In my novel Don’t Try Any of This, second volume in the Little Rosie Trilogy, the main character arrives in Bangkok and expresses the differences she sees in the city from Paris, where she has been living. “Bangkok is so different from Paris. I can see that right away, from the moment we arrive and step out of the plane. And I see more of the differences on our first day here, a day of R&R after that long…
I am writing this long delayed piece while in Malaysia, two countries and a third of the world past my time on Gran Canaria, part of Spain’s Canary Islands. Not counting plane stops and brief diversions, I’m now in my eighth country and at the end of my ninth week, two more countries and weeks to go until I return to what I currently consider home. Trying to put everything in perspective, to put all the pieces together in…
I arrived in Botswana 10 days ago, and I’ll have lots to say about my visit here, which has been full of surprises, in a coming post. But last Wednesday I ventured across the border to the Madikwe Game Reserve in South Africa, and it was such an amazing experience it needs its own blog post. While I’ve lived and traveled fairly extensively in North Africa, and I hold a Certificate in African Studies as part of my Masters degree,…
Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, is the kind of human city that cities should be. Orderly, safe, pleasant, the city’s streets and its beachside promenade — along what is called the Rambla, which stretches for many miles — are full of joggers, bikers, dog walkers, and others just out enjoying life and themselves. I almost gave Montevideo a miss, but am glad I did not. Montevideo always figured big for me as a kid, since it was off Montevideo, in…
Coming into Costa Rica this time, I thought how different my arrival into the country was from the first time, 50 years, almost to the day, later. This time I was flying in a Copa Airlines 737 from Panama City to San Jose. A half century ago, I was nearing the end of my four-month exploration through Mexico and Central America. Three days earlier, I was leaving Guatemala heading south, four countries yet to go, with $22 left in my…