Amtrak announced late night fares recently I can go from BWI airport to NYC for $15 if I am willing to leave at 4 AM. I can do the same for the trip back if I’m willing to get back very late. I can do a day trip to NYC for $30 and then whatever … More The Midnight Train to Somewhere
Covid started my least favorite new Christmas tradition. My wife leaves for Kentucky at least a week before I do and I spend a week at home alone. My wife and daughter leave this morning and I am not scheduled to leave until a week from tomorrow. Home alone is not all bad. It is … More Today Begins My Home Alone/Anxiety Week
My Facebook memories and Timehop have been full of pictures from my previous trips. Zambia, Arizona, NYC, etc. My wife and daughter were just in LA for 6 days. My wife presented at a conference and they spent the rest of the time as tourists. I’ve been to Kentucky. Kentucky is nice and I love … More I Need To Go Somewhere
We just returned from our annual summer trip to visit family in Kentucky. The trip is split between my mother-in-law’s house and my brother’s house. That makes for two very different types of vacation. We always start at my MIL’s house because it is the shortest drive from our house. The Typical Day at My … More It’s Like Two Vacations in One
Every travel day is the same. I wake up early. I’m packed and ready to go. I then wait for hours for anyone else in the family to be here and ready to go. This year is worse because both kids decided to stay at their place until this morning so I am waiting for … More Travel Day
I wrote about my experience flying to and from Nashville in Illumination over on Medium. The link is below if you care to read it. I just returned from a trip home to Kentucky to visit family and attend my nephew’s wedding shower. It was the second time I have flown since Covid hit. The … More My ‘Post-Covid’ Travel Experience | by Alan Simpson | ILLUMINATION | Jun, 2022 | Medium
Back when I worked at a place I hated it was always difficult to return from time off. Mondays were hard. It was harder when I returned from a long vacation. It was mainly hard because I was returning to a terrible place working for a terrible person. I have discovered, though, that circumstances can … More Reentry Can Still Be Tough
I spent the last 7 days at my brother’s house in Kentucky. While I was there I spent a little time acting like a tourist. On my first full day there I drove to the county where I grew up. I stopped by my childhood home and took a picture(apparently, they were taking mine as … More Being a Tourist Back Home in Kentucky
The LDS Temple in DC is open right now for public tours. It will close to the public again next month. We did the tour yesterday. Photos were not allowed inside, but there were several good photo ops outside the temple. You can see more of my. photos here. I wanted to get this picture … More Selfie Culture is Ruining Tourist Attractions
There was a recent article on Defector where two of their writers debated the merits of each option. I read the article and commented on Twitter that I had mixed feelings about this decision. I have a flight to Nashville coming in June. I will have to make this decision. Here are the pros and … More Checking Bags vs Carry On: A Travel Debate With Myself
The World's Common Tater 