Continue readingPassage through Patagonia: breathtaking sights from a special tour
Passage through Patagonia: breathtaking sights from a special tour
Patagonia is one of the most dramatically beautiful places on earth.
Encountering Crime in Chile: A Lesson Re-Learned
It was bound to happen sooner or later. In our case, it was later. After decades of safe international travel to more than 70 countries, we had a violent encounter. Walking down a sunny street in Santiago, Chile, mid-day in a nice neighborhood, we felt safe. Big mistake. And we should have known better. I …
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Goodbye to a Culinary Legend at a Landmark New Orleans Restaurant
Five days before Christmas 2018, Leah Chase grasped my hands between her warm, papery palms. Her long fingers, steady and strong at then 95 years of age, one missing a tip, gripped mine for minutes. A beatific, genuine smile lit her face as we entered her kitchen at Dooky Chase’s Restaurant in the Treme area …
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New Orleans: The Garbage Can Serenade, and other Quirks of the Quarter
I’m writing this a few minutes after some dudes decided to serenade us with the sound of garbage cans being kicked around under our balcony at the Royal Sonesta. In any other place, I’d be on the phone yammering at the manager. But not here … we loved it. We’ve been to New Orleans a …
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Scandinavia: Pricey Provisions & Puzzling ‘Pantsdrunk’ People
You should know one thing before traveling to the Scandinavian and Nordic countries – Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. It is expensive. That is, unless you don’t think $27 hamburgers, a $3 chicken wing and $10 drafts are expensive. But at least the taxes are high. You could try to do it on the …
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China: Jinshanling section of the Great Wall
If you travel to China, the Great Wall of course is a "must see." It was our first visit to Beijing and we had read about the crowds at the other sections of the wall. So we booked a guide to take us to the Jinshanling section and we were not disappointed. Beautiful sections of …
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Nepal Travel: navigating the hairpin-turn cliffs to Kathmandu
Three years after the April 2015 earthquake disaster, Nepal looks like a mountainous, tropical version of London after The Blitz. Nepal travel offers a stark reminder of how long the recovery from such a disaster can last ... long after the news of the disaster has fallen out of the international headlines. The main road …
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Visiting Nepal: a delightful food find in a downpour on the streets of Kathmandu
The rain fell in soaking sheets as we tried to find our way through the mucky streets of back-alley Thamel, the bustling, buzzing tourist area of Kathmandu. We were disagreeing on whether we were lost (She: "Without a doubt." He: "I know exactly where we are.") Delicious food at Frens Kitchen in Kathmandu, Nepal It …
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Travel to Lovely Laos: Not yet tainted by tourists
Travel to Laos if you want to see a country that has not at all been Westernized, at least in the region around Luang Prabang. All restaurants and shops are local in Luang Prabang. No buildings are taller than the highest temple. The entire town and surrounding mountains are a World Heritage site. But the …
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India Retrospective: Letters home from Bangalore & Delhi
This posting is from our original travel blog about our travel to India, published in 2008, and was mainly a collection of emails to friends and family also published on one of the now defunct personal blog sites. It has been edited for clarity and privacy considerations. February 2008: Welcome to Bangalore! Hi everybody! We …
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