The title of this site is inspired by that confused and disoriented feeling I have when I wake up in the morning and have to think hard to remember where I am.  What is this room?  What is this place?  No, seriously: which country is this, again?   

Maybe it is because, as a family, we bounce around the planet a lot, or maybe it’s just my own special gift. Either way, it seems that the more I travel, the more I lose my bearings.  It’s kind of like a superpower, except not at all cool. But who knows, maybe there is some yet-undiscovered philosophical or existential gem within this feeling of perpetual dislocation. If so, there is still hope to one day to claim it and name it, and then put that small victory to some use.

Travel writers will confidently claim that the journey brings both clarity and a feeling of closer connection to the rest of the human family. Excitement! Adventure! they promise. Sure, I can’t to argue with that. It’s just that while they enjoy moments of the warm fuzzies, I usually feel bewildered. (And maybe itchy, because: lice. Or some other hideous insect…)

The more places I go, the more I feel overwhelmed, unsettled, fascinated, baffled, confused and astonished by all that the world has to offer.  But I am always intrigued and curious to know more. Who knows?  Maybe the outward journeys will bring some inward clarity. That’s the hope, anyway.

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So in travel, and all other forms of expedition, I utilize my best-honed skills; notably,

1) a capacity for noting close and real–though often invisible–links, across time and space, between places and behaviors, practices or rituals

and

2) a well-developed ability to laugh at myself, along with global universals like hilarious signage in poor English.  These are everywhere around the planet, I promise you, just everywhere:

After all, everything in the whole world is just so very interesting.  It would be such a shame not to go out and see some of it in person.