Category: Travel

The last several weeks have felt like non-stop driving to me. I drove from Florida to Arkansas, then from Arkansas to Kansas, then back from Kansas all the way to Florida. A couple of weeks later I was making the 18 hour drive from Tampa to upstate New York, and now I’m on my way […]

Over the last two days I drove with my dog from the sunny, warm Tampa, Florida to the cold and wintery Binghamton in upstate New York, and I’ll be making the same drive back in three days time — it’s approximately 18 hours each way without accounting for stops. Just over Thanksgiving, I made a trip […]

I use some variation of the word “catharsis” in a lot of my articles. I think it’s something a lot of veterans pursue—I think it’s something a lot of people across the board pursue. There is a deep-seated unrest scraping away at the soul of every human being and my experiences in the military, while […]

Many people in my circles express a desire to go overseas and contribute toward some kind of cause at some point. Military veterans in particular are often interested in that kind of life–though it may not be easy, it’s rewarding, it’s an adventure and it serves a higher purpose. Like the military, it takes you […]

Since the civil war in Yemen began almost two years ago it has claimed over 10,000 lives and has left millions destitute and at risk for the disease. The disease, which has seized the nation, is Cholera and the numbers are staggering. One in 62 Yemenis is estimated to be sick with Cholera. There have […]

I’ve done a fair amount of traveling over the years. I’ve stood next to pyramids on two continents, wandered around the Coliseum and the Acropolis, gone white water rafting in Alaska and relaxed at a wine tasting in Malta.  Que Johnny Cash singing, “I’ve been everywhere,” because, although there’s still plenty of world left to […]

The news rarely reports the comings and goings of ordinary people living regular lives, and yet it’s those people who make up the mass majority of the earth.  The farmer in north the northern Thai countryside, the truck driver in Cairo or the gas station attendant in Arizona–they are the fabric of society, subject to […]

It was the second Monday of the eighth grade when terrorists came to my school and killed six people.  They came with AKs, fully expecting to slaughter as many children as they could. I was walking from a classroom to the library when the first shots went off.  My initial thought was that someone was […]

The world is an awfully big place, which is why I believe the myth of the well-traveled statesman can be a dangerous one.  That is, in part, why when I’m asked how many countries I’ve been to, I tend to shrug.  I’ve certainly set foot in more countries than I think I have a rightful […]

(Read Part 7 HERE) It was 2:30 in the morning and I was wide awake.  My hammock swung gently, tied to the bamboo posts in Saw Rai’s house.  My bags were packed up, ready to leave at a moment’s notice.  The doctor, who usually slept in the hammock next to mine, had been gone all […]

(Read Part 6 HERE) When it occurs to a man that nature does not regard him as important, and that she feels she would not maim the universe by disposing of him, he at first wishes to throw bricks at the temple, and he hates deeply the fact that there are no bricks and no […]

Following my late night attendance of General Sabban‘s birthday party in Zamboanga, I met the general the following morning at the airport to catch a plane to Tawi-Tawi.  I was pretty exhausted, but Sabban looked none of the worse for wear.  I had been invited down to Tawi-Tawi for the activation anniversary of 2nd Marine […]