All in Life Lessons
Many of us travel in search of the different, the unusual, the exotic. But, for B.J. Stolbov, wherever he travels, he often finds himself searching for the familiar. Not the things that remind him of “back home,” but, rather, the moments of connection—to others, to nature, to himself—that each journey inspires.
Kristine Mietzner shares the joys and challenges of travel with a disabled adult, and points toward the truth that everyone benefits from travel.
Staying with strangers and getting lost on a rainy November night in Venice was just part of the adventure for Natalia Marchuk.
Only weeks after her mother’s passing, Laurie Gilberg Vander Velde traveled to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, on a previously scheduled vacation. San Miguel was also the place where twenty-four years earlier her mother had sought refuge from grief and Laurie finds memories of her mother everywhere.
For expat Keith Digby, the tragedy of the French terrorist attacks turned unexpectedly personal during a visit to Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris' best-known resting place.
Was it destiny when Pamela Blair, a psychologist on holiday in Tunisia, met a heartbroken camel herder seeking advice from a stranger?
Pamela Blair, in the Sudan on the final leg of a long train voyage over a hot and empty desert, had prepared herself to be bored. It was what she hadn't planned on, however, that would forever change the way she saw the world and herself in it.
After emerging from a sweltering jungle trek in Costa Rica, Dina Lyuber saw herself in the mirror for the first time in three days. Her face was sunburnt and sweat-stained. She felt achy, exhausted, and surprisingly exhilarated.
On a fateful day in 2003 when Canadian expat Chris Pady and his wife Michele befriended a young stray dog on the streets of Tainan, Taiwan, they never imagined the many ways their new best friend 'Flea' would change their lives forever.
The morning of a late-night flight from Mexico City to Rome, Ashya Griffin was ready with passport, wallet, and flight information organized in her favorite red leather cross-body purse. So, no one was more surprised than she was to suddenly find herself at the check-in counter unable to put her hands on an essential document and unable to board.
In a world that seems to be spinning out of control, Ellen Barone is surprised to find that she is still full of hope. Like everyone else, she has moments of disgust and despair, but then, almost miraculously, a ray of light shines through. How does this happen? She blames it on travel.
A random encounter on a train to Toronto leads Melanie Kitzan to a bar in Graffiti Alley and the powerful love story of a new friend.
Dorty Nowak has lived part-time in Paris for years, though you wouldn't know it from looking at her photo albums. She'd been too busy enjoying Paris to stop and document her life there. But now, when she thinks of the photos she wished she'd taken, she has regrets.
When an elderly woman's stumble turns disastrous on a small-ship cruise in the Galapagos Islands, Sally Moir, a nurse on vacation, suddenly finds the traveler's life in her hands. Fortunately, all ends well, but Sally is left to wonder about the line between adventure and recklessness.
During a tour of India, Carolyn Handler Miller discovers that she'd accidentally left behind an important purchase. Disappointment is soon transformed to surprise and delight when a feisty stranger steps up to save the day.
For American expat, BJ Stolbov, one of the most interesting and informative things about living in the Philippines is observing cultural norms. In this insightful essay, BJ reflects on Filipino attitudes about looking foolish in public, a topic which he's very familiar with.
When long lines and growling stomachs force Laurie Gilberg Vander Velde and her husband to abandon their plans to eat at a famous Naples pizzeria, serendipity delivers something even better.
When Melanie Kitzan traveled by train to visit her dying mother, conversations with random passengers had a surprisingly powerful impact.
Past and present collide in unexpected ways when 80-year-old Gary White embarks on an arctic adventure to celebrate his wife's birthday and is forced to face his perception of the arctic as a dangerous and primitive place, a deeply embedded fear, he realizes later, formed as a ten-year-old boy.
When Jennifer Shanahan’s trip to Paris for a music-themed family getaway was silenced by a terrorist attack, a small group of street musicians served to momentarily dissipate the sadness, confusion, and fear surrounding the horrific event.
