I'm a winner in the 2013 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition

I'm happy and humbled to announce that I'e won the 2013 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition, taking the gold in the Personal Comment category for my article Video Games with a Refugee, part of my Iraq travel series on the Gadling travel blog.

The annual competition is sponsored by the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation. Winners of the awards, the most prestigious in the field of travel journalism, were announced Oct. 21 at the SATW convention, held this year in Biloxi, on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. This is the 29th Lowell Thomas competition and drew 1,257 entries. Judges were members of the faculty at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

In honoring my work, the judges said: "Is it possible that we can have our hearts broken while playing with a child? The author demonstrates that it is. In this extraordinarily touching piece, Sean McLachlan recounts a hotel lobby visit with a Syrian refugee, 9, who wants to play video games with him. In one short piece, he delivers the pathos of the Syrian conflict with the innocence and joy of a child. This crisply written piece is not weighed down by sermonizing. Its impact comes from the story, sharply told."

This made my week! Oh, and I big shout out to my friend David Farley, who won gold in the Short Article on Travel for his article “Mama Knows Best” in Afar magazine!

Wild West Photo Friday: Hotel in Contention, Arizona Territory, 1880

When I started working for Gadling, the editor interviewed me as a way of introducing me to the readers. One of his questions was what was my worst hotel experience. I answered, "Oooo, tough one. The Peruvian hotel with sand in the halls and no working bathrooms? The British bed and breakfast where the owner walked into our room without knocking? The Pakistani flophouse with the junkie staggering around the courtyard at all hours? I really can't decide."

At least I didn't have to stay in this place. This was the one hotel in the dusty mining town of Contention, Arizona Territory, which sprang to life in 1879 when silver was discovered there. It became one of the Wild West's many boomtowns until an earthquake a few years later made the mines flood. Now all that's left of Contention are a few weathered foundations and an overgrown cemetery.

During those few years of life, Contention had its share of shootouts and craziness. I wonder what it was like to stay in this little adobe hotel, hearing the drunken miners carousing outside your window after a long day underground? Did you have to contend with fleas and bedbugs, or just the usual Arizona problems such a cockroaches, scorpions, black widow spiders, and rattlesnakes?

Ah, the good old days, when going to Arizona was still considered adventure travel!

Military History Photo Friday: The Torres de Quart in Valencia, Spain

These impressive towers are called the Torres de Quart. I saw them this week when visiting Valencia, Spain. My wife had an astronomy conference there and I tagged along so I could write a travel article on Valencia.

The city dates back to the Roman times but sadly most of its early remains are gone. The only parts of the old city walls still standing are two city gates dating to the Renaissance. The Torres de Quart defended the city against various invaders, the most recent being the forces of Napoleon. The French emperor had take over Spain some time before and in 1808 the Spaniards rose up in rebellion. Soon Valencia was in their hands.

Napoleon tried to take the city back on 26 June 1808. The Valencians flooded the surrounding plains so that the French were forced to attack the relatively higher ground on which the fortified gates, the strongest parts of their defenses, stood. As you can see, the towers still bear the scars of cannonballs.

The Spaniards put up a stout resistance and soon the French had to withdraw. The pockmarks on the Torres de Quart are a testimony to their determined defense.

Castles in Spain and Slovenia

I was traveling in Italy and Slovenia for the past ten days and didn't get a chance to announce that another guest post of mine is up at the Black Gate blog. It's the second in my series on Spanish castles. This time I'm talking about the castle at Chinchón near Madrid.

While I was in Slovenia I got to see plenty of castles too. The country, which is slightly smaller than New Jersey, has about 700 of them! You can read my article on Gadling about the castles in Slovenia. It's part of a new series called "Slovenia: Hikes, History, and Horseburgers."

Underground Exploration: why I'm hooked on caving

I've always liked to explore. That thrill of discovery has taken me to 33 countries, up to 34 next month when I go to Slovenia. But you don't have to go to some faraway land to see something new. One of my hobbies is caving. Anytime I've lived in a region where there were good caves I hurried to get underground. I've traveled beneath New Mexico, Missouri, and now Cantabria in northern Spain where I'm living now.

