By Kit So
I had the pleasure recently to go on a holiday trip to New York. And this is what I discovered. Everything about New York is complex. To fully appreciate the magnificent place, you must know a bit about New York. Here are the top nine little-known facts about New York which I think everyone planning to go there should know:
1. Everyone calls New York City the ‘Big Apple’. But why? Where did it come from? The phrase was first popularized by a newspaper editor, John Fitzgerald, who titled …

We had just finished driving 12 to 13 hours from our little home town of Marion through vast city scapes in Canada to an even more vast wilderness. Restless and weary …but also anticipating something we had never seen before. That is…. my brother and I ….had never seen before.
Maine…. beautiful. It was a land untouched and left for moose and loons.
My brother, Barry, stuck in the back seat with me….. had always sparked the desire for seeking something new and different…from the books he read to making …

Memoirs of a Geisha. Ancient Japan. Its tradition. Its spirit. Its lifestyle. Its people. Have you ever wondered what they were like? This eloquent book acts like a bridge to Japan’s storied past, told through the eyes of a little fishing village girl raised to be one of the most memorable geishas in Japan’s recent history. Golden’s style will capture you from the beginning and you will be sorry to put it down when the last page is flipped. SC
From Library Journal
“I wasn’t born and raised to be a Kyoto …

By Dave Bello
Day One — Our trip starts as we meet in St Thomas. For many, this is a return visit to Island Retreat and we recollect on our last class, the places we visited and things we learned. For others, this is the first voyage with Fair Wind and its time to get started. We begin with meal planning, provisioning and a boat safety check. When our days work is complete, its off to dinner in Red Hook to get acquainted and enjoy some island fun before we set …

Welcome to Mars, my friend.
We may be saying that sooner than you think. The European Space Agency just announced its intention to start looking for people willing to go to Mars, at least on a hypothetical trip, since they won’t ever be blasting off from their “spaceship” in Russia. Instead they will spend 520 days on board ship, pretending its real.
It might all be a publicity stunt, a ploy to draw people’s attention and energy back to space and the romance we have with the stars. It might just be …

It has been some time since I have traveled abroad. But I haven’t lost the hunger or the desire to continue meeting people that are nothing like me.
That’s how I found myself accepting a package of instant noodles in front of forty-five applauding Koreans for showing up to their golf tournament.
I pulled up late; most everyone was already there.
In an early afternoon sun and a stiff breeze, nearly forty Korean golfers practiced their swings, stretched, or chatted amongst themselves about strokes and swings and golf balls. Decked out in pants …

I have never been in battle myself, and yet sometimes, when I am feeling lucky and brave and strong, and probably foolishly, I wish I had. I wish I could have proven myself, saved lives, beaten back a foe who needed beating back, been called a hero when I got home.
It’s strange to say that because I am probably not many people’s version of hero. I don’t stand out in a crowd for my size or muscles. I can’t lead a sports team back from the brink of loss by …

By James Spellman
In a good year, in excess of four million people visit Phuket in Thailand. A lot of those visitors will love it. Some will love it so much that they want to live here.
Every year thousands of people come to Phuket hoping to set up a new life on a tropical island. Many of them need to make a living and quickly discover that employment opportunities for foreigners are very limited. So what are their options? Well one of the most likely avenues is to invest in your …

I have always gravitated toward adventurous people, lured by a desire, the same way I always watch planes taking off with a bit of envy. Perhaps it is being able to live an adventure by being close to it. When I was young, Indiana Jones was one of my favorite movies and I watched Star Wars over and over. I read every Hardy Boy book I could get my hands on. I loved reading about their adventures and the dangerous mysteries they solved.
I love adventure. Most men do.
And women …

By James C Nelson
On October 12, 1915 President Theodore Roosevelt spoke these words, “There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism… We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance. But if he is heartily and singly loyal to this Republic, then no matter where he was born, he is just as good an American as anyone else.
The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it …