The impressive "autostrada", or toll highways along the Italian Riviera are truly an engineering marvel - with seemingly hundreds of bridges and both short and long tunnels drilled right through the rocky mountain sides. As a result, you have a road that is amazingly level even though it passes through large mountains and deep river gorges. Complicated round abouts and entry points are located next to entrances to the autostrada. Entry requires … [Read more...]
Greenland – The World’s Coolest Place
Leaving the comfort of blue skies at 37,000 feet, above a thick cloud layer, we started our slow descent down into Greenland. It was hard to believe that we were actually stopping in Greenland, a place that I had only flown over so many times between the USA and Europe. It isn't a place I ever thought I would actually stop in. I always thought it was a place where no one ever went, somewhere inhospitable to life. It was hard to believe we … [Read more...]
Tulip Time on Holland and Belgium Waterways
Millions of flowering tulips in a myriad of colors can be enjoyed in a spectacular setting at Keukenhof Gardens in Amsterdam, but check your calendar because this dazzling display can only be seen in the spring during late March and April in Holland. A delightful excursion into this cornucopia of colors is made easy by riverboat. My husband and I recently returned from a “Tulip Time” cruise aboard the AMA Prima, launched in 2013. The 9-day … [Read more...]
Bring Adventure Back to Europe
This was Richard's Keynote to The European Travel Commission, presented on May 9, 2013. This also took first place in our 2013 travel writing competition. I once ran with the bulls of Pamplona....by mistake, involuntarily. I was at Microsoft, where we were developing a new travel product that would become Expedia, and we had the idea to use a new web technology called Live Chat to convey from the field the adventure of travel. I had the idea … [Read more...]
Tedeschi Winery, Verona Italy
I've known Emil Tedeschi for a number of years, owner of Napa Valley's tiny Tedeschi Family Winery, not to be confused with the Tedeschi Winery, Maui - which Emil also co-founded. He has mentioned the Tedeschi Winery in Verona Italy more than a few times. So with my brother living in Verona and describing my upcoming trip to visit him, Emil jumped at the opportunity to come along. Emil has co-piloted a single engine plane - 16 hours from San … [Read more...]
A Traveler’s Passion
I had my first taste of travel back in 2007 when I went on a group tour throughout Europe to six countries in twenty days. It was a group of kids from all over New Jersey that I did not know, but after those twenty days we were like a family. At the time it was my dream to visit London, I was obsessed with the accent, the culture and seeing the sights. I always wanted to see the London Eye and when I finally did, it all hit me. That moment was … [Read more...]
Sumatran Blend, Ripples on the Edge of Time: Toba or not Toba?
An American backpacker treats Sumatra, Indonesia’s “Lake Toba”--filled with crunchy Elysian entrepots --as a writers’ retreat where backing off comes with the territory “Characters are just like black marks on paper. . . --William Gass, Fiction and the Right of Life I arrive by high-speed hydrofoil across the Malacca Straits to Medan, the ersatz capital of Sumatra, during Ramadan. I was, of course, on my way to flop down and relax at the … [Read more...]
Afghanistan Exposed
Just over one year into our odyssey, while headed overland to Europe, we ventured through Afghanistan. Rocking atop burlap sacks in the open-backed truck, I watched as Peshawar faded into the morning’s mirage. Knowing I’d never return in this lifetime, I felt history being made beneath my feet as upturned dust exposed ancient stories. With a mandatory armed-escort riding in the front, I knew I better play by the rules. At 50C, halfway to the … [Read more...]
Flash and Burn
I am out of the suburbs and into the city—at the center of what I wanted. Staying with my host family forty-minutes from town was a gift. It allowed me to ease in and find a job in a protected place. But, I didn’t leave Asia for the outskirts or to be protected. I left to be exposed to the thriving madness of Europe. The flat I am renting is in the art district of Prague, three metro stops from the city center. The Vltava River is a two-minute … [Read more...]
War and Peace and Napoleon
I’ve always had a thing for Napoleon Bonaparte. After all, he was a pretty amazing guy. In addition to his military exploits, he oversaw the centralization of the French government, established the Bank of France, got the French people to accept the metric system (something I doubt even Barack Obama could do in the United States), reformed the law (the Napoleonic Code still forms the basis of legal process in a quarter of the world), and … [Read more...]
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