The pub that feels like a cave
A Mainz layover, an underground brewery, and the pair of beer mugs that came home in the suitcase.
Stories from the road
The longer versions of the stories behind some of the things on the site. Layover essays, restaurant accidents, antique-shop afternoons. Written by whoever brought the item home.
The polenta pan they sold me
When the restaurant in Argentina realized how much I loved the pan they'd cooked my dinner in, they sold it to me on the spot.
Beverly's pearls
My great-grandmother chose specific heirlooms for each of her grandchildren. The pearls were what she chose for my mom — who's worn them almost every day for thirty years.
The time Air Force Magazine wrote about Grandpa Jim
"There are major legends and minor legends, and then there was Philpott." A retired Major General wrote that — in print, in 1986. We didn't have to make any of this up.
Three flights, one night in Tel Aviv
Thirty years of friendship, three separate flights, one hotel. The fairy godmothers all landed in Tel Aviv the same evening — and made it to dinner before scattering across the planet again.
Over the Hump and Half the World
Ferrying two Y-12s from Kunming to Lusaka in 1995 — a Calcutta detention, carols on 123.45 over the Gulf of Oman, and hand-pumped fuel in Addis. Now published in The Aviation Geek Club.
More stories coming
Christmas in Old Jerusalem · Tokyo antique-shop afternoons · The cuckoo clock that came back from Bavaria — and others. Bookmark this page; we add as we travel.