Where do you find travel inspiration? What makes you think, “I want to go there!”? Is it a picture in a magazine or hearing about your friend’s experience? Is it reading a travel blog or seeing some scenic location in a movie? Have you ever been inspired by a book or story? I have, and it’s a great way to gain inspiration for travel. If you think that people are not inspired to travel by such things consider the influence…
Continue Reading “Travel Inspiration: Movies, TV, and Books”
With the pandemic seeming to ease, many people are starting to think again about traveling. While international traveling can be an amazing experience, it can also be intimidating for some people. One option that many people consider is taking a tour. This method has become very popular, and there are many tour companies out there looking to get your business. The question then, is this a good option? I will lay out the pros and cons that I see for…
Continue Reading “To Tour or not to Tour, That is the Question”
Travel can be a great experience until it’s not. It’s wonderful when everything falls easily into place, but unfortunately that doesn’t always happen. In real life the unexpected can occur and not always for the good. This can be particularly true of flying. Sometimes, however, what may seem like a problem ends up to be another great adventure. Other times they are just that, problems. Over my years of traveling I have had my share of challenges. Here are a…
When I began this blog over a year ago, my intent was to encourage people to explore our world. For me traveling is the best way to learn about the cultures and peoples of our very diverse world. While we can read about places and peoples in books, see travel shows on TV, or watch documentaries or movies from different locations, nothing compares to actually being in a place. Places are more than what we see. They are smells and…
I did not grow up in a coffee drinking family. My parents seldom drank any. They were much more likely to drink tea. In fact, as my father grew older, he would always have a pitcher of iced tea in the refrigerator. Coffee was just not part of our life. Shortly after college I moved to the Dominican Republic for four years. There I began to have some exposure to coffee. The Dominicans would serve coffee in small demitasse cups…
Continue Reading “Encountering Starbucks Throughout the World”
Six weeks ago I shared with you how the song “The Blessing” has become an international phenomenon. Just a few months after its release, virtual choirs around the world were recording the song as a way to bless their countries during our worldwide pandemic. As the pandemic has continued, so has the creation of new videos. Since my post six weeks ago, I have often searched YouTube and discovered even more renditions of the song. Virtual choirs, solo artists, worship…
Yes, it was exactly a year ago on July 29th that I posted my first blog post, “Why Travel?” It’s been a journey ever since. I thought I’d take this anniversary to share about my first year of blogging. When I retired from teaching last June, I knew I needed to have something to do to help keep me occupied. Being a middle school English teacher for 21 years, I had worked to teach my students how to write. I…
In 1958 the novel The Ugly American was published. The book was intended to expose the failing foreign policies of America towards the countries of Southeast Asia. Since then, however, the term has come to refer to Americans who travel or live abroad and are insensitive to the culture of the country they are in. They view everything through the lens of American values and standards. However, Americans are not the only ones who can fall prey to this conditions…
It has been eleven months since I started this blog. Initially I had a number of adventures to share with you, but then it stopped. COVID-19 came along and the whole world shut down. How do you write a travel blog when you can’t travel? Where do you get inspiration for that next post? The good news is my blog is not like most travel blogs. If you look at most such blogs they will have titles such as “The…
One of the first blog posts I wrote was entitled “Why Travel?” My purpose was to suggest that there are more reasons to travel than just the traditional idea of business or pleasure. However, after a recent trip to Malawi, I think I have found a variation of one of my reasons. See what you think. To understand my thinking you must understand that I am a teacher. I believe teaching is my calling and gifting. While I made my…
