My summer kicked off with a great weekend at the TBEX travel blogging conference in Vancouver. In addition to hanging out with a fun group of writers and sampling a surprisingly tasty seaweed-topped hot dog (thanks, Japadog), I taught narrative travel writing with San Francisco Chronicle Travel Editor Spud Hilton and New York Times contributor [...]

One of the pleasures of living in San Diego is being a short drive from the Mexican border, and while I found myself visiting Tijuana less frequently as the drug war escalated in recent years, I never gave it up entirely. In fact, I crossed over not too long ago to have lunch at Carnitas [...]

I’ll be talking travel writing on both coasts this summer. First up: the Travel Blog Exchange’s two-day travel blogging conference, TBEX ’10, June 26-27 in New York City. I’ll be delivering a morning talk and discussing writing on a panel with writers and editors Don George, David Farley, Alison Stein Wellner and Michael Yessis. Then [...]

* Update, April, 25 2010: Despite sold-out classes and overwhelmingly positive feedback from students, our travel writing classes have been put on hiatus for the time being. We’ve posted half a dozen 2010 weekend dates for our Travel Writing in the Digital Age classes, which cover travel writing, travel blogging, audio slideshow production and using [...]

I’m excited to announce the creation of new two-day workshops on Travel Writing in the Digital Age, presented by World Hum and Travel Channel Academy. Few classes these days thoroughly address how travel writing has changed and evolved with the internet. That’s why Michael Yessis and I created this course: to bring much of what [...]

I’ll be teaching a couple of travel writing classes in the coming months, beginning with a three-hour workshop called Writing the Personal Travel Essay Saturday, June 20 at San Diego Writers Ink. I’ve taught a few classes there at their downtown loft and it’s always a lot of fun, with a good turnout of ambitious [...]

Last night, after months of work, we finally posted the newly redesigned World Hum. I loved the old design, but it was in dire need of a fresh look, and it was a bit prehistoric in its architecture. This site, designed by the Travel Channel’s Joe Rivera, is a huge improvement. It’s got everything a [...]

I put some of Paul Theroux’s books, including “The Old Patagonian Express” and “Riding the Iron Rooster,” at the top of my list of favorite travel books. His latest, “Ghost Train to the Eastern Star,” is among his best. So I was happy to interview him recently for World Hum. Among other things, I asked [...]