Category: Travel Journal
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Video – One City, Five Hours: Frankfurt
I “sprint toured” Frankfurt using Hemispheres Magazine’s “One City, Five Hours: Frankfurt” article while on a 6-hour layover between Mumbai and Chicago. I shot this on my iPhone 4 and edited it in iMovie on my MacBook Air while flying from Frankfurt to Chicago. My iPhone video inexperience shows — I shot the entire thing in Continue Reading →
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What’s in My Bag: Traveling Light But Prepared
One of my annual New Year’s travel resolutions is to “unpack and repack my briefcase.” Some people re-do their closets; I do my briefcase. I’m always amazed at the stuff that accumulates over the year. Why did I think I needed a half-dozen pens, two sets of earphones, $5 of loose change in three different Continue Reading →
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Winter Travel Tips — Things to Remember When The Snow Starts Flying
Last week’s winter storms in the Northeast and the South resulted in 70 percent of the US being covered in snow — shutting down airports across the region, canceling thousands of flights and trains. So it seems like a good time to recap some of the travel tips we’ve covered in past episodes of TravelCommons. Continue Reading →
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New Year’s Travel Resolutions
I’ve never been a big New Year’s Resolution guy. Mine seem to have a 3-week half-life — they don’t even last to February. However, in the spirit of “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results” (a quote which has been attributed to Benjamin Franklin and Albert Continue Reading →
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“Now That I Have My Visa, Where in the US Should I Go?”
As the US dollar continues to swoon, non-US friends, colleagues, and podcast listeners are doing the math and thinking it might just be worth getting fingerprinted and photographed by US Customs in exchange for a cheap holiday. The question I’ve been asked over the past 3 months is “Where should I go?” Not an easy Continue Reading →
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Video – Impressions of Vietnam
After returning from a 10-day visit to Vietnam, friends and TravelCommons podcast listeners asked me a lot of questions about our trip. In this video, I answer the most common question — “How did they treat you when they found out you were American?” — and give my impressions of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Continue Reading →
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Up in the Air — Captures Life in the “Travel Bubble”
Last Friday night, my wife and I found the one theater in Chicago showing Up in the Air (it’s in very limited release until Christmas). Ever since the preview trailers hit the Web, people have been asking me — “Is this what your life is like?” Watching the opening sequence — a montage of Ryan Continue Reading →
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Skipping the Rental Car
Last week, I had to get from downtown Washington DC to a Northern Virginia suburb for a client dinner. I looked at the Metro map, rang up some car services, but finally gritted my teeth and rented a car. That’s pretty much my attitude toward car rentals these days — the choice of last resort. Continue Reading →