by Ken Lovering It would be easy to blame my sweat on the mid-afternoon Tanzanian sun. But there’s more to why my glands are working overtime: I am sitting in a tiny Maasai enkaji , a circular hut constructed of a mud-manure mix that these five beaded women, my hosts, likely slapped together with their […]
by Catherine Watson In the physical and mental calm that follows whitewater, a friend and I, still dripping from the icy river, were relaxing on the front tubes of the raft, letting Nepal’s hot sunshine dry us off as the noise of the day’s first rapids faded behind. ”I never thought I would hear that […]
by Miroslava Turk When in Cuba, do not attempt to calibrate your expectations. If you make that mistake, you may fail to notice the presence of irony all around you. If you expect only certain results, you will never see what actually does occur. Irony often leads us to mystery and the beyond. Away from […]
by Julie Hammonds I am lingering late over breakfast on a quiet summer morning, talking parasailing with the hotel manager. The brightly colored wings that dot the Alpine sky every sunny day here in Switzerland’s Bernese Alps have frequently caught my eye as I hike. Tim, who is earning his parasailing pilot’s certification at a […]
by Jacqueline St. Joan Don’t take photos of the Dalai Lama into Tibet, my friends advised me. As did the U.S. State Department, the Free Tibet website and my travel guidebook. Before the Chinese Cultural Revolution, photos of the Dalai Lama were as common on the streets of Lhasa as soldiers, then in 1994 a […]
by Melissa Larsen “Are you trying to tell me.” said Arthur, slowly and with control, “that you originally … made the Earth?” “Oh yes.” said Slartibartfast. “Did you ever go to a place … I think it was called Norway?” “No.” said Arthur. “No, I didn’t.” “Pity.” said Slartibartfast. “That was one of mine. Won […]
by Gaye Brown I wasn’t sure what my children expected when I booked our Homeland Tour to South Korea. More self aware than many teens their age, they were adolescents nonetheless. Which is to say, given to opacity. My daughter, a priestess of Asian pop from manga and animé to gaming and “J-rock” claimed she […]
by Scott Crawford Rocks make a hollow sound when tumbled together underwater. I heard this now as the rushing torrent passed inches from my boots, throwing spray against my bare shins. And I began to question the wisdom of this outing. An aerial view, had it been possible through the clouds, would have revealed a […]
by Megan Lyles This past summer I decided to take Greyhound again. A nice long trip, all the way from San Francisco, where I’d attended my ten-year high school reunion, to New York, where I was born and where I live now. I missed riding the bus. I missed wondering whether the driver would be […]
by Peter Bronski The beep of my altimeter wristwatch rouses me from my sleep at 11:30 pm, five all-too-short hours after I settled in for a nap. I crawl out of the warm cocoon of my sleeping bag, zip open the tent door, pull back the rain fly, and poke my head out into the […]
