It’s 6 am on December 22, 2021. The news is all about the Omicron variant causing yet another wave of COVID-19. Everyone is cancelling long-awaited trips and Christmas get-togethers yet again. We’re coming up on two years of this pandemic […]
Christmas letter 2019
The last time we posted on this blog was four months ago, at the end of our one year journey around the world, so you might be wondering what the heck happened to us. “Are they depressed that their trip […]
The last day
There is an entire continent (South America) that we have not posted about yet – we are a little behind, but those pieces are coming. In the meantime, even if it throws our little blog out of chronological order, I […]
What on earth are travel bucks?
We were touring around Urubamba, Peru with our wonderful driver, Enrique, in his beat-up white station wagon. Eli and Jake were the lucky ones who got to ride in the very back. At one point Eli was being silly and […]
Stuck on a nail
A man pays a visit to a friend. As they sit on the front porch talking, the friend’s dog lies beside them, twitching and wimpering. “What’s wrong with your dog?” the man asks.“Oh, there’s a nail sticking up in the […]
New Zealand part 5: The north island
New Zealand’s north and south islands are roughly equal in size, but not in fame; the south island seems to get all the attention whereas the north island is the urbanized sidekick; Mario’s Luigi, Batman’s Robin; Ferris Bueller’s Cameron – […]
New Zealand part four: the rest of the south island
After the glow worms – and especially Milford Sound – we couldn’t help but suspect that we’d seen the best of New Zealand – the enchanted far south. But as we drove from Te Anau to Wanaka there was more […]
Thinking critically about constructive criticism
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain—and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving. Dale Carnegie I’ve been writing a lot about destinations recently, and less about the the thoughts and changes that […]
New Zealand Part Three: glow worms and fjords
We woke up early. A fast breakfast of muesli and fruit; high octane coffee for those of age. I had filled up the minivan with fuel the night before. There would be no gas stations between us and our destination, […]
New Zealand Part Two: a frugal family road trip
Our arrival in New Zealand (which involved secret snacks, a customs interrogation and a beagle) turned into a post all by itself. This is about the beginning of the adventure we did plan: a New Zealand family road trip. If […]