Sheron Long's Blog, page 17
October 9, 2017
What’s in Your Suitcase?
Souvenir stores straddle the border between “this place” and “any place.”
© Joyce McGreevy
Collected Travel Inspiration,
With & Without Souvenirs
Souvenirs—talismans of travel inspiration, mere trinkets, or trash? Can they inspire aha moments or only memorialize them?
The very word is a souvenir of 18th century French—from souvenir “to remember.” But I like the ancient Latin even better. Subvenire, “to come up from below,” tips its hat to the subconscious. It makes me think of opening old boxes in a basement and finding forgotten treasure, some silly, small item of no value. And yet . . .
Lost Souvenirs
My first souvenir? Petite plastic dolls from a Paris flea market. In the 1960s, my sister Carolyn and I splurged all our pocket money on them, one franc each. Ah, but that included “tous les meubles!”—all...
October 2, 2017
Budapest, Fast and Slow
You can race through Budapest at a gallop, but you’ll notice more at a gentle pace.
© Joyce McGreevy
Hungarian Travel Tips in Two Tempos
I’m lingering at a bisztro in Budapest’s Jewish Quarter, savoring every bite of cholent. It’s an Ashkenazi slow-and-low cooked casserole. Guests keep arriving in waves. So, when the waiter approaches, I assume it’s to drop the bill and hasten me on my way.
Instead, he recommends flodni, a 20-ingredient stuffed wonder he airily summarizes as a “light pastry.” Or perhaps another glass of rozé?
“Jaj! Most kell dolgoznum,” I sigh. “Alas, I must work now.” Back in Chicago, the workday’s in high gear. As a digital nomad, I’ve got a manuscript to deliver.
A neighborly chat at Spinoza Café.
© Joyce McGreevy
Meanwhile, the piano man asks, “Szeretsz énekelni?” “Would you like to sing?” As a...
September 18, 2017
Discovering the Art of Sand Sculptures
Winner of the 2017 Great Carmel Sand Castle Contest
© Meredith Mullins
The Great Carmel Sand Castle Contest
What lives and breathes sand and water . . . and brings out the kid in everyone?
What passion requires a unique combination of creativity, patience, delicacy, and grit?
What depends on building with the simplest of elements, but can rise to the pinnacle of artistry?
And what, without lament, is always inevitably destroyed?
Grand finale for a sand sculpture: Inevitable destruction
© Meredith Mullins
It is the wonderful world of sand sculptures, or, for us novices, the wonderful world of plastic shovels and buckets and mounds of malleable sand.
Oh, I see. Sand and water open the door for creativity.
The art of the drip technique
© Meredith Mullins
The Art of Sand Sculptures
There are sand sculpting events all around the world—well-known...
September 11, 2017
A Tale of Two Jungles
From the Mayan jungle to the concrete jungle
© Sam Anaya
Sensing Life in Quintana Roo & Mexico City
A symphony plays before me in an outdoor theater. The sun passes through a roof of leaves, tree branches crawl up and around the doorways, and rain delicately drizzles upon the earthen seats. This is the Mayan jungle in Quintana Roo, Mexico.
I had arrived here from another theater where sunlight illuminates towering structures and passes through glass windows. The red, yellow, and green of signal lights reflect in the puddles of afternoon rains. This is the concrete jungle of Mexico City.
Sometimes you have to see—feel, taste, and hear—things differently in order to sense their similarities. From 2015 to 2016, I lived in both a thick tropical forest and a crowded city. Although these two environments could not be more different, I found my sensory experiences...
September 5, 2017
A College Course in Wanderlust?
Basic but comfy, a dorm room at Carr-Saunders Hall, London makes travel affordable for all.
© Joyce McGreevy
Travelers on Budgets
Go Back to School
As students return to college each September, another group is preparing for college visits— travelers on budgets. To pursue their wanderlust, they’re majoring in Travel Economics.
How? By booking “university vacation-accommodations.”
Translation: They’re staying in dorms.
More and more colleges today offer clean, comfortable dorm rooms to non-student visitors. While some do so only when classes aren’t in session, a growing number of colleges offer dorms year-round.
For travelers on budgets, this means more “oh I see moments” in the history, geography, arts, and culture of world destinations—and fewer “IOU” moments. After all, when the cost of visiting a place is minimized, your ability to explore...
