I wrote today for National Geographic Traveler that you can’t know a train until you’ve slept on one. I’ve spent about 40 nights on trains in my travels (once while counting moustaches in Russia), but I have hardly any idea what the USA looks like from the rails. That’s changing now. Over the next couple weeks I get to tag along the Millennial … Read on
On no levels is Gettysburg, which is commemorating its 150th anniversary, just a battlefield. The site in south-central Pennsylvania, run by the national park service, carries a big wallop even for those who find the History Channel a bore. A few years ago I went to find out how re-enactors decide who “dies” first during mock battles. To be honest, learned next to … Read on
CNN asked me to talk about the safety issue in Mexico, and titled the video after my point — that Cancun’s homicide rate is actually less than Orlando’s. Unfortunately CNN misspelled “reidontravel.” Here’s the CNN article with the link.
“Hate” is too strong a word, so I’ll just say I’ll never invite Las Vegas to my pizza party. (Though I once tried to turn “Sin City” into ScIeNce City.”) That said, because the fact that such a booming bizarro of a city could exist in a Mars-like setting, I don’t mind going there. As long as I can leave. My favorite daytrip … Read on
If you want to know the key to a Tulsan’s heart, take them to the 76-foot Golden Driller at ExpoSquare* (4145 E 21st St). Now, I grew up in Tulsa, but I think I can say this with all seriousness, the Golden Driller is the greatest statue in the world. Set outside the fairgrounds in 1966 as a tribute to “Texas tea,” the … Read on
Everyone knows who Woody Guthrie was, right? Folk singer who sang about the Dust Bowl, the Columbia River and killing fascists? He grew up in Oklahoma, but the author of “This Land is Your Land” was the eternal rambler — and not just because he wrote “I Ain’t Got No Home In this Home Anymore”. But now he has a permanent home, in … Read on
