It just hit me.TWO YEARS AGO TODAY I LEFT BANGKOK (technically yesterday on Thai time).After a long stint abroad, it was time to turn emails back into family and friends.I haven’t been entirely at peace with being back, everything “temporary” in spirit. I’ve been told to “grow up” but I know I’m growing as a […]

THE HAPPY DRAGON, Beijing, China happydragonhostel.com Probably THE most amazing hostel I’d EVER experienced. I cannot say enough good things about this place. CHENGDU MIX-IT, Chengdu, China mixhostel.com BAMBOO GUEST HOUSE, Yangshuo, China PEGASUS HOSTEL BERLIN, Berlin, Germany http://www.pegasushostel.de LYON YOUTH HOSTEL, Lyon, France PARIS YOUTH HOSTEL, Paris, France […]

The ‘Just In Case’ Hostel Packing Checklist: In addition to the obvious traveling necessities, there are certain items that will put you at ease should you have a rowdy room or a hostel that is a little lacking. Remember a hostel in Europe may tend to have more amenities than one in Asia or Africa […]

People tend to fear the unknown. And for many unseasoned travelers the unknown is the hostel. The hotel. The motel. Even the campground. These are familiar. But the hostel? What’s a hostel? Is that, like, European? People tend to resort to popular culture for life’s answers. Apparently the 2005 horror film Hostel has the final […]

It’s November 2011. Sitting on the couch of my apartment in northern New Jersey, I am frustrated. My job is anything but lucrative. I’m wondering. Trying to be patient. And of course find myself thinking of days of old. Not even old. Days of travel… the people and places. I’m amazed that I’ve been in […]

Little things take me across the world. Hand soap for instance. The other day I was washing my hands in my friend’s bathroom. The soap was Japanese Cherry blossom. Quite honestly before venturing abroad maybe I knew cherry trees had blossoms and maybe I didn’t. I just knew George Washington wasn’t Japanese. In any case, […]

My long saught-after dreams of being home have come true. And have I long grown tired of what I’d wished. Eight months back in the USA. I swore I’d never live in Jersey again. In 2006 I moved to Scottsdale, AZ, and didn’t look back. Then it was Korea and Europe. And last stop Bangkok […]

Some day- it never seems to arrive.  For some day is never today. But what if today is the some day of our yesterdays?  And if all those yesterdays weren’t our some day, what’s to say all these tomorrows are any better?  Is there such a perfect day?  Our days are fast and fleeting.  And yet […]

December 27, 2010 It was a cold December morning that I dug a heafty self-addressed envelope, posted from China, out of the back of my closet.  I put on my Spider snowpants that I’d purchased in the Beijing silk market along with my gloves.  Those gloves… they were my first purchase in China and I totally got ripped off.  […]

Domestic Travel – What is it? I fear that the thrill of flying from one side of the country to the other has lost a bit of it’s edge.  Five and a half hours to Arizona pales in comparison to  the 24-hour bus ride from Paris to Poznan that left my ankles swollen.   Two and […]

It’s all mental.  All in your head.  It’s how much you can mentally push your physical capabilities.  It’s how you see the world around you. My latest journey is especially heavy on the mind. With a myriad of travel adventures yet unwritten, I have to carefully stow them away for safe keeping while I take […]