In Which I Make Things Up as I Go

The driver / guide is Sammy. His accented English is perfect, but my hearing isn’t. This leads to an occasional misunderstanding on my part. Mostly it has led to me mislabeling things in a way I could never possibly admit to him. At one point, he told me that we were looking at a Gravy […]

Jambo from Kenya

When I checked into the hotel they asked, seemingly as a matter of routine, when my next flight was. That’s what happens when you stay at the airport hotel – they assume you are going somewhere else (because no matter how nice it may be, there’s usually not any other good reason to stay at […]

Preparing for the Rains

I bought the ticket for this flight back in November, and only after completing the purchase did I wonder, “Is that a good time to go to Kenya?” As it turns out, this isn’t generally considered a great time to visit East Africa, because April and May are the season of long rains. To be […]

In Which I Make Decisions

Some people could never imagine traveling alone and spending a week apart from others. I used to think I didn’t want to be somebody who would travel alone, but I’ve long since gotten over that. I love traveling with my friends, and I love traveling by myself. Both approaches have their advantages. I welcome friends […]

I Might Have Several Places In the World

I spent the last hour of my day at the rooftop bar of my hotel, sipping slowly at a glass of scotch and gazing at the glowing white spectacle of the Acropolis in the distance. It was exquisite and a great way to end the day. This day had begun much earlier, in Larissa, where […]

In Which I Realize Something I Already Knew

The woman behind the counter handed me the piece of cream pie in a flaky phyllo crust (for lack of a better description) as we spoke. She asked where I was from and I indicated New York. “What are you doing in Larisa?!” she was almost indignant that I should have come here. “I wanted […]