Tamil Nadu has seen some severe flooding in recent years during monsoon season. The floods in October-November 2015 were particularly devastating. Some of the factors that contributed to floods in prior years have been mitigated, but severe rains can still grind Chennai to a halt. Before even deciding WHERE we wanted to have our wedding, […]
Getting a visa validated in New Delhi at the end of January, you already knew that a storm was brewing. Customs officers were wearing masks and gloves. There were bold warnings everywhere about recent travel to China and a few other locations. At the time, there were no (official) cases of Covid-19 in India. It […]
I’ll start this post off a little serious, as I can’t be the only person vexed by this issue. What do you do when you love a place, when a place is absolutely dear to your heart, but that place is filled with history with someone with whom you no longer share such feelings (to […]
Like most of the ports of call on this cruise, St. Martin still has a lot of damage from recent hurricanes. Specifically, a well-known “clothing-optional” beach, “Orient Beach” was pretty much leveled in a storm the prior year and was being reconstructed. That didn’t stop a few determined beachgoers, but for the most part the […]
The web analytics don’t lie. Nobody cares about beautiful pictures of comfortable travel. Aspirational vistas of pristine beaches and the imaginary lives lived on them make for very poor click bait. People click on danger, on suffering. That’s a fact. So what the hell am I supposed to do with a bunch of pictures from […]
This was not the usual type of trip, and the blog entries will likely reflect that. I spent a couple weeks on a Caribbean cruise, visiting eight new countries and four territories. I booked with MSC, an Italian cruise line with some very different ports of call from the American lines. To my knowledge, this […]
One of the prize games in Japanese arcades is a variation of the quarter games you sometimes find in American carnivals. The concept is to push a stack of goodies over a ledge into a bin that you open during play. Like many well-designed, profitable, and therefore infuriating prize games, the game provides an illusion […]
Cat cafes are nothing new in Tokyo and have existed since at least the turn of the century. We’ve visited a couple of them. The concept has also grown popular in a number of other large East Asian cities. In terms of uniqueness as a business model, it’s possible that cat cafes have become a […]
Once again, catching up on the last trip, right before we head out on another. This is a picture gallery from a family trip to Tokyo last fall. After touring Taipei for a few days, we spent about a week in Tokyo. As usual… long aimless days and no time to post any updates. The […]
Ok look… better late than never on this post. We’re about to start on a new trip, so, you know, now is the time to finish posting from the last one. Seriously though, I’ve said it before, and it’s still true: Every time we visit Japan we end up staying in smaller and smaller areas […]
On the last couple of visits to Japan, our exploration has narrowed in on a few specific stomping grounds. A week in Tokyo can blast by fast… As you’re getting ready to go, bags stuffed beyond capacity, you realize you have taken very few pictures, slept very little, and had an absolutely amazing time. You […]
Beach resorts haven’t been our usual destination, but this wasn’t our first visit to one either. Our trip to Thailand five years ago ran a circuit through Bangkok temples and included a visit to play with tigers in Kanchanaburi. This was our first visit to a Thai beach. The steps to arrive at Koh Phangan […]
We’re not breaking any new ground in this part of our trip. We stayed in the “Drop of Gold” quarter near Gare du Nord. I would describe the area as a charming and multicultural hub that is brimming with character. The interwebs do at times describe this arrondissement in less flattering terms, calling it dicey […]
Today was our last full day in Portugal and we spent it leisurely touring the downtown area around our apartment. We visited a church in which the roof collapsed, killing everyone inside (Carmo Convent) during the earthquake that practically leveled Lisbon in 1755. Near that church is an elevator where you can reach a viewing […]
So we slept in a bit and didn’t get out until late morning… I think we’re reset at this point on our sleep schedule. We went to a different part of the train station for the longer distance trains to head about 45 minutes outside of Lisbon to an historic area called Sintra. The ticket […]