Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.
– Mark Twain said it. Scottish storytellers live it.
This is a story…about story. Or rather, the importance of stories to the Scottish Highlands.
“There was an unwritten rule in the Scottish Highlands,” Chris, our driver and guide, explained. “If someone came to your house seeking shelter and food, you must welcome them.” Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Scotland, Travel by: Daniel Noll
21 Comments | 11 January 2013
Mystical and shrouded, Edinburgh Castle in winter afternoon light
Celebrations in the shadow of the Winter Solstice. They help us abide darkness and emerge from the shortest day of the year so that we may carry ourselves through deepening cold and, oddly enough, lengthening days until spring returns a few months later.
In this context, the measure of a place coming forth from this seasonal inflection might in fact be its celebration of the new year, and not only the energy with which it tackles this task, but also the tools it packs to do so. Edinburgh, and its new year’s celebration, Hogmanay? No different.
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Filed Under: Scotland, Travel by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
22 Comments | 2 January 2013
This is a year-end journey of appreciation and reflection. Of lessons and learnings. Of people and places.
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Filed Under: Travel by: Daniel Noll
18 Comments | 31 December 2012
Have you ever returned to a country and felt you were visiting for the first time, the experiences and locations so utterly different than before? That was our recent visit to Nicaragua. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Central America, Nicaragua, Travel by: Audrey Scott
16 Comments | 21 December 2012
Amsterdam. Romantic canals, medieval trading houses, coffee shops leaking smoke and offering contact highs. A red-light district with voluptuous — or maybe voluminous — women seated in oddly-lit windows, looking bored and listless and occasionally interested. Bicycles. Tulips. Van Gogh. Art museums.
But street art?
A traditional view of Amsterdam on a crisp, autumn day.
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Filed Under: Europe, The Netherlands, Travel by: Audrey Scott
34 Comments | 14 November 2012
This is the beginning of a multi-part series we’re calling “lost destinations” in which we highlight activities and destinations that we’ve experienced previously but haven’t written about extensively or enough apparently, for they surface often in conversation and in questions emailed to us by readers.
Our first taste of Vienna came in late December 1998. We’d driven across Austria after celebrating Christmas in Salzburg and we arrived in town under the most inauspicious of winter circumstances – Central European midday darkness, frigid temperatures, a biting wind from the Danube, non-existent parking, and fully-booked hotels.
Adding insult to injury, the only people willing to help: overeager men dressed in period costumes skulking around and selling tickets to “best of” classical music performances. We eventually found a place to stay in the far suburbs of town, in the home of an Austrian man holed up with the world’s largest St. Bernard. But that story is for another time.
In any event, this was Western Europe, but with an eastern look. Our relationship with Vienna: off to a rocky start. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Austria, Travel by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
33 Comments | 5 October 2012
This is a story about how sometimes it’s a good thing to take the long way, to miss the bus, and to find the shrine.
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Filed Under: East Asia, Japan, Travel by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
31 Comments | 30 August 2012
Traveling to Berlin? Here’s our Berlin brainstorming guide to give you some approaches and ideas to get started.
We have found ourselves in Berlin this year for the third summer in a row. Berlin draws us in, like the school kid who may not be the best looking in the class but has the magnetic personality that everyone wants to be around.
Berlin for us is a place of openness and open space, physical and mental. The history of the city is one of destruction and creation. From our first visit over 10 years ago, it has always felt like a place in flux, in full evolution, always trying to figure itself out, reinventing along the way. This is what leads to its entrepreneurial feel, its inimitable style.
Given our enthusiasm and the amount of time we have spent in Berlin these last years, we’re often asked to give advice on how we approach the city — what to do, see, eat and enjoy. I’ve given this advice often by email, so it’s about time to share it in one place. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Europe, Germany, Travel by: Audrey Scott
42 Comments | 3 August 2012
I’m about to try to explain why, together with the woman who does the English language voice of Hello Kitty, Audrey and I stalked a couple of girls in rabbit suits, only to end up in a big pink room eating scrambled eggs and ketchup served up by teenage Japanese girls in French maid outfits singing high-pitched children’s rhymes.
A G-rated reality wrapped in the potential for a XXX-rated fantasy.
As Bill Murray said in Lost in Translation, “This is hard.” Continue Reading »
Filed Under: East Asia, Japan, Travel by: Daniel Noll
36 Comments | 25 July 2012
The following is a selection of twelve lessons we shared in our talk at the World Domination Summit (WDS), plus one of those aha! moments.
When Chris Guillebeau asked us to speak at WDS about our lives and what we’ve learned, we were beyond honored and excited. Then reality hit.
Holy poop. What are we going to say in front of all those people?!
In front of *all* those people at WDS. Photo courtesy of Armosa Studios.
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Filed Under: Personal Growth, Travel by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
31 Comments | 13 July 2012
