When a group of study-abroad students in France embarks on a spontaneous long-distance walk to Omaha Beach, they discover that though they may have little in common, the walk was the same.
What is Your Heart Made Of?
Regular hikes in nature are an essential component of Nancy King’s well-being. Being in nature helps her to connect to herself and to heal the wounds of childhood trauma. But winter hikes, slogging through deep snow, one foot in front of the other, are exhausting. What kept her going this past winter was finding something she’d never seen before—snow and ice hearts. The more she hiked, the more heart stones she saw, and the more she saw, the more her heart healed.
The travel writer’s dilemma
Travel writer Deborah Gray used the pause in travel of the past year to consider how the tourism industry can move forward more consciously and her role in the bigger post-pandemic picture as a traveler and journalist.
Traveling In A Garden
No one knows when we’ll be traveling again. So for now, while we’re still staying close to home, lifelong gardener BJ Stolbov provides his suggestions for growing a vegetable garden, an exciting adventure right in your own yard.
The Ghosts of Hemingway’s House
During a trip to Cuba, Sandra Horwich resisted a visit to the house Finca Vigia where Ernest Hemingway lived and wrote during the 1940s and 1950s. But when part of the Art Biennial event she had come for included a stop there, the experience took an unexpected turn.
My Mother Lil and Me: Version 2.0
Cliff Simon blamed his mother for much of his discomfort and unhappiness, recounting her faults and his wounds, over and over, and with great humor to hide his sadness. But now, in retrospect, with the insights and compassion of age, he revisits the relationship and his role in it.
A Letter To The Missing
Maureen Magee grew up as an only child. The word ‘family’ had no great, extended meaning for her. But now, after seven decades of life, she finds herself seized with a gripping kind of curiosity about her Dad’s family and has begun writing letters to the uncles she never knew.
Communing With The Dead
For Bobbi Lerman, a visit to a graveyard is an opportunity to stop and sit and listen to the stories of the dead. In this essay, Bobbi shares the experience of communing with the dead at Isola di San Michele, the island just across the water from Venice, Italy, that houses the city’s cemetery.
Time Travel In A Trunk
Buying a piece of furniture rarely reads like a detective story, but when George Bresnick purchased an immigrant trunk in Minneapolis in 1999, he knew that the opening line of a Holmesian saga had been written. Little did he realize that it would take more than 20 years for the tale to unfold.
My Hood Is A Trip
Can charity be as contagious as COVID? This was what Marlan Warren pondered during her walk home one morning after a surprising encounter with a man on the street in her East Hollywood neighborhood.
The “Goat Rope” Trip: Lessons Learned About Travel in the Time of Covid-19
Not every trip goes as planned, especially during a pandemic. But if the success of travel can be measured by human kindness or a newly acquired bit of local lexicon, then Laurie Gilberg Vander Velde’s brief attempt at travel during COVID-19 was a win.
The Story Of The Clothes Hamper
Bringing home travel purchases is an age-old tradition and one that Michael and Laurie Vander Velde have passed on to new generations with personal significance and a story behind it.
Finding My Father
As Cliff Simon approaches seventy, he sees that his face resembles that of the father who died when Cliff was fifteen. He wonders about the Polish immigrant father he never really knew, whether the feeling of being out of place in the world was inherited from him, and if his dad ever thought about such things.
Trading Places
Shortly after Jules Older’s 80th birthday and his wife Effin’s 77th, they moved. They left their home in San Francisco, crossed ocean and equator, and landed in New Zealand. This wasn't just a visit; they’d bought one-way tickets and weren’t planning a return.
Cold Sweet Friends
The virus may deprive Nancy King of friends’ visits and hugs, eating in restaurants, and all manner of social activities, but it can’t separate her from gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, nut-free, bean-free mint chocolate chip and coffee chocolate ice cream.
Climbing the Eiffel Tower
When Kristine Mietzner embarked on a mother-son trip to Europe during her son Ben’s senior year in high school, she hoped the trip would serve to provide him with experiences that might help him make sense of the world. Now, with Ben away, the world turned upside down, and travel on hold, it is the memories of their time together that provide her with comfort and context.
A Short Trip to My Favorite Place on Earth
With travel out of the picture, Cliff Simon found a silver lining: More time to spend on his precious porch swing, where life is perfect. And a lot cheaper.
To Floss or Not to Floss
A trip to the dentist wasn’t among the 2020 adventures Dorty Nowak was looking forward to. But narrowed travel horizons have offered fertile territory for introspection about matters large and small—including, dental floss.
What I Did Today: Pandemic life in 50 words or less.
One day, YourLifeIsATrip.com executive editor Judith Fein wrote to a few friends and asked what their day was like. The answers were unexpected, quirky, deep, funny, sad, anxious, bored, depressed, confused, and moving. So, we put out the question to our contributors: What did YOU do today? Then we asked them to spin it into a story in 50 words or less. Here’s what they had to say.
Purrdling With My Cat
To lower her anxiety over the past few months, Nancy King has found solace in solitary hikes along Santa Fe trails and extra time to purrdle, a word she’s coined during the pandemic, with her dying rescue-cat Mia.