Thanks for joining me on the journey.
I’m an American travel writer dividing my time between Seville, Spain and California. I travel the world seeking intriguing curiosities and outrageously delicious comfort food so I can have the fun of writing about them here. — Karen McCann
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Cold Soups for the Hot Zone
These days we’re all looking over the contents of our cupboards and wondering how we’ll manage if the supply chain becomes seriously disrupted due to the coronavirus. The announcement last week that Costco stores had run out of toilet paper rocked Americans, who count on being able to purchase the basics, in bulk, at a…
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How to Get a Residency Visa Without Losing Your Mind
The decision to move abroad often comes as a sudden, blinding, rapturous epiphany, when you realize you actually can — you should! — you will! — boldly change the course of your life forever. I’ll never forget Rich sitting me down at a sidewalk café in Seville and earnestly trying to persuade me that we should…
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The Trouble with Dark Tourism
As you can imagine, the dark tourism industry has a bit of a public relations problem. For a start, the “dark” part of the name conjures up visits to torture chambers, mass graves, and other creepy places. And sadly, the word “tourism” now implies inappropriate selfies that offend the laws of God and man,…
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Oh, Good!
“ We ought to do good to others as simply as a horse runs, or a bee makes honey, or a vine bears grapes season after season without thinking of the grapes it has borne. ” Marcus Aurelius Right now, in pride of place on my refrigerator, I’ve stuck a printout from a site called…
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What I’ve Learned About Finding Medical Care Abroad
Show of hands: how many of you actually like going to the dentist? Anyone? I certainly don’t. In fact, I pretty much need a shot of novocaine just to call and make the appointment, especially if I’m trying out a new dental practice. And that goes double in a foreign country. I’m such a coward…
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A Life Transformed: Jo’s 2 Weeks Working Abroad
Jo left NYC for North Carolina to care for her ailing, estranged mother. She tells the story of that epic journey in this bestselling memoir. Lots of us dream about taking a job overseas, and when I heard that Jo Maeder , bestselling author and former top New York DJ, actually took the plunge, I…
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Why Travel With a Purpose?
“ People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life.… I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive. ” Joseph Campbell For…
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My Myths and Legends Tour of Seville
“One can’t believe impossible things,” Alice said in Through the Looking Glass (the sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland ). “I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” That…
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Yes, They Found the Holy Grail, It’s in Valencia
Thirty-three years ago Rich and I inconvenienced our nearest and dearest by getting married two days after Christmas, requiring them to make all sorts of awkward travel arrangements just when everyone really wanted to be home by the fire playing with their new toys. Ever since then, our anniversary has been squeezed into a social…
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Life, Love & Luggage: Rich’s Tips from 5 Months on the Road
One of the oddest aspects of being a blogger is that strangers meeting my husband for the first time tend to say things like, “I feel I know you already, and I really share your love of duct tape and ice cream.” If you’re new to my blog, don’t be alarmed, I’m not revealing some…
TRAVEL with CURIOSITY
These days I’m cultivating curiosity, which science says will keeps my brain agile. I figure spending more time on the road and indulging my natural nosiness about the world will be good therapy and a cheerful counterpoint to today’s headlines. And I will never run out of quirky stuff to write about.
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