“It means, ‘explorer’” said our city bicycling tour guide, Fedinand, this morning, when the first pack of cheering, smiling little children ran after our bicycles,  holding out the little hands to high five us. “It’s not a bad word, I promise. They really like seeing you guys here.” It was a word we’d be hearing […]

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Okay,  I’ll admit that we could really get used this… Complimentary 12 year old Glenlivet, a selection of sandwiches –  both vegetarian and tasteful meat varieties –  and some nice coffee machines. That Chase sapphire card is making itself valuable already…

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I’m sitting on the Van Galder bus to O’Hare, trying out a ridiculously silly looking tiny bluetooth keyboard that my Galaxy S7 is paired to.  Yes,  it’s the first vacation I’ve taken since Germany and Austria with Dozan wa Awtar that I’m not taking a laptop with me…. This will be a 100% phone based […]

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In which Zach shirks responsibility for writing about this year’s Dead2Red and the entire Jordan trip, since his dear friend Caitlin already did a better job of it on her own blog

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I’ve had this draft since three years ago, in 2015, and I never finished it. Here it is as I wrote it back in November 2015, while I was still on this trip…. Oh Amman – I only wish that I had been feeling better when I returned to your sweet, somewhat smoggy embrace. The […]

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Well, I definitely enjoyed my two days in Istanbul more this time than I did back in my last visit in 2009. Having three friends to laugh with definitely helps. The Turkish people I interacted with on the street were still a bit sarcastic and dry but it didn’t bother me as much as it […]

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