travel | Mostly Bright Ideas

Browsing All posts tagged under »travel«

Recycled Energy

June 18, 2014

What is this thing that happens inside us? We look forward to something with such fervor that we can hardly bear the intensity. And then, sometimes within seconds of reaching the goal, we grow bored and tired of it, even acting as though we’d never wanted it in the first place. There’s that photograph in […]

Getting Over My Down-Under Fantasy

June 19, 2013

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There was a time when I wanted to go to Australia. This was back when my travel experience included nothing more than a couple of drives up and down the east coast of the United States, where much of the scenery was dominated by billboards advertising pecan rolls and cheap cigarettes. From where I lived, […]

Tipping Points

March 6, 2013

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I live in one of those places where tourism is a significant part of the economy. At this very moment, people all over the world are booking flights and reserving hotel rooms so they can devote a fraction of their summer to experiencing life in this exotic location. Not that this location is all that […]

When the Squeaky Wheel Runs Over Your Foot

August 23, 2011

If you want to be truly happy, focus on the positive. I hear this all the time, and it makes me want to go right up to the person saying it and light their hair on fire. First of all, what does truly happy even mean? Can I be falsely happy? And if so, how […]

Arrivals and Departures

May 4, 2011

I didn’t bother to check the gas gauge. The tank was full. It had to be. Everybody knows that when you rent a car, you pick it up with a full tank and you return it the same way. Besides, there had been some confusion at the customer service counter. I’d paid for a compact […]

By Jove, Where Am I?

September 24, 2010

In 2002, a couple from Great Britain wanted to travel to Sydney, Australia, but somehow found themselves in Sydney, Nova Scotia. That isn’t just on a completely different continent; it’s on the other side of the planet. In the travel business, it’s about as wrong as you can be. This was a peculiar story. Incredible, […]

Eating Quicksand, and My Words

July 17, 2010

I resisted blogging for a long time. I even made fun of the word: blogging. It seemed to describe the sound you’d make if you were drowning in quicksand. Even worse was the term blogosphere. I’m not sure why, but I pictured a huge glass ball splattered with mud. I still do, actually. The truth […]

Sicily: The People

June 11, 2010

In 2003, on our first trip to Sicily, we spent three nights in an apartment in Palermo, then rented a two-door Alfa Romeo and went exploring. Somewhere between Siracusa on the southeast coast and Piazza Armerina in the mountains, we came around a bend in the road and had to stop as a herd of […]

A Personal Ad

June 8, 2010

MARRIED COUPLE, EARLY FIFTIES. SEEKS OTHER COUPLES FOR CONVERSATION, COMPANIONSHIP, AND FUN. No, really. We’re not into anything weird. We’re just tired of talking about the weather and the price of gas. And we’re hoping there are others out there who might be feeling the same way. Here’s a little about us. We enjoy traveling, partly […]

How To Make Time Slow Down

May 26, 2010

According to many sources, Albert Einstein once said the following: “When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute and it’s longer than any hour. That’s relativity.” I’m far from an expert on relativity, despite the many […]