Hanging Out in Reykjavik, A Cool Place But Not Exactly All That
Many travelers gush about Reykjavik, Iceland, but will it truly wow you? A hard look at its attractions, prices, and culture brings it back down to earth.
Brooding and Byronic Tom haunts the crags and cliffs of this material world, shaking his fist at an indifferent god, and usually doing some really serious hanging out.
Wine Tasting in Croatia’s Istria Peninsula
Ah, Wine….. Almost every place around the Mediterranean has been making wine for eons. We should remember this. European wine tends to bring to mind places like France, Italy, Spain, Germany, but of course places like Bulgaria, Slovenia, Turkey, and Tunisia have been at it as well. Croatia, particularly the Istria peninsula, is a worthy…
One Night in Bangkok — A Photo Essay
These photos are all taken during one particular evening in Bangkers. I started in the backpackers’ district called Khao Sanh Road, where I always used to stay, and ended up late night in Sukhimvit Road, where I stay nowadays. I started just before sunset and finished perhaps 3:00 a.m., and could have gone much later.
Eat This, You’ll Feel Better: Taking Time Out For Restoration At Lisbon’s Time Out Ribeira Market
The driving rain poured outside and I was wet sitting inside. I had jet lag and was feeling sick, shaken, and not good in the stomach. The two couples on either side of me were eating ungodly amounts of food, entire wheels of cheese, meat plates, steaks, quantities that made my system tremble. If…
Why You Should Go To Budapest For The Food
Once upon a time, the Hungarians stumbled upon a type of chili pepper that could be dried out and ground, with variations from sweet to fiery. Any culture that does that has something going for it. They of course weren’t alone, since much of the world had discovered chilies by then, and they were also…
Taking the Piss in Tokyo’s Piss Alley
There’s no city in the world that will make you feel small like Tokyo does. The city is inconceivably massive, and that could be why the Japanese love their tiny, tiny establishments, snug places that always involve drinking, usually involve some eating, and that make Tokyo so interesting. I have spent several nights haunting a…
After Brussels and Paris (and Madrid and London), everyone is asking: Is traveling to Europe safe?
After recent terrorist attacks, everyone is asking “Is Europe safe?” Let’s examine how a destination is safe or not and what strange advice experts give.
Triumph of the Day-Tripper: Segovia, Spain
Segovia, Spain hits all the notes for a good day trip: small town just an hour away from Madrid the big city, feels utterly different, and contains striking sights one can’t find in Madrid. Segovia is hardly undiscovered, but not nearly so crowded as other day-tripper-places such as Toledo, which is so packed with tacky…
We Have slowly Lost Our Ability To Choose A Seat On The Airplane
En guard. The audacious practice of airlines charging their valuable customers to choose a seat is slowly spreading. The airlines, nomenclature-meisters all, call this trend “unbundling”, charging for things that used to be standard. Once upon a time, in an industry far, far away, the privileged purchaser of an airplane trip could count on the…
Is there anything else to visiting Bethlehem besides that one guy’s birthplace?
For utterly understandable reasons, the main attraction in the oh little town of Bethlehem is the Church of the Nativity, built right over the birthplace of You Know Who. That’s the only reason people visit. You may wonder, as I did, is there any other reason to go there, and thus is it worth the…
What to do during your layover in Frankfurt (and you will have one)
You cannot escape forever having a layover in Frankfurt. Either you’ve done it, or it’s coming. If you’ve done it, you’ll eventually do it again. Frankfurt airport is the fourth-busiest in Europe, but it feels like the first. It’s smack in the center of Western Europe and the hub for everyplace you want to be…
Why Prague is not the next Prague
Travel writers have a game they play, going on about which destination is “the next Prague”. Rick Steves thinks it’s Krakow, or Ljubljana, or Budapest. Or perhaps even Dubrovnik, a city that’s been discovered already. A quick web search reveals others think it’s Phnom Phen Kiev, or Buenos Aires. One random blog that I won’t…