Changes In Longitude

7 tips for how to drive on the left side of the road

Michael — Tue, 21 May 2013 08:30:13 +0000

With a little planning it’s easy to drive on the left side of the road. On our around-the-world journey we spent more time driving on the left side of the road than we did on the right; doing so in Ireland, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Africa. Many North Americans call it driving on [...]

Chapter 1: Gonna Fly Now (Part 2)

Michael — Sun, 19 May 2013 13:00:10 +0000

We are providing excerpts from our forthcoming book in progress—Changes in Longitude: How One Couple Chucked it All to Travel the World. . . . continued from Chapter 1: Gonna Fly Now (Part 1) That’s what we needed, a journey to reboot our lives . . . We would take the trip avid travelers dream of: [...]

Chapter 1: Gonna Fly Now (Part 1)

Michael — Sun, 12 May 2013 14:15:05 +0000

During May we are providing excerpts from the first two chapters of our forthcoming book in progress: Changes in Longitude: How One Couple Chucked it All to Travel the World. Chapter 1: Gonna Fly Now (Part 1) We tossed our keys into the mail slot of the row house we had been renting for the past year [...]

Prologue to a journey: One night in Saigon

Michael — Mon, 06 May 2013 10:45:00 +0000

During May we are providing excerpts from the first two chapters of our forthcoming book in progress: Changes in Longitude: How One Couple Chucked it All to Travel the World. PROLOGUE During a nighttime stroll we had gotten lost in the dimly lit, maze-like streets of old Saigon. A series of turns led us into a [...]

Picher Oklahoma: A modern American ghost town

Michael — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:45:20 +0000

Picher, Oklahoma is a harsh example of the effects mining can have on an area. Once a major producer of lead and zinc, the town is now a ghost town as the lead came back to haunt them. The air, soil and water around Picher became contaminated with leftovers from the mining operations known as [...]

Jerusalem, it’s complicated

Michael — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:45:35 +0000

Jerusalem is the most difficult city to decipher on earth. That’s not just us saying it. Try finding it on Google Maps. For security reasons high-resolution satellite pictures are not available, reducing the city to a fuzzy haze. This complexity continues at ground level. Considering its significant impact on religious and world history, the area [...]

Postcards from Pyongyang: Images of North Korea

Michael — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 10:45:59 +0000

We’d like to share some images of North Korea from postcards we picked up in Pyongyang. Some of them display the incessant propaganda while others are images of the modern city center. Unless you’ve avoided all media, you’ve probably noticed that North Korea has been in the news quite a bit lately. When Kim Jong Un started [...]

A visit to the Cambodian Landmine Museum

Michael — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 12:55:34 +0000

The Cambodian Landmine Museum and Relief Centre may be the only museum in the world that prints this disclaimer on their tickets: “Everything on display has been inspected 100% free from explosives.” Would that the fields in the nearby countryside were so safe. It was founded by Aki Ra, whose parents were killed by the Khmer Rouge [...]

Photos from the epic Good Friday procession in Malta

Michael — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 10:45:19 +0000

The Good Friday procession in Malta is an epic event, with several parades around the Mediterranean island clocking in at two plus hours. We attended the Good Friday procession in the village of Zebbug (olives in Maltese). The town basically shuts down for the day as hundreds of its residents take part in the parade. [...]

Mostly free things to do in Auckland

Guest — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:45:46 +0000

I grew up in New Zealand and was always looking for free things to do in Auckland. From nature hikes to museums to contemporary art, here are a few of my favorites. 1) Stroll the boardwalk between Mission Bay and St Heliers Bay Auckland has one of the most beautiful harbours in the world so [...]