2022

Many, many, many adventures in 2022:

Texas

Oklahoma

South Africa

Namibia

Botswana

Istanbul

France

UK

Berlin

Norway

Ireland

Lebanon

Scotland

Prague

Berlin

Oklahoma

Here's how it went:

Jan - TX and OK

Rang in the new year with a brother, Adam - of whom I go way back, one of those what the kids call "ride or die" (we did and almost did on a number of occasions) and then back to...

... Oklahoma for a cold January - which was fine, considering the adventure we were about to find ourselves on.

Feb - South Africa

Rented - with intention to buy - my friend Gunther's old Defender (I'm not a car guy, but have always been a Defender guy, so this was huge - a dream come true) and drove it around South Africa...

Mar - Namibia & Botswana

Proper offroading African Adventure underway - and I was in love with every second of it. Finally, a house that moved, that could travel into dirty places, that looked cool. I was already coming up with ways to buy it, until it broke one day, leaving me stranded and leaving me realizing that I could never afford this, which led me down a newfound path of depressing - something I never knew I could suffer from. It was a dark few weeks there on the road, with only my thoughts to pull me under.

Apr - South Africa

Battered and bruised (both of us), we return to Cape Town, hand the Defender back over to Gunther, have a few days cry about the entire thing, but, in the end, am taken in by my dear friend Cal, who looked out for me, kept my champegne glass filled, and reminded me of what this is all about in the first place.

May - Istanbul

If there was ever a remedy for a dark time, it's meeting my best friends TJ & Rachel + my nephew Adonis in my favorite city...

... to the South of France - where another dear friend Olivia and her family had rented a petit chateau, and then, a few days later, to one of my besties, Nico and his family out in Montpelier, where we had all the seafoods...

June - Paris & Berlin

... and then onto Paris, where a chapter right out of Orwell's famous book about the city came to life, with me being down to my last $50, having to sell my favorite bag, walking through the city smelling everything I couldn't eat, only to have the buyer (my good friend Claudia) pay more than I expected, meaning not only did I have a friend's apartment with the greatest Parisian view anyone could hope for, I had enough to eat... and eat well. From there, it was onto...

... Cambridge for a weekend, taking in the city and catching up with one of my all-time favorite people in the entire world, Ursula...

... Berlin - where luckily, my friend Katha had work she needed done at BRLO, meaning I had an apartment for a few weeks (Katha's sister Anja's) + cash coming in. Meaning, I got to finally head out to another bucket list item...

July - Lofoten Islands, Norway

Ever since seeing a photo of Lofoten as a kid, I'd been wanting to get there, but it was always too expensive. However, I decided to simply rough it with a tent and head out on the famous path - one whose name I forget, but won't Google, as this was the hike that nearly killed me (visa versa, actually), when I ended up on the wrong peak, only to face an insane storm. Fearing I might go hypothermic, I decided to end things before that happened if my tent ripped, leaving a note and everything. Pretty dark stuff that I'd rather not get into. I'd end up having to sell the transcript of that letter to get out of there, though, with everyone being incredibly generous, and hopped the next flight to...

Aug-Oct - Ireland

To that magical green isle, where we spent a few months hiking (nearly) the circumference of the country, falling in love with Donegal - a province that would soon call me back a few years later...

Bonus Trip

Aug - Lebanon

A country I'd never got to spend much time in, but had always loved. So when the chance arrived to see a few friends in Beirut and beyond for my birthday, I boarded a plane.

Oct - Scotland

A sister-from-another-mister Rhea and I meet up in The Highlands with my oldest friend Jeremy and his wife Aubrey for many a nattie n' haggis (and a few beers), while I snuck off to film for the Grail show. (Rhea would like to point out that we did have a look around Loch Ness for any mystery solved, but the pubs of Edinburgh called us louder)...

Oct - Czech Republic

En route back to Berlin, but we pop into the Bone Church near Prague first...

Oct - Berlin

Back to the Big Tart.. but only for a month.

Nov - Israel

I struggled with even going (back) to Israel. I'd been before. I'd witnessed the then-apartheid they were committing. There's very little I hated more than Zionism. But I couldn't produce a show about The Holy Grail without beginning there, so we flew to Jerusalem to begin.

(Update: Aug, 2025 - Had they been doing then what they've been doing the past year, I'd have not stepped foot in there. I'm actually sick to my stomach + ashamed I even went then.)

Dec - Berlin (Again, Again)

While easily annoyed at the city most of the year, when Christmas comes, I'm beyond in love with all of Germany, and spent 2.5 weeks going to an average of one market every three days...

Dec - Oklahoma

And finally, back home for the holidays with this crew.

Did I forget something?

Probably.

But what a year.