Tag archives: travel
“Nice bracelet,” Pat said to the Native bus driver. “My cousin made it. For my moiety. I am an eagle. My wife is a raven.” “My wife is a Sheppard,” I said. “Sometimes that makes me feel sheepish.” He did not laugh. Neither did my wife. Or anyone else on the bus. He went on […]
Did you ever eat at a restaurant where your breakfast came so fast you barely had time to unwrap your utensils? Well, it wasn’t in Ketchikan, Alaska! I was on my eighth coffee refill, babbling on about the anxieties of airline travel, like when you get to your gate and they announce your airplane is […]
“Adventure!” There’s something exciting about the very word – which advertisement-writers well know. You can have Travel Adventures, Romantic Adventures – even Restaurant Adventures. In fact, dining out in different eating establishments may be all some people need to satisfy their adventurous yearnings. But there’s an age factor at work here. The younger you are, […]
To get to Half Moon Bay, we had driven up U.S. 101 through crawling traffic in San Jose, dodged the pushy Porsches and Tesla jockeys of Silicon Valley, and finally twisted and turned our way over a busy road through the Santa Cruz Mountains. At the end, though, waited a quiet little farm town called […]
Walking off the plane and onto the icy runway, the message from Icelandair’s screen came to mind; the most amazing thing about Iceland is not the fact that it’s the third windiest place in the world, it’s the fact that hardly anyone lives in the first and second places. Don’t worry, Iceland is worth the […]
On March 15, one of our town’s world celebrated authors, Pico Iyer, had an open discussion about travel, literature, and what brings people of different cultures together. Roman Baratiak from UCSB Arts & Lectures led the discussion. The free event was at the SB Public Library downtown. Pico is usually quoted for saying, “We travel, […]
It was ten at night, and two weary travelers stood at Track 17 at Toronto’s Union Station, waiting to board The Canadian. The brochure for this flagship of Canada’s VIA Rail system had promised “comfortable accommodations” in “superior sleeper cabins,” and we were filled with the anticipation of looking out our window as the train […]
Brunhilda did not like our diversion, “Make a u-turn, Dummkopf!! A u-turn.” German GPS units can be quite touchy. We were on our way to Linderhof in the Bavarian countryside to see one of King Ludwig II’s many palaces. Ludwig was known as der Märchenkönig – the Fairy Tale King. He also held the titles […]
Six-hundred miles due west of Ecuador lie the Galapagos Islands. Born of volcanic fire and lava that broke through faults in the earth’s crust on the ocean floor, the magma rose to form underwater mountains and some of the mountain tips emerged forming islands, which continues to this day. It is estimated that this archipelago […]
Food writer and inveterate traveler Michael Cervin has just completed his eighth work and fifth travel book, The Santa Barbara Know-It-All: A Guide to Everything that Matters. “I really wanted to write a travel book that was fun, entertaining, and funny,” says Michael, who I used to work with at the News-Press when he was […]
“Are you chewing gum?!” Pat asked. “Hai!” I said, using one of the many (three) Japanese words I knew. We were standing next to The Great Buddha of Kamakura “Daibutsu”, the largest outdoor Buddha in Japan. Built in 1252, the 44-foot-tall, 121-ton seated Buddha draws more tourists than the world’s largest ball of saved wire […]
The party animals were out in force when Visit Santa Barbara held its annual general meeting and tourist celebration to recognize the local travel industry at Santa Barbara Zoo. The very in-tents occasion, with more than 200 guests, coincided with National Travel and Tourism Week, as well as California Tourist Month. Kathy Janega-Dykes, president, said […]
An Abbreviated Guide to the Holiday Coast of Maine (In our first thrilling installment, we took a family vacation to Maine. Today we look at popular vacation spots along the state’s coast, from north to south.) Bar Harbor Where: In what Maine folks call “Down East” (which is actually up, toward Canada). Bar Harbor lies […]
We flew from Miami to the eastern edge of Cuba to Holguin and transferred by bus to Santiago de Cuba, one of the first European settlements in Cuba dating to 1514. It is said that all wars started in Santiago and ended there. A poet, essayist, and revolutionary, one of Cuba’s heroes is Jose Marti, […]
“There’s No Such Thing as ‘Fun for the Whole Family’.” – Jerry Seinfeld Funny! … and true? Recently, I had the chance to run a field test. When I turned (a boyish) 70, my wife gave me a remarkable present: I could choose a trip anywhere in the world. My mind flooded with ideas: seeing […]
Salsa and cigars, rum and mojitos, music and the Tropicana nightclub, 1950s cars. Icons of Cuba. Christopher Columbus is touted to be the first tourist in 1492, but I don’t think he found a nightclub or cigars. My husband, Don, and I went to Cuba on our honeymoon in 2002 with the Museum of Art […]
The trip was called “Cruise the Face of Europe” and, in fact, it was a 15-day river trip from Amsterdam to Budapest that did just that. Not surprisingly, early outposts, ports, and villages at strategic locations along the Rhine, Main, and Danube rivers provided early opportunities of commerce and control for centuries, from Roman times […]
