Let’s kick it off with a quote. “It is clear that with less personal freedom and a bigger and more invasive state comes less personal responsibility and greater lawlessness.” Those words came from an article about the UK fudging crime numbers by deliberately using fuzzy methods to measure malfeasance. So it’s sort of out of […]
I’ve decided to settle down in Bali which is not something I thought I’d ever do. In fact I clearly remember telling family members that Bali is crowded, the traffic is nuts, it’s not at all for me. That was before I discovered surfing. Now that I know this Indonesia island has some of the […]
Figuring out the thing you’re meant to do, the holy trifecta of ambition, talent and personality, it takes experimentation. Some people get lucky and find it when they’re young. Other people, it takes years. I’m reminded of The Moon and Sixpence, a brilliant book. The guy, I forget his name, is a banker in London […]
This story is part of a collection from my first self-published book, Three Years Abroad. It’s available on Amazon for $8.99 and if you have Prime then the shipping is free. I’d be thrilled if you wanted to pick up a copy. You’ll get this story and others like it, printed up and delivered to your door. Until then, please […]
This story is part of a collection from my first self-published book, Three Years Abroad. It’s available on Amazon for $8.99 and if you have Prime then the shipping is free. I’d be thrilled if you wanted to pick up a copy. You’ll get this story and others like it, printed up and delivered to your door. […]
Bogota appeared very unusual from the airplane. From the window I saw long stretches of land, flat as a cutting board, permeated here and there by land masses too large to be hills and too small to be mountains. These were extremely unusual in that they broke out of the land abruptly without transition. As […]
When I learned Russian I was lucky to live in Moscow and Kiev where I could practice with native speakers. However, I’ve since learned that you don’t have to be in that environment to learn quickly. I’ve been learning German for about 14 months and although I’ve only spent six weeks in Germany, I can […]
Travel is one of the coolest things that you can do with your life and I’m thankful for every place that I’ve visited. I talk about this all the time though which is why I should mention a few of the disadvantages. Notably, these downsides are mostly associated with longer 6+ month trips, not two […]
Red Square is a grenade, pushing away Moscow and leaving a crater. There’s a casual disregard for prime real estate. The square is large and inviting, and it’s easy to forget that you’re downtown in a city of twelve million, a pistol shot away from six-lane highways and the most fascinating metro system ever built. The […]
My last Uber Chauffeur drove a black Corolla and was worth $10,000,000. He called himself Schlomo, a Jewish name that sounds out of place in South Florida. I didn’t bring it up, but the conversation came around. “Are you Jewish?” He asked me halfway through the ride. “Nope”. “Not everyone can be perfect” He replied, smiling at […]
I decided to take the train into Hungary because to hell with flying. I’m disgusted with standing in long security lines, stripping the belt and shoes, then getting molested by some tattooed guy who thought that eleventh grade was “really hard”. All of that and the reward is getting corrective knee surgery from the seat while […]
After visiting more than a dozen countries I’ve come up with a list of my favorite cities. New York, Miami, Kiev, Berlin, and Hanoi. I’d be happy to spend a good chunk of my life in any one of them. I’ve written about first impressions from Hanoi and Kiev, and New York and Miami require […]