Blenheim is one of those towns that doesn’t really need to exist. It’s like the service station / rest stop / roach motel encampments that spring up at the halfway point of a long and dusty road. These towns only exist out of necessity – like a trade-route settlement in the middle of the desert. Continue reading »

Back in my norcal days, Taco Tuesday was my favorite drinking day of the week. There were almost never any tacos involved, but we didn’t mind — we were out to destroy our stomachs and livers with booze, not cheap Mexican food.Continue reading »

It was yet another hung-over Saturday morning at the Voda office, and I was trying to keep my eyes open, while groggily surfing CNN’s website and catching up on my American politics. It was a cold, grey morning, but Sublime was on the radio and I was daydreaming about my life back in sunny Southern California when I stumbled onto a web page that asked the question, “Which city are you?”Continue reading »

The Palace was the kind of place where you felt immediately at home, and at the same time, immediately out of place. It was the kind of hostel where everyone seemed to already know each other, which can make the new nomad on the block feel a bit like an outsider. Continue reading »