First Impressions I’ll never forget my first memory of Serbia and the first thing that caught my eye as the taxi barreled down the highway from the airport into town: Towering over the city was this massive gray building consisting of two towers and a huge circular disk on top that looked like a giant…
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The Quick Info There is a ferry! However it’s not the type of boat that most Americans envision when they hear the word “ferry.” It runs between Puerto Ita Enramada in Asunción, Paraguay and Puerto Pilcomayo in Clorinda, Argentina. Taxi drivers can get you there easily. For more details, including my story about crossing, read…
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Reporting Live from Sarajevo I grew up watching Dan Rather and Peter Jennings dole out updates on the “war in Sarajevo” as a kid. Of course, at the time, I had no real conception of war, much less even where Sarajevo was even located. And of course, never in a million years did I ever…
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London, We Meet Again! See, I knew I’d return! London was the last stop on my April 2019 trip around the world, which went like this: San Diego – San Francisco (connection) – Singapore (connection) – Maldives – Sri Lanka – Bangladesh – Kuwait – Bahrain – London (connection) – San Diego! I had a…
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Extreme Layover The flight from Rome to Sarajevo included an almost ten-hour layover in Croatia and I couldn’t wait to see the town. Most tourists travel to Dubrovnik, Croatia’s famous walled city, but this connection would introduce me to the capital, Zagreb, and that was fine with me: The fewer tourists, the better. Love Štruk…
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I met Hodan, digitally, after returning from my first trip to Mogadishu. I sent her the blog I wrote on my visit to Somalia. Though it was a risky venture, I found the Somalis I encountered to be friendly, warm, loving and anxious to get to know me. Hodan fit that description as well. She…
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So Close, Yet so Far Away I can just kick myself for visiting Rome and not seeing Vatican City. What was I thinking?! And to think, I was actually “stuck” in Rome for three nights, yet it didn’t even dawn on the 32-year-old me to just walk right over to the Vatican. Years later, after…
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When people look at the giant map-of-the-world mural plastered on my office wall (it takes up the entire wall) they are impressed at the 125 countries I’ve seen, each designated with a pin, but always in shock when they discover I’ve yet to see such a popular destination as Greece. “Wait a minute; you’ve been…
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