Musings

Laugh, cry, dream, wonder.

Good travel writing lives in a space where culture, place, people and adventure intersect. In this section you will find travel essays (some thoughtful, some humorous), podcasts, images and even some insights from traveling teddy bears. Savor, appreciate, laugh, cry, ponder, and most of all, enjoy. Then get out and create your own travel narratives.

Make travel important – transformative travel is life-changing

Make travel important – transformative travel is life-changing

It is too easy to get stuck in a grind, in a life that sucks you into a day-to-day routine that leads to being unfit and unhealthy. But, if you make travel important, travel can be your lifesaver, leading you to a fresh start or exposing you to a mind-opening experience that affects you deeply and changes your life forever. Transformative travel is life-changing.

Top 10 stories of 2020 – Readers keep dreaming of travel

Top 10 stories of 2020 – Readers keep dreaming of travel

It has been a very long 2020 but through it all we found our readers still wanted to dream of travel, to think about travel, and to plan for travel. This was made clear with our Top 10 Stories of 2020 as selected by our readers and what they viewed. Local and regional U.S. stories, stories that highlighted adventures closer to home and ideas for road trips, sprinkled with a few topics drawn from our archives allowed us and our readers to keep dreaming of travel in 2021.

Learning night photography is a journey

Learning night photography is a journey

Travel photography is a skill that takes a little focused diligence – but one that will come in handy for taking better photos on your next vacation. Learning night photography takes you and your photography skills to another plane – one that teaches you a bit about yourself and your camera too.

Goodbye Berlin – Hello to a world forever changed

Goodbye Berlin – Hello to a world forever changed

In two short weeks, we went from happy travelers to anxious escapees. Therese and I held hands and stared out the airplane window. It was goodbye Berlin. Hello to a world forever changed. From Tegel airport to London Heathrow to Los Angeles and then home, each airport provided a glimpse of a world turned upside down because of COVID-19.

A tearful goodbye to Berlin as COVID changes the world

A tearful goodbye to Berlin as COVID changes the world

The coronavirus upended the entire travel world seemingly in days. Hurrying out of Berlin, I felt like an evacuee – not that I really know what that feels like – but here I was being forced to leave somewhere I didn’t want to. I felt like Pac-Man scurrying away from the hungry ghost called COVID-19.

Fear of COVID-19 – traveling in the age of coronavirus

Fear of COVID-19 – traveling in the age of coronavirus

Should we be traveling in the age of coronavirus? We make our living as travel writers and photographers. For us, it’s either travel, or find another line of work. But the fear of COVID-19 is real. How do we travel and still stay safe from coronavirus? Read our personal essay on learning to stay calm and travel despite a fear of cornonavirus.

Teddy & Friends: traveling stuffed animals

Teddy & Friends: traveling stuffed animals

Traveling stuffed animals are perfect travel partners and friends. They never complain and are always ready for the next adventure, the next photo opportunity, or a really good restaurant. They listen intently to your every word. They are a constant reminder that imagination and a sense of humor inspire smiles and connections with strangers around the world. They travel free and often serve as a trip mascot, no matter what trip you are on. And they are always ready to offer a hug.

Travel photos – Instagram is turning us into idiots

Travel photos – Instagram is turning us into idiots

Armed with digital cameras and smartphones travelers are able to detail every idyllic moment of every trip in all its “Instagrammable” glory with often ridiculous travel photos. In truth, Instagram is turning us all into idiots as we embark on a frantic search for the most Instagrammable moment.

Transformative travel – learning while traveling

Transformative travel – learning while traveling

I arrived at my photography workshop eager and excited for learning while traveling, but also more than a bit nervous. “Why?” asked one of the instructors earlier when I mentioned that I was a bit anxious. “We don’t bite.” Transformative travel is a marvelous thing for learning.

Poignant Korean War Memorials: Honoring Uncle Ara

Poignant Korean War Memorials: Honoring Uncle Ara

Korean War Memorials are always on my list to visit when traveling. My Uncle Ara disappeared on Oct. 23, 1951, less than a year into the Korean War. A part of an air mission with nine Super Fortresses, his B-29 bomber was one of six attacked by Soviet MIGs.

Airline acts of kindness do happen – more frequently than you imagine

Airline acts of kindness do happen – more frequently than you imagine

Because we do fly a lot, and talk with so many other passengers and frequent travelers, we think it is worth pointing out there is another side to the story: Despite the avalanche of news regarding despicable behavior by some airline employees and by some passengers, there are always two sides. We would like to humbly point out that airline acts of kindness can and do happen, on an almost daily yet too often unreported manner.

