47B. That’s me. Aisle seat. On a 17-hour flight, I made sure to take an aisle seat.
I was flying from LA to Bangkok and was seated next to a short 50-ish Indian man wearing bright yellow Bermuda shorts. His eyes sparkled behind big gold-rimmed specs and his moustache stretched across his face as he smiled.
We didn’t introduce ourselves but we exchanged our stories. He was a business man working in the textiles industry in Southern India and was returning to Asia after some business meetings in Mexico and the States.… continued…
Grace had been crying since we arrived in Iceland. The wind stung her eyes; she was cold and it was gloomy. Her stuffed cat Gretzky kept getting blown out of her hands. Even though we’d bought her a blue fleece balaclava within an hour of checking into our hotel, she still objected every time we suggested going outside.
The information center—which, according to the guidebooks, should be the first daily stop to check on current driving conditions and plan your day—was next door, but that was still too far for Grace.… continued…
It is 2am and I am awake. This is because a few sites over, some 17 to 22 year old white males are whooping across the campground at a site a bit up the road from us where another group of 17 to 22 year old white males are whooping back. This is a frustrating situation. On the one hand, I want to shout at them to shut the hell up, it is 2am, already, on the other hand, they are 17 to 22 year old white males and they are drunk, they have been drinking for hours, since we returned to camp after dinner in town.… continued…
My childhood dream was traveling to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower. Over the years I fed that dream by trying to learn the language (unsuccessfully, so far) and falling in love with a country I never stepped foot in. You can imagine my surprise and pure joy when my boyfriend asked me if I wanted to do a four day trip to Paris followed by another four days in London. I literally stopped listening when he said Paris.… continued…
In the early 2000’s my wife Melissa, my husband Tim, our daughter Rhiannon, and I trekked to Maui for a relaxing, tropical holiday. It was our first time off the mainland.
Tim, whose atmospheric comfort zone consists of a 7-degree span in the upper 60’s and lower 70’s with 0 humidity, did not care for it. (Me: “Isn’t this beautiful!?” Tim: “It’s hot.”) However, Melissa and I loved Maui so much that we wept when we left.… continued…
