I discovered a fantastic new use for Twitter that I plan to use on many of my future travels – and again, I owe it all to Andy. When I popped Andy a question about the Edinburgh Fringe Festival shows we arranged to meet up for a drink and chat. Once he decided that I wasn’t psycho (I promise, although I am a spaz, I’m actually quite nice in person!) he invited me to attend the weekly Twitter coffee meet up in the city.
Apparently these “coffee mornings” happen all over …

I approached Andy via email before I arrived in Edinburgh for Fringe show recommendations and to give him warning that I fully hoped to meet up for coffee and drinks while I was in town. Before he would send over a list of his recommendations he asks me:
“Fringe can be pretty experimental and risqué, are you ok with nudity and profanity in the name of art or do you take offense easily?”
Well, after watching his favorites – it’s probably a good thing I was warned!
Edinburgh Fringe is unjuried and entirely …

Exiting the bus station in Edinburgh, Scotland I’m lured down the street toward the distant sounds of street music and cheering crowds on Princes Street that mingle alluringly with the more immediate rush of cars and the other pedestrians vying for space on the sidewalk. I’ve got two hours to kill before my host for the next week gets off of work and that means wandering the streets of Edinburgh in search of entertainment and grub.
by Mario Cutroneo
Stepping foot in Edinburgh was a culminating moment for me – in high …

I half to admit, I owe one to the Universe now. What do I owe, you might ask? Well, I have return a kindness done to me and pay it forward by opening my home and my time to a traveler visiting my home state.
On an icy-cold evening in Northern India I met two other backpackers, sisters, nestled into a tiny restaurant in McLeod Ganj. We shared a table, there was not a seat to spare in the warm and cozy one-room restaurant, and backpacking stories during the hot meal. …

The ice cream began to drip down the side of my hand as I made my way to the small Fort Augustus bus stop with another long and drawn out travel day lying before me. Both my packs were strapped on and with 20 more minutes to kill before the bus arrived I made my way over the area where Spud the Piper was piping away to the tourists.
He spotted me immediately, finished out the tune and then came over to chat. Since it was instantly obvious that I …

The vibrant green and completely lush underbrush climbing up the trees and creeping across the floor of the forest struck me first as I entered the darkly lit canopy of trees in the national park forests surrounding Fort Augustus.
Video Tour of Loch Ness, Fort Augustus, Scotland

Fort Augustus has about six major walks and hikes in the region that take between two to six hours each; this was a major factor for staying in the area for about a week. Most of my Scottish days were structured around hiking during …

The faintly audible music of bagpipes in the distance altered my course and I set my meandering walk toward the main street of Fort Augustus. The town is small. Tiny actually. And all of the action takes place along the Caledonian Canal that feeds into Loch Ness. The canal is set up with a set of locks that boats use extensively to make their way from the houses upstream to the calm waters of the lake.
The locks are a huge attraction for the tourists and foot bridges are set …

You know her as Nessie and her myth has spread all over the world; the legend of the Loch Ness Monster has caught the imaginations of dreamers and scientists, children and adults, and everyone in between. I confess that I made a multi-day stop to the long and legendary lake situated in the heart of Scotland.
It’s not so much that I believe that Nessie exists, truthfully I’ve never really researched her much, but the story, legend, and subsequent commercialization of Nessie definitely intrigues me. And just because this is a …