In this installment of No Work All Travel, I will be introducing a Tokyo weekend trip to Nagano prefecture. More specifically, a voyage to the castle city of Matsumoto, and Daio Wasabi Farm, in Hotaka. The first recorded instance of wasabi, sushi’s hot-headed colleague, dates back to the year 981, during the Heian period of […]
History
Language Lunes: Just a Spoonful of Salt Makes the Sushi Go Down
Years ago, before I set off to work in Shenzhen, China, I happened upon a satirical video about the traditions of eating in a Japanese restaurant. What can one do, besides wax famished about those daily searches for good eats? More importantly, what does Shenzhen have to do with this?… Once settled in there, in […]
Throwback Thursday: The Multilingual St. Louis MetroLink
On 2 March, 2021, at some point in the day, I had a three hour layover in St. Louis. Having never ridden the St. Louis metro system, better known as MetroLink, I was eager to give it a whirl. (for whatever reason, trying out metro systems, is one of my travel hobbies). Not knowing anything […]
Language Lunes: Mexican Aviation (and a Hint of Railroads)
The current Mexican administration has seen quite a bit of turbulence (terrible pun intended) in the aviation industry. No matter which side you’re on, these events have already happened: A “national referendum” on a new Mexico City Airport. The project that was cancelled after nearly 70% was completed, the Texcoco Airport, was replaced by the […]
Understanding the Thai Calendar
A lot of us travel to new places because we want to experience and learn from the unfamiliar. But even if you’ve been all over the world — including in your own backyard — you can still get tripped up by something. It could be a blizzard warning in Los Angeles. A transportation strike in […]
The Wednesday Who of Airport Names: Bert Mooney
We’re back for another edition of the Wednesday Who. This time, we’ll be talking about a lesser-known figure in aviation, though no less important than anyone else. The name? Bert Mooney, founder of Butte Aero Sales. Bert Mooney started flying in 1919 in Los Angeles, California, although he did graduate from Butte Central High School […]
Peru’s Most Famous Attraction Reopens for Tourism
Closed to visitors since 21 January, one of the world’s most famous archeological sites has finally reopened. On 15 February, Machu Picchu reopened to tourists. Having been constructed around 1450, the UNESCO site — which means “old mountain” or “old peak” in the native Quechua language — is located around 7972 feet above sea level […]
Throwback Thursday: Google Lens Time
New reader or not, you might quickly learn that I rather enjoy (attempting to learn) foreign languages. I can certainly make do with a few of them, and read enough of a trio of others to navigate public transit and menus, but I’m still appreciative of offline translators, for instance, the duo of Google Translate/Google […]
