Traveling Jichan

A very exciting side benefit to our trip to Prague was a 22 hour layover in Paris on the return trip to Bali. Paris in a day! Paris was never high on my list of places to go. Stories about how unfriendly it was and how it was filled with tourists. I knew about the…

We are not particularly spotaneous nor complusive. We decide on our trips months in advance and try to plan it out as much as possible. So, there we were, sitting in a nearby cafe having some breakfast, when I noted that Bob (oldest son) was in the air now on his way to Prague. He…

As I write this I am still going through food withdrawals after spending 16 days moving from city to city ane meal to meal. Although I have lived in Japan multiple times and visit fairly regularly, this visit more than any other, seemed to be about the food. I believe (correct me if I’m wrong)…

So one thing I have yet to master is the art of writing on the road. The middle part of our sixteen day trip to Japan found us moving every couple of days, breezing through Yokohama, Kobe, Kyoto and then back to the Yokosuka area, staying at an Airbnb in Hayama. Since every other day…

So we are back in Japan to return Bachan after her 60 day visa to Bali was finished. She had a great visit, getting some good exercise in, seeing some sights and turning 88 years old. She was very courageous coming down to a place like Bali leaving the life she knows to hang out…

Two major tourist attractions in Bali are the terraced rice fields of Tegalalang in Ubud and Jatiluwih in Tabanan. I prefer Jatiluwih as they are much more expansive (terraces as far as the eye can see), less commercialized (you have to work your way through the souvenir shops at Tegalalang to see the fields)  and…

Unfortunately (or possibly fortunately depending on your view point), when I do something “on a whim” it usually means I thought about it regularly for nine or ten months and then one day decide to actually do it. Perhaps the key is thinking about it on a particular day when the “lazy factor” is low…

So a few days ago we celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary. Leading up to it, we were trying to decide where to have a party to commemorate the event. We knew we wanted to have it on or near the beach here in Bali, and initially we figured we would just have a party on…

Just a short one to highlight a timelapse I took while in Brooklyn. Sean was supervising me as I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies from scratch (they were amazing by the way). The process included taking the cookies out every couple of minutes and slamming the cookie sheet on the counter. I guess…

So don’t let the blue sky in the photo above fool you. It is frigid. Cold, cold, cold. A couple of days ago New York woke up to “4 degrees, feels like -15 degrees. ” I’ve been staying with Sean and his three roommates who all head off to work in Manhattan every morning. As…