The day started off picture perfect – I slept in, had breakfast and checked out of Hotel Atmospheres in Paris. My Eurostar train from Paris to London was scheduled for 1 p.m. so I had time to leisurely stroll around the city one last time before bidding adieu. The sun […]
The note in the Platine hotel elevator alerted guests that the taxi drivers would be on strike the next day in Paris. The taxi strike would definitely be chaotic, in my opinion, and I wasn’t quite sure how it would solve the dispute at hand which was the arrival […]
My nieces have four cats so when I visit, Smoky tries to sit by my head when I’m on the couch while George attempts to get me to pay attention to him by walking over my lap (the other two gave up a long time ago). The cats know I’m […]
I’ve escaped my life at home and here I sit watching the world float by – literally watching people from around the world on what is presumably their first gondola ride in Venice. Watching their faces as they point at the buildings, others taking photos and some playing with their phones bored […]
When I lost my job of 10+ years, I did what most rational (not really) people would do – I ran away to Europe on my EPIC Adventure (travel sabbatical). See I didn’t quit my job to travel the world, my job quit me so I thought “why not travel”. […]
Last summer in London, my niece will tell you I tortured her with art. If I tell the story, while I’m sure I should say it was an educational experience (which it was), it was actually a bit of revenge for her shopping torture I endured in Paris. At eleven, […]
“Where do you want to go”? is a question I have a hard time answering. “I want to go everywhere” doesn’t quite satisfy the person who asked the question. When I do decide on a destination, the follow up question is then “Why Go There?” which is often times even […]
Despite all of my years traveling, I often forget about the little things that I take for granted staying in U.S. hotels (or Western chain hotels). It’s in Europe when I stay at the smaller hotel properties that I remember all the quirks that make for memorable encounters along the […]
So my life is changing whether I want it to or not so I decided it was a great excuse to begin my EPIC journey and see where it leads. When I wrote about the crazy $399 transatlantic cruise to Barcelona from Miami on the Norwegian EPIC cruise ship, I sent […]
Looking back I wished I had the maturity (and foresight) to know that I should have taken more photos of my childhood – the neighborhood, the stores, the neighbors and those I interacted with – documenting life in Northeast Philadelphia in the 1970 – 1990’s. Sure there are the photos […]