Though it feels like a lifetime ago, it’s been five years since I recorded this interview with Rick Steves, talking about Vlad “The Impaler” Dracula. It was one of the maybe three or five instances in my whole life where I benefited from exquisite timing. Steves had recently returned from…

As the title suggests, this is part two of the list of fun facts about 130 countries. (Here’s part one.) This one is a bit more difficult: There are only three fake facts in this post. Can you find them without resorting to Google? Thirty percent of the residents of…

Lists of weird/fun facts about the countries of the world are always a good time, because hey, they’re weird! And fun! But there’s a twist – I slipped in nine fake facts among the real ones. Without resorting to Google (you can resort to Google a little), can you pick…

I remember it like it was yesterday. June 20, 1993 was the last time I barfed. I remember it so well, because it wasn’t your ordinary barf-wipe-and-go. It was a defining life event, like the birth of one’s child or a wild monkey stealing your $1,500 camera and throwing it…

It’s not enough for some people to just see the world. People of a certain inclination feel compelled to break travel world records by doing stuff in faster, longer, crazier, painfulier ways. These records vary wildly in the time, resources and expenses they require. On the low(er) end, two English…

I invited knower of many things, Tim Leffel, to be on my podcast this week to talk in depth about the state of travel blogging in 2021. This came about because Tim published a post called “Ideas Matter, But Successful Travel Bloggers Get The Work Done” on his Travel Writing…

First of all, how was your pandemic? Spirit-crushing? Zero stars? A little cloudy? Well, at least we can finally entertain the idea of a vacation outside of our home, yard, and if you were a risk-taker, the nearby park. This hasn’t been a reality for more than a year and…

It’s not every day that a new form of transportation comes along, never mind one that’s also delightfully environmentally friendly. I speak of the Airlander 10, a Hybrid Air Vehicle (HAV), the first new commercial airship developed in almost a century and 84 years since the Hindenburg canceled airship travel…

Exciting news, to be sure. New CDC guidelines have been announced, greatly relaxing mask and social distancing rules for vaccinated people. There are, however, many important exceptions. CAVEATS: To my knowledge, the information about the new CDC guidelines (and the existing ones) contained in this post was accurate as of…

Hi all, This is possibly the first of many addendums for my “Coronavirus tourism survival and recovery” post from back in April. I encourage you to read or re-familiarize yourself with the original piece as well, since few if any other people appear to be writing or talking frankly about…