I used a great German rideshare website, Mitfahrgelegenheit, to go from outside Amsterdam to Berlin. I practice what I preach on my website! We haggled to 33 euros ($41) for the 6-7 hour trip, but with rideshare you never know … Continue reading
The Dromomaniac
Psssst! Want a flight tip? If you are a couple and the aircraft has three seats in a row, reserve the window and aisle, keeping the middle seat empty. Your chances are much better that you will have the extra … Continue reading
Simply put, the best thing about Indonesia are the people. It may be an obvious thing to say; can you imagine a country you love where the people make you crazy—other than India? The people are the reason I like … Continue reading
When I arrived at Pantai Bira (Bira Beach) in southern Sulawesi it was dead, but I saw a small gaggle of white people and asked them what’s doing. They were “boaties”, they called themselves, and had been living here for … Continue reading
A couple of friends recommended it highly, but I didn’t want to visit Toraja, a region 11 bus hours north of Makassar in Sulawesi. I thought that the main attraction was to visit the natives in their habitat which sounds … Continue reading
First, the bad news. The downside of hitchhiking is when you are subjected to the bad habits of the driver. A few days ago I was tortured with several songs by Michael Learns to Rock, which is the world’s worst … Continue reading
In January I wrote about the time I met the Iranian actress, Golshifteh Farahani, and for a long time afterward I had a spike in traffic from Tehran, which seems obsessed with her since she is in exile for nude … Continue reading
I made a second visit to Bumi Sehat Foundation, this time meeting with the founder herself, Ibu Robin. I’d barely arrived before I was led into a room where a woman had given birth 25 minutes earlier, I was told, … Continue reading
Normally, I check out Google News and search by the town or country I am visiting to see what is going on. Maybe there is a film festival coming or a hot local topic people are stirred up about, but … Continue reading
One reason I enjoy my time in Indonesia so much is that I can speak Indonesian, which makes even hanging out with potential taxi drivers fun. I can imagine that claiming to speak Indonesian raises hackles of Indonesians, who must … Continue reading
