces popping up as older properties are repurposed, remodeled, or rebranded to fit with the city’s...
THE LONG ROAD TO HANA “Make sure you do the Road to Hana”! someone told me for the 11th time. Like the others before, their eyes briefly glazed over as if they were talking about El Dorado, the lost city of gold. What was so magical about this road that sounded like Bing Crosby/ Bob Hope movie? I Googled it. Most reviewers seemed to love the twisty road...
I had been scouring the museum for Arrangement in grey and black no. 1, and wanted to ask someone where it was, but wasn’t really sure how to say it in French. It was 9 am in Paris and I was still exhausted from my red-eye flight from Ethiopia. My brain wasn’t working. You’ve seen photos of this painting. It’s been called the Victorian Mona Lisa and is one of the...
When I told my friends I was going to Iraq, some figured I’d joined the military or was planning to do something illegal. After all, what do most people think of when you mention this country? Tanks, blown-up buildings, bombs….. Face it, out of all the places in the world, Iraq is going to be at the bottom of most tourist bucket lists. Believe it or not, this country...
When I told my friends I was going to Iraq, some figured I’d joined the military or was planning to do something illegal. After all, what do most people think of when you mention this country? Tanks, blown-up buildings, bombs….. Face it, out of all the places in the world, Iraq is going to be at the bottom of most tourist bucket lists. Believe it or not, this...
The Indianapolis 500 has always been on my bucket list as a thing I’d like to do someday, but like most items on my list, I knew next to nothing about it. I figured, given its name and my uncanny deduction abilities, it was probably in Indianapolis. I had no idea that the “500” referred to the number of miles that the racers must drive to win the race. As luck would...