Alan's Travel Blog
Rambling and nonsense from the road

It would seem there are two ways to attack the Edinburgh Festival.
The first is to wander down Princes Street, see all the crazy performers trying to tempt you into their show, pick up fliers for free comedy nights, maybe head to the E4 Pasture or Pleasance Court for some celeb-spotting, and when you find something [...]


Edinburgh, every year at this time, is a thriving, seething throng of creativity, wackiness and art students.  They call it “The Fringe Festival”.

This involves possibly the most incredible cultural transformation imaginable – the entire heart of the city is converted into a network of theater venues.  While there’s a huge number of major, full-length performances happening in [...]

2 Bear encounters, 2 pairs of shoes, 4 T-shirts, 8 hostels, 1 near-death experience, 44 blog posts, 1 new netbook, 90 days, 2 international flights, about $20k (I don’t even want to think about adding it all up) and (roughly) 60,000 miles later, and I’m almost home.  Or, technically, home, depending on how you look [...]

I promised a very good friend I’d make sure, before I finished things up on my blog, that I made sure there was a pin in Sharon, MA on my map – and for very good reason, given that I spent a considerable amount of time there and thereabouts.
Unfortunately, there’s not a lot I can [...]

So, as part of my time resting and recuperating in Boston, I got to explore some parts of the area known altogether as “The Cape”, alongside my travelling partner and lifelong Boston resident.

We started with Amherst – a beautiful College town steeped in both old-time Americana and artistic creativity.  I’m assured that there are plenty [...]

And so, after dropping some of our number in New York, we arrived on Boston to end the Green Tortoise trip once and for all – and, in a way, to end most of my trip.  I can now say that I made it across the USA and back, having traveled one coast to the [...]

Trust in the Tortoise – the best is always yet to come.
Without going into too much detail, I feel a little like I can’t give an unbiased account of my experience at Niagara Falls.  Granted, every other passenger on the trip said it was the most amazing, magical experience they’d had, but I feel the [...]

I talked about Chicago earlier in my travels, and it wasn’t my favourite city.  Now, I have to admit, it still doesn’t top Boston or New York or Philly or even DC, but I can tell you that the rather negative light I painted it in had at least a little to do with the [...]

After all the magic of the Cuny reservation, and yet more hiking in the badlands, it was time for things to wind down.  With the group tiring of long walks, our best gear getting worn out, and everything starting to point to us becoming exhausted, our days in the Great Plains of Minnesota were decidedly [...]

Something needs to be addressed at this stage: aboard the Green Tortoise bus, both time and space take on an elasticity that only adds to the eccentricity and surreality of the experience.  As a result, of this, finding socks, books, headlamps and other small items is near impossible at times, and relating the events back [...]