I’m more picky about what I read than what I eat, as I explained in this interview with MissAdventures (aka Melanie Renzulli). Well, more or less. (I don’t eat dog meat or McDonald’s.) I say this because in a travel writer’s life, reading is research, and research is work, and I’m selective in what information I seek out. I also get to prove … Read on
I grew up in Oklahoma and never heard of Boley, or 40 other “black towns’ that were formed in the early 1900s by African Americans looking for the “promised land.” Boley, 53 miles southwest of Tulsa, is one of a couple that are still there, and has — for decades — hosted a wonderful three-day Memorial Day Weekend event, Boley’s “black rodeo.” No one … Read on
A VIRTUAL PANEL to discuss people who take cafe tables before ordering Adults can be such children. If you don’t believe me, watch them. Go to a cafe in a busy city like New York — the Starbucks at the northwest corner of Union Square will do. There is always a line there, and few if any empty seats at communal or private … Read on
Hey, this happened! Months ago I recorded a segment for “Jamaica Bared” that’s been popping up on Travel Channel lately. Here’s a link to my snippet where I get to liken the touristy Martha Brae River — which I rafted once on a memorable trip at 15 — to Venice, but “without the canals… or the Venetians.” Glad the key detail made the … Read on
For years, Cleveland’s had to stomach that any article written on the city would put in the first two paragraphs some mention or joke that its river, the Cuyahoga, caught on fire briefly in 1969. (Like this one, or that one, and even this R.E.M song.) Sometimes that was followed with the dismissal that the city’s just “the mistake by the lake.” Turns … Read on
Meet travel’s new MVP (same as the old one) While working for Lonely Planet for nearly 15 years, I researched guidebooks in Siberia and Transylvania, trained at Mountie boot camp in Saskatchewan, and even shook hands with Al Roker. But the most eye-opening thing I learned along the way was this simple fact about Americans: ALMOST NO ONE KNOWS WHAT A “GUIDEBOOK” IS … Read on
