12 Pounds, 26 Inches, 1 Passport

From the moment I learned that my six-week old son needed a passport for an upcoming trip to France, I knew that his mother, Beth, and I were in for a steady diet of headaches and laughs. The process, which I hope is near completion, has indeed provided us with both.

A Weight Off Your Shoulders

Backpacking has gotten more and more popular as a form of traveling, and for obvious reasons: for people going to multiple destinations, carrying gear on your back helps keep you mobile while having everything you need at arm’s length. But as more “nomadic” travelers are heading out in the world, the packs they carry seem to get bigger and bigger.

Baja Ha-Ha Without the Laughs

I’d been reading about the Baja Ha-Ha, the sailing rally from San Diego, California, to Cabo San Lucas at the tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, and was eager to go. Although I’d been sailing in Southern California for over twenty years, this would be my first long passage and first time south of Ensenada.

Capturing the Human Spirit: Thoughts and Images from the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games

As spring of 2003 begins, I find myself looking back to a year ago, when the Salt Lake Olympic Games were coming to a jubilant close. It was a period of great pride for me to witness representatives from around the world coming together in the spirit of competition, friendship, and humanity.

Crossing the Continental Divide: The Building of the Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is among the most popular cruise sites in the world, and deservedly so. Its fascinating history and spectacular size inspire, and its purpose is well served by tankers, cruise ships, and more on an almost constant basis.

Egypt in 10 days or Less

I dreamed of visiting Egypt since I was an elementary school child learning about pharaohs and pyramids for the first time. I finally got my wish in March 2007 as I stepped out of the terminal at the Cairo International Airport to begin a whirlwind tour of the country in less then 10 days.

El Salvador’s marketplace children

While this is no doubt true, El Salvador is also marred with poverty and suffering. Child labor is prevalent, as many young children need to go to work in order to survive, and often provide for their families.

Finding the Heart of the Alsek

On every river you can find one place that’s so full of mystery, life, and beauty, that it’s like finding the very heart of the river itself. It may be a shadowy, swirling pool that reflects light in such a way, you could swear you were seeing into another world. Or it could be an easy bend where the rush has undercut the bank, and trees’ roots dip into the stream. They are images of every river, but something about that particular spot makes it seem different, unique, and inspired. On the Alsek, you’ll find that place after each turn.

Frozen in Time: A Visual Journey through Havana

It’s easy to sense the palpability of the Cuban dream. A nation that has existed primarily on hope for nearly fifty years shows the world just how powerful hope can be.

Gili Trawangan: A Hidden Treasure in Indonesia

Sunlight finally filtered through the leaves, allowing my first glimpses of Lombok Island: lush tropical vegetation shaded the road and sparkling water flooded the rice fields. Our bemo–an Indonesian minibus–barreled down the mountainous road toward the port village Bangsal, from where my travel partner Toby and I would board the ferry to our ultimate destination: the Indonesian island of Gili Trawangan. We were now quickly approaching the ocean, the scent of the fresh salty air giving it away. Our paradise island, and the promise of a relaxing vacation, lay just around the bend.

Gold and Ghosts on Ghana’s Cape Coast

In the shadow of a 353-year-old fortress, a former trading post for gold, ivory and slaves, a pack of young boys play a game of pick-up soccer. The ball thuds against the tall, whitewashed stone wall that surrounds what was, for the very unfortunate, their last stop on African soil before passage to the harsh reality of the New World.

Gros Morne, Newfoundland, Canada

A trip to Newfoundland was just far enough away, requiring exactly the right mix of nonrefundable airfare, planning, and difficulty involved in reaching the place, that canceling in favor of work was out of the question.

Irish Hospitality

The train was just arriving at the Drogheda station as the bomb went off. For obvious reasons, we would go no further that day… As news of the abandoned train spread through Drogheda, a medium-sized town less than an hour from Dublin, the townspeople began to make their way to the station.

Journey to the Center of the Earth: A Walk through Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico

An oasis in the Chihuahuan Desert, Carlsbad, New Mexico is approximately 120 miles north of El Paso, Texas. A nice town with plenty of hotels, restaurants, and a Wal-Mart, Carlsbad makes a good base camp from which to stock up and explore the area’s most significant attraction, the Carlsbad Cavern National Park.

Lessons From Cuba

Imagine a place where the bottom has just dropped out of the economy. The world market is glutted with the region’s main product, and relations with its biggest trading partner have gone south. Local economic planners put their heads together and decide that the bridge to the future lies in tourism, so they start luring visitors to the area, but they haven’t reckoned on the social upheaval that could arrive as a by-product of the tourist economy.

Live Free or Die: Are New Hampshire’s Colonial Barns Merely a Thing of the Past?

The covered bridge in Bath, New Hampshire is a sturdy reminder of reliability and the Congregational Church evokes a sense of strong neighborly bonds between community members. Still, another landmark of New Hampshire’s traditions is just down the road–off the beaten path. That symbol is the colonial family barn.

