Travel log

Albuquerque, NM, USA

riding a hot air ballooon is expensive but fun
petroglyphs are cool
La Montañita Food Coop

New Mexico (Landscape) by Thomas Hart Benton

Amsterdam, Netherlands

“coffee” from the coffeehouses, of course
the Van Gogh museum, also a bunch of Rembrandts
joppie sauce = hate-less chickfila sauce

Asheville, NC, USA

pimiento cheese scrambled eggs at Bisuit Head
Plant, a hip vegan restaurant
Brevard is cute, and Quotations is a chill café
get up early, take the Blue Ridge Parkway to see the sunrise over the mountains
lots of good hikes (wear sunscreen)
kayak along the French Broad, and stop off to sneak into the big mansion
didn’t get a chance to visit Moog

Austin, TX, USA

like Lexington, but if they turned everything way up to 11 and didn’t make any changes to the underlying infrastructure
hard to visit without a car
good BBQ can be found in the surrounding area
Electric Church is a chill underground psych rock venue, and De Nada Cantina is tasty nearby
state capitol building is beautiful even if what they do there is totally messed up

Bath, UK

the roman baths are old and cool but the museum is underwhelming
the bookshops are good
walk along the canal

Bay Area, CA, USA

Point Reyes National Seashore ia worth the drive, and you can get oysters on the way (my friend also recommends the bookstore in PR Station)
Chapel of the Chimes, Urban Ore, and Golden Tee Golfland are all fantastic
Cheeseboard is an incredible worker-owned restaurant, cheese shop, and bakery
Burma Superstar is tasty
The Knockout is a surprisingly divey venue in SF
Once a month you can go to the SF botanical garden for free, the SF japanese garden is quite good, and Oakland’s bonsai garden is incredible
Spectator Books is good
Friends and Family is tasty, and Understory, and so is breakfast at Alem’s Coffee
Trojan Point, north of Marin

A view from across the bay, on my first night sleeping in a van nearby.

Beijing, China

you can hop out a little window onto an unrestored section of the Great Wall; don’t fall!

From my exploration of a restricted, unrestored section of the Great Wall.

Bend, OR, USA

smith rock
food trucks

Berlin, Germany

modern art and more: Berlinische Galerie, Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, Neue Nationalgalerie, ME Collectors Room
vegan currywurst
east side gallery
memorial to the murdered jews of europe and the Judisches Museum
walking up the Bundestag Building
clubs, obviously

Bloomington, IN, USA

Mother Bear’s pizza
Bloomington Thrift Shop Inc.

Boonville, Mendocino, CA, USA

They have their own language, Boontling.

Boston, MA, USA

Halloween in Salem is excellent
make sure to put your feet in the ocean

Bristol, UK

Cafe Kino
Cube Microplex
People’s Republic of Stokes Croft

Budapest, Hungary

rudas and gellert baths
cave church
csendes letterem, and yeah, at least go see szimpla kert
massolit books and cafe (for chilling and working)
Convento de la Popa - top of hill, need taxi
fekete kutya
the tram up castle hill is short but still kinda fun

Cartagena, Colombia

volcano mud bath tour (The Volcan de Lodo El Totumo - need tour guide)
centenario park (sloths)
abaco libros y cafe
music at cafe havana
nia bakery
quebracho argentinian steakhouse
nh galeria
la cevicheria
rincon del mar (see below)

Charlottesville, VA, USA

excellent turkish food around
some great used bookstores
LiveArts theatre

Chicago, IL, USA

go to a daytime Cubs game
malort
Calumet Fisheries and the Blues Brothers bridge right next to it
Myopic Bookstore
the game and reading rooms at the Chicago Athletic Hotel
minguin (chinese food)

Cincinnati, OH, USA

Rhinegeist brewery
Findlay Market
Perfect North

Copenhagen, Denmark

amazing breakfast
I <3 cargo bikes
Christiania
dreamy sunsets over the bridge
actually livable

A beautiful park in Copenhagen with lines showing the proper bike pathing.

