I normally stick to recommending classics of travel literature, but I’m going to break my own habit because I enjoyed this book so much. This slim first novel from renowned poet Forrest Gander punches well above its weight in ounces. It’s the perfect size for the side pocket of your backpack, and great travel reading because, like poetry, you’ll find yourself returning to it...
Vagabond Dreams Outtakes are “deleted scenes” from my book. Think of them as a “Special Features” disc of outtakes and curios… We come back changed because travel exposes us to new ways of knowing and seeing. But it’s more than that. In the same way that physical exercise strengthens the body, solitary travel and the pains and hardships that accompany it hone...
In keeping with yesterday’s entry on the Anthropology of Drink, I’d like to share with you the Top 3 strangest “local” drinks I’ve consumed on my travels. It’s a rogue list of tipples sure to turn even the most determined of stomachs — although I remain convinced that a few of them truly are an acquired taste… 1) Airag (Mongolia) – At the top...
I’m a firm believer that a nation’s drink is shaped by its landscape and climate, and that its drink in turn shapes its culture. According to my theory, the world can be neatly divided into several distinct zones of booze… The UK and Ireland are home to warming whiskeys, dark heavy ales and stouts. Just the thing for when the perpetual damp soaks through your bones: a sip...
The Landscape: Stony Adriatic islands scattered along the length of Croatia’s coast. Coarse green shrubs and olive trees whose thin leaves flash silver undersides to the breeze. Translucent blue: a breath would cloud that water of glass. Light has a clarity there that is like no place else, and it provokes a clarity of thought. Priorities and needs slip so easily into place. You realize the...
Vagabond Dreams Outtakes are “deleted scenes” from my book. Think of them as a “Special Features” disc of outtakes and curios. This incident took place in Guatemala… Antigua in the highlands. Mayan Indian women and children strolled through the Parque Central dressed in brightly patterned traditional embroidery. Round baskets, balanced on their heads, were...
The trade wind blows moist on the Caribbean side of Panama, stirring the palms of the tiny coastal fishing village of Portobelo, but it isn’t enough to put more than a ripple on the plate glass sea. It’s difficult to believe this quiet settlement was once the port of entry and exit for all of Spanish South America. Portobelo was the terminus of the Las Cruces Trail, stopping point of...
Strong syrupy coffee in the cobbled streets of Sarajevo’s Turkish quarter. The Muslim call to prayer reverberates through narrow alleyways, the echoes compounding as it bounces back upon itself. Just around the corner is a synagogue and an Orthodox church. East meets West to the metallic tap of tinsmith’s tiny hammers. The centre is rebuilt, but further out bullets and shell...
Spring always reminds me of the years I spent in Japan. The damp chill of Tokyo winter gives way to gentle warmth. There’s a sense of optimism in the way people walk, and a smile hovers at the corners of every mouth. It’s a wonderful time to be alive. In Japan, spring is also the season for festivals. Most celebrate nature, renewal, and transformation. Those may seem like innocent...
Arrival is an event to be delayed as long as possible. To arrive is to end the journey. That period between departure and arrival, when the days blur together and time becomes plastic, is the opiate. It’s what keeps us going. For the true traveler, life is a series of consecutive journeys, one leading into the next, culminating in that most final of arrivals. And for all we know, that might...
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