Personal Writing

“Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay.” ― Simone de Beauvoir

Antelope Canyon, March 2022

After I left Antelope Canyon, I posted on Instagram that it might have been one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, and a week removed from the trip, that thought still holds. The tours of the canyon take you about 100 feet underground into a canyon carved over millions of years by periodic flooding through the area. Be sure to watch when the guide shows...

The Unbearable Lightness of Memory

 have only a handful of photographs of my father. One taken shortly after I was born shows a man, already old, wearing what looks inexplicably like a North Korean army hat cocked at a ridiculous angle on his head, wearing the half smile of someone who doesn’t want to be photographed and holding a massive fish in one hand. It’s winter in the photo, and a cat, little...

The Tröllaskagi Peninsula: Unbelievable Beauty in North Iceland With Far Fewer Tour Buses

You may have heard that Iceland is overrun with tourists, and with 2.2 million visitors to the island of 330,000 people in 2017, you might begin to believe that it’s just not a special destination any longer. While that’s certainly not true, my enthusiasm about the South Coast of Iceland is not without some reservation, namely the fact that the most...

Off to Iceland One More Time

I seem to have a vague memory of posting about how my last trip to Iceland would likely be my last, but the island certainly has a hold on me. This time, the plan is to finally do the entire Ring Road and hit the Westman Islands, which might be a bit ambitious. The beauty of traveling by camper van, though, is that plans can evolve as necessar and as the whims of...

You Definitely Don’t Want to Use the @Icelandair Stopover Program

I hate to dwell on the negatives of such an incredible trip to Europe, but I thought I’d offer an update about my experiences with Icelandair. In short, it would be a mistake to choose Icelandair as your means of travel to Europe and a huge mistake to use their Stopover program unless you want to risk throwing away a lot of money on travel you won’t get to experience...

Never Risk Your Trip on @Icelandair

Never book a trip on Icelandair. And my apologies to all the people I’ve told they should use the carrier. Never book a trip on Icelandair. That’s the only advice I can give fellow travelers after my last two experiences with the airline. Those of you who follow this blog might remember the challenge of my last flight on the carrier this spring when without notice...