It is the eve of the last month of the year. December is a month I seldom travel. It is a month designated for family time. Each weekend seems to spur an event or occasion. It is also the final chapter of the year, a time for reflection. And on the eve of the last month of 2011, I couldn’t help but think back on my travels for the year, as many of us do throughout this time of ending and beginning. What I have concluded about my travels this year is that I learned something about travel I didn’t realize before. The realization comes after travel, when you are home reflecting on experiences. Continue Reading
The Strange and Simple Travel Items For Which I Am Thankful
Everyday of travel involves countless items, tools that facilitate the entire process. I don’t always pause to thank these products, nor do I always notice how instrumental they can be on my travels. It seems like a clique around Thanksgiving that Americans actually pause and consider what they are thankful for in life. And while I am thankful for friends, family, life and the like, there are just some items I will be forever indebted to on my travels. Call me a materialist, but I’ll raise a glass and a mouthful of turkey to these travel items. A GPS on Solo Travels They say true travelers Continue Reading
My Airline Broke Up With Me: The Importance of Airlines Flying The Friendly Skies
My sister was set to leave for England. Being a brand new doctor, it was her only time off for some 200 days. It was a trip she was anticipating with each passing day, until she received this email from the airline: “Dear _____, We regret to inform you that a cancellation has affected the following flights: (Flight numbers listed) We apologize for this disruption and any inconvenience this might cause you. Thank you for choosing (Insert airline of your choice here).” The message included no explanation, no phone number to call to figure out if she had been rebooked. As she Continue Reading
The Simple Joys of American Hotels
Being on the road for two weeks, I have come to know American hotels. I have always loved hotels. I might not be revered like those who rough it and sleep outside in tents, but I have a deep appreciation for the simple luxuries the American hotel provides. When you are on the road all day, stopping to sightsee, your level of fatigue skyrockets from the normal day at home. The hotel should provide respite. It should be a break so that you can recharge and begin the next day of traveling. For those not from the United States, you might not be used to some of the simple luxuries the American Continue Reading
On Being Adventurous
I was attempting to kill some time in Ireland. The area I had selected to stay in didn’t have a wealth of attractions. I had read about a beach nearby I could drive to, along with an intense mountain thoroughfare. I had thought I would be killing time, but in reality I was being somewhat adventurous. It was the first time I shut off the GPS and decided to just go where the road would take me, not where some squawking box told me to go. I ultimately arrived to a deserted beach, or so I thought. The beach was set up in such a fashion that you had to walk several minutes to reach the water. I Continue Reading
Come September: My Travel Plans For Fall
In the film Come September, Rock Hudson plays a wealthy businessman, who every year, heads off to his villa in Italy for September. He decides he can’t wait until September and arrives early, only to find that his assistant taking care of the Italian villa has turned it into a 5 star hotel when he isn’t in the country. You can imagine the hilarity. It is a Rock Hudson movie after all. I have always loved this movie, mostly for its setting in Italy. What I didn’t realize is that old Rock was right. September is the perfect time to travel. For me, September is almost more of a January, a Continue Reading
The Conundrum of Just Visiting
For my birthday, they hand me a big slice of lasagna and a bejeweled tiny picture frame, something I would have loved at 14 years old. Having celebrated very few birthdays away from home, in that Florence apartment, home didn’t seem so far off. Over a year later, I walk into a café in Clifden, Ireland. As the chatty owner tells me about the state of Ireland, of its troubles and triumphs, she asks me how long I am here. I say I’m “just visiting”, and with that I’m gone, out of her life and seemingly Ireland’s in a few days time. These two travel scenarios could not be more different. In Continue Reading