Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

​“When it comes to adventures,” I wrote in a 2013 blog post, “the only thing you can really count on is the unexpected. You go on an ordinary high school field trip and get bitten by an irradiated spider, giving you special powers. You’re running for shelter from a tornado, and the next thing you…

Ever since Rich and I announced our intention of traveling for four to five months without a fixed itinerary or end date, people have been asking us, 1) “Why?” and 2) “How?” and 3) “Are ya nuts?” The why part is easy. Years ago, Rich and I decided that we didn’t want to spend this…

There is a very, very good chance that Rich and I will soon be heading out on another long, nomadic railway journey , with minimal luggage , a couple of Eurail passes, and only the vaguest idea of our itinerary and possible trip duration (maybe four to five months). But if we’ve learned anything, it’s…

“Welcome to Arizona,” say the locals, “where summer spends the winter — and hell spends the summer.” It’s true! I had a business trip to Phoenix one August and felt like I’d died and gone to Hades in the 110-degree heat. I developed a keen appreciation of Mark Twain’s story about an Arizona sinner who…

When your boat breaks down at sunset on crocodile-infested waters in a trackless jungle, there’s ample time to ponder whether or not you’ve made the right travel choices. For instance, Rich and I felt our honeymoon definitely called for independent travel, yet when both our hungover young boatman and his ancient outboard motor conked out…

In just the short time since I posted this, some regulations affecting Americans have changed. Here’s an update on US-Cuba travel. Thinking of going to Cuba this year? You’re not alone. That small island nation is attracting huge attention as newly relaxed regulations make travel easier, especially for Americans. This is thrilling news for people…

If you’ve been in the Havana airport lately, you’ve no doubt heard the legend of the stranded tour group whose travel arrangements were messed up so badly, over and over again, that they were forced to bed down for the night in a bus in the airport parking lot. Yep, that was us. Funny thing…

​The thing I love about the Balkans is they’re not for everybody. If you’re looking for cookie-cutter experiences in predictably charming places where every waiter speaks English and all the food is familiar, you’ll have better luck elsewhere. The Balkans are consistently unpredictable. No one can even agree precisely which parts of roughly 13 countries in…

“And so when the plane started to break apart,” my friend told me, “I said to my husband, ‘Unbuckle your seat belt.’ Because we don’t know how to swim, and I knew we had to jump out before the plane was over water.” This happened back in the nineties, and I’m still gobsmacked by the…

​Skimming an infographic about selecting a vacation spot, I did a double take when I saw Step 1: “First assign priorities to your interests and based on how the destinations add up to your interests, score them.” To me, that was like saying, “Want to become a real estate mogul? First, make a million dollars.…