Inverness Castle

A recent conversation with a friend reminded me of all the amazing beauty I’d seen when traveling through Scotland last year.  One of the many places I visited which was never featured on An Out of the Way Place was Inverness, the Florence of Scotland.  Located on the southern tip of the famous Lock Ness, the city is built along the River Ness and overlooked by the picturesque Inverness Castle.  I captured this photo late one night when the moon briefly appeared between the seemingly ever-present Scottish rain clouds.

Although a castle has loomed on the hill since the time of MacBeth, the current structure is a “recent” 1836 reconstruction.

Why I Travel Part 2

I’m often asked why I spend so much time in Europe.  After all, as a travel writer who revels in non-conformity shouldn’t I be traveling to more exotic locations?  What everyone seems to forget, including myself at times, is that Europe is an exotic location.  What?  Europe exotic?  That’s right. A brief glimpse from outside the Euro-centric worldview reveals that Asians makes up over 60% of the worlds populations – that’s a lot of Asians.  In contrast, Europe is only a puny 11% and North America an insubstantial 5%.  That means for most of the world Europeans and Americans are the exotic ones.

Loch Nesss - One of the many beautiful places I've visited but not had a chance to write about.

Also, if we cut out all the politically-correct, self-deprecating talk that is so popular among