Okay. My Machu Picchu Fantasy circa 2008 played out something like this: I trudge the famous 4-day Inka Trail armed only with grizzled walking stick and roll of TP, and summit the Intipunku Sun Gate just in time to watch the sun rise as a majestic crown atop Machu Picchu. [Please note: in this fantasy […]
One of my very most favorite places in New York exists thirty feet above the city. Beginning in 1847, an actual railway ran down the very busy 10th Avenue on the west side of Manhattan. Like seriously down the middle of the street. A freight train. When the train started colliding with pedestrians & their […]
A little because I hate air travel, a little because I love trains, and mostly because it just seemed like a very cool way to see the middle of the country, Mr. M & I took a 2-night rail trip from Pretoria to Cape Town on our honeymoon in South Africa. It was agonizingly expensive (just […]
Day #11,039 (Bernese Oberland, Switzerland): At 6:13am, I rolled over in bed and- only 25% awake and an hour shy of the alarm- realized there was a golden ray of sunshine stealing into the room. Oh. My. Gaw!!! I leapt out of bed, threw open the curtains (sadly for Mr. M, who would’ve been just as […]
Day #11,038: I woke up an hour and a half before the alarm because I was THAT excited to see the Matterhorn. I could feel sunshiney weather a-comin’ and just KNEW we’d see the peak. I threw open the curtains. Blinding fog. Like an angry old lady, I shook my fists skyward. Food has a […]
Day #11, 037: On our rail journey from Lucerne to Zermatt, Mr. M & I quickly learned that the miraculous efficiency of the Swiss transportation system meant we had to be equally competent in order to make our transfers. Trains are timed such that you have about 5 minutes before you miss the connection. We almost missed […]
As travelers go, Mr. M & I are wickedly expeditious. My itineraries are the sightseeing equivalent of whirling dervishes and inspire incredulousness on tripadvisor forums (“Far too ambitious… you should consider staying in [fill in name of any town] for at LEAST five days…”). Even for us, today was Epic. We may have set a […]