Travel Writing

Travel Writing

I have always been passionate about travel, carving out day and weekend excursions even when budgets were tight and we had three little kids. Today, traveling is much easier as there is more money and our children are grown though time is still the most precious commodity. And so it is for most Americans. Thus we try to fit fifteen destinations into seven days, rush from point A to point D, take photos like madmen and once returned home, collapse in the living room chair.

Much later, when the dust has settled and the vacation is a distant memory, we look at the photos to remember what really happened during the trip, what we saw, heard, tasted and smelled. Quite often, not much is left, a few superficial impressions and a lot of time spent watching landscapes fly by in pursuit of the next hot spot.

My Approach to Travel

This is not how I do things nor is it what my stories are about. I rather spend one week in one location and really know it than go to a dozen and know nothing. Traveling is not a checklist, it is an immersive experience that fills our five senses and allows us to be in the moment, slows us down until we can feel it in our toes. Like the fragrance of cedar and pine in the Black Forest that permeates our pores until we can taste it, the whisper of boughs in the wind above and the acres of bright green blueberry bushes that cover the ground below like a thick blanket.

Bicycling Lake Constance, Germany

I often visit a new place on foot or travel by bicycle. Only then is it possible to capture the nuances of a place or the road, the care that has gone into a flower garden, the cozy ambiance of an outdoor restaurant or the water fountain in the market square as it trickles into the basin full of glistening copper pennies. And then there are the locals, a colorful people whose lives seem hidden behind cultural differences and a foreign language. I want to take the time, watch and listen, and try to understand what their goals are and how they do things.

I want to share these moments and allow the reader to follow in my footsteps, whether in reality or from an arm chair. Thus my stories have information about the area, the culture, the food and the feel of the land in hopes that they will inspire and motivate travelers to seek their own experience, whether in the places I have described or a new destination and remind them to slow down and look.

Europe

I admit that I have an advantage when it comes to traveling in Europe. I used to live in Germany and know its customs and idiosyncrasies well. I also visited other European countries; most are nearby and easy to reach through an amazing network of public transportation.

If you would like more information or are interested in an article, please contact me.

Giant City State Park, Southern Illinois

On the Docket for 2011

Ø  Trier, Germany

Ø  Bicycling the Mosel River

Ø  Holistic Black Forest – Staying in a Biohotel

Ø  Day Trips to Cologne and Duesseldorf

Ø  Mexico’s Riviera Maya

2010 in Review

Ø  Beer Tasting Weekend in Cincinnati

Ø  Solingen – Hidden Gems in the Hilly Land

Ø  Cologne Revisited

Ø  Weekend Escape to the Black Forest

Ø  Staufen – Home of Goethe’s Faust

Staufen, Germany - Goethe's Faust Lived Here

Ø  Bicycling Lake Constance – Germany, Austria and Switzerland

Ø  Tuebingen – Old Meets New

Ø  Bennett Spring, Missouri – How Trout Fishing Teaches Humility

Ø  Canoeing in Sugar Creek – Why Dogs Should Stay Home

Ø Southern Illinois – Hidden Wine Country

Ø  Hobby Garden Movement – A German Institution

Food

Ø  Where’s the Sauerkraut – What Germans Really Eat

Salad - Landgasthaus Mindelsee, Germany

Ø  Coffee and Cake – A German Tradition

Ø  Culinary Treats in the Black Forest

Ø  Fruit Brandies – Uniquely European

Ø Home Cooking – Delicious German Meals for Every Day