How to Spend 5 Days in Astypalaia
Want a relaxed vacation in an unspoilt island with amazing beaches and great food? Here’s what to do in 5 days in Astypalaia.
Travel Alone!
Travelling alone, even if occasionally, is the most precious gift you can give yourself. Most people won’t even consider the thought, and yet are unaware of the enormous benefits. Unless people find their own company very boring, in which case, that is and even bigger reason to do it 
Mr. Snowtank and the Aurora
Half way through our dinner on the first night, someone screamed “Aurora” and we rushed outside frantically. There they were, faint greenish halos in the night sky. It was the first time any of us had seen them so of course we were quite excited, but rather underwhelmed. It wasn’t spectacular. We felt the Gods can be a little more giving.
Notes from the Philippines
Here are some thoughts and pics from the recent trip to the Philippines.
Where is the joy we used to feel?
Coming out of 2016 feels like coming out of a battlefield. I suspect the feeling is shared by many others: the feeling of a warrior happy to have come out alive, and looking forward to, hoping for (perhaps naively) a less cruel and violent 2017. But at this point the scars and bruises of battle are still feeling heavy, and one feels there is a need to hide and nurture body and soul before facing the new year. How does one find joy again in this context?
Do we really need all the stages of the Path of the Sufi? هل نحتاج فعلا الى كل مراحل الطريق نحو الحقيقة؟
A few years after my enlightening encounter with Sheikh Nazim, I have a second encounter with Sufism – this time a little less mind-opening.
A 7-Month Sabbatical: Meditating and Trekking (5/5)
This is one of my all-time favourite travel blogs, about the time I was in a Buddhist retreat in Kathmandu and then went trekking in the Himalayas. “The lack of morning café latté and double chocolate chip muffins for breakfast notwithstanding, the retreat at Kopan proved to be one of those life experiences that affect you one way or another, consciously and sub-consciously.”
A 7-Month Sabbatical: Dentists in Kathmandu (4/5)
Everything about the last nine days in India was working to prepare me to enjoy Thamel, the tourist area in Kathmandu. In nine days, Emily and I toured around Delhi, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Jaipur, Pushkar, and Udaipur.
A 7-Month Sabbatical: Cosmically-Charged in McLeod Ganj (3/5)
The journey from Bodh Gaya to Amritsar lasted 28 hours and involved two train rides and a 3 hour taxi. This is the excerpt.
A 7-Month Sabbatical: Bonding in Bodh Gaya (2/5)
I made it through 3 extremely colorful days in Varanasi, cremations included. For all of you who asked, no, I did not even dip my toe in the holy Ganga…