Michael Earle

#Travel My first visit to Corfu as a kid was about the land of Poseidon and his adventures there and the ancient Phaeacians who also founded my home city of Malaga. The beautiful Ionian Sea, gorgeous beaches, coves and cliffs throughout this magical island kept me coming back.

#travel Zakynthos, one of the western Greek Isles in the Ionian sea, is mentioned in the Odyssey and was known by Venetians for millennia as the "flower of the levant." Today travelers know Zakynthos most for "shipwreck bay" this oh so photogenic beach.

#travel Had this funny dream, was on a Greek Island but could not figure out which one. The Islands are incredible to explore. Food, friendly people, fascinating culture and so many different islands to visit. You have to do it once, many times is better.

#travel I love Asian beach towns that have Sino-portuguese or Dutch colonial architecture. Phuket town, Penang, Malacca, Macau and this one, Galle in Sri Lanka. beautiful streets to wander through after some time on the beach.

#travel My favorite desert? The year we sailed the Suez, we also went to Algeria's plateau of the Tassili n'Ajjer. It was mind blowing and the plateau has an incredible amount of prehistoric rock art in its caves, etc.

#travel With all the Suez Canal fuss, I was remembering my experience as a child boating down the top section as far as crocodile lake. Not much to it but it really impressed an 8 year old. Sand everywhere you looked and the grandiosity of the project.

#Travel I love Finland, gorgeous country, amazing culture etc, but whoever has deemed it the happiest country 4 years running either has never been there or has a different definition of "happy"...

#Travel I am amazed reading about private school kids, how they crack from pressure and well meaning parents only ask doctors for more study drugs. Maybe their "future" would benefit more from travel and understanding the stunning beauty of the world a bit. I know, sounds crazy.

#travel One of my favorite travel quotes is "life begins at the end of your comfort zone" and soon we can get back to testing that. I have been dreaming about the Himalayas.

#travel Come on now! I miss travel as much as anyone but getting on a packed flight that flies off and lands in the same place is just plain stupid. And paying thousands of dollars for it? Give me a break. That is not what traveling is about.