Writer, Explorer and Travel Philosopher
I’m great at social distancing. No one does distancing like me.
How are you coping with being jailed at home?
I could do this self-isolation thing for months. It doesn’t bother me at all.
Okay, at this time of year I’m missing the biergarten. There’s nothing like a cold draft on a hot summer day after a weekend bike ride.
Tibesti region, northern Chad
I’m not optimistic about our current situation. I think this pandemic marks a historical turning point, one we were already moving towards but which is now accelerating.
We talked about this in previous blogs on the future of the European Union, the future of travel, and other post-pandemic changes.
What’s the future of post-pandemic travel?
In recent blogs, we’ve talked about the future of the European Union, and other changes we might see in the wake of the Great Pandemic.
In this instalment, I’d like to bring things closer to home and talk about the future of travel.
Is this thing the bane of travel?
I hate my phone.
Well, not just my phone, but all phones that fit in one’s pocket.
There’s a direct correlation between the portability of one’s devices and the sense of obligation other people have for your attention.
Outpost Winter 2019… Berlin, baybee!
The latest issue of Outpost hit newsstands across Canada a few weeks ago.
This time in my Adrift on the Continent column, I’m taking you to Berlin. Well, I suppose I should say “bringing you to Berlin”, since I live here.
The Blurred Crusade — live, electric, and in its entirety…
The centrepiece of this packed London weekend I’ve been telling you about was two days of music with The Church at Bush Hall.
I travelled by thought with The Church long before I ever set out on the road for real.
Hiking above the valley of Pjófadalir…
This distant northern country might be the most popular tourist destination of 2017.
It’s a place where the wind gusts so strong it will literally tear the door off your car.
It’s a place where the landscape morphs and changes before your eyes such that you can see geological time.
An afternoon visit to my neighbourhood copy shop…
It’s been pretty quiet on the blog this year, but I’ve got two good reasons for that.
One: I just haven’t been traveling very much. A visit to Japan, a short trip down to Sardinia, and a long overdue visit to Canada — my first trip back home in over 3 years. And that was about it for 2017.
Berlin is such a liveable city…
It’s been ages since I’ve published a blog. I think I’ve only written 3 this year.
But I haven’t forgotten you, or vanished in a desert somewhere.
It’s just that I haven’t been traveling at all. We moved to Berlin at the start of January, and I haven’t left the city since.
Evening views over Pariser Platz from the Akademie der Künste exhibit…
Okay, I swiped that title from Steve Kilbey. It’s the name of a really cool box set containing a CD of spoken word tracks that accompany a series of postcards printed from his paintings. I highly recommend checking it out — my favourite prose poetry pieces on there are The Visitor and The Lonely City.
