A postcard from a past place My formal debut as a tourist attraction took place in Beijing about 15 years ago. I was on a business trip with my then supervisor, who decided it would be a shame for me to spend my entire first visit to China in meeting rooms and fancy restaurants – and subsequently requested our government host to organize a day of sightseeing for me. I felt a little guilty that I might be shirking…
A postcard from a past place The routine was inevitably the same in every small village that we visited. As we arrived, we were enthusiastically greeted by clapping and singing women who walked alongside our two large 4WD vehicles for the last few hundred feet of the drive. The village elders were waiting for us the center of the community, where we piled out for a quick round of introductions followed by a very long round of welcome speeches….
Last year I broke one of my own cardinal travel rules: I flew on two separate tickets to one final destination. After a short visit back in the States, I had one ticket to London and another from London to Zagreb. I had finalized my plans in two stages, and that’s just how the ticketing worked out in the end. I wasn’t really comfortable wth the situation, knowing that if I missed my connection I would have no recourse and…
A postcard from a past place (Note: I’ve made it a goal to write something about all of the countries I’ve spent time in over the years. I’ve decided to start with Albania not as a result of its position in the alphabet, but because it’s a place I’ve thought a lot about since last year. Posts on other countries will follow in no particular order.) My visit to Tirana in June 2016 was only supposed to last a week….