About

By trade, I am a criminal defense attorney, working in a small practice.  I have the freedom to travel as I see fit, as long as I carry my cell phone with me as I roam, often taking my DUI and other criminal calls in picturesque squares and plazas.  It’s not ideal but it gets me out there.  When I was younger I was extremely limited by budget and so the impetus for many of my trips was good frequent flier mileage deals (Europe 2015 – roundtrip for 40K miles) or randomly discovered airfare deals (2016 trip to China). In recent years, I will pay more for more comfort – health issues and general aging dictate that change.

I follow a pattern that works well for me – three or four big cities for four days at a time, packed with high mileage site days, and then my final four or five days at some southern location with spectacular views, where I like to sit, mostly motionless, on my balcony.  I’ve tried to do other trip layouts, but I find, after about 14 days of heavy sightseeing, that I don’t really care what’s there in front of me…pyramid, Prague, whatever. I do find, by way of 2021 update, that I’ve slowed my pace a bit and extended my total trip length.

For all the endless references and discussions you must endure about eating while I travel, know that in addition to being just generally picky, I travel with significant food allergies and so it is with much amusement (and sometimes teary frustration) that I navigate the world trying to read food labels in Polish, German, Italian, Chinese etc. to try to avoid corn, almonds and more.

Summer 2018 brought me to Oxford, Krakow and then Budapest and then down to Taormina to sit around.  2019 was my best travel year ever – Greece, Japan, Israel and Jordan, surely jeopardizing my law job.

I finally got back on the road in 2021 – a month in France, navigating all of the extra pandemic requirements. It went well enough that I did a month in Spain and Portugal for Spring 2022 followed by a month in Italy in Fall 2022.

Future plans? 2023 will start with a World War II-focused month in Germany. Three weeks after I return, I’m headed right back to see Romania and Bulgaria, and then fall of 2023 will be a longish visit to London, paired with a couple of weeks in the Baltic States!

I’m always happy to meet up as I travel – I’ve been able to connect with people – old friends, RS website posters – on nearly all my trips.  Message me if you’re crossing paths with me anywhere!

For people coming to this blog now, it covers the following trips, from most recent and then working backwards to 2016:

The Baltic countries, with a week in Strasbourg before and a week in London after

Germany – with a bit of Paris beforehand and Amsterdam at the end

Spain and Portugal

France

Mexico for colonial cities and cenotes

Scottsdale and Sedona

San Diego

Israel and Jordan

Japan

Greece

Oxford, Budapest, Krakow, Sicily

Costa Rica

Vancouver, BC

Egypt

China