Travels

All of my photos can be found here, but these are some of the highlights:

Adjacent to my table for one, the only word that I can make out is “computer virus.” Sitting a few meters away from me are six Korean men in their mid-50s, possibly older. They have rounds of various empty coffee cups scattered in front of them and seem to be engaged in some animated conversation. Some look attentive, others disengaged. But me? I’m the only one in the place who is obviously not Korean. And yet, minutes before, the friendly…

Well, I’m in Daejeon, or as the local tourism board says “It’s Daejeon!” I got in at a bit after 6 pm local time last night and was on the 7:50 pm bus from Incheon Airport to Daejeon. Two and change hours later, I was in Daejeon. My friendly seatmate helped me get a cab and directed me to Chungnam National University, where after my cab driver got rear-ended (slightly), and asked in a combination of Korean and pantomime if…

Greetings from SFO. In 20 minutes I’m going to board a plane bound for Seoul (it’s a 12 hour 40 minute direct flight). Then I’m off to Daejeon for one night, and then back to Seoul for the rest of the week. Thanks to everyone for all their support and help! If you want a postcard from Korea, email me your postal address.

Argh, just when I thought I would be able to get home without any problems, it looks like I may get stuck in Paris for another day. There’s major snow storms in Chicago (I’m transiting through O’Hare), and today’s American Airlines Flight 41 from Paris to Chicago was canceled. That means that mine (also Flight 41) could be canceled too. Fortunately for me, if I get stuck in Paris I do have somewhere to stay. But still, think warm thoughts.

In 12 hours, I’ll be on a train bound for Paris. In 16 hours, I’ll be on a plane bound for Chicago. In about 36 hours, I’ll be home in Oakland. My trip to Geneva has been, like many of my other quick stops, has been productive, short, and yet just the right amount of time. Luca picked me up from the airport, having taken time out of his vacation in Ticino to do so, and took me to his…

Greetings from Berlin, where I’m crashing with John and Aimee for one night before heading onto Geneva. Well, more accurately I’ve just done my crashing for the night, seeing as it’s morning here now. But they’ve been gracious hosts in their apartment just off of Bornholmer Straße in the northeastern part of the city. Last night we walked around the neighborhood, hit up a bar, went out for Japanese food, and then hit up another bar on the way home.…

As if five weeks and eight countries (Morocco, Senegal, Mauritania, France, UK, Estonia, Germany, Switzerland) weren’t enough, I just got word that The World (PRI/BBC/WGBH) is sending me to Riga, Latvia for a story tomorrow. Veljo and I will hop the bus to Riga (it’s five hours to the south), doing interviews Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. I’ll catch my flight onto Berlin on Sunday afternoon, and Veljo will return home that evening. Now at least this time, I can…

Yes, Tallinn is very cold. But it sure has its moments.