I have always liked that journalistic convention … on how to handle a “dateline” when traveling via water. You write “aboard” and continue with the name of the ship. Such as “the USS Enterprise” or “HMS Victory” or “RMS Titanic”. A few decades ago, the dateline also would have included the day a story was […]

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Intellectually, we know how important the Nile River is to Egypt. It can be seen on a map; the blue line that waters a country. But the Nile’s importance is really hammered home when you leave your mooring place on the river and travel a few miles east or west. What appears to be a […]

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He gave his life for tourism. — comedian Steve Martin The Valley of the Kings is cleft in craggy limestone a few miles from the Nile river valley, and each year thousands of international visitors flock to the site just outside the Egyptian city of Luxor to have a look at it. They come to […]

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Most of us are aware of the ancient treasures of Egypt, but we might be a little hazy on what is where. It is a big country, after all, larger than Texas in square miles. Want all manner of things big and small and mummified, profoundly old? Then the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the capital, […]

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Rookie mistake? Shady operators? Inevitable issues? Doesn’t really matter when it goes bad, does it? Our last-minute visit to Egypt, which began well enough on Day 1, got a bit better on Day 2. A wet finger in the Red Sea, which is interesting but not Moses-like in impact, lots of sun while catching up […]

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Most people do not really want to be known for hare-brained schemes, but eventually a body of work cannot be defended from the reality of bunny-level planning. (Raising my hand.) This began a month ago, thereabouts. A long time ago, when it comes to groceries, no time at all when it involves international travel. It […]

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Baseball injury updates. Hah. At best the information disseminated to media is good ol’ fashion (very ol’ fashioned) American optimism. At worst, it is a method for teams to get the player in question, as well as fans fretting over the loss of a key guy, to come to grips with something that can be, […]

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Living in western Europe, the assumption by most Americans, including this one, is that professional soccer teams must not be far from any point on the maps of England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France. That assumption would be wrong. Where we live, in the Occitanie region (previously known as the Languedoc) of southern France, plenty […]

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This will seem crazy, to many readers, but when we get some time back in the States, I inevitably think about having a meal at … … one of my favorite Mexican outlets … or enjoying dim sum at Capital Seafood in Irvine … or savoring some Lebanese, which we used to eat at least […]

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So, disappearing is not impossible. Not yet! And thank goodness for that. Not to say it’s easy to go off the grid. I mean, completely off the grid. Like, no one can find “the you” of this moment. Even with so much of you well known to list-making authorities and rapacious commercial entities who want […]

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