Category: Odyssey
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Glasgow’s tiny subway
Since we’re in the middle of a work trip to the UK, I was reminded it’s a perfect time for a quick update with one of the little stories from our visit, and this one is truly little: Glasgow has a cute and diminutive subway. It had fifteen stations on a single loop line, like…
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Sleeper Train Bucket List: Empire Builder to Portland and Seattle
Marvel at the majesty of the northern United States as you travel over mountain passes, through alpine valleys and past 7,000-year-old glaciers. Glide by buttes and bluffs, along mountain streams and across the Mighty Mississippi. – Amtrak.com Amtrak’s Empire Builder traverses the US from Chicago to Seattle and Portlane, OR. One of its biggest draws…
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John Muir was right about Yosemite
Back in grad school, I was teaching assistant for a course called History of the American Environmental Movement. Each semester, I would grade perhaps 70 to 80 essays, including a section on John Muir, an advocate of preserving nature for nature’s sake, and Gifford Pinchot, who advocated responsible conservation of resources for human use. While…
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Japan’s 21st-century toilet technology
Never have I seen so many buttons in a bathroom stall, I thought as I took a quick pit stop after our 14-hour flight from New York to Tokyo. It turns the sleek international terminal of Narita Airport would not be the last place we’d see what I’d call “toilet technology”. Japan is indeed a…
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In Japan, it’s always time for coffee
There is a well-founded stereotype of Japan as a place where people take their job seriously. One sip told me they take their coffee seriously here as well. For a country associated with green tea, this was a big surprise. There is no watery diner coffee here. If even grandparents make this strong a drink,…
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The Whole Enchilada, for Breakfast
Until an embarrassingly advanced age, I could not have told you what an enchilada was exactly. Thanks to the wildly popular local hippie-Tex Mex take-out place down the street from my childhood home, I knew it as a shifty pile of meat and various Mexican ingredients, possibly including rice and vegetables, all covered in gooey…
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Thank you for breakfast, England
Loaded with fried and fatty deliciousness, the Full English Breakfast is most definitely the father of the American diner breakfast. Both are widely available, often around the clock, and full of staples more filling than nutritious. In fact, the British seem to have a complex about their love of a good fry-up that equals the…
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Our Personal Best-of-Europe
How was Europe? I don’t know, how was your childhood? I’ve never had such trouble answering a question in the span of a few sentences. Possibly because I’ve never visited five very distinct countries in two weeks. Either way, now that we’re back from our grand tour, I feel like I need to sum it…
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Hopping cheaply across Europe by air and rail
Here’s some good news about your dream trip across Europe. With a little advanced planning, and carry-on luggage, you can get there and get around fairly affordably. After months of planning and procrastination, our full Europe itinerary is now booked. Here are the details of our grand tour with some super secret discount tips at the…
Hops Trains and Backpacks 