For me, freedom is traveling light with just one change of clothes. That still translates into wearing clean clothes every day. The downside is doing a bit of laundry each day. The upside is traveling with just a carry-on: I walk past the check-in lines and straight to Security. My 35 liter backpack easily fits… Continue reading Travel Gear: Clean Clothes
Category: Fails
Personal Space in Economy
I love to fly, even in Economy. Fellow passengers are almost always considerate, showing respect for personal space. They might even have interesting stories to tell.But I do have a few requests for my seat-mates. Please do not tug on my seat. If you only follow one request please follow this one: when getting out… Continue reading Personal Space in Economy
Travel Gear: Buying the Wrong GPS
Whether it’s investments or stuff, I’m a buy-and-hold kind of person. I’d had my handheld GPS (a Garmin, function-key-driven GPSMAP 6OCSx) 8 years when I lost it on a trip in January 2015. I was not ready to replace it because it still performed well relative to current units. But now I had no GPS. I… Continue reading Travel Gear: Buying the Wrong GPS
Channeling Eva Gabor in Kirishima
As the floor plan shows, the lower levels of big Japanese resort hotels have something for everyone. Last week, in Kirishima, Kyushu, Japan, I walked through the hotel’s amusement area dressed in a yukata, clutching a towel, heading for the stairs to the outdoors hot springs. People were laughing and joking and drinking. Their… Continue reading Channeling Eva Gabor in Kirishima
An Unplanned Night in Houston
Well, I didn’t get too far today. The plan was to get from Fort Lauderdale to Kirishima, southern Japan. Instead I got as far as Houston. My United flight from Houston to Tokyo was repeatedly delayed: something about a problem under the floor, eventually traced to a cargo door.I retreated to the KLM club where… Continue reading An Unplanned Night in Houston
Yellow Camaro in Paradise
I don’t give a toss about cars. I drive a 1997 Honda Civic as little as possible. It still hasn’t clocked 80,000 miles. In the 1980’s when Dwight and I were looking for our first car together, a salesman proudly led us outside. “I have just the car for you guys.” We couldn’t believe our… Continue reading Yellow Camaro in Paradise
Yellow Camaro in Paradise
Posted about a yellow Camaro in Paradise, and how I don’t give a toss about cars.
My Worst Travel Fail
I have rarely felt more alive, more calm, more in the moment, more close to death. But that all came later that night. It was October 2011, northern India, Haridwar, one of Hinduism’s holiest places. The city is set in the foothills of the Himalayas at mile 157 (253 km) of the Ganges’ 1,569 mile… Continue reading My Worst Travel Fail
Changes of Gauge
Delta flight 160, Denver to Amsterdam, landed today (December 1, 2014) in Amsterdam with no Denver passengers on board. This is not uncommon: it also happened with DL160 on November 13. The explanation starts with a “change of gauge,” a term rooted in railroads.Track gauge is the distance between the inner faces of the two… Continue reading Changes of Gauge
Gas
It was breakfast at the Granvia Okayama Hotel. The tour group at the next table murmured in agreement as the colonel railed against typographical errors in the itinerary. I pegged him as “the colonel,” now a paper-pusher, close to retirement. It was impossible to tune him out as he recalled his first encounter with the… Continue reading Gas