Author: Jim Santos
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Hands Off the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
I have some wonderful memories associated with The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Over the last 25 years I have attended plays, musicals, and more. It was there when my first wife, Carolyn, was fighting cancer and needing a scooter if any kind of walking was involved, that we were able to…
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Expat Parenting and Solo Travel
Paula Barnes has been living the expat life for close to two decades now, and if there’s one thing her story proves, it’s that confidence in travel isn’t something you’re born with — you build it, one uncomfortable moment at a time. She and her husband left Australia thinking they’d do six months in Taiwan.…
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The Gift of Time Together
Coming home exhausted from a trip usually isn’t a travel problem — it’s a planning problem. We learned that the hard way more than once, which is probably why this episode hit home for us. On this one, Rita and I sit down with Paul Partridge, a former financial advisor who traded spreadsheets for travel…
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Confessions of an Exploited Amazon Author
Let me tell you something about the publishing business that nobody tells you before you get into it: Amazon is not, in fact, running a charity on your behalf. I know, I know. Shocking stuff. But here’s the actual math, because I did it so you don’t have to. Say I sell a paperback for…
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A Chat With Madison Rolley
Technology is changing travel planning faster than a lot of us can keep up with. And if you’re a retiree, or just late to this particular party, it can feel like someone handed you a new phone and expected you to already know the passcode. This episode is our attempt to connect the dots between…
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When “Error Establishing a Database Connection” Turns Into a Week Long Odyssey (with a Happy Ending)
If you follow this site regularly, you may have noticed things got a little quiet — or downright broken — for a stretch. I promised the whole story and here it is, warts and all, because honestly? It’s too good (and too maddening) not to share. It Started With Five Words Every Website Owner Dreads…
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Ultimate AI travel planning that actually saves you time
Planning a long Europe trip sounds romantic, but the reality can be tough. Check-in windows, long transit days, and missed connections add to the challenge. The task of stitching lodging, trains, and buses across many countries also wears you down. With overland travel, we stay in city centers instead of airports. It gives us more…
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Picking A Travel Credit Card
Premium travel credit cards sound like an easy win: earn points, get airport lounge access, stack credits, and turn everyday spending into flights and hotels. But the real question is value, especially when annual fees climb toward $895. The key theme is matching the card to your travel style and your actual spending, not your…
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How Educational Travel Builds Confidence Through Connection
Saying yes to the trips that scare you a little can reshape your entire life, and that idea sits at the heart of this conversation with Jewel Rozanski, founder of Cultured Travel. After 14 years as a public high school Spanish teacher and training in educational psychology, she turns educational travel into a practical path…
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The Scavengers of the Publishing World
As Dennis Miller used to say, “Now I don’t want to go off on a rant here..” – but here I go. A few years ago I wrote a blog post called “Do The Write Thing“, in which I moaned about the difficulties and costs of self-publishing, and how the only people who make any…
