Looking at life through a funhouse mirror
Despite what our tour guide said, Cairo is not the third largest city in the world, only the 15th. Perhaps she meant the third noisiest, and if that’s the case, I sincerely don’t want to visit the second or first place winner. Traffic in Cairo clogs the streets all day and all night, and I’m …
My KLM flight to France left from Terminal 3 in Toronto. Those of you who are frequent flyers and have visited Terminal 3 will know of what I speak. Terminal 3 has only a passing acquaintance with the Nexus card. A Nexus card is a credential for which you go through several hoops, including an …
I was cleaning ancient clothes out of the spare room closet (as one does every ten years or so whether it needs to be done or not) and came across an artifact I had completely forgotten. It’s a suit bag. Remember suit bags? Remember when people wore suits for things other than weddings and funerals? …
I admit that even a very internet savvy person like me sometimes clicks on the bait. I do this knowingly. I am not like a bass chasing a shiny floating object. Jut sometimes I want to consume virtual junk food. And speaking of food, how can someone resist “30 Things Personal Trainers Will Never Eat.” …
As you may know, last week the Greyhound bus had its last victory lap. No canine rescue happening here. No bucolic retirement pasture for the hound, that, truth be told, I have called horrible. Even though I steadfastly maintain I was right, I do apologize for dissing the dog. Because I, like many other people, …
At six-thirty on a recent morning, a time when most sane people are still sleeping, especially if they are at a cottage, I was jarred awake by what sounded like the start of a Formula One race. This is what it’s like on bass derby day. I have never been at the marina when the …
It was an innocuous day. Bright, a touch chilly for Arizona in December, but I knew it would warm up as the sun rose over the mountains. The dry Sonoran Desert air was still, but not unpleasantly so. I opened the door to the casita where we were staying, startling a bobcat hanging out near …
Tucson gets 52 days of rain per year. And 265 days of sunshine. Three of those elusive 52 days occurred during the Tucson portion of my vacation, which meant that for thirty percent of the time, I was not lounging by a pool. To continue my weather rant, the typical temperature in Tucson in late …
Our journey to the Dominican Republic, which occupies the Eastern side of Hispaniola, was uneventful. Just the usual de-icing delay and cabal of seemingly unaccompanied children kicking the back of my seat. At just over twenty-one million people, Hispaniola has the largest population of any island in the Caribbean and is, in fact, the eleventh …
It takes five hours on a LATAM Chile Dreamliner to get to Easter Island from Santiago. It’s mostly full of Easter Islanders and their extended families, who use it like a bus into town to stock up on provisions. Judging from the cargo they carefully stow in the overhead bins, the most valuable mainland commodity …