I leave for Paris tomorrow.  I’ll do two weeks of mild, worry-free travel in France and Italy – areas I’ve been through before – and then I’ll move into a ground floor, furnished apartment on Sardinia right on the beach, where I’ll edit for four months, as a 19 year…

Paris was everything I’d anticipated and more. In three days, I spent nearly $200 in food and drink, gained about five pounds and took innumerable pictures of quintessential Parisian scenery like the snap below. Now before you fly off the handle and write your congressperson condemning me for being a…

Speaking of syndromes, I personally suffer from a number of maladies (real or imagined depends entirely on the eye of the beholder), a large number of which were invented/identified by me, exclusively for me, and anyone else referencing them or suffering from them is required to cough up royalties. I…

My intended September/October travel plans have taken a small twist.  Instead of traveling four countries in Southeast Europe by train, Lonely Planet is flying me to San Francisco for an author workshop!  Who else didn’t see that coming? Moreover, since I’ll be right there, I’m going to do a three…

I’m finally back from Kiev.  Actually, I’ve been back for two days, but I’ve been occupied with the Cricova champaign that I brought back (and the brain damaging aftereffects). Aside from being targeted for a lamely executed tourist scam and spending part of my time in a hostel with no…

Busy, busy. Lots to tell, but no time… except for this one tidbit: The highlight of my first full day in Kiev was the attempted scam two jackasses tried on me.  I was walking down a fairly quiet street about 100 meters from a hotel I was visiting for the…

All, Well it’s been an exciting weekend here at killing batteries headquarters in central Iasi. Since the nytimes story ran I’ve had more hits, comments and naughty offers from blog groupies in 72 hours than I received in the five months previous. As much as I’d like to sit and…

Hey, this is just a friendly public service announcement for you travelers to stay cognizant of some of the older scams that are still alive and well all over Europe. A friend of mine was just burned by the old menu switcheroo scam in Budapest last week, an art honed…

I leave for Moldova in the morning and I’ve gotta admit, I don’t think I have ever been more nervous about going somewhere. Usually Moldova can be challenging and the breakaway region of Transdnistria, which I’m also obliged to visit, is one step above chaos, but things have worsened recently…

Best big city:  Timisoara Timisoara is how all big Romanian cities should and hopefully will be.  It’s trendy, cosmopolitan, full of great museums and sights of tourist interest, excellent restaurant/bars/clubs that were simply too numerous for me to note for the book and run by an organized, competent and proud…