Last week I was one of only 25 bloggers invited to submit a story about my most humorous travel experience to the website of the French government tourist office. Once the stories are posted, the public is invited to read them and vote for their favorite. Voting automatically registers participants for a chance to win a seven night stay for two at the 4 star deluxe Sofitel Bakoua on the exotic, tropical French island of Martinique. The author of the story that garners the most votes will win a seven night stay at the Sofitel, as well.

The stories were posted to the website recently and already, one of them has 127 votes. Another has 10. A third story has six votes and a smattering of the others have one or two votes. The rest – including my story – have no votes yet. Read the rest of this entry »

I voted in Florida’s Presidential Primary today. This is the most interesting, exciting, and engaging presidential election of my entire life, and I have a few years on me. I’ve always felt that voting was a right and an obligation, though there have been times I was so apathetic about the choices that I skipped voting entirely. But this time, I rushed to the polls and for the first time in my life, it was a privilege to vote.

I LOVE to travel. I can only stay put for a few months before I get the urge to head out for another one of the distant, exotic places that I haven’t yet checked off my list. Unfortunately, I can’t travel all the time. Once in a while I have to stick around and make some money to pay for all this travel about which I am so passionate. When I find myself grounded for a while – like now – I have to find a way to scratch that travel itch or I go crazy. That’s when I start looking around in my own back yard.

I am ashamed to admit that, despite the fact that I was born and raised in Chicago, I never visited Lincoln Park Zoo, attended a concert at the downtown band shell, went to the top of the Sears Tower, toured Frank Lloyd Wright’s home, visited the Old Water Tower, or watched the futures trading at the Chicago Board of Trade. It’s a mistake I don’t intend to repeat, now that I’ve relocated to Sarasota. Read the rest of this entry »

I admit it. I’m a coffee snob. I fancy myself to be something of an expert on good coffee. Once, in Kauai, I spent an entire day touring a small coffee plantation to learn how the beans were grown, harvested, sorted, graded, roasted, packaged, and marketed.

I know that, at $160 per pound, Kopi Luwak is the world’s most expensive coffee. The Kopi Luwak bean is gathered from the jungle floor by Asian farmers after the Palm Civet has eaten the coffee cherry (the green fruit), partially digested it, and then excreted it. I know that a bag of coffee labeled “Kona” (another of the world’s most highly regarded and most delicious coffees) does not necessarily mean that it is any good. Companies often buy the lowest quality Kona beans from the plantation – those just one grade above the beans that the grower throws in the trash – and mix a small percentage of these Kona bean with cheaper beans Read the rest of this entry »

A few weeks back I was invited by Darren Cronian of Travel-Rants.com to participate in a Travel Blog Carnival. Each week, those of us lucky enough to be invited email Darren a link to a travel article that we have posted during the past week. Darren then picks one of us each week to review all the submissions and choose our three or four favorite posts. This week, I’m the reviewer and I have to say it was a really hard choice as there were so many good articles from which to choose. I finally whittled my list down to the following favorites:

On the Kango blog, Paige Jackson writes an informational and amusing piece about traveling on west Texas roads.

For those looking for a bit more adventure than afforded by a drive through flatlands, try out this article at the Away.com Family Travel Blog, which features the sport of bodyflight. The video of kids and adults flying around in what appears to be a wind chamber is truly amazing. I felt like I was flying just watching it. This is something I definitely want to do!

The White Point Manor blog looks at the controversial issue of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, the U.S. legislation that will (eventually) eliminate the ability for Canadian Citizens to enter the U.S. by showing only a driver’s license.

And finally, perhaps my favorite post of the week is to be found on Highland Business Research’s Tracking Tourism Blog. It’s an hysterical article about a new method for tracking tourism being used by the folks in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and it links to an even funnier article in the Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog that used every “potty mouth” pun it could come up with to describe the town’s state-of-the-art tracking methodology.

Anyone can join the carnival by emailing a travel post to travelblog.carnival (at) gmail.com. Though I’m delighted to have been invited to be a part of the Travel Blog Carnival, the best part of the whole experience is being exposed to other travel writers and being able to pass along some of these great article to my readers. Enjoy!

The band, Five For Fighting, has generously agreed to donate $0.49 to Autism Speaks every time the following video is viewed: What Kind Of World Do You Want The funding goes toward research studies to help find a cure. When you have a moment, please visit the above link to watch the video and pass it along to your friends and family. They are aiming for 10,000 hits, but hopefully we can help them to surpass this goal. Thanks to my friend, Bill Holt, and the Outer Banks Association of Realtors for passing this along.

A few days ago, Forbes Magazine released their 2008 list of the top ten most dangerous travel destinations in the world. Among them, in position #9, was Zimbabwe, Africa. I am extremely familiar with the problems in Zimbabwe, since it was one of my destinations during my around-the-world trip last year.

I had always dreamed of going on safari in Africa, and of seeing Victoria Falls, which happens to be located in Zimbabwe. I’m no fan of tours. I prefer to wing it and just wander. When I left on my six month trip I had only six nights booked in hotels or hostels. However, Zimbabwe was quite another matter. The hotels no longer accept Zimbabwean dollars because they are virtually worthless (the country is experiencing 8,000% inflation each month), thus all my arrangements had to be made well in advance and I had to wire U.S. dollars to a tour operator in South Africa in order to reserve a hotel room.

When I departed on my journey in March of 2007, the situation in Zimbabwe was deteriorating, Read the rest of this entry »

This is the kind of world I want to live in.:

Many thanks to Leah at aN eclectiC 9 for making me aware of this amazing presentation. If everyone could experience the kind of unconditional love and caring exhibited by Johnny the bagger it would be a much better world.

Many of my regular readers are aware that, about a year ago, I walked away from a successful real estate career to pursue writing. I slapped a backpack on my back and headed out to travel the world for six months. I returned to Florida in early October last year and since then, have been writing a memoir about my travels and the circumstances that led to my decision to make such drastic changes in my life. Simultaneously, I have been contacting various local magazines about writing for them on a freelance basis. My biggest hurdle is the fact that I have never been published with a byline. Everyone I talk to requests clippings of my published writing. Although I have been writing for years, none of my articles have ever been published with my byline. Read the rest of this entry »