I have no idea how many stories I’ve written. Here are my 12 favorite stories. Also I bolded a handful of my favorites below too. And my regular writings for National Geographic Traveler’s blog are here.
- The Balkans, Yes the Balkans, Lead Europe’s New Tourism Push (April 2018; Skift) Stats show Europe’s hottest rising star. I look at them, and remember a certain Bulgarian journal I found in Shumen.
- Best Portland spots for Russian culture need no propaganda (March 2018; San Francisco Chronicle) I love Russian food. You can find a lot of it in Portland.
- Why US Travel Media Won’t Tell People to Visit Russia (February 2018; Skift) This has been brewing for awhile, and after annual best-of lists nearly blanked Russia’s World Cup (as they did for Russia’s Olympics in 2014), I compared travel media’s Russia coverage versus events in Brazil and Matla. It’s not pretty.
- Manitoba roadtrip (October 2017; National Geographic Traveler) Did you know Manitoba has mountains and Vikings?
- The Long Drive Home (July 2017; Oklahoma Today) I try to follow 150-year-old cow tracks from the Chisholm Trail by car in Oklahoma.
- 5 Ways to Celebrate the Chisholm Trail’s 150th Anniversary (July 2017; Texas Highways) When all those longhorns have a place to go, you get yourself some cowboys.
- Star Alliance video series (July 2017; Star Alliance/National Geographic/Wall Street Journal) I host videos to Quebec, New Mexico, Sweden, Thailand and Georgia.
- How modern circus found its home in Montreal (June 2017; G Adventures) It’s not circus, it’s “cirque,” thankyouverymuch.
- Welcome to the Jungle: Mexico’s Lancandón (March 2017; National Geographic Traveler) Fast walk through the midnight jungle
- Get up close with wildlife in Mexico’s Magdalena Bay (March 2017; National Geographic Traveler) How I learned that whales have a sense of humor
- Dive into Mexico’s Sea of Cortez (March 2017; National Geographic Traveler) That time a sweet sea lion, with long moustache, came to flirt with me in the sea
- Discovering Hemingway’s Havana (January 2017; Alaska Airlines) On the footsteps of Cuba’s most famous American resident
- Homerun in Matanzas (January 2017; Alaska Airlines) Cuba’s first home to baseball
- Namibia: The World’s Great Nothing (January 2017; G Adventures) Fun in the world’s oldest desert
- Balkans Roadtrip (October 2016; G Adventures) From Slovenia to Kosovo by car.
- Melbourne’s Hippest Neighborhoods (October 2016; National Geographic Traveler) Honestly it’s not my favorite headline, but a print feature on my one-time home down under.
- Canoeing down the Yukon (October 2016; National Geographic Traveler)
- Kluane National Park (October 2016; National Geographic Traveler)
- Whitehorse, Yukon (September 2016; National Geographic Traveler)
- Why you should do a homestay in Thailand (September 2016; National Geographic Traveler)
- Clam-digging in Thailand’s Koh Klang (September 2016; National Geographic Traveler)
- Homestay in Trat, Thailand (August 2016; National Geographic Traveler)
- Mud: Village charm in Thailand (August 2016; National Geographic Traveler)
- How to Dock-hop on New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee (June 2016; National Geographic Traveler) Part of my New Hampshire series as Digital Nomad, this one on Adam Sandler’s favorite lake.
- Ranking US Panhandles (April 2016; National Geographic Traveler) I rank all ten, even the one that claims “all there’s to do here is have sex and go to movies.”
- Great Wall of Kotor (February 2016; BBC Travel) Kotor, Montenegro is on a fjord-like bay in the Balkans. What surprised me most was what ran up the mountain from the old town. I made a video/article about it.
- Walk around Suzhou, China (January 2016, Alaska Air) In China, towns of 14 million seem quaint, laid back and quiet.
- Dada turns 100 (January 2016, National Geographic Traveler) Dada, the absurdist art movement, turns 100 in its birthplace of Zurich
- Shanghai, Bite by Bite (January 2016, Alaska Air) I’m not a foodie, but I eat food. So in Shanghai, I went all out.
- Beyond Half-Dome: Yosemite Secrets (November 2015, National Geographic Traveler) Five things most people miss at Yosemite.
- Channeling John Muir at Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy (November 2015, National Geographic Traveler) I’ve not camped in the wilderness in a couple decades. So I did, with help.
- Backcountry Bliss: California’s Hwy 108 (November 2015, National Geographic Traveler) I met “the tree man” along this curvy two-laner on the outskirts of Yosemite.
- Three California Gold-Country Towns Outside Yosemite (November 2015, National Geographic Traveler) Old-time hotels and trains.
- Samburu Snapshot (September 2015, National Geographic Traveler) When an elephant stands between you and your Wifi.
