Seizing the Eye of the Storm
Vietnam: May 11, 2021 – June 26, 2021 | Hoi An, Da Nang USA: June 27, 2021 – July 28, 2021 | California, Arizona, Chicago Mexico: July 28, 2021 – Sept 12, 2021 | Merida Spain: Sept 13, 2021 – Dec 11, 2021| Valencia, Xátiva, Sevilla Mexico: Dec 12, 2021 – Jan 23, 2022 | Guadalajara Jan 23, 2022 @ 12:54 pm CST: I just received a text message that brought a tear to my eye. Not a tear of sorrow but a tear of pure joy and appreciation. A message that seemed to bring together a bunch of emotions bubbling up in me in […]
Escaping to Reflections in the Rice Fields
Vietnam: Sept 18, 2020 – May 11, 2021 | Da Nang, Saigon, & Hoi An May 11, 2021 @ 3pm – Hoi An, VN: My body has been tied in knots for about the last 10 days. It’s culminating in this moment – one that I never expected but slightly envisioned. We’re feverishly flipping through our phones and painstakingly penning every place we visited over the last 14 days. This is the reality of life and travel during the COVID era in a South East Asian country. Just three days ago I had no idea I would even be in […]
Good Mourning
Da Nang, Vietnam: May 1 – Sept 8, 2020 | Lock down II: July 28 – Sept 5, 2020 (including trips to Hue and Hoi An) Waves run aground in their never-ending dance with the sandy soil. To the naked eye (outside of changing tides), the shore generally appears absent of turmoil. Yet, it’s nothing but an illusion, as it’s always in constant change. From second to second, it’s never the same. The smattering of feet, the wind, the waves, and curious hands, all make their mark to alter the perceived balance of the innumerable pebbles of sand. Such is […]
The Whispers Before the World Screamed
North America: June 12, 2019 – July 28, 2019 | Montreal, Chicago, and California South East Asia: July 30, 2019 – May 1, 2020 | Taipei, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand Lisbon, Portugal – June 10, 2019: Two glasses of beer – one dark and one amber. The glasses are adorned with a gold-colored imprint that reads 1927 but the scene is 92 years later. In the background, a white sailboat slowly glides across the calm foot of the Tagus River, below clear blue skies and set before the silhouette of the dry foothills on the Setubal peninsula just south of […]
Europe 2019: Six Stops, a Second Grader, and a Selfie
Europe: May 9 – June 12, 2019 | Including trips to Italy, Croatia, Germany, Montenegro, Spain, and Portugal May 9, 2019 @ 11AM: It’s almost mid-May but yet it feels more like early March. It’s gray, chilly, and damp, very much unlike this same day six years ago. That day, I was wearing layers but it wasn’t due to the weather – well at least not the weather here. That day, we sat in this same spot, on these same steps, looking out towards the city of Rome. We had arrived to the Eternal City 10 hours earlier, yet our […]
Spain – Season 4: Beauty Beneath the Ashes
Valencia, Spain: March 10 – June 10, 2019 | Including trips to Murcia, Xàtiva, and Sevilla “…See the slow-receding faces dissolve to black, no traces.” – Natalie Merchant, “Giving Up Everything” Three minutes – the final 180 seconds of a 24-hour journey traversing distances that used to take world explorers several months to complete. Now it only takes a day, and in our case, little more than 16 hours spent in aluminum and carbon-fiber tubes flying six miles above the earth and traveling at speeds just under the sound barrier. Three minutes to culminate our third season circling the globe […]
Vietnam – A Letter of Love & Litany to Saigon
Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City (“Saigon”): February 5 – March 9, 2019 It’s been nearly 100 days since we said goodbye. At that time, I needed my space. I needed time to process the last 31 days of what had taken place. I only see you once a year but each time the experience is so jolting that I need to make my peace, learn my lessons, and find ways to love you again. I loved you before I ever met you. I became enraptured by your history, your resolve, your potential, and the words you speak. I studied […]
Malaysia – Six Hours & Fifteen Minutes with the Focus of Mr. Fogg
Kuala Lumpur: February 22, 2019 I have one day – well, not really – I have a little over six hours to accomplish my mission. The lady sitting next to me in seat 10E aboard this Air Asia flight from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) to Kuala Lumpur says, “Flying to KL for one day for shopping – you’re funny.” She said “funny”, though I think she meant crazy. It’s not really even six hours, it’s more like two, but I’ll get to that shortly. Every moment during this day has been plotted in my mind over and over again […]
Thailand – The Precious Time of Life In-Between
Chiang Mai, Thailand: August 5, 2018 – February 5, 2019 | Including trips to Bangkok and Chiang Dao It’s often said in hindsight that it’s about the journey and not the destination. The destination is but a moment in time, often filled with unmet expectations. Whereas the journey is where the memories are made, the stories are told, and the knowledge is gained. Yet, the destination is more than the culmination of a journey – it’s more than a single moment. It’s a period of time be seized, reflected upon, and appreciated for however long it takes to cherish and […]
The Strategic Randomness of Routine Visa Runs – Singapore, Penang, and Hanoi
Singapore: Oct 3 – 7, 2018 | Penang: Nov 1 – 5, 2018 | Hanoi: Jan 2 – 7, 2019 I still remember the day we left, April 2, 2016. There’s a scene that will forever be stuck in my mind’s eye. It was just a few hours after I said goodbye to my pride and joy for the previous 8 years – the centerpiece of my life in California – my beloved BMW 325i. I couldn’t bear seeing it towed away on that chilly, foggy morning, but at least it was a donation going to a good cause. A […]