NEW ZEALAND REVISITED—50 YEARS ON
OLD GUIDEBOOKS can function as time capsules, especially for places visited well after the book’s publication. I recall using old Baedekers to get around Europe in early-retirement adventures following business … Continue reading
PREPARING FOR A SOUTH SEAS ADVENTURE, 50 YEARS AGO
THE WISDOM of old guidebooks is often found charming and occasionally even timely by today’s travelers. Donald Sea Briggs certainly had a way with words in his Briggs South Seas … Continue reading
WHEN IS THAT?
OUR ENGLISH language has the word “today.” For the day immediately prior, we have “yesterday.” And for the day immediately following, there’s “tomorrow.” From there on, passages of time in … Continue reading
FUNICULÌ, FUNICULÀ!
THE NEAPOLITAN ditty Funiculì, Funiculà celebrated the 1880 opening of the first funicular on Mount Vesuvius. Today here at SimanaitisSays, I celebrate this steep form of rail transportation based on … Continue reading
FROM THE RIO GRANDE TO THE CANAL ZONE PART 3
THANKS TO Harry Franck and Herbert C. Lanks, we’ve already accomplished a goodly portion of our virtual 1940 adventure from the Rio Grande to the Canal Zone. Today in Part … Continue reading
FROM THE RIO GRANDE TO THE CANAL ZONE PART 2
HARRY FRANCK, the Prince of Vagabonds, chose for his 24th travel book an adventure with co-author Herbert C. Lanks: The Pan American Highway—From the Rio Grande to the Canal Zone, … Continue reading
FROM THE RIO GRANDE TO THE CANAL ZONE PART 1
THE PAN AMERICAN Highway at different times means different things to different people. In today’s news, it is the arduous south-to-north trek of asylum seekers. To motorsports enthusiasts, there was … Continue reading
READING THE STREET—BRIT STYLE
THOSE OF us driving in developed countries take for granted the cues painted on streets and roads: turn lanes, crosswalks, bikeways, and the like. In Britain, pedestrians arriving from elsewhere … Continue reading
A SHARP RIGHT, THEN SET ‘ER DOWN
THESE DAYS, most commercial aircraft landings are thankfully bereft of drama. A long, straight, and gentle descent. Even St. Thomas’s relatively short 7000-ft. runway comes after a gradual straight-as-an-arrow approach … Continue reading
CAMILLE PISSARRO—A ROOM WITH A VIEW
EXCELLENT EYESIGHT would seem to be an artist’s requisite. Yet many of Camille Pissarro’s finest paintings came after a persistent eye infection affected the way he worked, not only visually, … Continue reading
