Bookshop photography sections are turgid with tomes about tweaking exposures, color calibration, and the zone system and many of the spines carry the name of Rick Sammon, award-winning travel photographer. So perhaps it should be no surprise that Sammon has written a book about how to use your brain – the key photo “accessory”. “Photo
114 Days Through 38 Cities in 15 Countries I picked this book up in an airport bookshop pre-pandemic and started reading it on the long flight home from South Korea. When I walked in my front door, I tossed it and everything else aside for a few weeks while I dived back into work. A
Most travel essay books approach travel from the perspective of a lone traveler. Few are written by a vagabond family of four. Sihpromatum is a self-published book written by Savannah Grace, one of two sisters, a mother and a brother from Vancouver that traveled across China and Mongolia on the cheap. Traveling 2nd or 3rd
I was working at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo on March 11, 2011 when the seabed offshore suddenly jumped the length of half a football field and Japan suffered the worst earthquake (9.0) in its recorded history. My heavy government-issued computer jumped onto the floor like it was possessed. The 5th floor of the Embassy
The best way to approach a new destination is by boat and Russia is no different. Gliding in to a city at water level is how most travelers approached waterfront cities when they were still just towns. The views have only gotten better. This is how we made our first visit to Russia – to
I love Japanese hot springs – especially in the mountains in the winter. But any time of year is a good time for Kusatsu (草津町) one of the most famous hot springs (onsen) towns in Japan and because it is ever-so-slightly more difficult to get to, not many foreign travelers go there. I’d say it
Travel scams make the Grumpy Pilgrim, well … grumpy. We all want to float through our travels unperturbed by miscreants, scalawags and tricksters but we have to deal with them on the road just as we do at home. But the tricks vary with the territory so I want to give you a list of
It happens to us all … The taxi driver roared out of the taxi line at high speed, looked over at the “Recommended Taxi Fares” flyer the taxi line manager had given me, ripped it out of my hand and crumpled it before throwing it out of his window. Something told me this wasn’t going
Black fungus wobbled like a fat man’s belly when the server ceremoniously set it before me and stepped back to gauge my appreciation. My upper lip quivered but I recovered quickly and offered him a convincing smile and “xiexie” (thank you) before he turned on his heels and went off to tend to the normal
I decided some cheese from Oklahoma’s “Little Italy” might be a good excuse for a road trip to break the pandemic blues. Only 2 hours from either Tulsa or Oklahoma City, tiny Krebs, Oklahoma is a pleasant day trip – as long as you avoid the speed traps. For this trip we headed south from
There aren’t any signs pointing to it. There’s not even a sign once you get to it – but you’ll know by all the pickup trucks parked by the roadside. It’s like a swimming hole out of the 1940s; no sidewalks, warning signs or railing to keep people from hurting themselves. This is a swim,
Bookshop photography sections are turgid with tomes about tweaking exposures, color calibration, and the zone system and many of the spines carry the name of Rick Sammon, award-winning travel photographer. So perhaps it should be no surprise that Sammon has written a book about how to use your brain – the key photo “accessory”. “Photo
114 Days Through 38 Cities in 15 Countries I picked this book up in an airport bookshop pre-pandemic and started reading it on the long flight home from South Korea. When I walked in my front door, I tossed it and everything else aside for a few weeks while I dived back into work. A
Most travel essay books approach travel from the perspective of a lone traveler. Few are written by a vagabond family of four. Sihpromatum is a self-published book written by Savannah Grace, one of two sisters, a mother and a brother from Vancouver that traveled across China and Mongolia on the cheap. Traveling 2nd or 3rd
I was working at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo on March 11, 2011 when the seabed offshore suddenly jumped the length of half a football field and Japan suffered the worst earthquake (9.0) in its recorded history. My heavy government-issued computer jumped onto the floor like it was possessed. The 5th floor of the Embassy
