And this time it pays off! I mean, not a huge score - not business class, of a coach row all to myself (there were some of those on this flight) but I was able to shift from my middle/middle… Read More
The part of this road trip that I liked the least, as TravelDad, was having to retrace my original steps for much of the return journey. Out and back on the same road is inefficient, from a… Read More
The pace of my write-up has led some folk to believe that this summer has been one perpetual road-trip for the Grays. Nope! It’s just been a perpetual case of writing fatigue on my par… Read More
Yes, TravelDad is shockingly behind on his write-up of The Great Gray Family Road Trip, completed almost four weeks ago. But TravelDad will always complete the task, if only for posterity an… Read More
“Appomattox Court House” is both the name of the actual courthouse that serviced Appomattox, VA, and the name of the little village that sprung up around it. In that village sits… Read More
If you listened closely last Saturday, you may have caught the faint sounds of the opening chords of China Grove, and the gentle easing of my sketcher-clad lead foot onto the gas pedal of ou… Read More
I certainly did gush a bit about the beautiful German countryside, didn't I? In fact, driving along the German side of Lake Konstanz, having lunch at a beautiful golf course, and another at… Read More
Guess which river I’m on. Go ahead! I’ll wait…there, you got it, right. Yes! The Danube! The same stately and majestic river that runs through Budapest also runs through T… Read More
Most of my Dear Readers will know that I always like to ask of a city: “why is it here?” There are usually a handful of obvious reasons; occasionally some that are a little burie… Read More
By the afternoon of Day 2 we were ready to see the crown jewel of our visit to Nashville, The Hermitage. We’re all fans of or professionals in American History in this family, and seei… Read More
Against some long odds, Nashville has established itself as a party city, and especially as a go-to destination for bachelor and bachelorette parties Read More
Come along, friends, as The Gray Family continues its tour of local Americana. I know, at this point I desperately need to update my website header – this site still claims, despite th… Read More
So: why Memphis? On Travel Man, Richard Ayoade asks this at the beginning of the show, and then spews the Wikifacts on his particular destination – founded in 1819, a population of 663… Read More
As a teen I remember being able to buy an all-day ski lift ticket at Seven Springs for something like $10. Thirty-someodd years later you’ll spend an easy $100 for the same. That&rsquo&hell…Read More
Memphis TN is a breezy three and a half hour drive from Birmingham, AL – almost all of it on Interstate 22, a new-ish (in terms of interstates) link between the cities. I’ve been… Read More
My last TravelDad post was aggressively optimistic – we’d turned the COVID corner, travel was back! And I’d envisioned a July and August full of day trips and local overnig… Read More
I was in the Post Office yesterday – I know, how archaic, but I had some postcards that I wanted to send, leftovers from our trip to Florence AL where I found a shop still selling them… Read More
By design this was a nice, short trip: The beauty of a two hour distance is that you don’t feel like you have to spend more than one night to make it all worth the drive; and, you can… Read More
Clickety-clack, travel’s back! Yes, that sound you hear is the collective of keystrokes and mouseclicks as people book, once again, for summer travel Read More
As I was saying – I’m not doing this just for fun. An English Country Squire must have first-hand knowledge of estate management, and on that happy day when I permanently retreat… Read More
Nature amazes me, because seeds drop into the ground and grow new plants, all by themselves. I’ve tried doing this, and had convinced myself that the whole kernel->plant progression… Read More
Listen – I’m nothing if not derivative. So, when COVID hit, and all my travel plans went slowly, then quickly out the window, well…what’s a TravelDad going to do as… Read More
I won’t lie. It’s been a tough time for TravelDad, and I don't like posting when I'm feeling down. I shouldn’t complain, after all, I’m healthy and safe, employed and… Read More
So last post I said that London wasn’t on the list of cities I’d visit during a shut-down – as if I had an actual list. Really I only had one city in mind, and I suspected… Read More
I was watching an old Star Trek episode with my kids (DS9, which I hated at the time it was out but have since come around on); this episode heavily featured Vulcans and their near superiori… Read More
So I was taking a walk through downtown Birmingham because it was finally a nice day after so many many days of rain -- and I’m not just talking about a day where it rained at some poi… Read More
Heading into fall of 2019, I had...oh...a bit more than 420,000 Skymiles saved up. It had taken a ridiculously long time to do that, btw, since I'm not a frequent flyer and have to rely on e… Read More
Deal Alert! Delta is relaunching it's Skymiles Amex card, with an unusually rich bonus mile sign-on, and if you don't already have this card, then perhaps you want to think about it, just fo… Read More
Hey, you know I like to do my summer travel to Europe, it says so in the description of this site. But maybe you don't want to leave the US this year, what with the whole world collapsing al… Read More
It is not lost on me that the last/only other time I've been to London was as a result of one of those crazy 70's overseas flight arrangements, the kind a mad scientist travel agent would th… Read More
The other day I ran into a Dear Reader, JWT, hadn't seen her since she switched jobs, and we proceeded on a year end recap. I told her my recent tale of woe and she insisted that I create a… Read More
