Travel Log

My wife and I wandered around downtown Tokyo, shuffling through our jetlag. It was Saturday night and it felt like mid-afternoon. 2pm? But it wasn’t the jetlag. And it wasn’t that siesta effect you get in super hot-time-in-the-summer cities — midnight and the locals and tourists out in search of gelato in paper cups. It … Read more

Minneapolis, 2017

So I’ve always heard that Las Vegas was known for having something for everybody. Harley Davidson-brand pedicures? Check. A shadow-puppet show featuring the songs of Hugo Chavez? Check. Guys who wear blue face paint and speak in pig latin? I’m telling you, it’s all here. One example, though, I found kinda gross. Frankly. I get … Read more

Here’s a travel tip that works for me and might work great for you too! When I’m away from home, sometimes I’ll see somebody on a cab line or in the hotel lobby who looks like my friend Dave. And I’ll go up to them and I’ll say: “Dave. Dave. Dave. Dave.” And they’ll say … Read more

I flew into Chicago on Sunday. When I got off the plane I was greeted by a sign that said, “We’re happy you’re here.” Just like that — in quotes. And I’ll admit it, the quote marks stung. I thought boy, I hope it’s not some kind of dig. As in, “oh, we’re soooo happy … Read more

I spend so much time with my own tribe nowadays. You just get used to it, being around your own tribe. So it was a good, healthy shock to the system to go inside Raleigh’s today in Berkeley and find this other tribe. There were lots of Cal people there in yellow. Lots of folks … Read more

I have a few notes from our trip that didn’t make it into the heart of the travel log. I’ll be posting them here over the next few days because, quite frankly, these are important observations, too important for me to keep to myself. For example, here’s one: Is it possible that the wall of … Read more

We’re back in the States now, and I realize I nearly forgot to mention the time I came this close to getting into a fist fight with a Belgian chocolatier. We were buying truffles and, having already bought a bag of ten or so, I asked her if I could buy two more. “That’s not … Read more

We spent a swell morning in the town of Gouda today, where my 9-year-old daughter offered up this memorable quote: Daddy? I forget. Oh wait — I remember. Daddy — compared to Gouda, American cheese is vomit. And I say, if that’s all she’s learned, this trip has been a huge success. The longer we’re … Read more

When I was seven, my folks moved our family to Holland where we lived for the next five years. A big motivator for this trip has been my longstanding desire to make that return to wooded Wassenaar with my wife and kids — a little journey back to Narnia, to smell old smells and eat … Read more