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An Oasis Of Calm
Even in the midst of major upheaval, my favorite hotel in the world cocooned us in its nearly transparent embrace. You’d never know the traffic howled outside on Bras Basah Road, the construction whirring behind scaffolding on the hotel itself—and the chaos we felt in our lives—as we checked into the Raffles in Singapore last…
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My First Punk
We wheeled up the high street from the car park, and into the little lodge in a nondescript town north of London—not quite Cambridge but nearly there. We stashed our bags upstairs after the proprietor/barman showed us the secret door to the lodgings. The pub on the street felt bright and airy—a cheerful place to…
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Cheapest Happy Hour In Cascais
Oh that first August in Portugal, how I worked hard to save euros. I had savings enough, but not knowing when my next paid gig would come, I fretted a lot. But the weather shined upon us, even if opportunities seemed to bubble up and pop. So we took long walks in the park, finding…
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I Amsterdam
For a city renowned for its dip into sin, we were there for the pastries and coffee drinks…an antidote to the cold November days along the canals. With Heineken being the local beer broadcast everywhere, and me not a fan, I opted more often for an extra slice of cake. We walked all over bridges…
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A Belgian In Antwerp
The train rushed along the track into the sunset as we slid towards Antwerp. When I first staked out this leg of my Euro journey, it amazed me how close by the cities of Amsterdam, Antwerp, and Paris lay to each other–just a couple of hours by train. Too much fuss to get on an…
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A Chang On The Lido
I knew the world ran in circles you cannot escape when the tuk-tuk dropped us off at what was purportedly his “special spot” for the second time in two visits. You see, I’d been to the same spot in Bangkok the previous year, with a different driver, on a different weekday, at a different time.…
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I Almost Never Left MCO
I ponder yet another trip to Florida–always for work; I almost never go there by choice. Not that there’s anything wrong with the state (I’m a fan of Tim Dorsey’s Serge Storms), but I get my fill during these annual sojourns on business. For a period of my life, I flew “non-rev” on the good…
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Taj in India Kitchen
Returning home from travel, we come back mostly to things that we find comfortable and familiar. The foods, the scenery, the air, even the bed that we know best, to which our bodies have adapted, often over the course of years, if not decades–or a lifetime. What we call “exotic” is really the unfamiliar, the…
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Only In Boulder: Asher Green
The hike up to the top of Mount Sanitas in Boulder, Colorado, takes sustained effort. Ever since I climbed the red-rock Stairmaster for the first time in the early 1990s, it has found new ways to kick my ass each time I face it. The last time I made the full ascent? It took me…
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Blue Moon Requiem
“I couldn’t believe it was true…no I couldn’t believe it was true.” Until I saw for my own eyes the bright blue Blue Moon neon sign in the tap room of the Coors brewery in Golden, Colorado. I unashamedly call Coors my favorite of the mega brewers, simply because of the family’s commitment to Colorado.…