Oh the Places You’ll Go.  A hopeful promise doled out to graduating seniors every year, conjuring up images of optimistic futures filled with limitless possibilities.  It was hard to make those promises this year when the world screeched to a grinding halt in the middle of March.  And it is hard to maintain that optimism…

Background and Logistics  A bucket list destination for many, the Galapagos Islands are a small archipelago located in the Pacific Ocean, about a six hundred miles off the coast of Ecuador.  Although for most people, the major draw of the islands are the close-encounter interactions with the animals, many of which can’t be found anywhere…

In 2007 the ancient Nabataean city of Petra was popularly voted as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.  For the last 12 years I have dreamt about visiting these ancient ruins carved into the sandstone rocks of southern Jordan, but always assumed this would be the hardest of the World Wonders to get…

The week leading up to Easter was a difficult week; an unexpected death meant the tragic loss of an old friend leaving me and many people in my circle grieving.  Although I had been looking forward to this trip for quite some time, I felt strange departing in the mist of all the sadness.  As…

Although much of my time in Poland was dominated by studying the Holocaust, particularly visiting Auschwitz and Auschwitz- Birkenau death camps, it would be misleading to suggest that this is all there is to see when visiting Krakow.  Beyond the concentration camps, Krakow offers visitors a chance to stroll their immense, yet incredibly quaint medieval…

“The scars of the outrage would remain with us forever, and in the memories of those who saw it, and in the places where it occurred and in the stories that we should tell of it.”– Primo Levi, The Truce Over the course of three days, we were to visit Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau; two Nazi concentration…

“Antisemitism is just fear of the unknown” our guide explained to us as we stared in disbelief at the remnants of the old walls of the Jewish Ghetto where thousands of Jews were forcefully crammed into to live on March 3, 1941.   We all know the eventual conclusion, which has fortunately led to a…

I almost drove off the road when I saw the text. Sitting at a light, I looked down at my friend’s message on my phone-“Anthony Bourdain died!” My first thought was this has to be one of those celebrity hoaxes; you know, the kind where on the day Betty White really does die no one…

Known for its thousand year old university and lively intellectual scene, its gastronomical delicacies and gourmet cuisine, and its left-wing political stance, the northern Italian medieval city of Bologna is often referred to as Bologna ‘La Dotta’ (the Learned), Bologna ‘La Grassa’ (the Fat), and Bologna ‘La Rossa’ (the Red).  Reading this little tidbit in…

Last summer, I had the privilege of traveling to and through Tibet on a tour which culminated in a three day hike around the holy mountain of Mt. Kailash.  On our tour, we met an amazing couple; Stephen and Kailash, who we befriended immediately, and spent much of our hike together, helping each other, laughing…