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…
Hiking is good exercise so one fine autumnal day we went hiking in Bear Mountain State Park. However, when you live in New York City, to go hiking you have to walk to the subway – passing a perfectly adequate gym on the way – then take the subway to the bus station, then sit…
Hello friends, I just wanted to write and tell you that my apartment in Manhattan is on the ground floor, facing out to the street, and quite often people walk past the window and we make very awkward eye contact.
I’ve seen more than a few memorable things in my time – Machu Picchu, Petra, the Grand Canyon and New York City from the air – but visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau will live long in the memory for all the wrong reasons. The Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp is an hour’s train ride from Kraków in Poland. I’ll be honest,…
There’s a big hole in America. There are many jokes I can make there but because this is a family-friendly website, I won’t. The big hole I’m talking about is of course the Grand Canyon, over which I did a south rim helicopter tour. The Grand Canyon covers a lot of the south-west of the…
This is your simple guide to the Southern Ridges, one of the most popular hiking routes in Singapore. Covering Mount Faber Park, Telok Blangah Hill Park, HortPark, and Kent Ridge Park via a series of elaborate trails, bridges, and connectors, the Southern Ridges is an incredible example of how even a densely-populated city like Singapore…
What the hell, I’ll repeat the title again for emphasis: we’re moving to Singapore! It feels so good to be able to say that. We’ve wanted to move for a while so it’s exciting to be able to say that it’s finally happening. I know, I know, we’re in the middle of a global pandemic,…
Well, friends, we survived our 2 days at Bear Mountain, but it was a close call at times. Now I’m going to switch to present tense and act like all this is happening as I write it. It’ll be more exciting for you that way, I promise. We order ahead from some local favorite restaurants…
We recently took a drive north out of New York and, guys, let me tell you, it’s like another world up there! We were gone two nights and here’s my recommendation for a condensed 1-day itinerary in southwest Vermont. The Green Mountain State is beautiful though, so if you just feel like driving around or…