Africa time is slow. Almost nobody seems to be in a hurry. The traffic is terrible. You could make the mistake of thinking things are flexible and relaxed, but when that might serve you well, you’d be completely wrong. The common thread is not a relaxed attitude, but rather a lazy and completely unconcerned one. […]
If you thought for a second that a resort on a remote island in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia might provide a reprieve from the inane insanity and consumer orgy of the American Christmas season, you’d be wrong. Comically wrong. It turns out that they’re well aware that it’s Christmas in The […]
Ethiopian Airlines is a discount carrier, and it shows. We’ve had the displeasure now of utilizing them a few times in a few airports, and the experience has been consistent: rude or even hostile customer service, shabby and crowded planes, and miserly amenities. I suppose this is what it takes to remain one of the […]
When we arrived back in Nairobi from Mogadishu, we were routed through a different hallway to customs than we were when we flew in originally from Zurich. Before getting to customs, we went through slightly more involved health checks, including Ebola screening with a very excitable man in mask and gloves. The last checkpoint was […]
Mogadishu. We’ve been asked plenty of times: “Why? Why would you want to go there?” The answer is, to say the least, complicated. I know that I’ve responded to the question with a bit of a shrug at times. The smug reply would be to paraphrase Edmund Hillary with “because it is there.” There is […]
We made it into Nairobi late yesterday after mostly uneventful transit through Zurich. The three of us on U.S. passports had Kenyan visas ahead of time, but it turns out visa on arrival seemed to be pretty straightforward as well. When we got to customs, a Caucasian non-English speaking couple with maroon colored passports ahead […]
Today was our last full day in Portugal and we spent it leisurely touring the downtown area around our apartment. We visited a church in which the roof collapsed, killing everyone inside (Carmo Convent) during the earthquake that practically leveled Lisbon in 1755. Near that church is an elevator where you can reach a viewing […]
So we slept in a bit and didn’t get out until late morning… I think we’re reset at this point on our sleep schedule. We went to a different part of the train station for the longer distance trains to head about 45 minutes outside of Lisbon to an historic area called Sintra. The ticket […]
I enjoy passenger shaming as much as anyone. I might even go so far as to say that the process is sometimes one of the enjoyable facets of travel, in particular during group transit periods. The thing is, brazenly snapping pictures of brazenly bad behavior is a risky proposition when you’re trapped in a high-altitude, […]
What draws us back to Japan again and again is difficult to pin down. It’s certainly not the sights. To be sure, there are beautiful shrines and temples in Kyoto, sweeping views that span Lake Kawaguchiko to the Pacific Ocean atop Mt. Fuji, and beautiful parks around Tokyo. But if revisiting seemingly postcard-perfect attractions were […]
There is a well-worn path through Southeast Asia that snakes through Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and, depending on whom you ask, maybe a few other places. Treading this path at a leisurely pace over a few weeks, you’re likely to see some of the same Western faces making their way from hostel to hostel across the […]
Domestic air travel in Myanmar is an interesting experience. Once we were turned loose at the terminal in Yangon, the seemingly chaotic boarding through a single exit and constant indecipherable announcements were a tad confusing. Admittedly, we were at least mildly concerned that we might miss our 0630 flight. Everything went smoothly though. We rode […]
Yangon, Myanmar isn’t quite the antipode of the southeastern United States. That would actually put you in the middle of the ocean west of Australia. However, after more than 20 hours of flight time equaling half the circumference of the globe, let’s just keep things simple and say that we’re on the other side of […]
Early flight today from Luxor to Cairo… an even earlier flight tomorrow from Cairo back to home. The flight from Luxor seems like it’s over as soon as it starts. When an attendant woke me to bring my seat back up it felt like I’d just nodded off for a minute, but we were already […]
We had every intention of getting pictures of the Stargate in Abydos, but unsurprisingly they don’t allow cameras in the gate room. Seriously though, both the movie and the series neglected to mention the touts and hustlers in the local village there. We did have a good time though and Abydos and Dendera are both […]