philosophical musings, biographical rhapsody, and dispatches from the world…
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The Path with Heart: A 70 mile epic across the volcanic spine of Armenia in the Gegham mountains
(July 13th – 21st, 2026) Mt. Ararat, the fabled mountain where Noah’s Arc came to rest after the biblical Great Flood, rose regally above the western horizon as the morning sun lit it up in glory. Kate and I had similarly marveled at its stature from the overlook above Yerevan’s storied Cascade Complex the evening…
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Tragedy in Paradise (Shovi, Georgia)
(July 6 – 10, 2026) The packed marshrutka, a transport minivan of varying degrees of quality typical in Georgia, raced through the winding forested foothills rising above the Imereti plain, a central fertile agricultural basin of Georgia. As it climbed higher into cloud forests, I kept an eye on the GPS to signal to the…
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Looking up (Batumi, Georgia)
(July 2 – 5th, 2026) I am a man of the mountains. The only times I have ever lived near the sea was as a young child in Virginia, which I hardly remember; during my university years along the frozen shores of Finland; one spectacular bohemian summer bumming around Homer, Alaska; and my two-year stint…
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Keeping an open mind in Türkiye
(June 25th – July 2nd, 2026) -“So first we wash in the fountain of ablution as an act of wudu, which is a ritual cleansing the hands, face, and feet with water before prayers.” Ibrahim, my local contact introduced to me by my affable innkeeper Ensar of the Ziyagil Kongi hotel, instructed me on proper…
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Surprising Sofia and Piety in Bulgaria
(June 21st – June 24, 2026) On cue, I roll off the bus from Niš, Serbia, to Sofia, Bulgaria, in the late evening of June 21st and in the midst of searching for the entrance into the Metro station underground I fell gravity towards Latin fusion rock rhythms emanating from an open courtyard adjacent to…
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Serbia: Yu-Rock, River Fortresses, and Graffiti Wars
Late my first night out in Novi Sad, I walked along cobblestone streets back towards my hotel a few blocks off the central plaza. Serbia is pretty rough around the edges, but old town Novi Sad is generally as polished and charming as any European city. As I near the last cross street a tall,…
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A Pub Called Heaven (Menny) – Budapest, Hungary
(June 15 -17, 2026) The bus doors open and I step into the busy streets of Budapest, backpack weighted over my shoulders and guitar in hand, keen to find my hotel and settle in for an evening on the Danube before continuing my travels onward the next morning. After all, I had been to Budapest…
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Wildflowers of the Tatras: A photo essay
As mentioned in the post on my adventure on the Slovak side of the Tatras, Life is precious, don’t let it slip away, I was totally captivated by the stunning array of wildflowers on my hike out of the mountains. After staring up at pinnacles of towering rock for days, I was delighted with the…
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Life is precious, don’t let it slip away (Tatras, Slovakia)
(June 12 -14, 2026) –dadadadadadadadadadadadadada!…….daa-daaa-daaahhh!….indecipherable Slovak lyrics follow… “So, what is he singing about?” I ask my new acquaintance, Vlado, a jolly, broad shouldered man leading an outdoors group from his region of Orava on a trip to the Zelene Pleso hut, as we bask in the golden hour light illuminating all of the natural…
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Taming the Tantalizing Tatras (Poland)
An enveloping fog slowly gripped to the jet black precipices above me while I kick a step into the seemingly supportable, but not entirely firm, receding snowpack. Instilling within me sufficient trust to continue, I then debate using the cold steel chains bolted into the mountain wall as climbing aides or simply scrambling along the…
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Ah, das schöne Berlin! (Oh, beautiful Berlin!)
(May 29 – June 8, 2026) I met Bastian my second year living in Finland, as he moved into my old apartment when I transferred out of the first-year furnished room into the long term unit across the hall. Born to a German dad and Finnish mother, he grew up in West Berlin until he…
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Critical Mass – Berlin: When Bikes Rule the Road
(May 30, 2026) Berlin has the capacity to present one with the most unexpected scenes and experiences, whether events or people. Within 1.5 hours of arriving to the city and the apartment of Bastian, another of my friends from uni days in Finland, we pedaled off to the hip Kreuzberg neighborhood for a quick bite…
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Lest we forget (Gdansk, Poland)
(May 26 – 29, 2026) I left Vilnius at noon on the 26th for Poland, another country I had yet to visit previously. Wanting to arrive in Berlin by Friday afternoon in time for something ‘special’ my friend Bastian had promised me, I had time to pick another stopover on the way for three nights.…
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Į sveikatą! (Vilnius, Lithuania)
(May 23rd – May 26th, 2026) “Eeh svay—kah–tą!…?..?”. The two young women, one a brunette dressed eloquently in flowery pastels, the other a blonde darkly robed with a punky façade, looked at each other then back at me, a smile inching slowly from the corner of their mouths. -“Į sveikatą”. We toast. They return speaking…
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The Constitution of Užupis
Užupis is a funky bohemian neighborhood of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, and is separated from the main city by the river Vilnelė. In fact, its name means “beyond the river”. It is often compared to other artistic, laissez-faire, and alternative settlements such as Freetown Christiania in Copenhagen or Montmartre in Paris. It even declared…
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Passing through Parnu (Estonia)
On May 22nd I boarded a ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn, Estonia, to properly begin my journey over land (and sea) from my point of origin. Estonia is another incredible and fairly unknown country to many. It has a deeper history than Finland in that it is located on the European mainland and traded hands…
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We can’t call people without wings angels, so we call them friends
As detailed in my prior post, “Matka aloittaa kotona”, Finland provided me the foundation of my adult life and the closest group of friendships that I have developed in my lifetime. While I quickly obtained a level of Finnish language knowledge superior to many foreigners comfortably residing there for years, English is near universally spoken…
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Matka aloittaa kotona
The journey starts at home. Well, at least for me, I regard Finland much as a second home, as strange as that may be for an American from a middle class upbringing raised in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas. Having pursued my university studies from 18 to 22 at the Helsinki School of Economics (now…
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How to Pack for a Journey
How do you decide what to take with you on an open-ended year-long trip to places not entirely known? The answer is not entirely one-size-fits-all, nor should it be, but a clear adage is ‘less is more’. Another is most certainly, ‘no wheels’ – cobblestones, dirt paths, stairs, hills, and horse carts don’t always accommodate…
