Wanderings with Dan Catena
In August of 2012, I found myself on a plane headed to Bogotá, Colombia. I was traveling alone and my level of Spanish fluency was equal to perhaps a six-month-old baby. A carousel of emotions rotated in my mind, mostly fear, as I left the familiarity of home and gravitated toward a new world. The... Continue Reading →
Sometimes we learn valuable lessons when we least expect them. This is a short story of things I learned while traveling in Ulula del Río.
Southeast Asia. It's a pretty nifty part of our planet that deserves at least one visit in our lifetime. The nearest Southeast Asian airport from my house is in Manila, Philippines and it's roughly fourteen hours away by plane. Due to its not-so-close distance from here, appropriate planning is necessary before embarking on vacation there.... Continue Reading →
Here's a quick guide of some fun things to do in Tokyo 🙂
Once upon a time, Jack and I found ourselves in Zhangjiajie..
A handful of moons ago, my best friend Jack and I went to China. Well, depending on who to speak with, it wasn’t technically China. It was Hong Kong. At its origins, Hong Kong was a sleepy fishing village. Nowadays the city is at the epicenter of world trade. The Qing Empire ceded Hong Kong... Continue Reading →
Once upon a time in Cambodia...
Once upon a time in Southern Thailand...
There exist few books that I can say are a personal favorite, but some stick out in my often fleeting memory. Everything I Never Told You by Chelsea Ng, Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, and Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez are three that I like to recommend friends in need... Continue Reading →
Author's note: This might have happened sometime a handful of years ago. Shades of violet began to spill upward into the sky. Rowed fields with the occasional farmhouse emerging out of nowhere became visible. On this ALSA passenger bus it was too early in the morning to hold a conversation with strangers, but... Continue Reading →
Hey, how’s it going? Did you get a haircut? We’ve met a few times but unless you’re regular of MuyBici stations, El Palmar, Esparragal, or various plazas that serve cheap coffee, you probably don’t remember me. I normally don’t write letters to cities, but today I’m in the mood to get some things... Continue Reading →
Do I smell popcorn? The muscles in my eyelids sputter a few flickers as my I search with my nostrils for the aroma of the lightly buttered snack that brings me back to those times when I would spend money at cinemas. The cracks and pops are making the emptiness beneath my winkled abdomen sing... Continue Reading →
After only a few minutes in the air, I felt like my life was in danger. The flight started normally – the door closed, the flight attendants and pilot greeted passengers on the loudspeakers, and we gained altitude. Moments later we hit turbulence. For a few seconds the plane rattled and shook. Ok, nothing to…
Do you feel anxious before boarding an airplane? I used to be horrified of flying until I started using these easy strategies to overcome my own fears.
There Dan Was 