10 things I miss about travel — as Italy’s lockdown ends
I’ve traveled to 107 countries but none in the last 14 months. I miss it more than anyone can know. Here is why.
Africa
As election nears, U.S. expats share their thoughts on ending the nightmare
I saw my old friend, Tom Leitner, last week. I don’t have many American friends here in Rome but he and I have bonded more these last four years. From afar we’ve watched our old country go up in flames like the forest fires on our beloved West Coast. Then we watched Donald Trump blame […]
My 10 favorite islands in the world: Your dream list for the post-pandemic 2021
Let’s face it, folks. It’s time to punt 2020. You’re not going anywhere. Americans have been banned everywhere from Poland to Pluto and even here in Italy our curve has spiked a bit after a flatlining summer brimming with optimism. It’s time to plan for 2021. Well, at least dream. That’s all many of us […]
New Year’s Eve in Morocco: A call to prayer for all mankind as Islam beckons
We picked Fez, not only because it’s a direct 2 ½-hour Air Arabia flight from Rome but it has the world’s largest medina. No place on earth is there a larger car-free zone than Fez’s 540-acre medina where 155,000 people live in a maze of twisty, narrow alleys that seemingly never lead to an exit.
I’d been to Fez before. Morocco was my first third world country when I backpacked around the world for a year in 1978-79. Back then, Fez’s medina was a dark, dusty, scary cauldron of aggressive touts, beggars and thieves.
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