Oct. 19 (Saturday)   I hosted a hootenanny in the South Pacific. Our “day at sea” featured some lectures in the morning, but the...

Oct. 18, Friday   There is NO WAY I saw sea snakes today. No way.   But…ew. What the hell ARE those things??! We arrived on Lifou in New...

Oct. 17 (Thursday. I have to write out the day of the week because that is my ONLY frame of reference. That and my phone alarm rang a few...

Oct. 16 (Wednesday) Here’s the local buzz: If you want to curse someone, you need one of the wizards from the Vanuatu black magic island...

Oct. 15 (Tuesday)   I was lured out under false pretenses…   The promised monsoon was NOT ACCEPTABLE. At least in Cabin 512 on the...

Oct. 14   Oooh—captain just said the magic word on the shipwide PA: MONSOON! We’re not supposed to use any of the outside passageways or...

Oct. 13 I don’t seem to be able to turn it off—the desire to compare. To understand something by saying to myself, ah. THIS thing is like...

Oct. 12 (Saturday)   So, lemme ask you:  If a large tour bus pulled up to your house and disgorged fifty or so people who wanted to smile...

Oct. 11 I swear—I wasn’t coming on to the man!   The day has been action-packed, but the best part was about three hours spent drifting...

Oct. 11 (a Friday, as it happens)  It’s a given in my life that I will sleep soundly for four hours, wake inexplicably for two or three...

Oct. 10   Onboard the Orion! The travel day was oddly tiring; I think it comes from making polite chat with strangers—all of whom are...

Oct. 10, which turns out to be a Thursday   I have an instinctive belief that if I can capture the view in front of me using my chief...

Oct. 9   Today’s post will be short for a delicious reason: We didn’t do anything. Omigawd, it was awesome!   I don’t mean we didn’t do...

Ocr. 8, 8:30pm   I want this photo to stand as proof to all who worry that I’m not taking sun protection seriously: See? I have...

October 8—Fiji (Denarau Island)   Twig and Harry have yet to emerge from their hibernation. It’s 7 in the morning and I feel SO GOOD....

Oct. 7, middle of the night (in fact, 9pm but feels like 3:30 am)   If I don’t write something, I’ll fall behind. So I made it to Fiji!...

Oct. 7, almost certainly Here--a photo of a pretty waiting area in Dubai so the first image of the post isn't of that flavorless dinner....

Oct. 5   I’m in full snort-mode. The Emirates first class is a sort of ARE YOU KIDDING ME example of truly wretched excess. But...

Oct. 5, 2024   Underneath the excitement of beginning a trip—more than a trip, a vacation —there is a contrary undertow of emotion. As...

I promised my local writing friends that I'd report on the results of my publishing experiements (most recently seven books in four...