Caving is physically challenging and emotionally rewarding. The hidden natural beauty of the world beneath our feet is something only a tiny fraction of us ever get to see. Hit that link in the previous paragraph to see some of my caving articles. There are more on the way!

A is for Adventure Travel

Welcome to the A to Z blogfest, where I and more than a thousand other bloggers run through the alphabet this month. I'll be focusing on the regular subjects of this blog: the Civil War, Wild West, and travel.

A is, of course, for adventure travel. I've been a dedicated traveler for more than 20 years and one of my jobs is as a writer for the Gadling travel blog. I've written several series, including a road trip around Ethiopia, visiting Somaliland, and most recently visiting Iraq. Here you can see me hanging out with some Iraqi cops. I'm the younger guy with no firepower. My travel companion is an accomplished sailor from Norway whose hobby is sailing in small boats far north of the Arctic Circle. Not really my thing, but certainly cool!

Check out the map at the bottom of this blog to see where else I've been. Later this year I'll be doing a solo writer's retreat in Tangier and hopefully a long trip to the Sudan. When I'm not traveling I split my time between Santander, Spain (great caving) and Oxford, England (awesome pubs and libraries).

Where do you like to travel? Tell me about it in the comments section!

Caving in Spain

I've recently gotten back into caving. I did a bit of caving a couple of decades ago in New Mexico and Missouri and now that I'm living in Cantabria, one of the best regions in the world for caves, I've joined the local federation and am getting back underground. Here's me squeezing through a little hole that slopes down to a ledge over a cliff, hence the rope. Below is a shot from the same cave of some of the great formations you can see.

Being a travel blogger for Gadling, anytime I do anything even remotely interesting it gets turned into an article. You can read about my adventures in Cañuela Cave and Coventosa Cave at these links.

Guest blogging about my time in Iraq

Yesterday I was over at the Post Modern Pulp blog talking about my time with the various armed forces during my trip to Iraq. I also have a post on the Osprey Publishing blog today about some curious Ottoman artillery I saw in Baghdad. There are plenty of interesting photos in both of these posts.

So check them out, or my buddy here will level his machine gun at you. Also check out my Iraq travel series on Gadling.

Writing a new travel series on Estonia

As I mentioned earlier, I spent all of last week on assignment in Estonia. I've started a travel series on Estonia on Gadling, the travel blog that sent me there. As you can imagine, the northernmost Baltic state was pretty snowy this time of year, although unusually mild--only 0C or 32F.

Anyway, hit the link and follow my adventures as I explore one of the best preserved medieval cities in Europe, visit old Soviet military installations, and explore secret tunnels underneath the capital!

Military history of Tangier, Morocco

So much has been going on this past week I forgot to mention that I did a guest post over at the Black Gate blog about Exploring the Defenses of Tangier. You'll see lots of pictures and info that didn't make it into my Tangier travel series I did for Gadling. Head on over and check it out!

Tangier was an inspiring place with a lot going on. I'm thinking of taking a solo trip there later this year to work on a writing project. See you back here tomorrow with Wild West Photo Friday!

Guest blogging and headed to Estonia

Yesterday I was over at Alex Cavanaugh's blog doing a guest post about that greatest of challenges for the adventure traveler--the squat toilet. Head on over and learn how to handle this tricky device.

I should have posted about this yesterday but I was crazy busy. One thing I had to do was arrange my next trip, and next series for Gadling. In mid February I'm headed to Estonia. That's right, I'm hanging out for five days in one of the Baltic States to cover their annual ice sculpture festival. It will be my first trip to the region. Should be fun!

Photo of Tallinn courtesy Wikimedia Commons. My own photos coming next month!

Finishing up my Tangier series on Gadling

I'm pretty much done with my Tangier series on Gadling. As I mentioned before, my wife and I took a five-day break from the Christmas holidays for a romantic getaway in Tangier, Morocco. I wrote it up for Gadling, of course. Hit the link to see all the posts.

I'll probably do one more this week on visiting the tomb of Ibn Battuta, the great Arab traveler. My friends think I'm well traveled for having visited 33 countries. Ibn Battuta visited 44, more than 500 years ago! It was an honor to see where this great traveler was laid to rest.