The beautiful Copenhagen summer sun setting over a body of water.

Detroit, MI, USA

John K. King Used & Rare Books (!!!)
Heidelberg Project
Humboldt Forest
Baobob Fare

Denver, CO, USA

Red Rocks is fun to visit, along with the nearby dinosaur footprints
Evergreen, CO, is nearby and very cute
Davies’ Check Wagon Diner was transported there from the East Coast
City, ‘O City has great vegan food, and Domo was a great eating experience
Meow Wolf is overhyped but still fun with friends
the british bulldog

Rudy, my favorite Airbnb doggo buddy.

A Mountain Symphony (Longs Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado) by Sven Birger Sandzen

Dresden, Germany

find Slaughterhouse V
the Green Vaults
climb the Kreuzkirche rather than the Frauenkirche

Faroe Islands

it’s doable by bus, but not easy
the edge of the world
incredible hikes
sheep!
fish ‘n chips and traditional music in Torshavn

The steep cliffs along the Faroe coast.

A remote area of Faroe, showing a lighthouse over green cliffs in the mist..

Florence, Italy

climb to the top of the Duomo
it’s all just beautiful, and I enjoyed both major museums
Bobolui Gardens were also fun
Siena is worth the trip, with its amazing history and cathedral

A view of the Florence Cathedral through a window.

A street in Siena.

Florida, USA

I’ve been down there a number of times. Not a ton of recommendations, but I enjoyed Miami and the Keys.

Florida Keys

one of the keys is a state park where you can walk 100 meters into the Gulf of Mexico and it will still only come up to your waist
Key West is a tourist trap but the other islands have some gems

An unexpectedly beautiful view of central Florida.

Grand Rapids, MI, USA

a little boring, in a good way
Redux Books is a good used bookstore, and Argos nextdoor
Bitter End is a great coffeeshop
vegan breakfast sandy at Sunday brunch at Fulton Street Bar and Grill

Hudson, NY, USA

A lot of very expensive furniture, but also a cute town and a great natural landscape.

Lots of good food here, too, including Lil Deb’s Oasis, the Mel bakery, and many more. We also enjoyed the firefighting museum.

Iceland

An incredible place. I recommend spending at least 9 days there, and doing it with at least one other person. Once you get started, and leave Reykjavík, you are unlikely to match the cadence of anyone you meet on the road.

I was lucky to see a rare volcanic eruption when I was there. Lava shoots up from a barren lava field, about 100 meters away.

Ben Frost and Francesco Fabris made an album from audio of the Meradalir volcano, which I saw erupting in 2022.

A large waterfall sends the current tumbling magnificently down over a large cliff face.

The sky is visible through a crevice entrance above, the photographer shooting from below.

A special set of concrete buts with spherical ceilings, viewed here from afar, was built to amplify traditional Icelandic musical frequencies.

Indianapolis, IN, USA

Naptown, Crossroads of America, etc.

the art museum
Kurt Vonnegut stuff
Rhythm Discovery Center
Yats
Maxine’s Chicken and Waffles

Lexington, KY, USA

food: Bourbon & Toulouse, Sav’s, Stella’s, Magee’s, GirlsGirlsGirls Burritos
CD Central, Sqecial Media, and other spots nearby
Institute 193 typically has a good exhibition

Lisbon, Portugal

pasteis de nata
Versiculo d’O Faia

Los Angeles, CA, USA

You don’t need my help with this one. I mean, there’s the beach for starters. And the desert. Brecht’s take is more interesting.

Louisville, KY, USA

Kaiju
Zanzibar
Actors Theatre of Louisville
WXOX/Art.fm

Mackinac Island, MI, USA

It’s pronounced “mackinaw”
Don’t go in the winter, like I did

The strangely modern, revolutionary-era Fort Holmes.

