After a two year break, I’m on the road again! The book department —as Rick Steves himself put it— has a herculean task ahead of themselves this year: update each & every guidebook the company publishes. We all have our work cut out for us. In fact, this is just the first part of my schedule. I’ll be updating the entire Portugal book in June & July. But let’s not jump the gun…
Read More »spain: guidebook research 2022
Oh, what could have been. After the Rick Steves reunion in January, the book department & I began working on my research schedule for this year. I’d expressed a desire to do more book work in 2020… although not as well paid as guiding tours, I love the flexibility + the opportunity to add my own text (when approved!). Rick has the final say in all his guidebooks, but the collaborative publishing effort every year is great fun. COVID-19 put an end to those plans. However, I’m not one to break tradition, so I thought I’d share what might have been an incredible research year.
Read More »guidebook research 2020?
Back to Buenos Aires! Well, not literally… I’m still in Spain & don’t plan on returning to Argentina any time soon. But I realized that I’ve neglected to compile & place in this blog one very popular series of posts from the past. From 2007 to be exact. In the day when my only internet presence was line of sight, I wrote one of the most widely read English-language blogs about Buenos Aires. At the same time as I researched early housing projects in the city, I also began looking up & paying attention. I began to see more domes than I’d ever noticed before, regardless of where those rambling walks took me.
Read More »buenos aires: domes
The ongoing book research saga continues, but this time with an all-new destination: Italia! That’s right… a country where I don’t speak much of the language & to places I’d never visited before. Uh-oh. My mood often ran between excited & apprehensive, so to laugh about the day’s events I tweeted once daily as I tend to do. Really anything to maintain a bit of connection with the real world. Come along as I relive those crazy two & a half weeks.
Read More »italy: guidebook research 2019
Why would someone from the southern USA who grew up in a non-religious family decide to write a guide about Catholicism in Lisbon? A good question that begs to be answered…
Read More »writing: catholic heritage, lisbon
Last time I updated the entire Rick Steves’ Portugal book, I posted daily comments on Facebook —each one beginning with “Wow, do I love Portugal” & describing fun moments + the ups & downs of being a guidebook researcher. Four years on, I no longer have a Facebook account, but I took a few moments before going to bed each night during this trip to jot down some notes about the day. Here we go again!
Read More »portugal: guidebook research 2018
Writing every Endless Mile guide is a huge commitment, so I thought I’d share what happens each step of the way. After guiding over 3,000 people in several countries, I’ve developed a distinct, personal style as well as an ability to explain complex issues in a way that’s easy to understand. At least that’s what clients say!
Read More »writing: mosteiro dos jerónimos
Ever wonder what it’s like to update a travel guidebook? I missed writing about last year’s assignment, but if you’re curious about previous book work, here are links to posts from 2015 & 2014. I’m not much on Facebook, so I decided to spend a few minutes each day while on the road writing this post.
Read More »spain: guidebook research 2017
Ever wonder what it’s like to update a travel guidebook? After writing about last year’s Portugal research, I thought I’d do the same this year during a whirlwind 3 weeks through southern Spain. Compiled below are the brief, daily Facebook updates I posted while on the road. Let’s roll!
Read More »spain: guidebook research 2015
Ever wonder what it’s like to update a guidebook for an entire country? Join me on a whirlwind 3.5 weeks through Portugal. Compiled below are the brief, daily Facebook updates I posted while on the road. Let’s roll!
Read More »portugal: guidebook research 2014