Peter Conrad said, "All that a city will ever allow you is an angle on it—an oblique, indirect sample of what it contains, or what passes through it; a point of view." The same may be true for the countries these cities inhabit, and perhaps this searching glance at new places is what makes writing about the city and the country so common. Throughout literature, authors pay tribute to the magic of a city or a country: To read about these places written in someone else's pen may offer a completely different perspective, or it may be startlingly similar to your own. The traveler who moves through city and country at a frantic pace takes home a different understanding than the one who slowly passes through, taking each day with time. Neither are incorrect, but perhaps both don't tell nearly as much about the travel as they do about the traveler.

This category is devoted to the writing and photography that is produced when we focus on cities and countries. Everything from detailed and creative city tours to slow memories of nights looking out upon a starlit countryside may be found in this category.

Next issue: April. Submission deadline: March 15, 2006.
To learn more about contributing to The Long Trip Home, click here.

Ghana on Two Bribes a Day new!
by John Liebhardt

"What do you have for us?" she asked, peering into our car windows. "We are very poor police officers."

Ghana, the former Gold Coast, is well-known for its outstanding beaches, hauntingly beautiful slave castles and rich fabrics. Its police officers, on the other hand, are notorious for their shakedowns and have perfected an intricate system of traffic stops that allow them to spin graft into profits.

to read all of Ghana on Two Bribes a Day

Panama
by David Sasso

This photojournal features sixteen photographs from David Sasso's travels to Panama. Here is a photograph overlooking the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal.

to see all of Panama: a Photojournal

Images of Peru
by Gianluca Frinchillucci

This photojournal features ten photographs from Gianluca Frinchillucci's travels to Peru. This image is of the ruins at Macchu Picchu, Peru's most well-known archeological site.

to see all of Images of Peru: A Photojournal

Classical Greece: A Photojournal
by Catherine Skrzypinski

2004 was a very good year for Greece. The national football (soccer) team was crowned Euro 2004 champions, the Olympic Games returned home to Athens and the Elgin Marbles were scheduled to make their triumphant homecoming to the Acropolis. Well, two out of three ain’t bad. 

to see all of Classical Greece

Borobudur, Java, Indonesia
by Anna Stewart

As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to climb it. I had to take the pilgrims path around and around the nine levels to the top of Borobudur Temple. The sun rose behind Mount Merapi, an active volcano in central Java. The day's auto fumes and incense smoke had not yet filled the air. Tendrils of placid dawn light reached into the 400 Buddhas in niches along the terraces and another 72 in stupas on the top three levels. The stonework is astonishing.

to read the rest of Borobodur, Java, Indonesia

Images of Italy: Genova new!
by Jackie Goyette

“I know a good place to view the forum,” I said.

It was eleven in the morning on New Year’s Day. Antonello and I were walking along Via Nazionale in Rome, stopping every few steps to look down at Roman ruins that surrounded us like a graveyard.

to see all of "Images of Italy: Genova"

Freaks and Franks of Rembrandtville
by Lyn Fox

I need wooden shoes like I need wooden underwear. Maybe less. Yet, here I am in Schiphol airport eyein' 'em, tryin' 'em, and buyin' 'em with every other globetrotting hillbilly. Why? Well, that goes back a few months to my arrival in the Netherlands.

to read all of Freaks and Franks of Rembrandtville

Rome: A Photojournal
by Paul Goyette

This photojournal features ten photographs from Paul Goyette's recent visit to Rome, Italy. This photograph shows intricate designs from the floor of St. John Lateran Basilica.

to see all of Rome

The Beijing Bicycle Race
by Nicholas Hogg

Beijing is huge, especially if the bike you've rented is as heavy as a lump of solid iron, and the air you're breathing is thick with fumes belched from diesel-guzzling trucks and beaten-up taxis. Yet this is the way to get around in China's teeming capital. Forget sitting in a traffic jam with the meter ticking over, or dueling elbows on the overcrowded buses. Pedal power is the choice of a nation and any tourist ready to forget their rights of way and highway code.

to read all of The Beijing Bicycle Race

Rome, Finally!
by Eric McElroy

It was my second trip to Italy, and this time I had to see Rome. Ever since I returned from my first trip, I never heard the end of it. “You went to Italy, but you didn’t go to Rome?” everyone asked. It didn't help that I had many friends who were originally from Rome. I felt I had almost let them down, and this time, the trip to Rome was more about an obligation to fulfill than a strong desire to see the Eternal City.

to read all of Rome, Finally!

Tangible Discoveries
by Jackie Goyette

We met up in Bologna. The four of them waited outside of the train station as Antonello and I drove through the crowds on a Sunday morning heavy with Italian traffic. I had really never driven to Bologna before, and, pulling up to the station, searching through the faces until I spotted Corrie’s, I felt almost like a native. I jumped out of the car as Antonello promised to park it, and I almost skipped my way over to my friends.

to read all of Tangible Discoveries

A shaman at the sacred lake of Las Huaringas in Peru
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