You visit a country you like, that you find interesting, one that doesn’t seem too expensive, with a decent climate … What do you do? You consider living there. Especially if you are of a certain age. Such has been the case here in Cyprus after four days. Sun shining, hundreds of miles of seashore, […]

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Of all the things the British could have left behind, in Cyprus: The awful habit of driving on the left side of a street. Cyprus is one of four countries in Europe that has the driver on the right side of the car, and the car in the left lane. The other three?

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Nicosia is probably best known, among soccer fans, as the home of the Cypriot club Apoel, which made the quarterfinals of the 2011-12 Uefa Champions League. Among tourists, Nicosia probably is known for being the planet’s last divided capital city. A sort of post-Cold War Berlin Lite. Complete with passport scrutiny, a dead zone and […]

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This is not the best-planned vacation in the history of tourism. It hardly extended beyond “plane flights, rental car, hotel”. And figure out the rest on site. We knew the hotel was near Limassol, the second-biggest city in Cyprus, and we figured we would go over there sooner than later … but that was about […]

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Greek is a tough language. Different alphabet, not spoken by many people, with no living linguistic relatives, impossible to read for anyone who speaks a Western European language. So far, I can speak one word of Greek, and it is in the headline, above. “Yassas” … which is an informal “hello” but apparently can also […]

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You’re heard the expression “cover-your-eyes awful” or something near to that? I understood the concept. I had never lived it. Until tonight … while watching the movie starring (and written by and directed by) Simon Helberg — Wolowitz, of TV’s successful Big Bang Theory. About halfway through We’ll Never Have Paris, I literally was covering […]

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Talking Abu Dhabi the emirate, now. The big city has the same name as the emirate, but the emirate has one other major population center … and that is Al Ain. Al Ain is perhaps best known, in the region, as the home of the UAE’s most decorated soccer team. Eleven league championships, one Asian […]

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Etihad Airways is competing with Emirates and Qatar Airways for the lucrative high-end traveler. Etihad may be winning. The Abu Dhabi-based airline has introduced a three-room ultra-class ticket they call The Residence. It is available on their A380 flights to London, beginning Saturday, and can be had for … No need for a spoiler alert. […]

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We have stipulated jet lag just kicks my butt. At least, it does going west to east and crossing 10 or more time zones. I have remarked upon this several times, since we have been based in Abu Dhabi. Going from here to SoCal? Not a huge problem. But going from California to the eastern […]

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It gets worse. Just when it seemed as if sailing the Volvo Ocean Race represented a level of misery unmatched in world sports … now we learn from our colleague at The National, Osman Samiuddin, their food is nearly unpalatable, as well. Sailors don’t eat, in the round-the-world race. They “refuel”. This, on top of […]

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