Author: Aaron

Insatiable explorer. Resolute eye-opener to my kids. Closing in on 60 countries. After tapeworms and hostage situations, my third-biggest travel phobia is to get home and learn that I'd been just around the corner from a UNESCO site, but -- whether for lack of awareness, planning or basic competence -- missed it. And so although I'm certainly capable of relaxing on a beach, my tendency is to move swiftly while doing my best (as one friend described it, borrowing from Thoreau) to "suck the marrow" out of everything along the way. So this site reflects that general preference. Besides, the big, beautiful world is beckoning, the clock is ticking, and I don't know many folks with more than a month or so of vacation each year. Are we really going to spend all of it harvesting lavender at that abbey in Provence?

A Ridiculously Scenic and Splendidly Inefficient Route from Boston to Montréal, via Vermont

Aaron May 14, 2021

This drive is a breathtaking blur of lush hills, red barns, crystalline streams, gaudy wildflowers, freshly-stocked honor stands, legendary swim-holing, and ice cream samples in the FlavoRoom.

Sedona Surprises

Aaron March 3, 2021

Sedona is many things. But whatever likely flashes across your screen when you imagine “Arizona,” Sedona isn’t that.

Quick Tips on Five Baltic-Region Capitals, Part Two: A Nouveau Trove in Riga

Aaron February 20, 2021

The Latvian capital boasts arguably the densest concentration of Art Nouveau structures anywhere, the most impressive examples of which can be seen within an area of a few square blocks.

French Polynesia, Part One: Lunch with Sam and Manu on Mo’orea

Aaron December 24, 2020

In the crystalline lagoon off Mo’orea’s western shore, a Maori fisherman shares with me the craft he learned from his grandfather.

Three Days on Bermuda

Aaron September 24, 2020

Near the top of Bermuda’s many advantages as a foreign, passport-stamping, beautifully-beached destination is the fact that it’s a mere two-hour flight from several east-coast cities.

Cruising Colorado’s San Juan Skyway in the Time of Corona

Aaron August 28, 2020

I thought that I’d discovered this 233-mile loop in southwest Colorado and, with it, the perfect cure for cabin fever. Turns out, someone else had already discovered it, and it was pretty close to perfect.

Paris: If You Have Just Twelve Hours, Love Chocolate and Hate Nuance

Aaron June 2, 2020

If you find yourself with a single day in Paris and want to alienate your hoity toity tourism purism friends while offending francophiles the world over, consider this plan.

The Amtrak Acela from Manhattan to Baltimore Sure Beats Spooning an Ice Pack

Aaron May 14, 2020

Beauty, comfort, quiet and downtown-to-downtown convenience, as well as a wise and witty conductor, made me wonder why I’d considered any other option for this short leg.

Mmmm Meals: Las Vegas

Aaron March 31, 2020

A brief homage (and perhaps a welcome, rather than tone-deaf, bit of escapism) to the days when Las Vegas was open, and we could eat in restaurants.

Heavenly Naxos

Aaron January 3, 2020

Naxos is the largest of Greek’s myth-drenched Cyclades Islands but not the most famous, its neighbors Santorini and Mykonos, for example, attracting more attention and considerably more traffic. But you’ll be glad if your itinerary, like that of mythical princess Ariadne, brings you here.