07/10 Kuopio, Finland

I darted around from one small town to another and eventually followed a young lady into Kuopio.  She explained that she had been traveling in Germany for the past few weeks and was reuniting with her boyfriend that evening.  We kinda hit it off and she went out of her way to call a few of her friends to see if they could accommodate me with a room.  She found me a beautiful cottage alongside one of the many lakes.  I understood the cottage was her parents or an Aunt but they, like most the folks this time of year, were away on holiday.  …

11/06 Nikolaos, Greece

I woke to the sound of wind that seemed to be gaining strength.  It sounded like cats crying in the distance but no, it was closer.  I went out onto the balcony and noticed two of our lady friends down in the street trying to get somebody’s attention.  Apparently the door was locked and they had no key.  We had an early boat and needed to get moving.  Elspeth discovered her girlfriend never made it back from last night and she presumed she may have gotten lucky.  Either way she wasn’t going to hop on the ferry without her, so we left the two behind. …

08/30 Granada, Spain

A good shower and I packed up for today’s trek.  Our first stop was to see if we could check our bags at the train station but the area used for this service had been closed down some time ago.  It was suggested that we try a hotel across the way.  Typically hotel won’t check in new customer until around noon but usually will accommodate us early arrivals by watching our bags until check in rolls around.  We have done this enough times to know to take advantage of this hospitality.  …

11/19 Lindos, Rhoads Greece

I planned on taking a bus over to the ruins in Lindos but Jenni wasn’t feeling well and wasn’t too motivated to go anywhere.  “I’ll see you tonight” I told her.  The thought of missing something changed her mind and she decided to come along anyway.  It was a nice sunny day with a cool breeze.  A gorgeous little white washed village lodged under a Roman acropolis.   …

05/27 Avebury, England

One night at Mik’s place while passing around the pipe, he weaved stories of sprits possessing the trails between the white horse and the many rock circles heading north.  I could almost visualize these images he was painting and hear the pounding of drums in the wind, as I focused in on the flames dancing with the beat.  …

09/12 Lausanne, Switzerland

I enjoyed traveling on trains through the darkness of those mountains.  When there was nothing else to do and I was tired of writing, I just stared at the passing shadows from the darkness of my compartment.  I reached Lausanne early in the morning and walked into some confusion.  Apparently the airport in Paris was on strike and that had a domino effect across Europe.  Every form of information service had a line leading out its door.  I noticed a young Finnish girl waiting in one of those lines.  …

08/01 Gloriette, Vienna Austria

One thing was for certain, I needed a shower.  Sleeping out with element guarantees one thing, we were up early, so we took advantage and started searching for a room.  Luckily we found a room in the area that accommodated our needs, but we couldn’t check in until later that afternoon, so we reserved a room.  They were kind enough to watch our bags, allow us to scamper off and tour the city.  …

05/25 Bath, England

We caught a morning bus into Bath.  There was such a beautiful view out the window I hardly noticed any of the other passengers.  I could almost imagine hearing the hunter’s horn heralding from the hills, the sound of dogs running alongside the hooves of horses.  I gazed at the many sheep spattered like white paint against the green, divided by a patchwork of trees and fences.  …

11/13 Jerusalem, Israel

Alongside the darkness we walked the city streets.  It was a different feel since the majority of the shops were boarded up for the night.  It gave the streets a maze like feel.  We came upon a community of water pipes where I sat across from an elderly blind man and a few of his companions.  We shared a pot of spearmint tea and a conversation.  I had a picture taken but it was very dark and without a flash I wasn’t sure if it would come out.  …

12/04 Sarajevo, Yugoslavia

It was very late, or to be more accurate, real early in the morning.  Outside the station it was dark and cold, really cold.  Neither one of us were equipped for that type of weather.  The streets were covered in ice and our worn tennis shoes didn’t provide much if any traction.  When we exited the station we had no idea which way to head to find ourselves a room.  There were two others that also exited our train so we began following them in the hopes they would lead us down the right path.  We came to a large boulevard lined with large office shaped buildings but there were no signs or lights that provided us any indication that we were heading in the right direction.  …

08/06 Lienz, Austria

In front of the morning sun we departed toward Lienz.  We were lucky to have the company of a pair of young ladies traveling in the same direction.  An interesting conversation made the time disappear and before we knew it our train had come to a stop.  I needed to exchange some traveler’s check for cash and explained to Jim and the two girls that I would be a few minutes inside the bank.  Once I exited the bank the three had vanished.  I spent well over an hour checking one shop after another, up and down just about every street.   …

10/07 Siena, Italy

I had earmarked a hostel on the outskirts of Siena but the travel guide didn’t provide a good description of how to get there.  I asked a young lady who was sitting across from me on the train if she knew the best way to reach this destination.  She made a few attempts to explain but probably the combination of her hearing herself and the expression on my face persuaded her to just show me, so I followed her off the train.  …

10/22 Corfu, Greece

Even though all the other guys had paid for a room joining the ladies outside became a priority.  Good looking women typically have that effect over men.  We all traded stories and passed around a few bottles of alcohol.  By the time we reached Corfu we had assembled into an interesting group of travelers.  Once we hit Corfu’s dock an elderly lady persuaded us to check out her hotel.  I used our group’s size as a bargaining chip and obtained a better rate for the group.   …

05/19 Los Angeles, California

Imprisoned by my own curiosity. I felt as if I was looking up through trees that encircled my view, staring at the many branches and the fruits suspended beyond my grasp.  I knew I could no longer be satisfied simply to lie here on my back, closing my eyes and dreaming of things out of my reach.

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