The annual Chicago Air and Water Show dominated the city’s lakefront this weekend. While I didn’t have time to go out and enjoy it, I did find myself stuck in traffic and got a quick peek and the show.

My brother-in-law did go down to the Air and Water Show and on his way back, found [...]

photo by Scott Beale/Laughing Squid

My brother sent me this photo yesterday. He lives in Brooklyn and ran into the Rickshaw Dumpling Truck at Grand Army Plaza over the weekend.

I love how they use Chinese revolutionary propaganda posters and catchy slogans, like Who’s Your Edamame?

The other side of the truck features a Red Army solider [...]

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I found this ad for Japanese tourism in a 1981 magazine targeted to American airline employees.

The guy in the photo really seems to be trying: dressing in yukata, staying at a Japanese inn, and reading Shogun (on my first couple of trips to Asia, I read James Clavell novels on the flight, [...]

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Happy 4th of July to all who celebrate!

For the last decade, I’ve spent the 4th of July in Chicago, my hometown. We usually barbecue, hang out with family, and sometimes go to the fireworks the night before.

This year Chicago didn’t have fireworks in Grant Park. The city has no money. As much [...]

Well, I’ve jumped on the bandwagon and have joined Twitter. What’s more, I’ve already tweeted about travel, Asia, and books.

I hope you’ll follow me at Susan_BK.

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Of all my posts, I think I’ve centered only one on Chicago. I’ve lived there now for 10 years. Oh, and I was born and raised there, too.

I never appreciated my home town when I was younger. For years I only thought about leaving Chicago.

But when I think back to those days, [...]

I’m back from a refreshing trip to New York. Three days of shopping and eating does a body good.

On Friday, while trying to dodge the throngs of tourists in Soho, I came across Flight 001, a funky travel store. I’d seen online ads for this store during various web searches for vintage airline bags. I [...]

Pago Pago advertisement, Chicago

Tiki Room, Chicago

The May issue of Travel + Leisure magazine features an article about Trader Vic’s, the old school tiki restaurant. The article even credits Vic Bergeron, the founder of the restaurant, with giving Americans the travel bug starting in the 1930s, when his first Trader [...]