This was enormously difficult for me. First of all, choosing a top five is never easy. Ranking was totally out of the question! And then condensing days and days of vivid and rich experiences into a little summarized blurb was near impossible. I could go on and on but here are 5 of my fondest travel experiences. Montezuma, Costa Rica Body-surfed for breakfast after having watched the spectacular sunrise through my tattered tent door then … [Read more...]
Archives for June 2006
Choquequirao – the Real Lost City of the Inca
Machu Picchu is one of those things you can't miss, even if you hate crowds and band wagons. It is undoubtedly gorgeous and profound. However, all that 'lost city' stuff sounds like a cheap cliche these days. What is so lost about a shiny train, a bunch of new coaches, international cuisine, inflated tourist trap prices, tactical formations of retired Japanese and millions of North-American kids screaming for mommy? Machu Picchu is a Very Much … [Read more...]
A Brush with Africa
But it took more than two decades in England, a self-confessed dull career in manufacturing, before these youthful experiences found expression in a style of art that has captured the very essence of Africa. What strikes you first about Simon's paintings is the extraordinary colour: an earthy yellow that manages to be both intense and transparently delicate. This is the colour of Africa and Simon achieved it in an accidental and unorthodox way. … [Read more...]
The Ride of Our Lives
What was their son, Mike, thinking when he took a sabbatical from his job with NBC News so he could pile these two world-class originals along with three of his grown kids and a daughter-in-law into a pair of rented RVs and hit the road for a month? Mike was thinking that he wanted to give his parents the ultimate family reunion. And so, one February morning, three generations of Leonard's set out on their journey under the dazzling Arizona … [Read more...]
The Ben Franklin House, London – June 2006
Ben Franklin House - When in London consider visiting the Ben Franklin House located close to the popular Trafalgar Square at 36 Craven Street. This is the only "Franklin" house still in existence and it was opened to the public only in early 2006. This home was built in 1730 and Franklin lived there for almost 16 years from 1757 and 1775. This house was also the first de facto US Embassy. Franklin was a man of many talents and is credited … [Read more...]