There’s a point in the Confessions of a Shopaholic series when Rebecca Bloomwood finds herself in the luggage section of a department store. “Luggage!” she exclaims. “Why have I never thought about luggage?” Don’t ask me why I’ve read those books. (Sigh. If you must know, I...
Zombies, Cheese and Bacon Pillows – Can You Ever Go Home Again?
When exactly is that moment where you realize that you’ve been traveling or living abroad for so long that what you’ve always called home is no longer home? Is it when you’re more excited to get back on the plane than you were to get off it?...
Photography For Dumb Bloggers
I kind of like to imagine myself as a photographer.But I’m not. Yeah, I did make it to the top 25 finalists in last year’s Conde Naste Traveler Photo contest, so close to the $25,000 grand prize I could almost taste it. And NBC News may have...
Sed tamen haec
Et interdum acciderat, ut siquid in penetrali secreto nullo citerioris vitae ministro praesente paterfamilias uxori susurrasset in aurem, velut Amphiarao referente aut Marcio, quondam vatibus inclitis, postridie disceret imperator. ideoque etiam parietes arcanorum soli conscii timebantur. Restabat ut Caesar post haec properaret accitus et abstergendae causa suspicionis...
Fieri, inquam, Triari
Et prima post Osdroenam quam, ut dictum est, ab hac descriptione discrevimus, Commagena, nunc Euphratensis, clementer adsurgit, Hierapoli, vetere Nino et Samosata civitatibus amplis inlustris. Sed (saepe enim redeo ad Scipionem, cuius omnis sermo erat de amicitia) querebatur, quod omnibus in rebus homines diligentiores essent; capras et...
Nec piget dicere
Procedente igitur mox tempore cum adventicium nihil inveniretur, relicta ora maritima in Lycaoniam adnexam Isauriae se contulerunt ibique densis intersaepientes itinera praetenturis provincialium et viatorum opibus pascebantur. Batnae municipium in Anthemusia conditum Macedonum manu priscorum ab Euphrate flumine brevi spatio disparatur, refertum mercatoribus opulentis, ubi annua sollemnitate...
Gone Fishin’ in Thanh Da
Three times a week I make the five minute drive over a singular, newly constructed bridge on the way to my tennis club. The wide four-laned road lined with restaurants (including duck rice porridge for which Thanh Da is known), apartment buildings and one lonely KFC quickly...
The “Other” Royal Couple
I’ve never been a big fan of ballet. Surprising, I know, considering I’m such a huge snob supporter of the arts. But when I got a chance to sit in on the final rehearsal of Cinderella at the Saigon Opera House, I didn’t refuse (mostly because I...
Thanh Da – Saigon’s Secret Island
I’ve always wanted to live on an island. It seems my whole adult life has been a series of trips trying to find that most perfect of beaches accompanied by a carefree existence perennially lived in flip flops and a faded t-shirt. And coconuts. In my dreams,...
Saigon’s Secret Supper Club
“Mung bean”, I whisper to the boy in square hipster glasses dressed all in black and hugging an iPad. “This way”, he says as he checks me off the guest list and leads me to the elevator and an upstairs apartment in a non-descript corporate-looking building in...