These pocketbooks, published in 2024 & 2026, respectively, are siblings. They’re companion pieces covering two separate trips I made to Europe. In Ghosts of Ozymandias I write about France, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and England, while Darkness Drops Again covers my most recent trip to Romania, Slovakia, and Poland. Ghosts is pre-2024 election and…
Author: haleycharitygmailcom
Bran Castle, Romania
(This is a short excerpt from my upcoming book, DARKNESS DROPS AGAIN: TRAVEL & POLITICS) It was a dark and stormy morning. Knowing that we were going to see Bran Castle, the taxi driver apologized for the weather. “What are you talking about?” I laughed. “This is perfect weather. This is Dracula weather.” I drifted…
Krampus Night
I care very little for Salzburg and not at all for the archbishop; I shit on both of them. – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart The train to Salzburg was canceled due to a blizzard in Bavaria. Munich was getting hit with its heaviest snowfall in twenty years. The ticket agent said there was a later train…
Vienna
The pessimistic Austrian view of life is expressed in the verdict:‘Es wird schon schief gehen,’ or, ‘It’s bound to go wrong.’ – Gordon Brook-Shepherd 24 hours in Vienna. It sounds like an action movie, but there was no action unless you count weight gain. Hayley and I subsisted on a tourist diet of schnitzel, streusel,…
African Camelot
BY THE TIME WE REACHED GONDAR I felt like I’d found my sea legs in Africa, meaning that I’d adjusted my expectations downward and put my guard up. We’d only been in Ethiopia for four days and already I was on a diet of soup and tea. Still, once we’d located a hotel and gotten…
James Perry 