Down the Coast of Morocco

December 28th, 2020 After yesterday’s virtual tour of Tangier, today we’ve hired a driver and we’re on our way down the N1 coastal highway of western Morocco. The Atlantic is bright and blue today, and an empty beach stretches the entire length of the drive to our day-trip destination. After 45 minutes, we arrive at Asilah — a town that

Let’s Goa Little Longer

Photo of the Day: Adding a bit of light to the darkness as we get through the pandemic together. This series features travel photos from my archives, shared with you as we shelter in place. June 23rd, 2020 Why not stay for another sunset in Goa? Enjoy this tranquil view from Benaulim Beach along with a handful snaps from an

Daily Dose of Beauty: Borneo Big and Small

Daily Dose of Beauty: Adding a bit of light to the darkness as we get through the pandemic together. This series features travel photography from my archives, shared with you as we all shelter in place. April 1st, 2020 When J and I ventured from the beach into the jungle at Bako National Park in Borneo, it only took a

Into the Tanneries of Fez, Morocco

Travelling, one accepts everything; indignation stays at home. One looks, one listens, one is roused to enthusiasm by the most dreadful things because they are new. Good travellers are heartless. ~Elias Canetti, The Voices of Marrakech Death hangs constantly in front of us as we visit the Chaouwara tanneries in Fez. In the West, we rarely see where our food

The Fingerprint of Fez

Throughout this post you’ll find the words of author Paul Bowles, an American expatriate who lived in Tangier, Morocco for 50 years. He wrote an essay called “Fez” in 1984. His thoughts on the city still ring true today. I’ve interwoven my story with excerpts from his essay, noted as italic quotations. *** We ride the train from Tangier to

Magical Maldives

Like drops of glass in a cobalt blue ocean, the islands of Maldives look like they exist in their own world. We fly over them, gaping at their rings of aqua blue, anticipating our toes in the sand at the edge of the water. We land in Malé – a solitary airstrip in the middle of the ocean — transfer

The Allure of Sri Lanka

We arrived in Sri Lanka late on a Friday night, unable to see the country’s landscape from the windows of the plane. All discoveries of geographic color and contour would have to wait for daylight, and would be revealed over the next ten days as we traveled west to east, then south, and back to our starting point in Colombo.

Myanmar, Day 1: Welcome to Yangon

We just returned from eight days in Myanmar, and the words and descriptors lingering in my head include: time warp, dilapidated, adventure, smiles, beauty, surprise, hot, trash, crash, happiness, curiosity, sadness, possibility, difficulty and hope. We barely scratched the surface, visiting only Yangon, Bagan and Mount Popa, but there is clearly a wealth of exploration to be had in every