A three day holiday was declared in the UAE so people could celebrate the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Mary Ann and I decided it was our three day 4^th of July holiday, albeit a few days early. Never look a gift holiday in the mouth I always say.

Three days obviously is not a long enough time to take an international trip, and with 3 or 4 of those planned to round out the year, we decided not fly anywhere.

We had never been to Abu Dhabi. It is the capitol of…

This is not a joke. It is the newly proposed form for obtaining a US passport. I will bet that you canot fully answer half the questions. Are they trying to prevent us from foreign travel?

Questions 5 thru 11 are incredible! Especially 11! 

http://www.sovereignman.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ds5513-proposed.pdf

No, I did not spell the title wrong. I made the word up to define a new philosophy in travel.

The real word is Vagabonding. Vagabonding has a new guru. His name is Rolf Potts. In his book, called not surprisingly Vagabonding, he defines vagabonding as “The act of leaving behind the orderly world to travel independently for an extended period of time.” And “A deliberate way of living that makes freedom to travel possible”.

The book does a fine job of advocating vagabonding as an…

With sincere apologies to Karen Blitzen, I nicked that title to attract readers, a brazen move to be sure.



The more you get to know about any subject, the more you realize you do not know about that subject. Some smart guy said that once, I think he was Greek. I now know a lot more about Kenya after one week as a tourist than I did before, that’s for certain. I now have deep desire to learn a whole lot more. 

We were “on safari.”  …

The day started with the return drive out of Masai Mara Park.  The only thing that made it tolerable was thinking back to what a marvelous piece of earth we had just visited. I want to return to Kenya, but I will not return to the Mara until they fix the road. If you are reading this blog with an eye towards your first trip to Kenya, definitely go to the Mara, but bring a pillow to sit on in your vehicle.

On the way out we went past a Land Rover sporting a logo for the Michigan State…

We left Amboseli at 7:30 for an 8 hour drive to Nakuru Lake  National Park. The park is located ½ of a degree south of the equator, so I can definitely claim to be in equatorial Africa. The park and lake are  in the Rift Valley. This valley is over 9000 kilometers long and extends from Mozambique to Israel. It is a valley of legendary big white hunter tales. If you want to know a lot more go to …

First, let me say that if I can get internet access anywhere outside of Nairobi on this trip I will be disappointed. My fantasy for this adventure is that my wife and I have to fight off lions, beware of snakes and wade through streams and rivers to get anywhere. I want baboons swinging at me from the trees and vultures circling overhead waiting to feast on my corpse.

OK, OK, it will not be that way. This is 2011, not 1811, or 1911. I am no Marlin Perkins although I am…

Where to next?

I have a new bucket list item. Someday, someone, anyone, anywhere will pay me to be a travel writer. As long as it is in English, I really do not care if the assignment is to report on the mating habits of Fiji islanders, or to cover the efforts of the DOD to clean up Christmas Island after…

As I start packing for yet another intercontinental flight, I came to the happy realization that I am now quite good at this. I know not to take more than one pair of shoes, two pairs of jeans, and save the weight and space for a few extra pair of BVDs.

In the last year I have been in five continents and if you want to get technical,  I could claim two sub continents. India is known as a subcontinent, but the Indian people are fond of telling you that they are their own continent. It…

A week before our trip, Japan was rocked. The triple whammie was capped by a nuclear “problem” that as of this writing could still result in a meltdown, and possibly burn a hole straight thru the planet. This very unlikely event is called “The China Syndrome” in the west. In Japan they probably call it the New Jersey Syndrome.

We therefore came to China. Well Hong Kong anyway. Fragrant Harbor. Victoria’s Island. These are the names the brits used for it when they colonized it. I call…

They are instead three islands near Hong Kong, which my wife and I took whirlwind tours of this week. All three deserve more time, alas our time is limited.

I suppose if we were 25 again, we would sample the night life in Hong Kong, which I hear is responsible for this smile on Buddha.

Happy is as…

My most spiritual tourist experience in India was to visit the home Gandhi was living in for the last four months of his life. The place has been turned into a museum to commemorate his life and his works. Like the man, it is both humble and impressive.

This was the only place in India that has no entrance fee. I was actually looking forward to paying a fee, because the tickets to places like the forts and the Taj make really great bookmarks! However I think the Mahatma would roll in…

I cannot believe I am in Beirut.

There is a National Geographic adventure…

I tend to have rather funny things happen to me when I travel. Perhaps it is because I travel

for fun, usually. I don't mind much, except standing in line at immigration in

a place like Lima Peru. In Lima, at least three jumbos arrive within a half

hour of each other at night, about midnight. The immigration post…

My wife and I were on the 14th floor of the Hilton Hotel for NYE in Caracas, Venezuela. Everyone in Caracas bought BIG skyrockets, and with no organized program, complete mayhem ensued. That was the…

Yesterday my wife came home with my passport. It had a full-page Visa in it. The visa has my photograph on it and a holographic stamp. It is quite impressive. AND, it is good for three…