August 28, 2017
Travel Tales (Tails?): Making Dog Travel Great Again
We don’t have to mope around at home. Let’s go out!
© Dor-riss/iStock
An Open Letter to the City of Paris
Paris, France
Dear Officials of the City of Paris and Regional Transport (RATP) Directors,
We, the dogs of this beautiful City of Light (having formed a more perfect union known as Les Chiens de Paris), know we are lucky to live in France, and especially in its romantic capital.
We are able to dine elegantly with our humans.
© Meredith Mullins
We can prance proudly by the Seine. We are able to dine at Michelin-starred restaurants. We are often fashionably dressed in Gucci or Chanel. We can savor the delicate nuances of pâté and filet mignon.
We can paws when we feel like it at the iconic Paris sites.
© Chris Mueller/iStock
We can play at historic monuments and enjoy the layers of history in this fine city. Our humans give us effusive...
August 21, 2017
The Mysteries of the Universe
The mystery of other-worldly darkness
© Adrian Hillman/iStock
Travel Inspiration: In Search of Totality
If you’re lucky, they say you may experience it once (maybe twice) in your lifetime. (Let your imagination run wild as to what we’re talking about.)
They also say it is awe-inspiring and life-changing. (Now you can really let your mind reach for the stars.)
And it has certainly been a theme of conversation and travel inspiration for many people for many months.
Final hint: Today is the day.
What is it?
A total solar eclipse. The Great American solar eclipse of 2017, to be exact—an event that reaches across North America, casting pieces and parts of 14 states into the other-worldly daytime darkness of totality.
A life-changing experience
© kdshutterman/iStock
Eclipse Mania
The solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 is bringing fame (and fortune) to every part of...
August 15, 2017
Pink Transportation Takes the Wheel
Two percent of taxi drivers are female while sixty percent are passengers.
She Taxis empowers women to jump into the driver’s seat.
© Hannah Arista Photography
Steering Toward Women’s Rights and Gender Equality
PINK, PINK, PINK! Bubblegum, watermelon, flamingo, rose, pink panther, punch pink, and HOT pink are just a few of the rosy shades taking to city streets today. Together, all things pink create a public visual statement of solidarity with women’s rights.
Women-only taxi in London
© Ken/Flkr
It sounds a little like the pink DIY-knitted “pussyhats” movement, right? But the wave of fuchsia, to which I refer—Pink Transportation—came before the worldwide flash flood of pink.
Pink Transportation, also known as PT, addresses gender equality as it strives to improve both women’s mobility and life beyond the steering wheel.
A...
August 8, 2017
14 Ways of Learning a Second Language
Learning a language takes you in new directions.
© Joyce McGreevy
Language Tips for Busy People
Research shows that learning a second language is like superfood for the brain. Experts say we’re predisposed to be multilingual. So why do so many smart people think learning a second language is impossible?
Curiously, those who claim linguistic ineptitude often use complex grammar:
“Had I understood the benefits of learning Japanese, I would have taken classes.”
“If only I could have learned Spanish in high school, I would be fluent today.”
“Oh, I see”: You can learn languages, whatever their complexity, whatever your age, wherever you travel.
An OIC Moment spotted in a London bookshop.
© Joyce McGreevy
Immerse to Converse?
The ideal way of learning a second language is through immersion. Imagine living among native speakers until, little...
July 31, 2017
Crossing Cultures with an Urban Eye
Michael Wolf’s images are a metaphor for megacities.
© Michael Wolf
Michael Wolf’s View of Life in Cities
Human herds. The crush of crowds. Anonymity. Frenetic rhythms. Unrelenting surround-sound. Noise. Congestion. Forced verticality. Pollution.
Density in all its forms.
Much has been written to advocate for, rail against, and, ultimately, to understand life in cities. Images abound. Urban life is not a mystery.
Michael Wolf explains his attraction to megacities at the Rencontres d’Arles.
© Meredith Mullins
Visual stimuli are everywhere in city living. Stories unfold moment by moment but are often missed because of the sheer pace of life or the necessity to narrow one’s view with city blinders to shield against the constant barrage to the senses.
German/American artist Michael Wolf slows us down and expands our field of vision with his city images....