- Searching for kudu in Kenya’s Chyulu Hills (September 2015, National Geographic Traveler) Hemingway’s “Green Hills” MIGHT have been this range in southern Kenya. And it might not have been.
- The Art of Being Present (September 2015, National Geographic Traveler) Walking in Kenya’s Rift Valley.
- Eastern Oregon: Beer! (August 2015, Los Angeles Times) Everyone knows Portland beer, but out east — in Oregon’s wild east — may be the state’s best.
- The Last Stop: Oklahoma Panhandle (August 2015, Oklahoma Today) A roadtrip with Uncle David to Oklahoma’s rectangle of once-unwanted plains.
- Rising Stars of Kenya’s Masai Mara (August 2015, National Geographic Traveler) Digital Nomad trip on/off Kenya’s great wildlife destination.
- Five Great American Roadtrip Books that Aren’t “On the Road” (Transitions Abroad, June 2015) Really, there is life to the road beyond Jack Kerouac.
- Why We Need “Travel Experts” (National Geographic Traveler, March 2015) We do, right?
- Ranking the US Interstates, 1 to 66 (MapQuest, February 2015) Includes a new nickname for all 66. My favorite list I’ve ever written.
- A Literature Journey of Monterey & Big Sur (National Geographic Traveler’s Digital Nomad, November 2014) Ain’t just Steinbeck.
- Treasure Island (National Geographic Traveler’s Digital Nomad, November 2014) Finding life in San Francisco’s “zombie apocalypse.”
- A Case for Corvallis, Oregon (National Geographic Traveler’s Digital Nomad, November 2014) Oregon State University’s surprising hometown.
- Earning your Boots in Eastern Oregon (National Geographic Traveler’s Digital Nomad, November 2014) Cowboys, big fungus and forgotten Chinatowns.
- Biking Portland’s Icons (National Geographic Traveler’s Digital Nomad, October 2014) I moved to Portland realizing I had no idea what the city looked like. What are its icons beyond bikes and vegan tattoo parlors? I biked around to ask locals.
- Pierre Parallel (National Geographic Traveler’s Digital Nomad, September 2014) Dreamy back roads off the interstate of central South Dakota.
- Finding Space in the Black Hills (National Geographic Traveler’s Digital Nomad, September 2014) In South Dakota’s top destination, I managed to miss Mt Rushmore.
- Meet Wyoming’s Bighorn (National Geographic Traveler’s Digital Nomad, September 2014) A tipsy sheepherder mapped out a mountain drive he used to take drunk, so I took it.
- Gravel Valentine (National Geographic Traveler’s Digital Nomad, September 2014) A geologist shared the secret of seeing Wyoming.
- Chasing Purple in Estes Park (National Geographic Traveler’s Digital Nomad, August 2014) Following Isabella Bird’s classic 1873 trip from A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains.
- How to Love the Flatlands (Transitions Abroad, August 2014)
- Finding life in a DC swamp (National Geographic Traveler’s Digital Nomad, July 2014) No, DC wasn’t built on atop a giant swamp. But yes, DC has some swamp.
- How to be a Travel Show-Off (Transitions Abroad, July 2014) It’s not that we can’t show off, it’s just that we need rules.
- Philadelphia, Birthplace of American Weird (National Geographic Travel’s Digital Nomad, July 2014) No “keep weird” campaigns required here.
- Roaming the Bronx Champs-Élysées (National Geographic Travel’s Digital Nomad blog, July 2014) Art, art deco, banana pudding, opera house hotels, Poe t-shirts!
- Biking to Walden Pond (National Geographic Travel’s Digital Nomad blog, July 2014) Did you know you can swim in Thoreau’s front yard? I didn’t.
- See Chuck Berry for $35 (MapQuest’s Summer Travel Quests, June 2014) St Louis, Missouri
- Broken Hill: Where Mining & Mad Max Sequels Refuse to Die (Atlas Obscura, June 2014) Outback city that’s more familiar than you realize.
- Walking: The Ultimate Digital Detox (National Geographic Traveler, June 2014) Did you know Americans walk half as much as Australians or Canadians?
- How to make a great travel itinerary (Transitions Abroad, May 2014) Have crayons handy? You’ll need them.
- Road Trip: Route 66 (National Geographic Traveler, March 2014) Not all the highlights are nostalgic.
- Are Museums Overrated? (National Geographic Traveler, February 2014) At least how we travelers see them can be.
- How to dislike a destination (Transitions Abroad, February 2014) We don’t have to like every place we go, but we should never treat a nation, a region, a culture, a people as a restaurant.
- How to be an Ugly American (Transitions Abroad, January 2014) So begins my new monthly column on “How to Enjoy the World” with Transitions Abroad.
- The Trends that are Driving 2014’s “Top Travel Destinations” Lists (Skift, December 2013) I read a bunch of lists, drew maps, and came up with some patterns.
