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by Peggy DePersia, guest blogger The ‘cat is out of the bag’ or something like that. Though it isn’t really a secret, it is a fact that reveals itself by degrees; like an onion, it becomes more intense with every layer. At least that’s been my experience. Let’s see. Where to begin? The beauty...
by Linda Laughter, Guest Blogger This year our extended family of 11 adults and 5 children (under the age of 9), decided we missed each other and needed to find a place where we could gather. We are spread out from Texas to Oregon and Michigan. This took a bit of planning to say the […]
by Peggy DePersia, Guest Blogger Scaffolding generally gives me pause. I sometimes stop and evaluate whether I want to walk under, through or around it. Or, should I cross the street and avoid it altogether. Often, I stop, especially if there are layers and layers of it, to try and...
by Kate Dernocoeur, guest blogger Arriving in Japan as a budget traveler in 1981 led me to a very basic and unexpected discovery: toilets in the places we could afford in those days were almost universally the Asian “squatter” variety. After my initial surprise, I came to agree that using what...
by Kate Dernocoeur, Guest Blogger Wooden chopsticks are delightful for placing morsels of a meal into your mouth. The experience is so different from using a metal fork to stab or shovel food. (OK, maybe it’s somewhat frustrating until you get the knack of it, but I recommend learning. The...
by Kate Dernocoeur, guest blogger. The deliciousness of any good experience in life is the savoring of it, before, during and after. Beforehand is the time of eager anticipation. The actual journey is always made better by being mindful and present to moments as they happen. Afterwards come the...
by Kate Dernocoeur, guest blogger, “Thank you, kind stranger.” Thus begins the paragraph in my journal about my arrival in Kyoto. Despite maps and a good sense of direction, I had no idea which way to go to find the hotel. A couple stopped to help (and thus missed their crosswalk light). The...
by Kate Dernocoeur, guest blogger As I huffed and puffed my way up Yufu-dake, a beautiful notched mountain just south of the Kunisaki Peninsula on Kyushu (Japan) recently, the memory of what it takes to climb a mountain flooded back to me. Yufu-dake isn’t large, by world standards—just...
Tips from Other Travelers… by Kate Dernocoeur, guest blogger My early days of adventure travel were bolstered by slim travel volumes, such as those from Lonely Planet. Among the best of my resources was the thin tome, “Southeast Asia on a Shoestring.” The finest travel advice, though,...
By Peggy DePersia, Guest Blogger Whenever I pass through an ‘entrance’ route to a national park, I get goose bumps of anticipation. I have learned to understand that I am guaranteed to experience something special: a sighting of a unique creature, a spectacular scene of a natural wonder, an...