I arrived in Berlin on an overnight train. I rode second class because the supplementary fee was 10 Euro cheaper. Unfortunately, my cheapskate ways backfired. Instead of a bed, I was assigned a non reclinable chair in a small cabin with two German women […]Read More ›

I’ll say it upfront: I love the way that French men smell. I had this thought for the first time when I was 17 and riding the metro in Rome during World Youth Day. I was boxed in by a group of […]Read More ›

If I could visit only one city in Spain, I’d go to Granada. It’s about five to six hours from Madrid by bus. Sadly, I´d never heard of Granada before my trip. Sister #2 thought I might like I visit Granada to see […]Read More ›

I decided to take a day-trip to Toledo. The great thing about Madrid is it’s proximity to fascinating Spanish cities like Toledo, Segovia and Valencia. When Sister #2 was an undergrad, she studied for two semesters in Toledo and all I ever […]Read More ›

In Cairo I bid adieu to sister #1 and flew to Madrid to visit sister #2 who is teaching English at a Spanish secondary school. Besides a brief sojourn in Rome when I was 17 and a handful of layovers in the Amsterdam airport, I´ve never set […]Read More ›

My last stop in the middle east was Cairo. I stayed here for five days. My first stop was Saqqara, a large, ancient burial grounds that features The Pyramid of Djoser (aka. The Step Pyramid). After leaving Saqqara, I headed to The Great […]Read More ›

On the way to the Jordanian-Israeli border we stopped in Madaba to visit St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church. This, in a nutshell, is what I know about St. George: he was a Roman soldier, a Christian martyr, he killed a […]Read More ›

My final day in Jordan, I visited the Jordanian capital of Amman. It was at the Amman Citadel that I made my final decision regarding my offer of enrollment into the Hollins University MFA in Creative Writing program. This was […]Read More ›

Before this trip, I’d never even heard about Petra.  My sister found out about Petra through a Lonely Planet guidebook, told me about this ancient city (and the fact that it was featured in Indiana Jones) and I was on […]Read More ›

Forty-eight kilometers north of Amman in the direction of Syria lies the city of Jerash, Jordan. Jerash was our first taste of Jordan. Within Jerash are the ruins of Gerasa, an ancient Greco-Roman city. Man in Greco-Roman decor. Gerasa was […]Read More ›