Most of the photos are by my lovely wife, a Spanish astronomer who is responsible for getting me to move from Missouri to Europe. She even got this shot of me after I had become part of the Sultan's harem. She's very understanding.

Spotted in Tangier: Creative use of English

Never underestimate the flexibility of language! My series on Tangier has started on Gadling. Check out all our posts on this wonderful city here. Mine is at the top and titled Avoiding Christmas in Tangier. More from my trip will go live this week.

Off to Tangier, see you later!

Today my wife and I are heading south to Tangier, Morocco, for five days. I've already scheduled a Wild West Photo Friday post for tomorrow, but that's the last you'll hear from me until later next week. This is a total vacation with just me and the honey. The kid is staying with his grandmother. No responsibilities, no work, and no computer. A total vacation!

Well, almost. I'll be taking notes and pictures for a Gadling miniseries. A travel writer never travels without a bit of work involved!

Happy New Year!


Photo courtesy Trent Strohm. My photos coming soon!

Choose my next adventure!

Now that my Iraq travel series is done, I'm thinking about where to go in 2013. Since I write up all my big trips for the travel blog Gadling, I've decided to ask my readers to pick my next destination! I've put up a poll. The main choices are Sudan, Lebanon, and Iran. You can also name your own location. So far Sudan has a slight lead, so you might be sending me to see the pyramids at Meroe.

What do you think? The poll closes December 31!


Image courtesy Sven-steffenarndt via Wikimedia Commons

Finishing my Iraq travel series

My series on travel in Iraq is finally done over at Gadling. The final articles include visits to Ur, Ctesiphon, and Babylon; Iraq's Christian community; the much more chilled-out region of Kurdistan; a Baghdad amusement park (no, really); and my experiences walking alone through Baghdad (bad idea, glad I did it). I round out the series with ten random, humorous observations about Iraq and a discussion of the practicalities of travel in Iraq.

If you liked this series, please share, tweet, and blog about it. More people need to read it, not because I need more readers but because people need to know what Iraq's like beyond the mass media headlines.

It's always a bit of a bummer finishing a series. It makes me feel like I'm finally done with the trip. Don't worry, there will be plenty more adventures in 2013!

Hostility and history in Iraq

My travel series about Iraq continues. The latest installments include a walking tour of Nasiriyah, one of my most intense experiences in the country that included equal parts warmth and hostility; and the first of a two-part post on the archaeological sites of Iraq. The first is about ancient Assyria.

Check them out! That guy next to the Assyrian guardian spirit wants you to!

More dispatches from Iraq

I'm still working hard on my Iraq travel series. In my latest articles I visit the soon-to-reopen National Museum of Iraq, Saddam Hussein's palaces, and I go on a beer run in Basra.

I've also done a guest post for Osprey Publishing, which publishes my military history books. It's about the Baghdad North Gate War Cemetery, where many of the British Empire's fallen from the First World War are interred.

So don't be caught napping! Go check out these one-of-a-kind articles. And if you like what you see, please tweet, share, comment, and blog about it. I'm always available for guest posts and interviews.


Photo of some of Basra's finest by Sean McLachlan. These guys were assigned to guard us. Good thing there aren't pirates in the Shatt al-Arab anymore!

Join me on Reddit tomorrow for a chat about Iraq!

My Iraq travel series is has two more articles up, one on Iraqi street art and another on my most terrifying experience in Iraq. It's not what you think. :-) I also did a guest post today on a medieval castle in Iraq.

Also, tomorrow you'll have a chance to talk with me directly about my Iraq adventure on Reddit. Tomorrow, November 20, from 11-4PM ET I'll be doing an AMA (Ask me Anything) on my recent trip to Iraq. You can check it out here once it's live. I've never used Reddit before so it would be great if there were a few friendly faces there to throw me some softballs!

So be there! That's what this cuneiform says. I think.

Dispatches from Iraq

I have two posts up about Iraq today. The first is for Gadling and is perhaps the most serious post I'm doing for the series. It's about my experience meeting a child refugee from Syria. Read the story, but don't watch the video if you have a weak stomach.

The other article is about Exploring Medieval Baghdad, written for the Black Gate Magazine blog, which published my historical fantasy novella The Quintessence of Absence. So head on over to these sites and get some good free reading. That's where this little Iraqi girl is going!