Adios and farewell to Frontier Airlines' foray into the Alabama market, they've pulled their routes from Birmingham (and Montgomery) for lack of demand. Some of you will remember that budget… Read More
Yeah, sure, it’s my New Years’ (New Year’s?) resolution to blog more, blah blah. Listen, it’s hard to blog over the holidays, or at least it was for me. It’s a… Read More
Thomas Edison got around. So much so that there are an easy half-dozen cities that claim him as one of their own, Louisville included. As a young man on the make, Edison worked here for West… Read More
Regardless of how you feel about wagering, if you’re in Louisville, you have to see Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby. It’s a short drive from downtown, 12 minutes, rig… Read More
Let’s explore! Louisville advertises itself, based on a couple of Forbes blurbs, as “quirky” and “underrated” - you take what you can get, I guess, but those a… Read More
Hey, let’s go to London! Because London is Awesome! Except flying overseas is such a hassle: it’s either horribly uncomfortable or wildly expensive, or sometimes both Read More
“The Mississippi Delta is shining like a national guitar. I am following the river down the highway through the cradle of the Civil War.” –Paul Simon, Graceland Read More
The few hazy memories from my college days include my erstwhile history professor lecturing about Plato's ideal of happiness. At least I'm pretty sure it was Plato, and not Aristotle -- cert… Read More
What's to recap? Night King's gone from Mostly Dead to All Dead. The plan worked as advertised, the only real surprise last night was the low body count of all the major characters Read More
I had a dictum, in my younger days, that went as follows: a party doesn't really start until three quarters of the guests have left. The ones with something better to do -- some person to go… Read More
"Um, oh, this is a fun one. This is an afternoon with me at the California Science Center, where I point out their mistakes.” –Sheldon describing his ‘Cooper Coupons’… Read More
We know you expect more from us than your usual slapped-together cocktail blog. Plus, we know you have a stale bottle of apricot brandy in the back of your cabinet Read More
You got a long day at work ahead of you tomorrow. Too long, frankly. Go ahead and waste a little time at your desk with my latest Drinkist post. You're welcome! Read More
What, one more day left? Fine by us. And since we’re taking a direct flight, this day isn’t completely lost to travel. Our DCA-BHM departs 5:15pm. On a Saturday, with no traffic… Read More
If there’s a downside to staying with family, then it’s that there’s a natural level of excitement and conviviality that will tend to keep you up later than is probably goo… Read More
Have you ever done this – gone to a wedding, and spent a catty couple hours at the reception talking about what you would have done different? No, I’ve never done that. Never. At… Read More
I looked at my blog timeline...and see that my last blog entry was late August. Whoa. Though I note that much of September was taken up by updating the pages in general, including Destinatio… Read More
Look, I didn’t design this trip (or blog) as some 14 day metaphor to the stages of life, but it sure seems to have worked out that way. The tumult and confusion of the early days in Pa… Read More
I have developed several travel habits over the years. Some for better, some for worse. Among them is that, as the trip goes on, my planned itinerary invariably take us further and further f… Read More
Brittany has a lot to do, and a lot to see. Yes, people go for the coasts, but even those are dramatically different, depending on where you are. Simply cross from the northern side of Britt… Read More
Just because you don’t have to do anything, doesn’t mean you don’t do anything. I’d say, at this point, we were inclined for some active relaxation Read More
Getaway day – time to leave the Loire behind. But can I mention again how much I loved this rental? It checked off all the boxes: cute, convenient, comfortable, updated. Had some rudim… Read More
I arrived in the Loire Valley with a long list of to-do's. There are dozens of Chateau, but even beyond that, there are towns big and small, nature trails, sunset boat rides, museums, market… Read More
I know! Let me repeat this, because it’s critical. On your typical Euro vacation – say, Friday-Sunday next week, Day 7 is your second-last full day. And since you’re packin… Read More
We’d done a two-Chateau Monday, so I thought we’d take a break and do a non-Chateau day. In retrospect this was unnecessary, but still, it made sense at the time. Today, we&rsquo&hell…Read More
Our first full day in Amboise started as a wash-out: all night rain had flooded the local road into town. Had my rental had a little less ground clearance, I wouldn't have made it to the bak… Read More
OK, people, time to kick the jet-lag and hit some heavy-duty sights. Centre Pompidou to start. Then maybe the Arc de Triomphe before getting on our Bustronome lunch tour. Big day! Read More
I’m told that Paris-Orly is preferred, for travelers, over Charles de Gaulle – smaller, easier to get in and out. Possibly. But continuing in the theme of the flight on La Compag… Read More
When does your vacation start? Arguably the moment you leave work the day before; or maybe the moment you leave the house to set out on the journey Read More
Summer’s nearly here: and I’ve been spending the last few weeks considering some new sunglasses for our trip. Not just any glasses, of course: I’ve been looking at Snap&rsq&hell…Read More
I made my commitment to our summer travel plans waaaay back in November: coming up on six months ago. Plenty of time, I told myself, to enrich the travel experience by brushing up, myself an… Read More