My mom has been in Japan now for 10 days and frequently sends e-mails about her stay in Tokyo and side trips to hot springs outside the capital and to Kyoto.She remembers a little of the Japanese she used to speak well enough to buy things in stores, take the train, and ask … [Read more...]

My grandma gave me this luggage label from one of her stays in Bora Bora 40 years ago. My grandparents loved Bora Bora, an island in French Polynesia.And I love luggage labels. What a fun souvenir. My friends at Gwulo.com posted a great article yesterday about the history of … [Read more...]

In honor of the World Cup, I’m posting this luggage tag my grandparents received in the early 1970s when they flew from Chicago to Johannesburg. Back in the day, hotels and airlines gave out stickers like this one.Flying to South Africa during apartheid wasn't easy. My … [Read more...]

My parents got married in early March 1969. Less than 6 weeks before their wedding, my mom's brother traveled through the Soviet Union. He sent this postcard from Leningrad in late January 1969 (although the picture is of the Black Sea in the Crimea).In the postcard, he wrote … [Read more...]