Overthink, and You May Never See Machu Picchu Is Peru safe for tourists? While sipping some coca tea in a small shop in Pisac, I finally have a moment to rest—having taken two planes and a bus ride to get to where I am, on my way, generally, to Machu Picchu for a long weekend….
Long Weekend in Machu Picchu: Getting There
To Peru and Back in Less than Five Days We step out of the Cusco airport—not named anything with the word Cusco in it—and walk into a National Geographic story. The short, old women with the skirts, the knee-length stockings, the men’s black hats are right here. A strange fellow with gangly body movements gets…
Are You Too Scared to Take a Subway?
Travel like You Live There Subway systems can be intimidating, especially if you are navigating in a new city while using a different language—one in which you are not fluent. All sorts of fears surface—will I be robbed, pushed on the tracks, doomed to riding in circles because I don’t know where to get…
Practical Picchu
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 Picchu, I offer these suggestions for bashful and other adventurers planning a visit: To prepare,…
Running across History
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 time: On Feb. 22, 1862, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as president of the Confederate States…
Buy a Stamp, Write a Postcard, Send a Memory
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 complain about it—snail mail, no mail, slow service—but who doesn’t love receiving a Valentine or…
To Which Eiffel Tower Will You Go?
Eiffel Is Everywhere—Orlando, Las Vegas, Paris With the turrets of the Excalibur in view, passing the Statue of Liberty of New York New York, cruising past the dancing fountains of Bellagio, taking in the singing gondoliers at the Venetian, the Brawny Sherpa and I finally agree on a destination for brunch: We’ll be eating in…
Fabergé at the Bellagio
A Vegas Visit to the Jeweled Russian Eggs Standing in line at the Kremlin waiting to buy tickets to see the Fabergé eggs a few years ago, I am surprised that more isn’t made of these. I chalk it up to bad marketing, not anticipating that the reason that they aren’t heavily promoted is…
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, the story of the Titanic is an interesting one of hubris, fate, class, decorum. When…
To Vegas for the Culture?
Shows, Museum Exhibits, Art, and More! I head to Las Vegas because it’s not New York, in winter. I head to Las Vegas because I can, because it’s there, because on my last visit I had to stay in a nongaming hotel because I worked with regulators. I head to Vegas because I get a…