Velvet origins

I have only one vivid memory of that trip: I was eight years old, sitting in the backseat of my parents’ car—a Skoda—looking out of the window as we were approaching the border checkpoint to leave my native Czechoslovakia for the first time.

Barely a month before, the “Velvet Revolution” ended communist rule in the country. The borders were suddenly open, and my parents were eager to take a trip to the West, where they—and most Czechs—had been forbidden from traveling before.

They chose the Austrian capital of Vienna as our destination because it sat only 130 miles (200 kilometers) from our Czech hometown. Thousands of other people had the same idea, however, and what I recall so clearly was the long line of cars moving toward the border at a snail’s pace.

We eventually got to Vienna and spent several hours wandering the city. Even though my other memories of that trip have faded, I do remember that I loved the feeling of being on the road and heading for a new—and therefore mysterious, in my young mind—destination.

Over time, my parents took my brother and me to many other places, both in Czechoslovakia and, later, beyond. No matter whether we explored small towns or big cities, hiked mountain ranges, or toured medieval castles, each trip involved a lot of walking, learning about the place, and suppressing the complaint that we had seen enough for the day.

Statistics by the Bay

Then, at the age of twenty-four, I landed in the United States. After finishing my statistics studies in the country, I stayed on to teach at a university and to work for a risk management software company as a statistician.

I have lived in the United States for thirteen years now and have made the San Francisco Bay Area my home.

While statistics, economics, and risk management have become my day jobs, I did not give up on traveling. On the contrary, I began to take ever-more frequent trips over time: within the United States, to Europe, and then to other continents.

When traveling, however, just “being there”, taking the same pictures as everyone else, and trying the local cuisine was not enough for me. In line with my geeky approach to everything else, I wanted to better understand the place I was visiting.

So, besides speaking shyly to locals, I read a pile of relevant articles and books, thanks to which I was able to tie what I saw to the history, geography, and culture of the place. This could involve, for instance, looking up the list of empires ruling over the territory, consulting a topographic map of the surrounding mountains, or reading colorful stories about a famous personality who used to live there.

That way, the place left a much deeper impression on me and I found myself in a traveler’s spiral—I got excited over what I had learned on the trip and that made me want to travel more and more.

Travels, books, and essays

I created this blog to tell you about the places I have visited, their stories, and my experience while I was there. As the name of the blog suggests, I do not only write about my travels but also about books, news articles, movies, and other topics.

The common thread running through all the posts is that I found something interesting I learned about a town, a country, a historical event, or the current state of the world that I considered worthy of sharing with you.

What do I find interesting? I have enjoyed learning about the life and art of Vincent van Gogh; listing the peaks I could see after climbing up Schrankogel Mountain in the Alps; watching how economists argued over root causes of financial crises; reading about how Spain became an empire in the sixteenth century; listening to stories about how animals coexist in South Africa’s Pilanesberg National Park; finding out why the small town of Ely has the third largest cathedral in England; or understanding what Ancient election posters in Pompeii had to say.

Traveling, though, does not only mean learning. Yes, sometimes even I just absorb the beauty, power, or color of a place, whether in the vividly red Monument Valley in Arizona; in the picturesque squares of Prague; on top of the Sun Pyramid in Teotihuacán; at Dostoevsky’s desk in his St. Petersburg apartment; on top of cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Muir Beach in California; or in front of Caravaggio’s painting The Incredulity of St. Thomas, on display in Potsdam.

Here, my photographs will hopefully convey to you the impressions these locations and objects have made on me.

To read, walk, watch, and listen

Seeing a wide variety of places is one of the joys of traveling for me. As on my childhood trips, I love to explore towns and cities; tour historical sites; hike in the mountains, woods, deserts, and coastal wilderness; admire all (or rather almost all) types of art and architecture; and try local food and drinks.

To make most of visiting a new destination, I compulsively read up about its attractions and history beforehand, study maps of the area out of fear that I might miss something important, and while there, I skim through local newspapers and listen to locals whom I approach with my awkward friendliness.

Only after being armed with these multiple sources of information do I feel comfortable writing up a post for you to read.

Thank you for visiting!

I look forward to hearing your comments and questions, so do not hesitate to send me a message at libor@travelsbooksessays.com. I hope you enjoy reading the blog as much as I enjoy sharing my observations, thoughts, and pictures with you.