Posts Written ByTara

From an empty room to the open road

Every noise I make echoes off the empty walls in this now foreign place that was once my beloved bedroom. Four things hang in my closet, and the last of the bags and boxes wait to be loaded into my car (help?) I guess it’s really over. After five wonderful years, my apartment, roommate, and I are separating. It feels like a divorce, the end of an era. Was this movie yours or mine? You can keep the cheese grater, I’ll take the curtains. It all sounds silly when we stop and listen to ourselves. We have grown up together in…

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8 things to love about Toronto

< From the Exhibit "Late News" by Dan Perjovschi at the R.O.M. Toronto, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways… 1. Cultural Diversity.Toronto has it all. You can “travel” across continents without ever leaving the city! There are so many areas and neighborhoods where you can find people, culture, and delicious food from all over the world. There is something for everyone here. This portion of Dan Perjovschi‘s “Late News” Exhibit captures it best; there are so many elements that make up greater Toronto, and to me, that’s the beauty of the city. Plus, I really love to eat.…

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“It’s a pity we have to work”

The Toronto skyline faded behind us as our tour boat, the Harbour Star, motored out from Queen’s Quay. I had anticipated this ride to be a bit over-touristy, but it was kind of fantastic.  A very animated young redhead narrated the tour. She spoke about the history and the current happenings in and around the harbour and the islands. On such a hot summer day, it was hard to imagine any part of this harbour being frozen over as she had mentioned. We learned of the rivalries between the local yacht clubs (oh, life gets so complicated sometimes…) and even got to witness…

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Muddling through Marrakech

Oh, Morocco. Your first trip, first hours, first minutes there can be packed with all sorts of adventure. Check out my first published article “Muddling Through Marrakech” over at Travelmag. Travelmag has a wealth of exciting travel stories from real, independent travelers with great experiences to share. From the magazine’s editor, “Travelmag correspondents travel well beyond the guidebook routes, illuminating little-known corners of the globe and, occasionally, revealing a bit about themselves as well.” This travel writing thing isn’t impossible, you just have to start somewhere.

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Love where you live

Home is where the heart is…right? Well what if your heart is all over the world? Then would home be wherever your stuff is? Maybe you don’t have stuff, or are traveling with all of it. So would home be where your family lives? Sigh. Who knows. I suspect I have not found home yet; haven’t found one place where my heart is. But I fear that is an impossible feat, as I have dispersed little fractions of my heart on six different continents. As I walked the streets of Toronto and the Daniels signage blatantly bawled my name, I…

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Maple syrup and hockey, eh?

I never thought Canada was my type. Or at least I didn’t think we would hit it off like we did. I mean, I always figured it would be nice, but nice in that kind of ‘we could be friends way,’ not the ‘I want to spend every waking moment in your presence kind.’ It is a love affair, my relationship with travel–some countries will set my pulse racing with excitement, while others draw lukewarm feelings, no butterflies in my stomach. But you can never really know a place until you visit it, go out at least once. That seemingly…

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Coolest. Plane. Ever.

I am flying. I am sitting in the comfort of my fancy, black leather seat, laptop open, and writing this blog. I arrived at the airport a few hours earlier for the second time in a month. I know, I know, I love this place. Besides, after such a long separation from travel we have a lot of catching up to do. I walked into Terminal 3 of Los Angeles Airport to meet a scene quite unlike that of last month’s. There were flowers in vases, fancy carpets, and cute pink mood lighting. Beyonce’s Sweet Dreams was playing in the background.…

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Ciao, Puerto Rico

It’s over? Am I really leaving all this behind?  Every time I leave a country it feels like a break up. Knowing that for now, this country and I can’t be together brings about an overwhelming sense of sadness.  I feel the pain of separation creeping up on me as the plane leaves my newest love behind. I am overrun with thoughts of how we can rebuild our love–of how quickly I can get back to rekindle this relationship.  The first week back home is miserable. All I can think about is that country. All I can talk about is…

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Beauty at the Bio Bay

It was pouring down rain.  Not exactly ideal weather for kayaking on a bioluminescent bay in the pitch black darkness of the night. But José, the driver of the tour bus kept reassuring us that it wasn’t raining in Fajardo. After all, it was one hour from San Juan on another part of the island, and his people at the tour company had told him it was not raining there.  One hour later, the bus having splashed through rather thick traffic most of the way, we arrived. And it was raining.  But considering that he had provided some laughs and a cooler…

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Uncle Jorge

A slushy machine? Jorge, the bartender of the millennium, set the tall glasses in front of us, complete with the little umbrella and a cherry, and waited patiently for our reactions. I did not have high expectations. Had I not already seen Andrew Zimmern’s shocked reaction, I would have been just as surprised that the “original” and supposed best Piña Colada, was a pre-made mixture from a slushy machine. I tried it. The sticky, humid temperature of the evening made that first cold sip quenching and almost heavenly. It really was the best Piña Colada I had ever tasted! We told Jorge exactly…

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