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Book Review: Photo Therapy
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
Book Review: Not Afraid of the Fall
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
Book Review: Sihpromatum
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
How to use your Embassy in an Emergency
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
St. Petersburg, Russia by Boat
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
Kusatsu – Japan’s Hot Springs Town
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
Top 10 Travel Scams
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
How to Avoid getting ripped off while traveling
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
How to Travel Vegetarian
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