Maya Angelou once emoted, “I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.” For me, home began with a view of blurred treetops basking in the sunlight. As my best friend Rachel and I drove past the sun shining over a grand body of water we reached a town. … Continued
You Can Have Coffee With Gandhi Here “You can have coffee with Gandhi here.” That’s what the tour operator said when he shook hands with us at the airport. If you are fascinated by the Gandhian doctrine and want to explore India alongside the footprints of one of the greatest thinkers and world leaders of … Continued
It Not Only Takes Bravery but Determination in the UK I sit, exhausted, on the coarse burred covered heather oblivious to the prickles and thorns biting into my trembling tired legs. Elation overtakes my exhaustion, “I did it Les, I conquered it, I told you I would” I yell out in triumph to no-one … Continued
I had thought it would be Miguel de Cervantes’ house. But the most inspiring part of Alcala de Henares was a small, sun-filled park with a row of exercise equipment for the elderly. I have never been the traveling type. She always has been. She had seen London, Paris, Madrid. My family had lived in … Continued
My skin shed the role of predictable, common essence of morality, and I became an energy of spontaneity. I stood, feet planted firmly in the redstone creation beneath me, I closed my eyes and was awoken. My conscious beat on heavily with every gaze swept across my new plane of unfamiliar territory. Traveling is a … Continued
I have always been afraid of the dark. I do my best to say this with as little shame and embarrassment as possible, given my age (let’s just say, “twenty-something”). From childhood my irrational fears transitioned from monsters to ghosts to intruders in the night, with scary movies serving as fuel for my overactive imagination. … Continued
Return to the Kasbah My sojourn in a land of veils, desert nights, and hypnotic drumming rhythms ended when the US Sixth Fleet was ordered to steam toward Moroccan shores to evacuate military personnel and sensitive equipment from its naval communications station. Only two years earlier I had been whisked to that secret military base … Continued
There is nothing rational about jumping out of a plane. Freefalling fifteen thousand feet towards the earth defies all instincts of self-preservation. With all hope to survive the plunge packaged into a piece of material strapped to your back, skydiving literally is a leap of faith. Sometimes in life we face a choice whether to … Continued
Boabdil’s Sigh Regret, defeat, anger, sorrow, dispair. Imagine a sigh deep and heavy enough to carry all of those feelings. Maybe you know that feeling. Such was the sigh of Boabdil, last Moorish King of Granada, Andalucia, Spain. He was fleeing, conquered and defeated, from his kingdom. A luxerious, prosperous kingdom. As he reached a … Continued
The sky was pigeon grey and the Danube a sludgy green on the last day, the day I walked on the stone slabs beside the river and looked at the discarded shoes, and cried. A shiver of wind rippled the surface of the water. I heard about the shoes when I arrived in Budapest. My … Continued