Survivor: Nowhere
If your friend is going to be stranded in a desert island, The Daily Post asks, what five objects would you send her off with? Well, what a coincidence: my friend Ruby is going off to a small island next week. There’s a low pressure area or two currently brewing in the Pacific, looking like […]
To the old man behind the Notre Dame
You couldn’t have known, as I stood there under the light Paris drizzle, that my heart was drowning in a sea of grief. You were making your way out of the Square Jean XXIII; I was standing near the gate. My ears were pounding, my hands were shaking, and I’m afraid I didn’t bother to […]
Do you consider yourself a blogger?
* “Blogger ka ba?” (“Are you a blogger?”) Not such a hard question, was it? I was up in the mountains of Batanes, exchanging pleasantries with fellow tourists, and one of them had come up with this query…that strangely rendered me speechless. My first thought was: what gave me away?! Was there a blogger look I […]
Europe for the Heartbroken: 7 Perfect Places for Healing from a Broken Heart (3/7)
(This may or may not be based on personal experience.) -3- Munich * Munich is a good place to get drunk to think about two things: letting go and letting live. After a heartbreak, you can find yourself at a loss to comprehend what just happened. One minute everything seems to be going perfectly; the next […]
Conquering Fear
Traveling with an anxious child * This little boy doesn’t like closed spaces, especially tight, crowded ones. He cries when we take jeepneys. He panics in elevators. No matter how happy and carefree he is seconds earlier, the moment he realizes he’s in a cramped space, he starts to flap his hands in distress. He […]
Travel Writing: To List or Not To List
* Having just published “16 Places in Batanes That Will Make You Never Want to Leave (or Make You Start Planning Your Return ASAP!)” it may seem like I am firmly on the “to list” camp. Just look at that title: cardinal number – check. Exaggeration – check. I even added an exclamation point for […]