Éire Über Alles
An Irish American writer reflects on his visit to Ireland and Northern Ireland, and his discussions with Gerry Adams and Rory Carroll about the Troubles, Kneecap, a United Ireland, and more…
Read MoreTravel
Culture Honey Touring Launches “European Journeys” with Two Paris-Centered Small Group Tours!
Traveling to Paris, Europe and the UK extensively for the past 20 years, Mike & Georgia Sanders offer their experience as travelers and small-group tour guides to bring guests the best of Paris and France at Christmastime!
Read More
European Christmas Markets | Reims, France – City of Coronations and of Champagne!
Our first stay in Reims, France seemed to be enchanted from the start. The Notre-Dame de Reims seemed like a beautiful version of “Our Lady of Paris” in miniature!
Read More
Paris Je T’Aime | A Lifelong Love Affair with the City of Lights
So, what is it about Paris that keeps me coming back time and again?
Why Paris and not another lovely European capital city? Well, like other Francophiles, and like those outlined so well in David McCullough’s epic book, The Greater Journey, Americans in Paris, the lure of this dazzling, creative, energetic and gorgeous city…
Read More
Spiritual Journey: Celtic Way Pilgrimage to Iona
“…a spiritual feeling unrivaled by anything I have experienced at home before or since. No words can better sum up how I feel about my pilgrimage to Iona better than this verse we sang together from the hymn “All Are Welcome” on our last night…”
Read More
My Grandmother Was a Travel Writer Too, England – June 1978
So as the influences have come down, my family has kept my grandmothers journals from her major travel experiences and a few of them have come my way. Having spent much time in the United Kingdom myself now, I know that as much as things change, some things do not.
Read More
Ireland | The Under-Told Connection of Frederick Douglass & The Land of Saints and Scholars
Mr. Douglass’ time in Ireland is variously referenced as an “odyssey,” “compelling,” “a place where he found his voice.”
On his final day there, in a letter he wrote to William Lloyd Garrison, Mr. Douglass spoke of his time in Ireland with these words,
“I can truly say, I have spent some of the happiest moments of my life since landing in this country. I seem to have undergone a transformation. I live a new life.”
A California Cajun Returns to the Bayou
I’m away from my San Diego home, visiting Louisiana right now, crashing in a friend’s New Orleans guest house. It’s the tail end of…
Read More
Bombay Beach Biennale | Apocalyptic Art [or] Something Out of Nothing
Some call it the anti-Burning Man. Whereas Black Rock City packs up after it’s all over, the Bombay Beach Biennale is all about creating permanent art and transforming what was once considered an apocalyptic wasteland.
Read More
Ludwigsburg, Germany | An Easygoing Fall Day
What a great family festival, with pumpkin carving, statues made out of pumpkins reminding me of the floats of the annual Rose Parade in Pasadena made out of flowers – AND – special dishes like pumpkin soup, pumpkin pasta and delicious roasted and flavored pumpkin seeds to snack on!
Read More
South American “Honeymoon” | From Galápagos to Machu Picchu
After my wife Mercedes and I got married, I suggested we honeymoon in South America. We had family friends in Lima, so we planned on Machu Picchu in Peru and the Galápagos in Ecuador.
Read More
Series | Social Justice Tourism – Take Me Home, Country Roads
This was in May of 2020. The world was only about less than four months into the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even for a family of four with just enough space in our home and a reasonably sized backyard…
Read More