Travel
It’s Family TV Time, Watching All Together
When I was a young lad, one of my fondest memories was watching television with my whole family on Sunday nights. We had an old family friend, a bachelor named Fairfield Day, who used to visit us sometimes and join us on those cozy Sundays when we watched “Gentle Ben” […]
The King of Parking in China Offers Us Cake
Lui Ju is a parking magnate from Beijing. He is known to his American friends as ‘Tom,” and speaks through an interpreter. He addressed the lunchtime audience at the National Parking Association yesterday in Mandarin with an invitation: ‘reap the bounty of China’s ‘money machine.’ “Someone who had been to […]
Pickens Talks About Converting Trucks to Natural Gas
“The best time to plant a tree is 2o years ago,” said T. Boone Pickens today, as he sat on stage and talked about his ambitious plans to radically change the energy policy of the US as soon as he can. “You’ve gotta have a plan…and so far we don’t […]
A Classic Fall Day…And a Busy Travel Week Ahead
What a lovely Fall day in New England. Outside, the air is crisp, about 59 degrees, and leaves are blowing around the yard, beautiful patches of orange, red and yellow. I’m cozy wearing a new ‘shirt jacket’ that my parents gave me for my birthday, and Cindy is by my […]
Why Make the Player When You Can Be It?
I found a story from Wired magazine in my FB feed that impressed me. Reed Hastings is the CEO of Netflix, and back in 2007, the company was excited about launching a new consumer product. The company isn’t in the hardware business, they were going to bring out a paperback-book-sized […]
Sharks Fight Over College Course Notes Company
Tonight’s Shark Tank show didn’t disappoint. The interesting thing tonight was how many ideas they just fought over like, well, the sharks that they are. We got to see a lot of fighting over who will invest in the first idea. That would be a website where college kids and […]
SATW: Good Riddance!
For years I’ve been on trips with travel writers who include “Active SATW” in their email signatures. This stands for the Society of American Travel Writers, a very old association of travel writers that likes to think of itself as the be all and end all in travel writing. Being […]
Paragliding over Iquique, September 2009
We took off with a run, my pilot behind me and me with a seat strapped to my arse, ran, ran ran until the cliff gave way to nothing…and then we floated, twirled and gently sunk down to land on the beach just below. Altazor de Volar takes you there.
Water is Everything in Arid Iquique, Chile
“What time is it?” Sony asked with a yawn, as we sat finishing dinner last night beneath a thatched partial roof at the El Tercer Ojito, or “The Third Eye,” in Iquique. Twelve-thirty, I answered, and to that Cristina Burchard, proprietor, told us that here, parties begin about now. She […]
Jimmy Langman Won’t Douse His Magazine Dream
At the big closing party, I ran into an earnest young man named Jimmy Langman who lives in Puerto Varas and makes his living as a writer. He’s got a dream, and he won’t let go of it. I am guilty of pouring lots of cold water on his idea, […]
Guyana? Yeah, We´d Love to Go There
My head is exploding with fascinating stories and data about so many places in South America. There is nothing I like better than to visit with people and in a short span, have them share with you what they love about the places they live. My last appointment was with […]
