I had just checked into the Grande Colonial La Jolla and everything seemed as normal as it could be. As I turned toward the elevator, the man at the desk stopped me. “You don’t want to forget this” he’s said as he passed a small attaché case across the counter. “it’s your ghost hunter kit. It comes with the ‘special rooms’.” I’d played a ghost hunter in a small...
I’ve been to Vegas a lot of times. I’ve never considered myself a high roller except maybe by third world country standards. I’ve never flown to Sin City by helicopter, had afternoon tea with Steve Wynn or played blackjack in the high stakes room. I normally stay in whatever hotel I get on sale, run down to Fremont street at some point and see a...
I hear this phrase a lot: “They don’t like Americans over there”. Usually the person saying it is an American and has never been “there” or anywhere else for that matter. The world is easier to understand if you make assumptions and base opinions on what you thought you saw or read somewhere. Just apply the principles from what you learned in cartoons: The bad...
To be honest, Minneapolis wasn’t high on my travel list until I came across a Spirit Airlines promotion that seemed to good to be true. From Houston, the round trip fare was $46. I can’t even get an Uber to the airport for that. I tweeted the deal and asked my friends and followers if there was anything worthwhile to do there. The response was fast and...
When you think of Jamaica, you’re likely to conjure up a mental picture of Bob Marley before you think of anything else. There’s no other country in the world where one musician seems to represent the embodiment of an entire culture like Marley is to Jamaica. The dreadlocks, the red/green/yellow color scheme seems sooooo Jamaican. But is it...
First Avenue Night Club in Minneapolis was starting to fill up. I sat on the end of the bar sipping a Purple Rain, a drink made famous by the 1984 Prince movie filmed in this legendary venue. Whether Prince ever drank one himself remains a mystery, but as I sipped my violet colored libation, I had to smile. I was going to visit Paisley Park the next...
The immigration officer asked me where I had flown in from. “Lebanon”, I replied. “It’s pretty dangerous over there”, he remarked. “Actually not” said I, “they were some of the nicest people I ever met”. He muttered something as he put a special mark on my embarkation card: a “random” mark according to...
Mention the country of Azerbaijan and you’re likely to get a confused look. Much of the western world hasn’t heard of this nation and is even less likely to be able to locate it on a map. Information about it is sketchy at best. My first thought was that the name sounded like a Middle Eastern newly developed country full of goat herders and antiquated...
It was lunch time and I was meandering through the San Juan Mercado in Mexico City looking for weird foods to try. I was a little nervous because most of the comestibles I’d heard about were outside of my eating comfort zone. Before I could even navigate past a few stalls, menus were being offered from several of the miniature restaurants...
Some of my friends chide me about my world travels and refer to me as Indiana Jones. Maybe it’s the hat I wear when I’m traveling, my bizarre adventures or seemingly near death experiences that I always seem to escape from unscathed. If you saw Raiders of the Lost Ark you probably know that Indiana Jones had to journey...