John Henderson's Travel Adventures in Rome and Beyond

December 1, 2020

Christmas gifts for travelers: Some day they may need cargo pants or a passport holder

It’s December and you’re trying to find a way to cheer up the traveler in your family whose body this year has formed a permanent indentation in their Barcalounger. He or she hasn’t left town, let alone hopped a plane, since last winter. Christmas is the time for optimism. The new year is around the […]

November 25, 2020

Travel insurance: What you should look for and look out for in a pandemic

Winter is arriving. It’s getting dark earlier but it doesn’t really matter because there’s no place to go anyway. Any crowded room could be a petri dish, and you don’t want to become a statistic. You Americans, your traditional Thanksgiving feast will be Cornish game hens with your spouse. Talk to the rest of the […]

November 17, 2020

Cornelia a superb historical novel of violence, corruption and inequality

When you live in Rome, you’re surrounded by 3,000 years of history. Benito Mussolini built much of my neighborhood. I live two miles from the Forum and Colosseum. I’m eight miles from ancient aqueducts that were built in the 3rd century B.C. Remnants of the most powerful civilization in history are all around me. The […]

November 12, 2020

Future of travel: Experts hope sustainability will make it even better

One disease will be gone soon. What about Covid-19? Seriously, folks … its effects on travel have been devastating. According to Elizabeth Becker, author of “Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism,” the tourism industry worldwide already has lost $8 trillion. Restrictions are everywhere. From the United States, where the pandemic is reaching new […]

November 3, 2020

Election Day: Save the planet and shut up those bleating Trump supporters

During this pandemic, every little tweak in my health makes me wonder. Is this morning fatigue the first sign of Covid-19? No. People with Covid can barely walk to the bathroom and need a three-hour nap to recover. Is that lightheadedness a Covid fever? Nope. My temperature at the gym never went over 36.6 (97.9). […]

October 13, 2020

COVID second wave hits Italy and the government and I make new plans

The world has turned off the neon lights on Italy. The glow has become a fog that clouds our future. Italy’s model strategy in flattening the Covid-19 curve lasted all of about three months. I no longer chortle about the World Health Organization pointing to my adopted country as Example A of fighting the virus. […]

October 7, 2020

Bucket list 2021: Africa, axed trips top list

I was a sports writer in the U.S. for 40 years and sometimes football imitates life — like my life now. It’s October, less than three months remain in the year and the world is no better off than it was when the pandemic began. I’m facing 3rd-and-long from near my own end zone. It’s […]

September 30, 2020

Hadrian’s Villa: a day trip into the decadent opulence of Ancient Rome

TIVOLI, Italy — Sometimes Rome gets to me, kind of like too much fine wine. Yes, the most beautiful city in the world gets old in more than just age. A Roman outside my window leans on his horn for five minutes until the guy who double parked next to him comes out and moves […]

September 24, 2020

American expats terrified as 40-day march to vote begins

We American expats overseas don’t get our voices heard very often beyond family and friends back home. Our opinions get filtered by the roar of separating oceans and the relative anonymity of social media. But with the most important presidential election in, at least, my 64 years only 40 days away, our voices should be […]

September 16, 2020

European soccer season begins with frustration for me and AS Roma fans

AS Roma’s season begins Saturday, and I’m approaching it with the resignation usually reserved for my tax return or tomato sauce. I’m always disappointed. Enduring Roma’s season is worse than an Internet date. At least with an Internet date you have hope. With AS Roma, hope is just something that gets broken quickly, like a […]

September 8, 2020

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 […]

September 1, 2020

Covid-19 making a slight comeback in Italy and officials are clamping down again

Rome police are fining an average of 10 people a night over Covid-19 violations. They aren’t starting fistfights over masks. They’re not starting riots in front of government buildings. They’re merely not wearing a mask in public at night. Five hundred guests at a resort in Sardinia are in quarantine after a staff member tested […]

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