Madison, WI, USA

woodman’s food market (enormous and worker-owned!)
mickey’s tavern
L.R. Ingersoll Wonders of Physics Museum
Geology Museum (blacklights!)
Geeks Mania Arcade

Mattoon, IL, USA

the original burger king
morgan’s meat market
arland dean williams jr.’s gravesite (hero!)

Milan, Italy

in addition to the Duomo, check out the Museo del Novecento
quite cosmopolitan

The cathedral from inside the nearby art museum.

Minneapolis, MN, USA

the skyway system is great in the winter
the Flour Tower presentation at Mill City Museum is for kids but I enjoyed it
art museums are pretty good
Mercado Central is a vibe
I rode a Nickelodeon-themed rollercoaster at Mall of America

Monterey, CA, USA

incredible year-round weather + beaches, beaches, beaches!
17-mile drive
Moondog Grill
Cannery Row Antique Mall has excellent maps

Munich, Germany

excellent museums
that spot where people surf
also, Hofbräuhaus and gardens

New Orleans, LA, USA

mardi gras world
crawfish etouffee at felix’s
beingets
spotted cat
flora cafe and gallery
studio be
the opossums of cocoally

New York, NY, USA

Eventually I will give it its own page…

A bustling local grocery store.

A flatiron-shaped building with a flowershop's name written down its face.

The outside of a cute little bookstore.

A handwritten notice on the wall of a bar asking patrons not to leave trash on the street.

New Zealand

I spent a couple of months there back in 2015.

excellent contemporary theatre
love Wellington’s buses
take the ferry to the valcano hike in Auckland
explore the public-private park (sheep!) in Auckland
tramping
lemon-pop-rock-white-chocolate-bars
lots of other things

A sunny view while tramping north of Wellington.

A dormant volcano through a bus window, with the sun setting behind it.

The sulfur smoke near Rotorua.

The sunrise at Tasman.

Mountains reflecting in Lake Wanaka.

The snowy Kepler Track, above the treeline, with mountains in the distance.

Nice, France

stay with crazy/great people :)

Norway, ME, USA

Cafe Nomad
picking apples

Oakland, CA, USA

See Bay Area above.

breaking free skate shop

Paris, France

not to be confused with Paris, KY
crepes
get an Airbnb that has cats, for a chill time
the Louvre is exhausting, but good for people-watching
Centre Pompidou was great
Chartres Cathedral is worth the trip
the catacombs!

The inverted pyramid thingie at the Louvre.

Phoenix, AZ, USA

…not the biggest fab but:

be careful - they don’t observe DST
james turrell skyspace
organ stop pizza

Olympia, WA, USA

the most beautiful comfort inn of all time
the ihop right next to the urgent care center

Pescadero, CA, USA

Pie Ranch
Costanoa Lodge
the beaches!

Philadelphia, PA, USA

the Mütter Museum is wild
Barnes Foundation has incredible collection
Making Worlds bookstore is coop, radical, and SO GOOD (they also have their own press)
great stuff at Raxx Vintage
in June, I highly recommend Porch Fest and Dallar Stroll in West Philly, along Baltimore Ave

Portland, OR, USA

rose garden
japanese garden
the big bookstore
arcade bar(s)
smith tea
that other, smaller rose garden that’s in the northern part of town

Porto, Portugal

going up the hill across the bridge from the city center to watch the sunset
drinking port wine
gelatopia
rocky’s donor kebab

Prague, Czechia

a Mozart opera at The Estates Theatre
Sex Machines Museum
Terezin is worth the trip, I recommend getting a tour guide

Rincon del Mar, Colombia

very nice beach town
mamallena hostel
del amor y otros demonios cafe

Rome, Italy

the Vatican is worth the trip, including the Sistine Chapel, although it was exhausting by the end
much more lively and urban than I expected for some reason
La Famiglia restaurant was near the hostel and very good
all the touristy stuff

San Francisco, CA, USA