luke armstrong
The People We Remember When We Travel
Last night I sat awake on the red-eye Bismarck, North Dakota-bound bus from Minneapolis and watched as snow flakes collided playfully with the bus’s glass front. Behind me passengers shuffled in search of that ethereal position that brings escape from an arduous bus ride and entrance to dreams. To me, the bus was escape enough. I love the limbo of planes, […]
I Urge You (Again!) To Go To Egypt
In April of this year, I encouraged you to travel to Egypt with Megan Fox. You did not listen to me, and now Egypt’s tourism is on pace to finish 25% down this year, accounting for around a $3 Billion loss of Egypt’s $15 Billion tourist economy. Egypt hasn’t looked this bad since The Mummy […]
Four Ways We Are Rich Without Even Knowing It
The following four snippets are the result of my slow and ongoing realization of how fortunate I am to have been born into the time and place I was. From an early age we are taught that we are lucky: “You’re not going to finish your peas? There are kids dying in Africa because they don’t […]
Passing Up Paradise In Colombia
When they felt there was enough fish to justify pulling the nets in, someone would ring a bell hanging from a palm and close to 50 men, woman and children would rush to the ropes to pull the nets in as quickly as our strained arms could muster. Teeth clenched, veins popped, and grunts narrated […]
Let’s Help Arlan On Her Quest To Meet 10,000 People [Q&A]
Have you met Arlan? If not, in the coming months you’ll have a better chance to meet her than most people you don’t know. You certainly are more likely to meet her than me. (That’s also because for the last two years Matt Stabile has held me captive in his travel writing dungeon, where I […]
Lions And Lions And Mormons! Oh My! (Part 3 Of The Lion Trilogy)
Warning, if you enjoy reading about Mormons being mauled by lions, then keep reading . . . For those of you who follow my Expeditioner posts (Thanks Mom, Dad and Roberta*) you may have noticed that my last two posts hinged upon a lion that mysteriously showed up in my neighborhood (“Lions, CouchSurfing and Murder”), […]
Why They Took The Lion
“They are taking the lion to the vet, because he is sick. He is merely sick.” “We are taking the lion to live in the zoo in Guatemala City because they have kept him in inhumane conditions.” “They are taking the lion because they have a court order to take the lion.” “We are taking […]
Be A Traveler Who Saves A Life
Be part of our international campaign today to “Break the Bitter Chains of Slavery”! Dear Expeditioner Readers, As travelers I think all of us have stared into the face of unfortunate souls living desperate lives in faraway lands. We’ve seen beggars reach a withered hand towards us longingly with dishes filled with coins. We have […]
Lions, CouchSurfing And Murder: On The Perpetual Strangeness Of Existence
If I were superstitious, I might have seen the lion as a sign that in an hour-and-a-half I was going to be kidnapped or murdered. From the back of my motorcycle my roommate McKenzie pointed and exclaimed, “Dude, there is lion just sitting in a cage in that vacant lot. A lion!” I just shrugged and […]
How I Taught Guatemalans To Stop Worrying About Kama Sutra And Love Yoga
“Come join us for yoga after work,” we would often ask them. We being gringos. They being Guatemalans. At the educational development organization I work for in Guatemala, we have both local Guatemalans and international volunteers on staff. Since one of our international volunteers was a yoga instructor in a previous stateside life, we began […]