Imagine moving to a new city. What could you hope for on your first day there? I suppose the first thing you would want to sort out is accommodation. It’s a big city with a tough housing market. You luck out — the very first place you visit has lots of light, is in a […] Read More…
Tag Archives: Travel
The Move 12 Oct, 2007
An Offer I Can Refuse 5 Sep, 2007
As soon as I slowed down I realised I was making a mistake. I had just come out of a job interview and was lost in thought as I walked through the SoMa neighbourhood to the San Francisco CalTrain station. The man looked at me as I passed as if he knew me, and I […] Read More…
Sign of the Times 5 Sep, 2007
After a day wandering Chicago’s city streets, from Bronzeville to glitzy retail stores in The Loop to a nighttime view of the skyline from the Hancock Center, I headed to Giordano’s for some Chicago-style pizza. I passed an old lady begging for money.“Can you spare 10 dollars?” she asked.It was the surest evidence I’ve seen […] Read More…
Summertime 4 Sep, 2007
There are a few things I miss about Washington DC. One, the people I grew up with. Two, bagels and whitefish. Three, the sudden summer downpours. So I was more than a little pleased when my bus from New York dropped me off at a DC Metro station just as a storm burst from the […] Read More…
Doctor Warren 4 Sep, 2007
From Friends / FamilyListening to my sister’s thesis defense presentation, the culmination of 6 years of hard work, I found myself simultaneously impressed and baffled. The thought crossed my mind that getting a Ph.D. is like learning a language only you and a handful of professors are able to understand. Read More…
Home Soil 4 Sep, 2007
The passport control guard looked at my customs declaration slip, then suspiciously at me.“What were you doing in all these countries?” he asked, referring to the long list of names I had written in the “countries visited on this trip” section. I wondered if he might confiscate my passport and accuse me of being un-American.“Travelling,” […] Read More…
Istanbul 28 Aug, 2007
I woke up on my birthday totally disoriented. My head was heavy with drinks. I couldn’t see clearly. I had gone to bed barely half an hour earlier after hitting a couple bars in Istanbul with a friend, yet already it was light outside. There was smoke everywhere. The 23 other people I was sharing […] Read More…
Sticker Shock 15 Aug, 2007
I knew I would have some readjusting to do to get used to western prices after a year of discount travelling. Consider London shock therapy. Economists use the Big Mac Index as one measure of price comparison between countries. I’m finding it hard to break the habit of comparing everything against an index based on […] Read More…
A Final Delhi Farewell 13 Aug, 2007
Driving from our house to the Delhi airport, my father decided it was time to introduce some order to Indian roadways. As we approached a red light, he slowed down and stopped. Meanwhile, cars and trucks in the other 5 lanes continued speeding past in both directions.In Delhi at night, traffic signals undergo a transformation. […] Read More…
Happy Anniversary! 13 Aug, 2007
Today, the 13th of August, marks the one year anniversay of my travels. It’s been quite a year, yet being in the UK, back in more familiar territory, it feels like I never went away. Thank goodness I have this blog to remind me it wasn’t all my imagination. Read More…