The return to my unintended second home – Iasi, Romania – has been filled with equal parts business-as-usual and unlikely surprises. The overnight train ride from Bucharest to Iasi was pure Romania:  The train was full to bursting.  My compartment was all men.  On that note, why am I always…

I’ve been thinking a lot about slow moving events lately – things that take unthinkable amounts of time – and trying to imagine what it would be like to sit through these glacial events as a spectator.  Continental drifting, the lifespan of stars, Bush’s presidential terms… I’ve been doing this because…

Guess what?  I’m going to Romania next week. Don’t worry, I’m not staying for long.  I’m not completely backing down from the vow I announced in August, made at the urging of my lawyer, psychotherapy team and concerned parties at the American Embassy in Bucharest.  Also, my dietitian said I…

Living in this abandoned vacation village in western Sardinia was exotic for about 12 minutes.  When I figured out that I couldn’t even buy bread out here and that it wasn’t going to be warm enough for topless sunbathing all winter, the novelty wore off rather quickly.  OK, the village…

I want to take some time out from the grim topics of homeless travel and travel writing this week and talk to you about something a little more lighthearted: your prostate.    I’ve gotten the impression in recent years through various awareness campaigns, often designed to send people racing in…