Category Archives: Travel Stories

Meet El Caribeño, the Coolest Dude in #Colombia #ttot #tbex #Caribbean

Imagine living on a Caribbean beach, complete with white sand and turquoise water… Your job: running a small bar that serves food (from local restaurants). In between serving drinks, you chill out with the customers and, during/after a gorgeous sunset (which occurs pretty much every night), you dance in the sand. Meet ‘El Caribeño,’ a man who’s…

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The Woman Who Used My Arm as a Handrail (Random Travel Moment 14)

IMG_4677

Where: On a Boat I had no clue, but I’d just gotten on the wrong boat. I was on my way to Nainathivu, an island off the coast of Jaffna Penninsula in Sri Lanka. (Story coming soon.) Hundreds of people, on their way to a Hindu festival, had crowded on and taken up every inch of…

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Your Cookies or Your Life! Colombia’s Wild West ‘Tollbooths’

Guajira Tollbooth

Children, some cute as a button and others subtly menacing, come running as your vehicle approaches the leather band strung across the desert road. Tires on either side mean circumvention is impossible. Adults, parents or other family members, sometimes wait in the distance…just in case. Just in case you don’t have cookies. Cookie Tollbooths That’s right. These…

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Playing Pharmacist With an Argentine Soap Opera Actress (Random Travel Moment 14)

Maria

When I checked in at the beachfront hotel in Palomino, Colombia, I immediately noticed how much Maria, the manager, smiled. She looked beautiful and happy…radiant, in fact. “I used to be an actress on a soap opera in Argentina,” she told me proudly when we had our first conversation. “Really? A sweet character or a…

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The Boy They Call ‘Dummy’ and Why I Want to Change That #Jamaica #deaf #children #specialneeds #tbex

Justin

I’d chatted with the neighborhood kids several times during my recent stay in Billy’s Bay, Jamaica–a village with a population of about 150–and there were plenty of smiles and laughs each time. Connecting with them was one of those simple pleasures that make travel so special. One day, another kid, who looked as sweet as…

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Eye of the Beholder #shortstory

Beauty Beholder Roses

Almost dawn—we’d broken the ‘just-one-drink’ pact hours ago. Hunger and alcohol had gotten the better of us so we queued up for a slice of pizza from the resident roach-coach. “You are the most beautiful women I have EVER seen! Mmm!” He was tall, thin and seemingly down on his luck but offering us each…

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Sailing the Sea of Cortez with a Man I Met on a Shuttle Bus (Random Travel Moment #8)

John on deck

Where Was I? I’d just landed at the Los Cabos Int’l Airport in Baja California, Mexico, and was inquiring about cheap transportation to La Paz, my destination. I met a kinda loco timeshare salesman who convinced me to take a seemingly pricey shuttle (EcoBajaTours) with AC and wifi. I went for it and was soon…

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100 Cat Ghosts, 2 Wells of Doom and a $100,000 Bed—Toronto’s Haunted Distillery District

Something odd happened with the "ambient light" exposure here.  But I like it.

Is Toronto haunted? Are ghosts lurking in certain areas—in the Distillery District, for example? Maybe yes. Maybe no. Did I go on a ‘haunted tour’ to see for myself? Not exactly. Mine was free and impromptu and a bit ChickyBus-esque since it was so random. How It Began… I spotted a man resting on a…

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My First Book, ‘Magic Carpet Seduction,’ Now Available…Come Enjoy the Ride!

Front cover of Magic Carpet Seduction

Finally—after what feels like forever—my first book, ‘Magic Carpet Seduction,’ has been published and is now available on Amazon. Yay! It’s been a long road getting here. I can’t even remember when I began the book. And the crazy journey it’s been will be the subject of another post. For now, I’d simply like to…

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Choosing a Cover for My Travel Memoir…Can You Help?

Want to win a free copy of my soon-to-be published book? Please keep reading and help me choose a cover image and title/subtitle combo! Finally Finished! First, I want to tell you how happy I am to be finished with the book, a travel memoir; the final major and minor edits are done. Yay! Now…

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