Since retiring from a career in IT at the end of 2016, my wife Yvonne and I had been traveling as much as we could stand until COVID-19 put a temporary stop to it. I loved writing about our experiences, and will again. We intend to enjoy every minute of the time we have, wherever we go and whatever we’re doing–even if it’s staying home right now. You can enjoy our travels with us, just by reading my blog!

When I write, I usually try to share my experience of being in a place rather than just what it looked like and what we did. Traveling is so much more than “doing” a destination when we take the time to talk to people, sit for a cup of coffee or tea, and try to look under the surface of a place to learn a bit about what’s hidden from the rush of sightseeing and selfies. I hope that you feel like you’re there with us if you can’t go yourself, and that you come away with a better sense of what’s possible if you do go.

Aside from this blog, here are other places Mike has been published:

My photograph of a scene at Arches National Park, Utah, won the Bronze prize at the 2021 BATW Lee Foster Travel Photography Awards.

I was awarded Honorable Mention in the 2021 Solas Awards for two essays: The Heart of Yelapa, and Dancing with Duende.

Alert Diver, the quarterly print magazine of the Divers Alert Network, published an article I wrote about a frightening experience Yvonne and I had while diving in Raja Ampat.

My essay A Tourist In My Own Back Yard about enjoying small moments was published in our local newspaper, The Lamorinda Weekly.

A harrowing story of our diving trip in Raja Ampat was published in the May 2020 issue of Diver, “Britain’s best-selling diving magazine.” Though normally a print publication, it’s digital-only this time due to COVID-19 issues.

My story “Negotiating with Nomads” won a Bronze award in the 2020 Solas Awards. In December, it was published on the GeoEx Wanderlust blog, curated by Don George. And it won 3rd prize in the 2019 Suitcase Awards at the Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference in Corte Madera, CA!

My essay “Dancing with Duende” is included in an anthology called Deep Travel: Souvenirs From the Inner Journey.

Two of my essays won 2019 Best Travel Writing category awards at Travelers Tales.

An abridged version of one of those essays, “Moroccan and a Half,” appears in an on-line publication called Hidden Compass. Two of Yvonne’s photographs and one of mine accompany the essay.

I’ve done a number of pieces for Journey Beyond Travel, a fantastic Morocco tour company which also has a fantastic blog, ranked the #1 Morocco blog by FeedSpot! The link will take you to a list of my articles.

“Sunday,” a poem I wrote back in 1992 about the death of my first wife, was featured by the wonderful writing-and-arts oriented travel organizers Deep Travel Workshops.

“Sunday” and two other poems of mine can be found on pages 238-241 of “Finding What You Didn’t Lose: Expressing Your Truth and Creativity Through Poem-Making” by the very talented poet and poetry therapist John Fox. You can order it from your local bookstore or find it on Amazon.

“Sunday” is also in a book I published in 1994, an anthology of previously unpublished poetry and artwork by dozens of people who lost people they loved, called “Voices of the Grieving Heart.” It’s out of print but you can still buy it used on Amazon.

Unless otherwise credited, the photos on this blog were all taken by Yvonne (most of them) or by me. If you’re interested in using one, please contact me.