Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

“I always plan trips to the nth degree,” a reader wrote me last week. “But we’ve decided that for our Greek Island trip next year, we’re just going to follow your lead (plan ahead, but don’t book anything in advance) — we’re just going to hop on the ferry and go. This is a bit…

“When you were a kid in New Jersey,” I said to Rich, “did you ever think you’d move abroad?” “Never.” “Me either. I thought it was something that people only did in books and movies, not in real life.” So you can imagine how gobsmacked we were a dozen years ago when we found ourselves…

Would you have answered that ad? Me neither, but it allegedly drew 5000 applicants for Ernest Shackleton’s 1914-1917 Antarctic expedition . As it turned out, the ad actually understated the dangers; things went horribly wrong for Shackleton and then they got much, much worse. What was meant to be a triumph — “the last great…

Every year, Lola and Rich present the holiday turkey to the assembled guests. “You will never be completely at home again,” said author Miriam Adeney, “because part of your heart always will be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.” This is…

“Closed?” I said incredulously. “But the schedule said ten —“ My friend shrugged. “Apparently it doesn’t open until noon.” “Wait, are you telling me they gave out misinformation ? That we didn’t get the straight skinny from these people?” I shook my head in admiration. How subtle! Well played, Museum of International Propaganda. Well played.…

[Update: since I wrote this back in 2016, several of these dive bars have gone out of existence, including the venerable Bodega Virgen de los Reyes. I don’t know where Henry is sipping his morning sherry these days. But these guidelines for spotting a Sevillano dive bar still hold true, and may help you discover…

“We saw the oddest woman on the train,” my cousin said, when he and his wife arrived in Seville some years ago. “She was tiny with frizzy white hair. Everyone pointed and whispered when she walked by.” “Did she look like this?” I said, picking up a nearby magazine and showing him the cover. “Good…

​“Barcelona hotels have gotten ridiculously expensive,” said Rich, thumbing through his hotel-finding app as we planned the final night of our three-month railway journey. “But I have one that’s near the train station and quite reasonable.” Hmmm. Convenient and cheap? What were the odds? “Can I take a look?” I asked suspiciously. I was still…

“Forget that one,” I said. “It looks charming, the food smells great, and the liquor is top-shelf. Obviously we can’t go there.” We were walking through Trieste, Italy, passing one adorable trattoria after another. Rich gazed longingly at the cozy interiors and clusters of sidewalk tables loaded with fresh pasta, succulent pork, fried fish, and…

​If I say Zagreb, what’s the first response that comes to your mind? Huh? Gesundheit! A place to zip through en route to Croatia’s island-studded coast ​My answer? None of the above. In the past few years, Croatia’s capital has transformed itself into one of the most delightful cities in Europe — and one that’s…