Category: Adventuring

Practical Picchu

Machu Picchu, Peru

What You Need to Know before Heading to Peru The weather at Machu Picchu is temperamental: cloudy one minute, sunny the next. How to cope? Layer your clothing. Photo credit: M. Ciavardini Fresh from a long weekend spent ascending Machu…

Running across History

A remnant of the Battle of Yorktown in Virginia

Taking in Nuggets of Information A monument to the soldiers of the Confederacy in Arlington National Cemetery. A visitor might marvel at its size given the cause for which the soldiers were fighting. Photo credit: L, Tripoli Traveling back in…

Buy a Stamp, Write a Postcard, Send a Memory

mail stagecoach

Visiting Post Offices On Feb. 20, 1792, George Washington signed a bill establishing the U.S. Post Office. Still going strong after 223 years despite wind, sleet, snow, email, the U.S. Postal Service is worth a visit. We all love to…

Seeing the Titanic in Las Vegas

Are Disaster Museums Appropriate? Seeing a large portion of the doomed ship Titanic in the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas, a part of me thinks that no part of this boat should have been brought back to solid ground. Yes,…

Escape to Las Vegas Step 1: Beat the Snow

airport shopping at JFK terminal 4

Opportunities at the Airport when You Get There Early Waiting for a flight? Get a makeover! Or a new book! Or a handbag. Airport shopping involves far more than overpriced tee shirts these days. Here, Terminal 4 at JFK. Photo…

Navigating as a Functional Illiterate

Signs Matter when Travelers Can’t Read or Speak a Language   Finding my way around Moscow when I don’t speak Russian and can’t read the Cyrillic alphabet becomes a bit of a fun challenge. Navigating the subway system, I am…

Embracing Winter

Because January is not cold enough in the mainland United States, the Bashful Adventurer embraces winter and heads to Iceland

The Wild Backstory

Although my idea of “roughing it” involves having to walk from my cabin to a clubhouse for dinner, I still enjoy books about more rugged adventures involving far more outdoorsiness than I am ever likely to pursue. I sometimes imagine…

Have a Quirk and a Smile

A counter at Burger King in Moscow with the name of the restaurant written in cyrillic. Photo credit: M. Ciavardini.

The Bashful Adventurer experiences the joy of visiting everyday places, those frequented by residents but not always by tourists.