To understand what happened on that bus at 8pm outside a cheap hotel in Toronto you first have to understand Wilson. Wilson was the guide on our bus tour to Niagara Falls and Toronto. It was a bilingual English-Chinese 3-day-tour leaving from New York City. Wilson wore dark pants and a wool sweater under a…
Astoria, Queens was named after John Jacob Astor, who was once the wealthiest man in America. You might imagine therefore that Mr. Astor was born in what was then known as Hallett’s Cove and the village renamed themselves in his honor. That would be understandable and frankly quite boring. In reality, Mr. Astor never set foot in the…
Soon we’ll be visiting the Arctic Circle from Alaska. I’m so excited! After much procrastination and indecisiveness, we’ve booked roundtrip flights to Alaska, a train tour from Anchorage to Fairbanks, and an additional 17-hour day trip from Fairbanks north to the Arctic Circle. That final day trip is described thusly: Travel in The Far North…
Friends, this is the tragic story of James the Giant Dresser, who sadly is no longer with us. It’s a very sad tale, so please don’t read if you’re easily upset. First, an intro to James. He was the huge dresser that we bought in September 2015 from a second-hand furniture adoption website. Two men brought…
This is a sort-of-guide on how to eat seafood. But let me start by saying I don’t really eat seafood. I’d probably go so far as to say I don’t like it. Occasionally I’ll encounter a calamari, squint at it, maybe even lick it, then order a burger. But for my birthday, my loving girlfriend…
We recently spent a winter weekend in Portland, which I have to clarify by adding “Maine”, because we did not, I repeat we did not, go to Oregon. The gift shops in Portland know all too well that if you tell someone you went to “Portland” they automatically assume the one in Oregon. Every fridge…
It’s winter and everyone is either sick, was sick recently, or is cheerfully announcing to everyone that they never get sick (please join me in coughing all over those bastards). Sadly I was sick in Rome on New Years Eve. Here’s the account of my sniffles. I booked a trip to be in Rome on…
What do you get if you cross a giant candy store, an Amish farm, and an overloading of Christmas cheer? A day trip to Hershey World and Koziar’s Christmas Village from NYC. We had a booked a tour to visit Hershey Chocolate World and Koziar’s Christmas Village. It took over 3 hours to get to…
Later in December, I’m heading home to the UK. To be more specific, I leave New York on Christmas Eve and land at Heathrow at 7am on Christmas Day, where my beleaguered parents will be waiting, having woken up at 5am and driven an hour and a half from Cambridge to pick me up. I…
The Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro is one of the more incredible things to see in life. It’s up there with certain famous sculptures in the Dakotas. But the weirdest thing about the Christ the Redeemer statue is that there’s a freaking elevator that goes up to it. I’m a fit and…