Journal : OpenRoadWorks

The far reaches of bungalow island destinations (those blue pins) on Google Maps Vacation planning often mimics the same anxiety, frustration, and exhilaration of the trip itself.  Case in point - today my wife is trying to work out a trip to Japan with her brother that coincides conveniently with a remote beach destination.  Of course, we encounter a couple of hiccups: Remote beach destinations are quite remote - literally in the middle of the ocean, thousands of miles from anything Traveling in and out of Asia with US airlines is not as well networked and connected as Europe (read: multi-stop flights are difficult to arrange) Airline award flights are challenging to book, particularly with "saver" awards, for lack of seats available to use those miles Rewards points and status with particular hotels get you quite a bit with those hotels - but only with those hotels, which leads to a search through a particular hotel's directory for attractive destinatio...

Nostalgia can be a powerful sensation. A feeling of longing, ghosts real as persons filling the senses of what recalls a place. These things are lurking just beyond reach but perceptible nonetheless, often palpable to the blood coursing through veins. I remember this same hotel, a room similar and a brisk night when I met my wife for the first time. I remembered the same last year when I visited then, and this feeling is fitting. After all, nostalgia is powerful like that.

Nothing better than a Bellini while watching the Regatta Marriage can be hard work.  Which is why I feel so blessed for the relationship with my wife.  And which is why our five-year anniversary required a journey befitting of the wonderful places we have been over the years.  It started on safari but finished in a city which marked the best part of our honeymoon - Venice. Our anniversary also coincided with the biggest day on the Venetian calendar - Regatta Storica - which also coincided with the biggest annual international event in the city - Venice Film Festival .  We celebrated both in between passeggiate around the city, a lovely place for impromptu sights and rediscovering the sounds of city life before the over-run of the automobile.  A fantastic day to celebrate five years worthy of the occasion. Italians know glamour at their marquee film festival

Nighttime over Lex Once upon a time, I looked out similar windows to discover the end of a brief relationship.  Once upon a time, I looked out similar windows to fret over the first date that would change everything.  It was only a few months between those vistas, and when I come back to look down on the same Lexington Avenue nearly seven years later, I am enchanted. Life has a way of winding past the same curves in the road but taking those turns at different speeds, catching familiar bends and traversing them differently than we remembered.  I catch myself in a moment, pausing to contemplate what meaning there might be in returning to this same hotel, with the same view, with the same longing for something else than sitting this night in a hotel room. Ah, but the circumstances are quite different.  My first once upon a time was a dud, made crueler by the "Xanadu" moment of crafting one of my more brilliant poems (if I say so myself) in anguish to a lost re...