Around the Airport in 80 Days
Vancouver Airport (YVR) launches a contest to find a correspondent to live, eat and sleep at the airport for 80 Days ~ without leaving. Following in the footsteps of Queensland’s hugely successful viral campaign to fill the World’s Best Job, earlier this week Vancouver Airport launched a web-based contest to find a storyteller who would live at YVR for 80 days and 80 nights telling...
Read MoreLife Got in the Way
So here I was a couple of months ago humming along quite fine. My life had rhythm, it had structure. I was writing regularly, I was getting to the gym – gaining weight – eating healthily, sleeping well, and challenging myself by learning Spanish here in Guatemala. Most importantly I was content. That was the last time that most of you would have heard from me. So much has happened since...
Read MoreI Didn’t Like the Dominican Republic
It’s not often I don’t like a place. More often I warble between lost-for-words, passionately in love, incredibly inspired and ‘it’s ok but not worth a second night’. I’m predisposed to liking places; I can’t help it, I’m fascinated by the world. Then I went to the Dominican Republic this past December and haven’t been able to say anything nice about it since. To be fair, I...
Read MoreBack to School
Today I went back to school – and my head hurts. As part of my assimilation into Guatemala, my newly adopted country, I’m attending Spanish classes four hours a day, for four days a week. (The standard is five days, but I don’t think this wandering soul can’t sit still THAT long … and let’s not forget about my hurting head.) My goal is to give my pigeon Spanish broader wings and help...
Read MoreMy New Home: Antigua, Guatemala
Even a rolling stone needs to come to a stop at some point. After an incredibly rewarding year of travelling about – spontaneously shifting from Brazil, North America, Europe, and Central America – I am in need of a rest, regiment and some structure. I have set up camp in Antigua, Guatemala. Or at least I’m trying to in between varying bouts of anxiety & fear at having made the right...
Read MoreWreck Beach: Hippie Haven
It was more than 15 years ago that I first experienced Wreck Beach – a long recognised, well-established nudist beach in Vancouver – there’s even a book chronically the beach’s history. A few months ago I returned for a second time to discover a more sophisticated beach – while still retaining its hippie heart – in it’s offerings of mixed drinks alongside...
Read MoreNicaraguan Reflections
My first guest writer, Jerome Parisse, offers this reflective tale of his recent return to Nicaragua. I recently went back to Nicaragua to visit friends. It was 20 years since I had lived there myself, and I couldn’t help reflect on the changes that have happened all over the country. I was 24 when I left Paris for Managua, staying away for two years and coming back changed deep...
Read MoreHunting Polar Bears in Churchill, Canada
Ever since I can remember I have wanted to visit Churchill, Canada. It is the place to see polar bears. A couple of years ago, I was lucky enough to go: An endearing little frontier settlement, sitting on the western edge of Hudson Bay in northern Manitoba, it is so remote it can only be reached by air or rail. For six frenetic weeks each Autumn (October & November) tourists descend on...
Read MoreThis is …
{San Francisco} … a great place for breakfast or lunch – always a line. mamas-sf.com … the best place for a burrito in The Mission if not San Francisco – be sure to try the tamarind juice. panchovillasf.com … a great restaurant for a lunch time pizza. delfinasf.com
Read MoreSeptember 11: Recalling My Day at The World Trade Center
With the 9 year anniversary of the twin tower attacks coming up later this week, I thought to share a private article I wrote back in 2001 as a way of dealing with my experiences at the World Trade Center that day: Mine is not a story of miracles, nor is it a story of near misses, it is simply a story of bearing witness first hand to the events of September 11th in New York, and having to live...
Read MoreM&M’s Excellent Adventure
First up, I have to ask: Who has missed a flight or conversely gone to the airport one day early simply because you didn’t properly look at your flight itinerary and thought your departure day/time was something entirely different from what it was? (Please share.) This was the case yesterday for a friend who was certain that he was flying to Europe that evening – having taken the day off in...
Read MoreBlading Bridge to Bridge
… (and back again) in San Francisco. In my quest to rollerblade every city I visit this year I pulled out my blades in San Francisco and discovered (surprisingly) that the city wasn’t the best for inline skating. No, not because of the hills – although they did limit the areas I could go – but because I couldn’t find any smooth road surfaces on my blade between the...
Read MorePhoto of the day
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