Fear of Flying: The cockpit is no place for loud bangs

Fear of Flying: The cockpit is no place for loud bangs

BOOM!!!… The unmistakable sound of an explosion or other impact came from the cockpit. Immediately the plane began to shake and, within seconds, we were executing a very tight turn and initiating a steep descent heading back toward Salt Lake City … and, I hoped, for the airport. She looked at me with very wide eyes. “You have an explanation for that, right?” Her fear of flying was real.

You don’t go to Tucson to eat pizza – Charles Baty blues wisdom

You don’t go to Tucson to eat pizza – Charles Baty blues wisdom

Traveling blues guitarist Charles Baty (“Little Charlie and the Nightcats”) and his fellow musicians with the Golden State-Lone Star Revue are on the road yet again – now in the Southwest, Northwest and California (wait, where did that one gig in Illinois come from?) This round, he and band members Mark Hummel, R.W. Grigsby, Wes Starr and Anson Funderburgh will be not only turning clubs into hot blues joints, but also some outdoor festivals.

Lost in Translation: Funny Chinese English on warning signs

Lost in Translation: Funny Chinese English on warning signs

The eleven signs with funny Chinese English in this post are part of our second offering in a series of stories on funny Chinese-to-English translation fails. If you missed it, be sure to check out “Lost in Translation: Fire warnings become funny Chinese signs.” Now, without further ado, funny Chinese signs with extremely humorous translation fails focused on warning the public about something or other.

A Road Trip: Refuge of the roads

A Road Trip: Refuge of the roads

A travel essay on the power of leaving home, hitting the road, casting oneself into uncertainty and danger, discovering the unknown, seeing one’s reflection in the landscape and the sky. These have been the stimuli and the “itch” that have propelled writers, artists and thinkers to abandon home, family and security and set out alone, across the seas, over the mystic mountains or out on a road trip.

Cruise ship boarding near miss: twice in two days!

Cruise ship boarding near miss: twice in two days!

Diane Benton and Jerry van Heeringen traveled for several weeks throughout Asia, hopping a cruise ship for part of that journey. They experienced a cruise ship boarding near miss, two days in a row, no less. Not what you normally plan on…but it does make for some great stories and lessons for us all.

Calling Sweden. Talking to a ‘random Swede’

Calling Sweden. Talking to a ‘random Swede’

Calling Sweden? You mean the entire country? Yes, you once could call Sweden and talk to a “Random Swede” and ask this random person picked randomly in Sweden about some random thing. We bit on the Swedish Tourist Association’s new promotion, The Swedish Number. We’re all over random. And it was randomly funny! Listen in.

My Traveling Blues: A life on the road with Charles Baty

My Traveling Blues: A life on the road with Charles Baty

Famed blues guitarist Charles Baty (“Little Charlie and the Nightcats”) was a friend of HI Travel Tales. Baty semi-retired in 2008 but still hit the road to perform and enjoyed sharing his travel journal with us until his death on March 6, 2020. The Charles Baty collection is preserved as bit of Charles Baty traveling blues wisdom that remains timeless, like his music.

Running at Disney World turned me into an outlaw

Running at Disney World turned me into an outlaw

During a trip to Orlando, Fla., in 2015, I was reminded of a previous vacation my husband and I took to Orlando’s Disney World – one where I actually tried running at Disney World. For runners, the city can be so aggravating: I call it the home of “sidewalks to nowhere.” That’s assuming there are any. Usually there are not. The moniker “sidewalks to nowhere” came up a long time ago when I would find that sidewalks just ended – wheelchair ramp and all – leaving any unlucky pedestrian in the middle of a busy street or slogging through rough grass and mud beside an endless stream of cars and trucks. Basically, this city ain’t designed for anything but automobiles.

Airfare add ons are reaching the absurd

Airfare add ons are reaching the absurd

Flying on too many airlines in the world these days requires a calculator to determine all the airfare add ons unless you are privileged enough to have more than an average level of frequent flier status. Airfare add ons for luggage. More add ons for carry ons and luggage. Adding it all up can drive you crazy. Thanks to one of our intrepid world travelers for providing us so much fodder to create this decidedly, but not so far off, tongue-in-cheek ticket add-on detail…

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