After my divorce, I needed to travel, to go on a journey to find myself. What better place to start than Ireland, home of my ancestors? During my trip I found images and parts of me that I didn't know existed. I found them in the faces and personalities all around me; in their laughter and ability to laugh at themselves; in the scenery; the castles and cottages; in the weather- stormy and changeable like myself; in the roads: driving on the … [Read more...]
Even the Natives Don’t go Native
We were in Paradise! There were six of us holed up in a luxury three-bedroom condominium resting at the top of a hill. From our lofty perch we overlooked the most beautiful turquoise water of the southern Caribbean Sea that surrounded the Island of Tobago with a fine-grained sandy beach that stretched in both directions as far as any of us cared to look. We sat on cushy cloth-covered deck chairs at our swimming pool, sipping our second or … [Read more...]
Beirut in the Baltics
John M. Edwards is drawn into the Wild Wild East of “Europe Minor.” After the collapse of communism in the USSR, inflation in the freshly minted Baltic republics of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia rolled up the ruble into the cheapest toilet paper around, so I decided to go East and stock up. I needed a cheap place to wipe my ass because I was then unemployed, and an Orwellian year of freelancing in Paris had left me as restless … [Read more...]
The El Is Swell @ New York City’s High Line Park
Manhattan Island’s newly reopened urban greenway “High Line Park,” perched on an abandoned “el” track stretching back into time, boldly reclaims renewal by rescuing ruins. “I love it: It’s a piquino paradise in the sky!!” raves Zoraida Robinson, a hard-working Puerto Rican immigrant with an eye for al fresco retreats. “Here we can get away from the city without leaving the city.” The aerial Eden that Zoraida is praising is Manhattan … [Read more...]
A Stay at the Silky Oaks Eco-Lodge, Daintree Rainforest Queensland
After traveling for probably a great distance as most of the guests have endured prior to arriving here - you walk into your cool room, with soft music playing to match the mood of the setting, and you realize you have arrived somewhere special. Your heart beat immediately drops a few octaves, you can feel your mood change instantaneously to a peaceful state and you wonder why you can't capture this feeling and take it with you after you leave. … [Read more...]
The Secret of Happiness: London (UK)
On Shakespeare's "Sceptr'd Isle," in London, John M. Edwards is confronted by an Aggro Cockney near Hyde Park's Free-Speech Forum: "Speaker's Corner" I once came across a swarthy gentleman wearing a sign around his neck emblazoned with the words, “The Secret of Happiness." Obviously a palmed pound coin could loosen the red rascal’s lips. Even if the “secret” was passed down generation to generation by word of mouth within a Da Vinci … [Read more...]
A Fine Bit of Madness
Near the end of the film, Zorba the Greek, Zorba dances by himself. His arms are spread out and his hands are open towards heaven. He shouts, “Everybody needs a little madness.” Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. I had just spent five days camping at a Good Sam rally in Centreville, Michigan. Although the staff members were welcoming, the participants warm and friendly and there were plenty of activities and lots of entertainment, … [Read more...]
Stork Storm over Santiago de Compostela
Airmail from Santiago de Compostela (Galicia, Spain) An American backpacker travels the 500-mile Christian pilgrimage route of “El Camino de Santiago de Compostela” (St. James Way)—only to end up surviving an aggro divebombing storm of storks! “Oh, look, the birds are so fonny!” said an olive-eyed senorita, a groovy Gallego art student with an auburn cloak from a nearby university. I didn’t agree. After all, birds are descended from the … [Read more...]
Get dirty, get partying at Antigua resorts
Never have I gone to a party at the house of someone who owns an all-inclusive Caribbean resort. Nor have I rooted in slimy muck of a saltwater lagoon at another all inclusive with its chef, foraging for food to cook and eat. But I did both, in gloriously fun fashion, at Curtain Bluff and Hermitage Bay, two resorts on Antigua in the Leeward Islands of the West Indies, where the rich and famous have homes, such as Georgio Armani, Richard … [Read more...]
One of the Keys to Happiness is a Bad Memory.
For the past decade, I’ve had this recurring nightmare. It involves concrete apartment structures hundreds and hundreds of stories tall and one city block wide. I’m usually stuck on one of the top floors, which are so high in the sky that small communities complete with little stores and schools have been established up there. Rickety walkways strung from windows connect the buildings so the tenants don’t have to make the journey down and back … [Read more...]
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