Some early videos I made during my first trip to Romania- Draculas’s castle and Sighiosoara
The Traveling Wizard, aka Bill Wiatrak Visits Germany for 2018 Oktoberfest. Beer, dancing, pretzels…what more could you ask for?
I was standing on the floor of what used to be The Berghof, or Hitler’s house. It’s always been hard for me to think of the world’s most hated man as being a real person, but he had a house, a girlfriend, he painted and he lived in one of the most beautiful areas of Bavaria. His home was obliterated off the map by Allied forces, but there are little...
I never figured out exactly where “the hole” was in Jackson Hole, but I guess it didn’t matter all that much. The town’s closest airport is located in Grand Teton National Park and the dramatic mountains framing the runway were a stunning sight as I stepped off the plane. It had to be one of the prettiest airports I’ve ever seen in the world...
We all heard the big news when Hugh Hefner died. His first playmate, Marilyn Monroe, the celebrity that helped launch his controversial magazine to super stardom, was someone he had never met. In spite of this fact, he chose to buy the last piece of real estate he would ever use right next door to her. After decades of a life that few of us can possibly imagine at...
We arrived at Shanghai Disney 30 minutes before it opened, but the crowds of Chinese tourists were already gathering by the trainload. The Happiest Place on Earth had expanded its universe to Shanghai a few years ago and business was booming. I was more than a little curious how Disney would fare in the Far East. Would Chinese kids recognize Mickey...
I’ve been traveling through China for the last 2 weeks. It’s a fascinating country with amazing archaeological treasures, breathtaking scenery and pandas. Yes, pandas. Although I’ve been here half a dozen times, I find travel here to be some of the most challenging in the world. It can be extremely frustrating because of language barriers and customs that westerners...
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...
I’m going to Mongolia. In a couple of weeks I’m hopping on a plane to fly to LA at the crack of dawn and lingering for 12 hours in California before I catch a flight to Shanghai. A couple days later I’ll jump on the Maglev high speed train and travel 800 miles to Beijing. From there I’ll catch another flight to the border of China and hire a taxi to...
I just saw the most beautiful lake in the world. Of all the pretty places I’ve seen around the globe, this was the one: the shining star; the photo you just can’t wait to put on Instagram. Lake Moraine is 20 minutes away from it’s sister lake, Lake Louise and the two bodies of water collectively are among the most photographed places on the planet...