What do farm animals have to teach us about free will? A lot, it turns out, as Eric Lucas sees it. As well as a lot about Leo Tolstoy's creative tension between free will and the boundaries of our universe. Tolstoy's philosophical question is eternal—and so is the love all our companions bring us, if we only open our eyes.
Six months after losing her partner John Lamkin, Susanna Starr wrote this remarkable letter to Judith Fein, the executive editor of YourLifeIsATrip.com. We share Susanna’s letter with permission as a chronicle of her journey through loss and a source of honest inspiration and insight.
Pamela Blair traveled to Tunisia to experience the beauty of the desert. What she didn't expect was a young camel herder who, when he found she was a psychologist, insisted she help him with a problem. He took her out to a dune, and their session began.
When Elyn Aviva and her husband traveled to Ireland to walk Brigid’s Way Celtic Pilgrimage, nothing went as planned. A friend who agreed to meet them couldn’t. Hotel reservations were canceled. Car rides along country roads and unexpected encounters with friends supplanted long solitary walks in nature. Yet, the journey was every bit a pilgrimage.
Manzanar War Relocation Center was not on anyone's travel itinerary in 1942 when the United States government ordered 11,000 Japanese-Americans to leave their homes to be detained in internment camps. These days, visitors like writer Carolyn Handler Miller come to Manzanar National Historic Site to learn the stories of the people who were important to this place and experience a challenging mix of both injustice and beauty.
Joan Virginia Allen was 80 years old when she told her 50-something-year-old daughter Cami: “When I grow up, I want to be like you.” Thus began an amazing journey that included travel, exploration, inspiration, transformation, and the creation of Allen’s first business.
Launching a small-scale drone program to aid the fight against wildlife poaching in northern Tanzania presents challenges beyond the technology for Mike Chambers and a team at Mkomazi National Park.
Fifty years ago, writer Nancy King was in a bad marriage, lacking authentic friendships, and focused on professional success with no idea how her life would evolve. At eighty-six, she looks back on her life and her younger self, pondering the differences and grateful for the life she’s created.
Irene Sardanis visited the Big Buddha in Hong Kong as a tourist. She returned as a pilgrim. Discover her journey to awe.
When Keturah Kendrick returned to visit East Africa, she had a craving for goat brochettes at Le Poete. When she lived as an expat in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, she’d been within walking distance of the restaurant and gorged herself on skewers of grilled goat several times a week. On this visit, however, satisfying the craving proved to be an adventure of its own.
As a child, Carolyn Handler Miller’s favorite Disneyland ride was Pirates of the Caribbean. In her imagination, she saw the audacious and defiant characters as make-believe. Decades later a trip to New Orleans brought the characters to life as she explored Pirate’s Alley, the storied French Quarter passageway once used for smuggling and contraband by the “gentleman pirate” Jean Lafitte.
With an MA in Soviet Studies and a Ph.D. in Slavic languages and literature, Rachel Mann, who has fought for sovereignty in her personal life, brings a unique perspective to the brutal Russian war of conquest raging in Ukraine.
An unexpected change in travel plans sent Terry Huntington off on an unforgettable cargo ship voyage from Canada to Australia, including a raging Atlantic storm, wild nights ashore, passage through the Panama Canal, and a mid-ocean engine failure without a speck of land in sight.
It can be tempting to avoid popular tourism attractions when we travel. And yet, as Elyn Aviva shares in this essay, with the right intention and an open mind, it’s still possible to experience the magic that made a place special in the first place.
A visit to Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, a cultural and natural UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, takes Carolyn Handler Miller deep into the Maya jungle where she discovers a vibrant ancient culture living intimately with their environment.
When a fear of heights threatens to derail Elyn Aviva from reaching the Sanctuary of Nossa Senhora da Peninha, a place of miracles situated atop a rocky coastal outcrop in Portugal, a stranger appears to help, again and again, at precisely the moments assistance is needed most.
A road trip across the Philippines via winding mountain roads and ferry crossings en route to a family reunion gets expat B.J. Stolbov thinking about President Rodrigo Duterte’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ infrastructure projects designed to promote the flow of goods, investment, and people. And inspires the question: Who will benefit?
Thomas Wolfe once said: “You can’t go home again.” Was he right? Carolyn Handler-Miller wouldn’t know until she tried. She was determined to find out.
As a thank you to a tech support ‘genius’, author Nancy King wanted to do something for the man who’d done what four other tech people said couldn’t be done. "If you have time," she said, " I’d like to tell you a story about a Peruvian child who filled my heart with love…"
Last spring, three young men - ancestors of hers - drifted into Maureen Magee’s head and took up residence, insisting that she pay attention to them. And because she is a writer, she decided to write about them - a book, a story? What followed was a journey, and a conclusion, she couldn’t have imagined.
