The Journal · Archive
Travel Journals
Every entry filed here, newest first: the places, the meals, and the small mishaps that go with them.
Personal narrative dispatches from the road.
All entries
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Invercain: The Small Scottish Harbor We Keep Coming Back To
Two villages four miles east of Fraserburgh that locals long ago gave up separating and simply call Invercain. A drying harbor, a wreck on…
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The Friendships You Make When Nobody Asks What You Do
Curt and Snow, two of the very few other Americans out here. Malvan and Scarlett, who bought a van sight unseen from the other…
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Cold Air in July: An Evening on the Edge of the Cairngorms
July in the Cairngorms does not behave like July. We walked out at sunset into air that had already decided it was autumn, found…
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A Castle for the Night
When your home has wheels and the wheels are in the shop, you need a roof for a night or two. The one we…
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Not Ten Feet Further
We heard it before we understood it: a small sound in the front left wheel on the back roads of northeast Scotland. By the…
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The Stones Remember: A Walk Up to Auchindoun
A walk up to the roofless tower of Auchindoun Castle in Speyside, where the light is gorgeous, the ramparts are ancient, and the history,…
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In Praise of Plain Places: Finding Beauty near Keith
Some places don’t announce themselves. On an ordinary morning near Keith in Moray, we found that the plainest corners of Scotland reward anyone willing…
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Campervan Parking in Keith: The Quiet Economics of a Warm Welcome
Finding easy campervan parking in Keith, Scotland, and why a big, welcoming space brings outside money into small Moray towns. Practical notes from the…
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Vanlife Laundry Day: Everything Clean at Once in Forres, Scotland
How laundry really works when home is a van: where to go, what it costs, and the unexpected joy of everything you own being…
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Findhorn Beach: Sunset Walks and a Motorhome Stopover on the Moray Coast
Staying by the beach at Findhorn, Scotland, a lazy Moray village with a motorhome stopover a short walk from the sand, and a deserted…