London Calling

By their very nature, cities will always be more diverse than rural communities, but London seems to stand out above the rest.

Missing the Wicket in Search of Cricket

Peter Alfrey goes on the hunt for one of the world’s most popular games, on one of the world’s least populated islands. What he finds is a close look at Providenciales, Turks and Caicos, and an intimate understanding of “island time”–that is, everything but a game of cricket.

Nirvana, Well Burma Anyway

Nee said, “I am suffering very much in my life, mum.” I know, I know, I thought–appropriate choice of words for being in Yangon (Rangoon): “suffering.” We are in a Buddhist country…Buddha and the Eightfold Path. You suffer through life–since need or want creates unhappiness.

Noosa Heads - Australia’s Secret Hideaway

Noosa Heads is a cosmopolitan coastal town on the southern shore of Luguna Bay, located on the Northern end of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast approximately one hour’s drive north of Brisbane. It is a vacationer’s paradise with beautiful sandy beaches, turquoise blue water, parks, and surf shops.

Pipe Dreams

The Brits may take pride in their long history, progressive metropolises, and quaint country towns, but there is something to be said for modern convenience where you need it most: in the bathroom.

Place of Wonder: Santa Elena Cloud Forest in Costa Rica

They’re still out there – some near, most far, all wide-open places waiting to expand your horizon. One of these places is the Santa Elena Cloud Forest in Costa Rica where a dense shroud of mist blankets the tight canopy.

Riding with “The Dog”

A travel adventure to most people means a climbing expedition, a safari or similar experience. Mine was much more modest – and economical.

Sharing Your Time

It’s not unlikely this will happen to you at some point in your life–whether they contact you through the mail, solicit by telephone or, like my wife and I, you make the grave mistake of entering in a “contest” at a trade show–you may one day have someone try to sell you a timeshare.

Silent Macau: Two Faces of the Macau SAR

Macau is often described as a little paradise steeped in mixed history and culture. Large, imposing, centuries-old structures vie for space among the tattered remnants of cheaply built twentieth-century brick houses and towering modern glass offices. Massive and squat stone office buildings of the colonial era sit regally and steadfastly among haphazard stacks of steel girders, gray stone snubs orange brick, and the slate roofs keep out the rains where tin cladding has long since failed.

Solomon Time: Village Life in the Solomon Islands

When I tell folks that I am conducting my graduate research in the Solomon Islands, the most common response is “Where on earth are they?” It’s because of this reaction that I am honored to have the opportunity to share with readers some my experiences living in this relatively unknown, but culturally and environmentally rich island nation.

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Tende: French, But Not Really

Such a welcome from the French was unusual. We had just driven up along the French-Italian border from Nice and the Riviera, where waiters corrected our grammar and shopkeepers could not be bothered to utter a merci. Conversely, Tende seemed eerily pleased with our presence. For a moment we thought we had unknowingly exited France, and slipped over the border into the care of French-speaking Italians. Somehow this anomaly town called Tende, like the wild boar, had wound up on our plate.

The Valley of Paradise: Coamo, Puerto Rico

There is a place in Puerto Rico where a panoramic view of Olympus-like mountains, veiled by the shadows of clouds, encircles a town of oft-neglected interest and history. It’s a place where lush greenery grows as far as the eye can see and the golden hands of the sun touch every street corner. This place is called Coamo, just a short drive south of San Juan and northeast of Ponce traveling on route 14. The tranquil valley in which Coamo rests is largely unaffected by the hustle and bustle of the major Puerto Rican tourist centers and appeals to those who prefer “the path less traveled.”

Toasts in Tbilisi: Adventures in Caucasia

Georgian’s have a reputation for being among the world’s greatest hosts. Indeed, I was told they treat visitors “like gifts from God,” and I found out just how true that is during my two-week visit to the Republic of Georgia in May of last year.

Trailing the Fall of France

When Germany invaded, the allies advanced to planned positions in Belgium, where they encountered, as expected, the forces led by Erwin Rommel, but while attention was turned toward Rommel’s division, the German Panzers led by Heinz Guderian unexpectedly arrived at Sedan on the Meuse, to the south.

Trans-Siberian Railway

The Tran-Siberian Railway is the ultimate rail journey, the longest in the world, possibly the coldest if you go at the wrong time of year, and the only rail journey that travels across two continents on a single trip, all while staying in the same country.

Traveler Profile–Nancy Collins: Global Adrenaline

As the president and co-founder of the adventure travel company Global Adrenaline, Nancy Collins is bringing curious people to remote regions of the world that they might never have otherwise considered. And subsequently, she’s helping to foster rich ideas, images, and knowledge of those places and cultures in the minds of a growing population of travelers.

Two Worlds, One Dubai

We arrived in Dubai, one of the seven emirates in the UAE, after stopping in Zurich and Saudi Arabia. What we found was a city that seemed to grow even in the short time we were there.