The continuing quest for paradise… I have this vision of an unspoiled, tropical paradise – swaying palm trees, perfect blue skies and gentle ocean breezes, powdery white sand, and clear turquoise water. I’ve seen pictures of it on calendars, travel web sites, and airline posters. Therefore, it must exist. I will find it…. I’ve come close a few times. Hawaii is a paradise by any definition. I love Maui and always go when I have a chance, but it is a bit overdeveloped and crowded to be a true escape. Plus, in my mind, paradise does not have a K-Mart. Nothing I’ve seen comes closer to those ideal poster images than the Maldives. However, the lack of competition on each one-resort island suddenly inflates prices to four times their natural size. This stresses me more than ... read more

Dragons in the Year of the Dragon…. For many years I’ve tried to plan a trip to Komodo National Park. After several attempts, I discovered that traveling in less developed parts of Indonesia means old style travel. I don’t mean horse-and-buggy-old-style, but I do mean the kind of old style where you can’t rely on the internet, trip advisor, or google searches. Somewhere, deep in my memory, there is a hazy vision of buying a plane ticket and landing in a foreign place with no hotel reservations, no tours booked, no transportation planned out. The only information I had to guide my arrival was what I could find in an out-of-date Lonely Planet (or more likely, Let’s Go!) book. After that, it was all adventure. Sadly, the easy availability of travel reviews and booking options have ... read more

The Midnight Summit on Green Turtle Conservation…. Shortly after Oman relaxed their rules on foreign visitors, two friends (Sally and Susan) and I decided to go see that country. We were living in the Middle East at the time, so we thought we knew what to expect. Oh how delightfully wrong we were. Oman was not like any place I had been…. Our introduction was not the best. Although they had made it easier for foreigners to visit, and although we were able to stand in a special line reserved for Gulf residents, the passport control process still took three hours. I’m glad we arrived after they relaxed the rules and with some status, otherwise we might still be in line! However, our second impression was much better. Unlike the rest of the Middle East, this ... read more

Between the travel… I remember when I finished grad school and went out to interview for my first teaching jobs. One principal asked me what I like to do in my free time. I responded without thinking, “I love to travel!” This apparently wasn’t a good enough answer and he asked what I like to do when I’m not traveling. I thought about for a minute and said, “I read about travel, I plan travel, I watch the Travel Channel.” Since they hired me, I guess they liked my educational qualifications enough to compensate for my lack of varied interests! Right now, I’m between trips. I just finished a weekend in Lombok and my next trip is to Thailand in, according to my Tripit app, 55 days. But enjoying Thailand will be only half my trip, ... read more

The spa experience – part I: my introduction… When I was growing up we did not enjoy the existence of the numerous day spas that have sprung up like fast food restaurants in every city across the land. Now, you can go to your local storefront and experience any number of treatments – including a variety of massages, scrubs made from the full list of typical Thanksgiving dinner ingredients, facials and nail treatments by the dozens. It is become quite an industry. These days, you see 8-year old girls having spa manicures – carefully choosing just the right shade of bright pink for their nails. You see men going to have their anti-aging facial treatments and for women, the trip to the spa has become a frequent ritual, as well as the ideal birthday gift. But ... read more