by Mary O’Regan The stadium smelled of salty peanuts and old man cigars. There were three flags flying high above the seats with Spain’s in the center position. We walked up steep, narrow steps and sat on hard concrete rows; our seats were in the lower deck near the doors through which they release the…
by Scharlene Fulmer “Ciao!” I shouted to the gondoliers as they glided past, their passengers waving up to me as I stood on the balcony of my room in a beautiful old hotel on the Grand Canal. I sang along with their romantic songs while I watched the many gondolas traverse from one bridge to…
by Jayme H. Simões A shawl, a guitar, a voice and sincere emotion. These are the ingredients of Fado, the celebrated form of world music that captures what it is to be Portuguese. Fado is the song that harnesses the Portuguese soul. Summed up by the Portuguese word saudade, the Fado can be about deep-seated…
by Wanda Medina An ex-boyfriend once told me about his stay in Venice while we were catching up during a lengthy and quite interesting phone conversation. I listened quietly as he regaled me with his Venetian experience staying in one of Italy’s top-notch five-star hotels amidst the old-world romance the enticing city had to offer….
by Lesley Seacrist Hi, my name is Lesley and I am addicted to Mate. I can’t go one day without it. When I first started, I did it with a group of people, but when there is no one else—I still can’t resist. All my friends say that it is weird and the taste is…
After a couple of days in noisy Kathmandu, it’s exciting to get out to the mountains, whether you go in a rickety bus for the eight-hour-long journey along bumpy roads, or fly in an eight-seater plane and wonder where you are going to land (until a landing strip suddenly appears on the side of a…
Luckily ladies, Vancouver is a foot-friendly city, offering a plethora of footpaths and plenty of lush green park areas to work off your expanding middle-belly. Or, if you’re so inclined: rent a bike and peddle around the Stanley Park Seawall and watch the floater planes glide in through the harbor. It was on one of…