Travels with a Humble Narcissist

Alas, I have come to the end of my wandering. It has been a truly wonderful 12 months, and I end where I began. . . with my daughter, ACE. We started this journey together in July last year, beginning in London. We ended in June this year in Dublin. ACE and I traveled together…

I rode the train up to Belfast. Just two hours from Dublin, but seemingly a world away. I took a Black Taxi tour of the Belfast  neighborhoods at the center of the Troubles. There still is a large wall with fencing separating the Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods from one another. At 6 pm every night,…

I have determined that all we need to do to achieve World Peace is to play ABBA songs everywhere on loudspeakers. We will all begin to sing along. At some point during the songs, we will all link arms and begin swaying & singing together.  It will be beautiful. At least it was a few…

Under the long list of things to appreciate, I humbly submit: The ability to travel Until I started traveling, I had no idea that most people in the world didn’t enjoy the same privilege I had to just  wander about. The privilege I speak of is the power of the US passport. The surprising part…

Here’s a question I made up recently: “I’m very uncomfortable at the idea of traveling to a country where I don’t speak the language. It happened to me before, and I felt incapable and vulnerable. How should I deal with it?” My response is that I always assume everyone speaks English if I say it…

Clickety-Clack Clickety-Clack The train rolls through the countryside. I’m traveling on the overnight train from Copenhagen to Stockholm. Agatha Christie novels and 1930s-era movies left me an impression of romance, mystery, and high culture was happening on these trains. The truth is a tad less exciting.  Six bunks in a small compartment. If anyone had…

When traveling internationally, you often wonder what people in other countries think of the United States. Not so much what people think of Americans – the people, but America itself. Our culture, manners, habits, customs, and, of course, food. It can be difficult to tease out an honest answer. Well, that is until I came…

My lovely wife, Michele, and I have been married for over 26 years. Those many years together require that we give each other a certain amount of freedom to navigate, so to say. A term of art in vogue as of late is “Hall Pass.” This term is defined in the Urban Dictionary as “[A]n exemption given…

Both of my grandparents on my father’s side came to the US on boats from the old country. Crossing the Atlantic in rickety ships,  heaving to the waves and hoping for fair winds. Crammed in steerage, aka Irish class, with the teeming masses. Not knowing how it is going to all turn out once (and…

Istanbul Constantinople The Ottoman Empire Sultans and Harems These are words that set an adventurers’ heart a flutter. They evoke thoughts of the exotic, mystery, licentiousness, and danger. I had always wanted to travel to the East. Istanbul seemed like a place so different than what I was accustomed to. Mosques, the Call to Prayer,…