- How to Accept Your Donkey: On/Off the Robert Louis Stevenson Trail (Perceptive Travel, December 2013) A walk, a drive, and a flat-out sprint from a rugby team’s worth of cows in France.
- The Fountain of Youth (National Geographic Traveler, November 2013) It’s kind of like Jack Black’s funny shorts in The School of Rock. Except real science backs it up.
- Are Bikes the New Tour Bus? (National Geographic Traveler, November 2013) There’s a bike-lane fever around the world. Why let the commuters have all the fun?
- Travel’s ultimate destination: home (National Geographic Traveler, October 2013)
- The Secret to Remembering Travel (National Geographic Traveler, September 2013) It’s not just slowing down, it’s stopping. (Warning: Includes references to moustache sketches.)
- Visiting Cleveland, on Purpose (Men’s Journal, September 2013) What would you pick, A) a sandwich or B) Cleveland? You get both if you pick “B.”
- Riding the Rails with Young Americans (National Geographic Traveler, August 2013) I got the lone Gen-X berth on the Millennial Trains Project. Wow.
- August in Osage County (Men’s Journal, August 2013) You know August: Osage County, how about Oklahoma’s Osage County in August?
- The Original Travel Writer’s Trail (Men’s Journal, July 2013) On the Robert Louis Stevenson Trail in the Cévennes of France
- Gettysburg Wants You (Gadling, July 2013) That time I went to Gettysburg a civilian and left a re-enactor
- How to travel like a travel writer (National Geographic Traveler, June 2013) Part of my series with NGT.
- Is it Tulsa Time? (Gadling, May 2013) Opening of Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa’s Brady District.
- Native America’s Son (USA Today Travel magazine, 2012) Why Oklahoma is the only state with an exclamation point!
- Ancient Burma’s playful side (BBC.com, 2012) Biking around the temples of the remote Mrauk U, an ancient Rakhaing kingdom reached by slow boat.
- Why Cleveland Rocks (Daily Oklahoman, 2012) Cleveland has the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame for reason.
- Q&A: BBC’s Forms of Indication Column (BBC, 2012)
- The Black Sea by Moskvitch (Lonely Planet Magazine/BBC.com, 2011) A road trip up the Black Sea coast in a 1972 Moskvitch? Dreams do come true.
- Why You Should Go to Mexico (CNN, 2011) Sometimes perception is only part of the story.
- Why You Should Visit a New Destination (CNN, 2011) ‘New’ travel is the fountain of youth.
- Why you should visit the Gulf Coast (Huffington Post, 2010) I visit the oil spill, and find a different story as covered by mainstream media.
- World Cup of Travel: Spain vs Netherlands (World Hum, 2010) Soccer’s great match, as determined by sketches and travel sites.
- Six Spots to Relive ‘Travels with Charley’ (World Hum, 2010) Including one Steinbeck should have gone to!
- To Cruise or not to Cruise? (CNN, 2010)
- Bogota Meets the World (New York Times, 2009) Colombian capital’s Macarena neighborhood.
- Following Chekhov to ‘Hell’ (World Hum, 2009) The world’s first gulag tourist was the writer Anton Chekhov. I follow his trip across Siberia to the world’s worst place.
- Home-Field Adventure: Baton Rouge vs Gainesville (ESPN, 2009) College football towns, as destinations, go head to head.
- Home-Field Adventure: Austin, Football’s Worst-Kept Secret (ESPN, 2009)
- Home-Field Adventure: Austin vs Norman, Oklahoma (ESPN, 2009) Closer than you’d think.
- Home-Field Adventure: Columbus, Ohio (ESPN, 2009) I loved talking to the Buckeye fan who hadn’t missed a home game since 1944.
- Things to do on Martha’s Vineyard (Wall Street Journal, 2009) Aimed to help the Obamas’ summer vacation plans.
- Travel Writing as a Political Act (World Hum, 2009) Review of Rick Steves’ book.
- Extravagance at Russia’s Edge (New York Times, 2008) New things afoot in Vladivostok.
- Partying Amid Cold-War Ruins (New York Times, 2007) Sofia, Bulgaria’s Studentski Grad.
- Searching the BAM for Russia’s Lost Moustache (Perceptive Travel, 2007) Travel is better with moustache charts.
- A Burmese Capital Built for Kings & SUVs (Perceptive Travel, 2008) A visit to Myanmar’s new capital, Naypyidaw
- ‘The Worst Guidebook Author Ever’? (World Hum, 2008) Review of Thomas Kohnstamm’s ‘Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?’
- Boom! goes Bogota (Houston Chronicle, 2007) The typo on “Colombia” really wasn’t my fault. It hurts me to see that. But I did manage to write about tejo, and Colombia, for this syndicated piece before almost anyone, so I’m including it here, dammit.
Hi Robert! Would love to chat about getting you assigned to do a feature on Oklahoma for a Lonely Planet book in planning at the moment.
Thanks!