After My July Peter Pan Nightmare, Time for Megabus to NYC
Sometimes I surprise myself by being terrifically organized, and planning way, way ahead. I am like this with trips, I try hard to fill up my calendar months in advance so that everything else I have to do will work itself around the all-important chances to see the world. Back […]
Blogging from the Seat of a Megabus Coach
Downtown hotels in major cities can be a joy to discover. This weekend we will find out about Ink48, a new Kimpton hotel in Hell’s Kitchen, lower Manhattan. The website is stunning, all of this glamour and glitz, it will be fun to compare it to other hotels we’ve […]
It’s Libya’s Turn Now: Inhale the Freedom After 42 Years!
“You’ve never lived under this, you don’t know what it’s like to have freedom after 42 years,” Mohdi, a middle aged man told Anderson Cooper last night. He spoke jubilantly, unabashedly showing his face on CNN –he was so happy that Ghadafi’s statues were being torn down in Libya and […]
So You Don’t Want High Speed Rail, Florida? We’ll Take that $
As I made plans to travel to France, and shoot down to Bordeaux from Paris on the grand TGV high speed train, I read with interest about Florida’s rejection of the federal billions to build a high speed rail line from Orlando to Tampa. Governor Rick Scott, a former CEO, […]
The Glorious Groove in Lake Pleasant–and No Jacket Required
One of the nice things about a new relationship are the pockets of community you discover yourself a part of when your partner invites you to one of ‘her’ parties. She’s a dancer and a drummer and a contradancer–a spirit-filled woman. That leads to all sorts of interesting new things, […]
Put My Name on Every Masthead…See you at 7:30 am
What does it take to get canned just six months after you’ve been hired to run one of America’s most iconic magazine publishers? I wondered this when I read a story in Friday’s WSJ about Time CEO Jack Griffin, who got the ax after his boss, Time Warner CEO Jeff […]
A Winter of Surprises
There are times when I reap the benefits of living in a small New England town, and find enjoyment in the depths of winter. Take last Thursday, when I took the truck to the dump to get rid of two week’s worth of cafe recycling. I thought ahead to an […]
Tree Killer Deserves the Same Penalty as the Oak Trees Got
An Alabama man deliberately destroyed two huge oak trees at Auburn University after his team lost in the Iron Bowl. Disgusting! The trees were a gathering place, and a place of celebration. Could this guy be any sicker? It’s a consensus: everyone I’ve talked to feels that a heinous crime […]
Melbourne’s Wheel Didn’t Turn Long
For the past few days I’ve been in Melbourne, Australia’s proud and immigrant enriched second city. It’s a city of four million and right on a bay, St. Kilda is the local seashore. The last time I was here in 2008, I saw a gigantic steel wheel on the horizon, […]
Through Swamp, and Dale, the G.O.W. is a Well-made Trail
Here is the view that awaits anyone smart enough to venture down here to the very bottom of Australia’s Victoria state. Most people visit these striking limestone escarpments by car, driving down the Great Ocean Road. But others like many we met this week, wouldn’t think of driving and instead, […]
Australia: Sometimes You Just Gotta Hitch a Ride
When I was about 13, and attending my beloved sleep-away Camp Kokosing, we went up to the St. John River in Quebec for a canoe trip. We began paddling up that big river in the hot August sun and anticipated three more days of hard paddling and broiling. Then the […]
The Aborigines Had Penicillin Thousands of Years Before We Did
Our day of hiking today on the Great Ocean Road took us to an iconic lighthouse near where for years, many ships found themselves beached on reefs. It’s called the Shipwreck coast and today, the once crucial lighthouse is no longer illuminated, replaced by a simple solar-powered light that’s much […]
Dinner with an International Group and Sharing Stories of Travel
At dinner last night, here at the Great Ocean Ecolodge, the discussion wove all over the map. Seated with me were a retired couple from the UK, Mark and Jackie, a journalist from Italy named Barbara, and her hostess, a rep from Victoria Tourism named Margaret. As the Victorian chardonnay […]
Meeting Future Tour Guides on the Great Ocean Walk
My feet are sore, but it’s a good kind of sore, after our 22 kilometer hike on Victoria’s Great Ocean Walk. I’m happily dry and comfy sipping tea at the Great Ocean Ecolodge, located on a flat plain where in the distance a herd of kangaroos are munching on grass. […]
Waking Up to a Million Dollar View at Chris’s Beacon Point
I’m up and ready here at Chris’s Beacon Point, a lovely spot perched high above Apollo Bay with fantastic views of the Southern Ocean. This place has a long history, first opening up here in 1979 and is all pinewood, with floor to ceiling glass walls that let diners soak […]
Along the Great Ocean Road, Sea Changers are Spotted
I’m happy to report that Ambien is a perfect antidote for a 15 1/2 hour plane trip. For the first time in more than 50 overseas trips over many years, I slept soundly, and awoke with a very pleasant piece of news…there were only two more hours till touchdown in […]
On the Eve of a Departure, Reflecting on What Travel Means
I remember once telling a friend in an email that I was headed to Austria. “Don’t hit any kangaroos,” he replied. I think about this story and the last time I was headed to this same city, Australia’s second largest metropolis–Melbourne. Tonight’s flight will take me across the Pacific for […]