The Time to Travel is NOW

This article was originally published in "Richardson Living" magazine. Read it on that website or read it here. Or read it in print. In mail boxes now.

I don't want to talk about why you should travel. If the delight of seeing new places, undertaking new adventures, meeting new people and cultures and, in the process, learning more about yourself, if that doesn't appeal to you, well, turn the page. For those of you who are still with me, let me tell you why the time to travel is NOW.

Young and Just Starting Out

"I always knew that you would take yourself far from home
As soon as, as far as you could go."
— 10,000 Maniacs

POTD: House Hunting in Uglich

From 2018 08 19 Uglich

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Uglich, Russia. It shows a representative house of the area. The owner is a school teacher who likes gardening — flowers and vegetables.

A look inside the house is after the jump.

POTD: Grace

From 2018 08 19 Uglich

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Uglich, Russia. The church is the Church of the Transfiguration, which dates to the early 1700s, replacing an earlier church on the same site that dated to the 1400s. Uglich itself dates back a thousand years. History is rich here. In 1591, according to Advantour, the original church's "bell ringer announced the death of Tsarevich Dmitry to the Uglich people by a peal of bell. Later this ill-fated bell, which brought bad news, was given a flogging with a whip just like humans and, like a criminal, exiled to Siberia."

POTD: Church of Tsarevich Dimitri On the Blood

From 2018 08 19 Uglich

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Uglich, Russia. The church was built on the spot of the murder of Tsarevich Dmitry. According to Advantour, "On May 15, 1591, young Tsarevich Dmitry, the last heir of Ivan the Terrible, died in mysterious circumstances. The chronicles of the Time of Troubles are full of gloomy stories about the death of the tsarevich, but the real causes of death of the last Rurik has never been found out. However, the most popular version was a cold-blooded murder, allegedly plotted by Boris Godunov, the pretender to the throne. This version was so well known and argued, that later on it provided the basis for the famous historical play 'Boris Godunov' by Alexander Pushkin."

POTD: Sunset on the Volga

From 2018 08 18 Yaroslavl

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Volga River near Yaroslavl, Russia. No history lesson today. It's just a pretty picture.