You know what the worst thing about the hotels around the Mediterranean heel of Italy is? It's the nightly struggle with the hotel AC....

Taking a deep breath, the Satellite Mechanic ejects into outer space. Leaving the pod is always the most harrowing part of the repair...

Today is the big day. Well, technically tomorrow is the big day – but today is a big day too. One year ago, he’d booked his first day of...

“I have an EXCEL SPREADSHEET for everything man. Look!” I lean in and, shading my eyes against the hot, Tuscan sun, peer into the...

THE CROWD CHANTS. The music fades. The curtains rise. Everyone stands and cheers as he steps into the spotlight. “Thank you. Thank you!”...

IN THE AUSTRIAN ALPS lives a wild man. To behold him in his natural habitat, one might easily mistake him for a mountain bear, for he is...

HE WASN’T QUITE SURE WHERE THEY WERE, but he knew they were somewhere in California. His parents had told him that they’d stopped between...

ONE AFTERNOON we decided to join some friends at a pool party. The Soul Street, a gourmet street food restaurant with pool access DJ was...

I don’t want to write today. Can that just be the end of this essay? I guess not – but at least those sentences rhyme Don’t get your...

HE LOOKED OUT OVER THE PALE BLUE OCEAN and dug his feet into the hot sand. Earlier in the day, he had picked up a single grain, just to...

SHE LOOKED OUT OVER THE PALE BLUE OCEAN and dug her feet into the hot sand. Earlier in the day, she had picked up a single grain, just to...

“YOUNG MAN! Young man! Wait just one moment please!” The portly Sausage Roll Lady comes waddling out of the bakery, waving her doughy...

A LONG, STEEL PIPE smashes against my head with a metallic CLANG! I’m awake!! What day is it? What year is it? I look at my alarm clock....

OH NO. Here we go again – 8.30 am sharp – armed with that sizzling, hot cup of coffee and that wet Bircher Müesli she mechanically...

We watch the pot, waiting for it to a boil. As I pour the hot water into the French press, the bitter aroma of fresh coffee stimulates...

“THAT’S IT! Final stop – everybody out!” The disembodied voice of the Tram Driver blares statically through the speaker. “Final stop?”...

One day, we went to a rave at the top of a mountain. As we walked up the gravel road our path merged with those of creatures and people,...

THE SUN BURNED in the sky. It was just past midday, and I was thankful for the cool blast of the AC in my eclectic Italian rental car....

“How short you want it?” I look into the mirror, straight into the eyes of the masked Syrian wielding a pair of razor-sharp scissors...