Tired of the hassles of flying? Try traveling the old-fashioned way, via train. Recently, after leaving Mexico for California, Oregon, and Vancouver, I looked into taking a train up the western coast of the US. Amtrak’s Coast Starlight run was affordable, and from what I’d read, provided great views. Following is a glimpse of life on a train. There are pros and cons to this mode of travel, at least on this Amtrak experience, and...

Part 1: Hopping House Sits in Northern California After 18 months outside the US, it was time for a brief return. Leaving Thailand when my six months of visas were up, and with the first draft of my book manuscript completed, I made a sweep through California to renew my passport, and more importantly, to see family and friends. Keeping with my backpacker’s budget, this included house and pet sitting, a cobbling together of places to...

  Have you ever wondered what it would be like to move to another country? To be an expat in a foreign land? For six months I had a sampling of what that’s like in Thailand. It’s easier than you might think. At first, it can seem really foreign, different language, even different alphabets…     different foods…     different religions, and different customs.     For someone like me, who finds all of...

With four days between house sits in England, leaving Corsham to head down to Hove, the excitement of London lies in the middle, and what’s not to love about London? Except possibly the price tag, but London doesn’t have to break the bank. True, hotels are off-the-hook expensive, and with no appropriate couch-surfing to be found, I reverted to my old standby, Airbnb. Out of the city center, near the Royal Borough 0f Kensington and...

Renting a car in Croatia is one of the best ways to see the countryside and get around. The roads are good, and directions are easy to follow. My friend Beth and I drove from Plitvice Lakes National Park a couple of hours down to the small city of Zadar, which is near another national park called Krka (yes, that’s how it’s spelled, although it may seem to us English speakers to be missing a vowel or two). Zadar is filled with...