Technically, I have been homeless for 7 months. I walked out the door of the house I'd lived in for 18 years in mid-April and will not have an address of residence for another two weeks. In reality, it has been a privileged and voluntary form of homelessness. For 5 months of that period I … Continue reading Homeless
Hearing about my six months of travelling this year, the most common question from people is, "What was your favourite place?" (Impossible to answer, by the way. So many places, so different, each with their unique appeal.) The second is, "Don't you get homesick?" And the answer is, "No." That's ingenuous, of course. There were … Continue reading Don’t you Get Homesick?
Determined to get back in the habit of working out, I headed to the hotel gym this week. As I was doing a bicep curl on the Universal machine, I noticed I was holding my left hand a little funny. I was puzzled for a moment and then I realized-- I was protecting the gold … Continue reading Breaking the Habit of Being Comfortable
I turn on the tap and wet my toothbrush, then turn it off. It's only as I'm brushing that I remember that the tap water isn't safe. I go out into the hall of my Saint Petersburg hotel and fill a bottle from the water cooler that is on each floor. It's hard to adjust … Continue reading Water, Water, Everywhere…
Sitting in Jackson Square in the French Quarter of New Orleans, I kept seeing it: groups of people wearing the same colour T-shirts. At first I thought it was what I'd seen in Mystic last month, a group of young women who all bought the same souvenir shirt and then put them on in the … Continue reading We’re with Her: Destination Friend trips
It hits me suddenly. I start to gasp. I am trying to breath, but I can't stop gasping, and I'm getting dizzy. I sit down on a bench and the tears start to roll. I make myself breathe-- in, two, three, four, hold, two, three, four, out, two, three... It takes a few minutes of … Continue reading Never again
As we pull into the parking garage, I see a line of women in matching dresses, one by each lane. As the vehicles pull up, they each push the button, take the ticket, and hand it to the driver, who could have easily reached the button himself. By our downtown Tokyo hotel at 9pm on … Continue reading Living to Work in Japan
I haven't been posting a lot of pictures from Japan. There are many good reasons to do it: to let friends and family know that I am fine, and having fun; to entertain the many people who tell me they are living this trip vicariously through me; to reflect on the day by looking and … Continue reading Pics or It Didn’t Happen
"Just grab an Uber," he said. I was debating how to get from the airport to my hotel in Chennai the next day. I didn't answer. It wasn't worth the argument. But I knew I wouldn't take an Uber. It reminded me of the video that went around a few months ago, where the speaker … Continue reading SWF, Travelling Solo
"Study in Canada!" An hour and a half drive from the costal tourist town of Fort Kochi, on our way to the tea plantations of the Western Ghat Mountains of India, the roadside billboard caught me by surprise. Then I saw it again, beside an ad for Milwaukee Academy, apparently the solution for high scores … Continue reading A Thirst for Learning: Education in Kerala
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