Posts Tagged ‘Travel’
Funland
Twenty-two years ago this weekend, I left Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, with two grand in my pocket, a hot bike lashed to my VW Rabbit, and a tiny bit of blow in my nose. Back then, we mocked the families we served at Funland, checking out the young, hot, sunburned moms as we strapped their panicky…
Read MoreThe Cruelty Of The Curbside Cab Line
Few things bring out New Yorkers’ lesser selves than the Penn Station taxi line during an Easter downpour. It’s also one of just a few scenarios capable of adding insult the injury of a late train and an exhausted ten-month-old. We were nearly three-hours behind on a one-hour trip by the time we stepped off…
Read MoreCity Island
It took me less than an hour back in the city to spot a dead body. I opted to shake of my sixteen-hour commute from Yemassee, SC, to New York, NY, on Amtrak’s Silver Meteor last week with a bike ride (inspired secondarily by a rapidly approaching triathlon in July). I pedaled my Cannondale north…
Read MoreThe Silver Meteor
For 1600 miles and thirty hours this week, Abbi and I sat reading, writing, and resting as Amtrak’s Silver Meteor ushered us roundtrip from New York City to Yemassee, South Carolina. It was an experience. Our 6′ x 4′ sleeper room was pure, NASA-age innovation. The sink folds down. The toilet folds up. The top…
Read MoreMoment Of Zen: Litchfield Beach
Litchfield Beach sits just south of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a broad and flat stretch of sand at the center of Long Bay. I rose before dawn to greet the sunrise there, hit the sand, and turned north towards Murrell’s Inlet. The waves were soft and low, the water grayish-blue. The sun peaked over the…
Read MoreThe Wave
Funny story from Dominican Republic. Sort of. Our hotel, Casa Colonial, was wedged in the middle of Playa Dorado, a World Bank-funded hotel, golf course and mall development roughly half-way between the Puerto Plata Airport, and Puerto Plata itself. Again, I can’t say enough nice things about the hotel itself, and particularly the staff. Playa…
Read MoreNuestra Magnifica Luna Del Bebé A La Casa Colonial
Remember those single-panel “Family Circus” cartoons where illustrator Jeff Keane drew a rambling, dotted line to indicate little Billy’s often-mischievous and always-circuitous routes around his neighborhood? Were Mr. Keane to illustrate Abbi and my week in the Domincan Republic, he wouldn’t need to use much ink. Casa Colonial provided VIP treatment from the start, ushering…
Read MoreThe Year In Photos, 2009
What a year. From The Inauguration to The Oscars to my tenth New York City Marathon, no previous loop around the sun has been more jam-packed with mind-blowing moments. I played the Iowa State Fair, contributed a song to The Nadas “Crystalline” compilation, and helped raise four grand (and counting) for 826NYC with “A Holiday…
Read MoreUp In The Air
I accrued 49,000 AAdvantage miles this year. Not Ryan Bingham numbers, to be sure. But enough to get myself to Puerto Rico and back (if I could only find available departure dates). His is a familiar world: the poetic geometry of the Midwest from 30,000 feet, the satisfaction of finding one’s name on the Hertz…
Read MoreGoodnight, L.A.
The American Airlines Admiral’s Club is actually kinda’ rockin’ right now. I’m gonna’ put occupancy at 74%. And I’m also gonna’ bet half of those are on my midnight red eye. A guy in a brown sweater and wire-framed glasses just ladelled some Ranch Dressing onto a plastic cup of carrots and celery. A woman…
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