Category Archives: Travel
Forget the friendly skies, try agony and insult in the air.
I thought I knew the antidote to the agony of air travel: avoid stops in the US and the collateral tyranny of the TSA; and snub its airlines, whose operators often confuse people with cattle, or chickens, and now charge … Continue reading
Bitch-slapped by life
Life reached out and gave us a bitch slap recently. We’d taken an overnight trip with friends to Puntarenas, on the west coast of Costa Rica, a couple of hours away from our Puriscal home. At eight that morning, we’d … Continue reading
Puerto Viejo adventure
We planned our first trip to Puerto Viejo, on the Carribbean side, to coincide with the visit of my daughter, Bonnie, and my two granddaughters, Maiya and Bettie Belle. The luscious tropical resort area is a seven-hour trip from our … Continue reading
¡Boy oh boyero!
What’s a boyero? I wondered, when I saw a notice for the Día National del Boyeros, a festival held in San Antonio de Escazu, in the Central Valley. A boyero, it turns out, is a man who drives an oxcart. … Continue reading
Climbing Mount Fuji
My love affair with Mount Fuji began one crisp November morning in 1995 as I pedaled to work from my home in the Tokyo suburb of Fujiki-Kinome. When I reached the middle of a rickety old bridge I’d been crossing … Continue reading
Crossing the border
For the myriad expats who have to cross the border every ninety days, here are several ways to get to Nicaragua from San Jose. Those who can afford the price may fly, at a cost of over five hundred dollars. … Continue reading
Up Above the Clouds
Monteverde is one of the most popular destinations in Costa Rica. Good, albeit expensive restaurants abound; there are lots of folksy artisan emporiums for shoppers; and for the adventurous and athletic there are zip-lines, suspension bridges, sky-trams and horseback riding. … Continue reading
The House-swap
Last April, while attending the wedding of my friends Mark and Keiko, in Tokyo, Jack and I met Mani and Jono, a young couple from London, who were friends of the groom, and there for the wedding. We swapped stories … Continue reading
Please! Beam me up!
For the past two weeks I’ve been either standing in line or racing for trains, buses and planes; dragging my old bones up and down stairs and city streets; asking friendly-looking natives for directions, then getting lost anyway; waking up … Continue reading
