Separated from his student tour group in East Berlin, a much younger John M. Edwards gets seriously lost and says, “Ich bin ein Berliner!” (I am a doughnut!), but, er, for exactly how long? It’s a race against time to find “Chuck” and bust through the border crossing before the “Iron Curtain” closes. . . . For numerology fans, both the first Mayflower landing at Plymouth Rock and the dramatic fall of the Berlin Wall fell on my birthday: … [Read more...]
What do Van Morrison, The Godfather of Punk, and Seamus Heaney have in Common?
There is a theory of “primitive affluence” that suggests that when a society has its primary needs met by Nature...food, shelter, clothing…then it will turn to creativity. Bali, a tropical island in Indonesia where the rich volcanic soil produces an abundance of food and materials for fabrics and building, is held as an example. The trope is that “everyone in Bali is an artist.” Yet, while it is true that most everyone spends days carving, … [Read more...]
Perth on a Penny Royal a Day: Freebie New Year’s Day Downunder
John M. Edwards finds a six-month circumnavigation of Australia offers much more than empty Outback vistas of red dust and rock formations. but what better way to end you stay than plopping down at a hostel in Perth where everybody knows your name, one-legged pub crawls are the game, and where the Yanks take home the "Americas's Cup" trophy once again! Writing about New Year's Eve the day after is an annual letdown, unpublishable, an egregious … [Read more...]
Disneyland for Romance
Having recently married, (an unlikely side effect of Obamacare) I seem to find my brain stuck in amorous overdrive - the unlikely beneficiary being my husband, with an impromptu trip for two to the Magic Kingdom. It’s true that many react incredulously to the idea of adults wanting to frolic in a place so firmly aimed at the juvenile but, as a child from Southern California, I have always loved Disneyland and my affection hasn’t waned one bit. … [Read more...]
A Week at the Beach on Isla Mujeres
Can we all just agree that Cancun isn’t really all that great? After all, it’s a man-made vacation destination bogged down by mammoth, cheap all-inclusive resorts with lots of drunk tourists. Having said that, the weather there is great, the beaches are stunning and it’s super easy to get to. With a little extra planning and venturing beyond the main Hotel Zone, a perfect week at the beach in Mexico is absolutely possible! It’s not far by … [Read more...]
Bluffworks New Generation of Pants
Bluffworks founder Stefan Loble recently reached out to me indicating he had released the next generation of the Bluffworks pants. Leaving soon after the pants arrived on an International trip lasting several months - involving a number of climatic zones and rigors of both adventure travel and urban travel - this time on the road served as the perfect testing ground for these new pants. New improvements include: - newly-designed slash … [Read more...]
Can food broker peace? Mamnoon Restaurant, Seattle
Celebrating Syria: “We couldn’t go back, so we started mamnoon instead.” -Richard Bangs “For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.” -T.S. Elliot There are so many delicious facets to this story. I first met Wassef Haroun in Zambia, at the Kafue River Camp, owned by a mutual friend who had invited us for a week-long private safari. Towards the end of the week Wassef excused himself from the Rhodesian teak table … [Read more...]
Cock-a-Doodle-Don’t, Cockfighting in the Philippines
John M. Edwards attends a horrific “cockfight” on Bantayan Island in the Philippines, only to end up wondering what exactly were the ingredients in the national dish of adobo. . . . The roosters swaggered around like Mick and Keith, with dangerously sharp spurs attached to their legs. While the apocalyptic poultry sussed each other out with malice, the excitement began to build. My two new Norwegian backpacker friends snapped photos with … [Read more...]
River Gods: Confessions of a Grand Canyon Guide
It all began, for me, at a meeting of the Canoe Cruisers Association, the Washington, D.C. chapter. In the midst of the button-down capital there is an underground of cutoffs and t-shirts that each weekend assembles by the banks of some Shenandoah or Appalachia river to rake the whitewater with paddles. A recent high school graduate searching for life’s passion, I joined up at the urging of my old Scout leader, and was immediately hooked. My … [Read more...]
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
Imagine writing a book when your body is entirely paralyzed except for your left eye lid - the other eye being stitched shut. Author Bauby wrote this entire book by blinking - using a special alphabet that was devised for him - he chose each letter, one at a time slowly forming words, then sentences. Rendered almost entirely rigid by a stroke at age 43 in 1995, he left a world of fashion (he was editor of the French Elle) and entered a … [Read more...]
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