Postcard from RussiAlaksa

“Hi!” “Well, hello. How come you’re not inside?” “I’m hot blooded. I was getting too hot in there. I’m warm blooded in the summer and cold blooded in the winter, I save up all my summer heat for winter and burn it off then.” “Are your parents in there?” “My dad is. And my sister. …


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Norman Disapproves of Your Travel Style

We spent two dollars at the church rummage sale. For this, we got a few old postcards (blank, all from places I’ve been), a book called How to Travel Without Being Rich by Norman D. Ford, and two portfolios of Kodakchrome colored prints called See Your West. The folios were a Standard Oil promotion from …


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Other Places

There is no need to go hunting for inspiration or the wonders of the natural universe, you can see them from everywhere, even from the uncomfortable back bench seat of a rented minivan. I’ve got a story in the San Francisco Chronicle about visiting Sedona. I’m grateful to have visited there before their latest political …


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Winter Urban Tourism: Exhausting, Worth It

I was in Philly on assignment for a magazine story. This is not that story. Most, but not all, of my travel expenses were covered by Visit Philly. On the last day of my trip to Philadelphia, the sky was gray, there was a mix of snow and rain falling, and it was windy. When …


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Unpopular Headlines for Stories About Traveler “Culture”

11 Inspiring Stories Of People Who Left Normal Life And Embarked On An Adventure If you follow social media and travel, you had to be hiding under a rock to miss BuzzFeed’s piece on travelers who “Left Normal Life and Embarked on an Adventure.” I managed to ignore it for the first 24 hours, then …


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Snowed in Philly

The day before the winter storm warning was released, I got an email from my editor. “Oh, gosh, I’m sorry, your story has been delayed. We still need it, we’re still going to run it, but probably not until summer.” I looked at my tickets — I was leaving in the morning and thought, “What …


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