For all its conveniences, modern living leaves a lot to be desired. We spend our days enduring the ever-increasing pressures of work, the city’s oppressive unfriendliness, the daily commuter grind and the aggressive reality of impatient road-ragers.
Is something missing?
Unfortunately, work is a reality for most of us. So too is city and suburban living, dreary [...]

Today, Norm Goldman, Editor of Sketchandtravel and Bookpleasures, is pleased to have as a guest, John Shors, author of Beneath a Marble Sky: A Novel of the Taj Mahal, that is now being made into a major motion picture.
Good day John and thank you for agreeing to participate in our interview.
John: You’re quite [...]

After my rather quaint and leisurely scenic boat ride through Winter Park, a rather different boating experience was in store for me: a high speed airboat ride through Lake Tohopekaliga, provided by Boggy Creek Airboat Rides.
We got started early in the morning and took the first tour out. The temperature must have been about 45 [...]

Ever wondered what some of the Paris locations from the The Da Vinci Code look like? Saint-Sulpice Church for example the supposed home to the Priory of Sion? Or the Pyramide Inversée the maybe location of the Holly Grail? Now you can just visit Da Vinci Code Paris (www.da-vinci-code-paris.com). Along with these lesser known attractions [...]

Nice, with the principality of Monaco and Italy just a stone’s throw away to one side, and the ancient port of Antibes and the rest of the Riviera (with miles and miles of tourist-pulling beaches) as far as St Tropez on the other, is a popular tourist destination and also a thriving city with a [...]

In the fifth century BC Herodotus wrote of Egypt that “nowhere are there so many marvellous things…nor in the world besides are to be seen so many things of unspeakable greatness”. The Sphinx, the Nile, ancient Luxor, the pyramids – Egypt’s scope is glorious.
Cairo
Cairo, Egypt’s capital city, offers an effortless combination of ancient and modern [...]

WHEN THE WORLD JUST KEEPS ON POUNDING

Have you ever wondered how places get their names? I have. I remember when we moved to the Kansas City area and learned of “Knob Knoster”, Missouri. I mean, really! How on earth did that name come to pass?
Here is a short list: Dead Horse, Alaska; Monkey’s Eyebrow, Arizona; Why, Arizona; Sopchoppy, Florida; Two Egg, [...]

These are a few things you should know before you hire a car in Spain:
* What’s included in the price and what ISN’T. You can come across some amazing looking prices but when you look at the detail you find that they don’t include unlimited mileage, local taxes or insurances.
You may not be doing much [...]

Odessites are the best known among others as people who are fond
of their hometown – Odessa.
“Why? – you can argue. – The others also love their hometowns!”
Yes, you are right, everybody does, but only Odessites’ tender
affection for Odessa has become a legend. A myth. A tale.
Our ancestors were proud enough to compare Odessa with [...]