The scenes from Minneapolis have been reminding me of the first weeks of martial law in Warsaw in December 1981: the snow, the cold, the armed militia, the bundled-up protesters. The difference is that Polish soldiers didn’t shoot their fellow citizens.

Etchings in an Hourglass – Book Review A smart, evocative, far-flung memoir of travel and life by one of America’s great unsung writers.

The excellent Travel Memoir Review celebrates books old and new. I recently wrote an appreciation of Etchings in an Hourglass by Kate Simon. travelmemoir.review/2026/01/22/etchings-in-an-hourglass-book-review

Two years ago this week my memoir Falling into Place appeared. But the read-by date hasn’t passed.

I was rooting for the Blue Jays because I thought it would be fitting for Canada to have the World Series trophy while Florida has the Stanley Cup.

There is no better illustration of the disdain editors have for travel writing than the appearance in the New York Times Magazine’s special Voyages issue of a story about a three-day retreat in an all-dark room.

Not sure why the City of Miami thinks it needs a lot of land for this.

At The Lynx bookstore in Gainesville.

A quick reminder that I’ll be speaking this Wednesday at 7 pm at the Kosciuszko Foundation in NYC.

I’m going to be speaking about my memoir “Falling into Place: A Story of Love, Poland, and the Making of a Travel Writer” at the Kosciuszko Foundation in NYC on Sept. 24 at 7 pm.

My celebration of The Great Railway Bazaar - published 50 years ago - is also an examination of travel writing over the last 75 years. theamericanscholar.org/the-great-am...

Congregation Shaar Hashomayim Cemetery in Montreal.

Here in Quebec, it looks as if Trump is meeting with French fries covered in gravy and cheese curds.

I’ve been adamant that AI will never replace travel writers, but then I read this sentence from the Tribune News Service in today’s Miami Herald: “I visited some churches and cathedrals, of which Portugal has many.”

Six years ago I wrote about the problem of overtourism - and suggested a solution: lithub.com/standing-roo...

One of the obits for Tom Lehrer, who died this weekend at age 97, described him as “popular and erudite,” making him perhaps the last person to be depicted with those two adjectives.

Seeking relief from the heat? My memoir will transport you to winter in northern Greece; Providence, Rhode Island; and - most chillingly - Warsaw, Poland.