humor

On the Questionable Copywriting Decisions in the Holiday Inn Express Breakfast Area

A Review and Photo Essay

travel

Aboard the SS Gluttony

This is how you know I’m a first-time cruiser: I brought snacks onto the boat. In the universe of worst-case scenarios I might have imagined — capsizing in a hurricane, Honduran pirates, forced Macarena — I jumped right to “Might be a bit peckish” as the most likely emergency to plan

travel

Day -1: Packing by Candlelight

Flames from the burning electrical transformer licked at the powerlines behind the house. Acrid, oily smoke blew toward the sliding glass door on the deck, where I’d been watching branches blow free from the trees during this winter wind storm, spiraling down and then sparking as they hit the

travel

Costa Rica Day 12: And Unexpectedly, Day 13

Here’s a tip for the savvy traveler: When guidebooks use phrases like “gritty charm” and “a few surprises under the rough and tumble exterior” to describe a destination, it might be a place you want to avoid. (Note: You should also avoid blind dates with those same descriptions.) Despite

travel

Costa Rica Days 10-11: Iguana Be Sedated

Part of the joy of travel is meeting new people from around the world, learning about their interests and their backgrounds, and then figuring out how to ditch them during a hike so you don’t have to tell them to shut up to their face. But I’m getting

travel

Costa Rica Days 8-9: Swimming in Monkey Water

So it turns out that every tourist in Costa Rica is from Canada. In the last few days we’ve met people from British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario. I just need Quebec and Yukon Territories to win Canadian bingo. It’s like all of Canada collectively says “Screw this!

travel

Costa Rica Days 6-7: Slothspotting

So there are definitely competing interests at work here. On the one hand you have the sloth, a creature whose entire evolutionary path has been predicated on remaining inert and tree-colored so as to remain invisible to predators. And on the other hand you have Hadas, whose entire vacation is

travel

Costa Rica Days 3-5: Lust, Gluttony, Wrath, Sloths

Part of the fun of world traveling is to “Expect the unexpected,” which is one reason they never tell you beforehand that your airplane is going to crash into a mountain. Although if they did, I’d spend way more time choosing a seat near someone who looked delicious. Anyway,

travel

Costa Rica Days 1-2: Fly the Fiendly Skies

So here I am in another Spanish-speaking country. For those keeping track, this adds another recent stamp to my passport that also includes Mexico (three times), Nicaragua, Argentina, Spain and a Chipotle Grill in Buffalo. The Spanish here is amazingly easy to understand, and the people are incredibly nice. The

travel

The View From Row 56

I was surprised by a lot of things in Thailand. For instance I was surprised how easy it was to get by with my rudimentary grasp of the Thai language (and by “grasp” I mean “each of my fingers could count one of the words I know in Thai”). I

travel

A Bug in the System

Every hotel and guesthouse in Thailand (and by “every” I mean “the two that I’ve stayed in”) have an ingenious system to prevent tourists from leaving the lights and air conditioning running all day. Next to the door is a slot for your room key, and unless your room

travel

Partying with Pachyderms

You can’t throw a stick without hitting an elephant tour in Thailand. And come to think of it, most of the tour companies should probably be hit with sticks anyway, to give them a taste of their own medicine. The traditional method of “taming” an elephant involves restraining it