Lynch Mob

Cairo is more hectic than Bangkok and possibly dirtier than Delhi but no one really goes to Egypt to visit Cairo...its Giza they want to see... My driver was a bohemith 6'5" 275lb boy of 20 years old who boasted that he had only been in as many accidents as his age. This was a fact that he was legitametely proud of which naturally scared the hell out of me. His car was something out of an Adam Sandler song with no radio, no working seat belts, no working windows, no rearview mirror or sideview mirrors, and the seat was pushed so far forward that I was practically sitting in the fetal position grasping onto whatever I felt wasn't going to break away from the car's frame if we were to suddenly swerve. Mohamed picked me ... read more

There’s no good reason to have Run with the Bulls other than it seemed like a good idea at the time. Hemmingway must have seen something genius and manly about the festival of San Fermin and wasn’t old Ernest considered a Man among Men? Either way, it really wasn’t as scary as the Blooper reel you’ve seen on TV would indicate. Can you die while running with the Bulls? Yes. Can you get gored by an angry Bull and become paralyzed? Yes (and in fact someone did a few days prior to my run). But then again there’s an element of danger associated with walking out your front door everyday. Running with the Bulls is not only about the rush…and what a rush it is…its more about the story and the pride factor associated with telling ... read more

As am Irish American, I could think of no better place to spend my 25th Birthday than Dublin. To be more specific, I spend a great deal of the day wandering around the Guinness Storehouse. For anyone who´s never been to the Guinness Storehouse, its the original Brewery that has been converted into a living museum and churns out the brews it did years ago. On short, its a Mecca for beer. The interior is shaped like a giant pint glass of Guinness and the self guided tour is supposed to take you from the bottom floor up to the sky bar located at the top of the building that hosts first class views of the city of Dublin and is also where they give you your free pint, included in the admission. My tour however ... read more

I broke two toes in a barefoot pick up soccer game on the lawn at the Museo Square. They're only toes, they'll grow back. Considering some of the other injuries I've had, and the amount of my own blood I've spilled accidentally, I was happy to learn that they were likely only cracked up a bit and not pointing in the wrong direction. There's a reason I took nearly 100 pictures of this soccer, excuse me, football game, I saw sitting in the grass watching my toes swell. No matter, I've past the point of perpetual sandal weather, shoes have become a necessity. This trip to Amsterdam, I was determined to soak up a little more culture than my last trip. The line for the Anne Frankhuois was around the block, up the street, over the ... read more

John Thomas Lynch, my grandfather, has been an enigma to me all my life, not only because he is the man I was named for yet never had the opportunity to meet, but because no one besides my Uncle Kevin ever had a conversation with him about his war experiences. It’s hard to write this particular blog without going into too much history about the U.S. military campaign in the Philippines, mainly involving their strategic withdrawal from Manila to the Bataan peninsula and the island of Corregidor and subsequent surrender of all U.S. & Filipino forces in the Philipines to the Imperial Army of Japan, but I’ll attempt to make it brief. I’ve heard the stories since I was a small boy about my grandfather’s role in WWII and despite all the papers and essays I’ve ... read more