Author Archives: kirkphillips

Memories of Africa (Part 2)

Posted on May 14, 2020 by kirkphillips

In the fall of 2011, my daughter and I traveled to Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. To read “Memories of Africa (Part 1 of 3),” please see the previous post. Lion porn The next morning after breakfast at Toshari Lodge, we headed … Continue reading →

Posted in Botswana, Namibia | Leave a comment

Memories of Africa (Part 1)

Posted on May 14, 2020 by kirkphillips

While my travel plans (and probably yours) have been suspended by the COVID-19 pandemic, I’m sharing an account of a trip I took with my daughter, Allie, in the fall of 2011. The trip was her idea. After teaching high-school … Continue reading →

Posted in Namibia | Leave a comment

Going Dutch

Posted on January 29, 2020 by kirkphillips

On a day I was traveling through the Netherlands by train, I saw thousands of farmers blocking a major road into The Hague with their tractors. Later I learned their caravan was sixty miles long. Many of the farmers waved red, … Continue reading →

Posted in Netherlands | 7 Comments

Afoot in Flanders

Posted on December 12, 2019 by kirkphillips

YearTripper is not a food blog, but Belgium begs the exception. Where Belgium’s rivers drain into the North Sea, mussels are both plentiful and popular. Over sixty thousand tons of them are consumed annually. Most restaurants sell them by the … Continue reading →

Posted in Belgium | 5 Comments

Ruins and riches

Posted on November 26, 2019 by kirkphillips

The Americans arrived in Dresden at five in the afternoon. The boxcar doors were opened, and the doorways framed the loveliest city that most of the Americans had ever seen. The skyline was intricate and voluptuous and enchanted and absurd. … Continue reading →

Posted in Germany | 3 Comments

Streets of Berlin

Posted on November 13, 2019 by kirkphillips

In late September I joined forty-four thousand fellow visitors for a tour of central Berlin. As participants in the Berlin Marathon, we circled the inner city clockwise and, over the course of a few hours, passed several historical landmarks spanning … Continue reading →

Posted in Germany | 1 Comment

A ramble through Dingle

Posted on August 13, 2019 by kirkphillips

The rain was steady, as I strained to see the next waymark on the climb up Mount Brandon. The black marker posts did not identify an obvious footpath, but instead indicated the general direction—uphill through a marshy field of rubble. … Continue reading →

Posted in Ireland | 1 Comment