Top 10 Travel Stories #9: Iguazu Falls – Where It All Began

September 3, 2014 ggnb 2 Comments

Dramatic, magnificent Iguazu: the Garganta del Diablo in the distance, with zodiac boats in the foreground

It is either ironic, or a higher power’s intention, that I should be faced with writing this entry with a heavy heart because it is about a time I felt such great joy—joy that is the last thing on my mind at the moment. So if I succeed in conveying to you a mere fraction of my highs at the time I experienced the majesty of Iguazu Falls, I will consider it a victory.

I had originally planned a day trip from Buenos Aires: going early in the morning and returning in the evening. Instead I missed my morning flight after a night out on the town with my hosts Michael and Natalia. I would have made it had I not forgotten my wallet on my bedside table and stepped out the auto-lock apartment door and shut it behind me. I knew what I had done the instant I heard the click, but it was too late. To steal a cliche, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

Continue reading Top 10 Travel Stories #9: Iguazu Falls – Where It All Began →

Summer in New York comes to its unofficial close

September 2, 2014 ggnb Leave a comment

Dear Friends,

Labor Day long weekend has come and gone, and with it the traditional marker for the end of summer in the U.S. and Canada. It was a good weekend, with friends and family visiting here in New York. We went to the US Open, ate good food, saw a Broadway show, surfed a bit, and I showed my guests a few good photo spots by incorporating them naturally into our movements around town (perhaps one day I can show you some of the spots, if you have interest).

Anyway, this weekend my role was a little different than usual in that I served as host and guide, rather than traveler. Anyone will tell you New York City is a great walking town, and I think my guests did this City the right way, rather than trying to cram in every tourist spot possible into their schedule. Here’s a tip: it’s impossible to see everything in New York, so slow it down, do what comes easily to you, and have a good time.

The photo in this post is from the same day I captured the lightning photo. It was a glorious, but hot day in Brooklyn. Although summer has departed, the weather remains today, as it is very hot and humid at the moment. If you’ve had a long weekend as well, I hope it was a good one. If not, well, welcome to September anyway.

Yours truly,

The Gentleman Backpacker

Brooklyn Bridge Park: So long, Summer — A valet stands at attention at the River Cafe, Brooklyn Bridge Park, NY: So long, Summer

New York City: Summer Storm and the Statue of Liberty

August 29, 2014 ggnb 1 Comment

Dear Friends,

As I work on my follow-up post on Iguazu Falls this weekend, I thought I’d share with you a photo I took about a month ago during one of New York’s notorious summer evening thunderstorms. I was out on a photo shoot in Brooklyn that day and it was very hot out (97F or about 35C), one of the hottest days of the summer. I was just about to go home when a very intermittent lightning show began to the south in New Jersey. I set up my camera and tripod and waited. This was the culmination of 2 hours of trying to get the perfect lightning shot, and was the very last one I took that night. The dotted lines you see from the right are the lights of a helicopter that took off from the South Street Seaport Helipad in downtown Manhattan, and the helicopter took a route that perfectly intersected with the lightning far in the distance. If you look closely you can see clearly an American Flag in the distance on the right, and I kind of like the way the buoy sits on the surface of the water in NY Harbor, which is the glassy carpet you see in the foreground. I hope you enjoy this photo and I will be back soon with more on the wonder of the Falls.

Best,

The Gentleman Backpacker

Lightning strike behind the Statue of Liberty

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