Post Archive


Here you can find every post from Jack's Journal, even the ones I've hidden! 

From Santiago’s crowded cathedral to running with the bulls near Madrid, this week brought disappointment, adrenaline, and a longing for Sevilla.

Jack experiences Spain’s encierros beyond Pamplona, where tradition, danger, and camaraderie meet. This time, he's in San Sebastián de los Reyes.

Europe resists air conditioning in the name of virtue, yet heat deaths outpace US gun deaths. Jack looks at the faux morality behind this resistance and preventable death.

Jack shares highs, lows, cathedral visits, lessons from fellow pilgrims, and plans for Turkey, Iraq, and Morocco while cruising buses and walking the Camino de Santiago.

Jack tells the story of a date gone wrong with an American girl in London during his first year of world travel.

Pamplona’s 2025 Feria del Toro drew crowds and controversy, as aficionados questioned trophy standards and the presidents’ handling of Spain’s famed bullring.

After San Fermin ends in Pamplona, Jack reflects on its quiet close, preps for the Camino in St. Jean, and endures the charming miseries of France before the trek begins.

Contrary to popular belief, I am a highly sentimental person. Not with photos or gifts, but with symbols of something greater than...

What a year this week has been! As always, the fiesta has yet to disappoint!

On our last full day, we decided to get out of the city and went for a hike outside the Royal Residence. We spent nearly all day and afternoon out there wandering the paths and woods. It wasn't an especially rigorous hike, but we both enjoyed our time away from the hustle and bustle of city life after the past several weeks. Plus, Jo managed to have us stumble upon the Civil Guard's K-9 training center.

Not many Spaniards in the rural towns speak English, there are rarely special, fast-to-produce fair menus at cafes, and the local attractions—like castles, churches, and museums—stay open during the fiestas. You can run an encierro in the morning, visit a castle before lunch, join a wheel dance in the afternoon, and end the night with dinner among locals instead of raucous partygoers. You don't get that at the big fairs.

An advance chapter from Jack's next book, "Aficionado: Discovering Spain Through the Art of Bullfighting." He discusses Pamplona's history, traditions, and the San Fermin Festival

There is more to the religious angle than simply commitment to God in the face of an uncertain end of the night. There are lessons to draw from the corrida as an allegory for Christian life, from the written law to our behaviour in the face of social change.

It is my morning ritual during the fiesta: awake early, drink a double espresso around the corner from the hostel, and read the morning paper. I'm specifically reading the section related to the bulls and bullfights for the day. The Diario de Navarra publishes the pictures, ranches, and weights of the six bulls that will run through the streets in less than two hours.

I've travelled around and talked to a lot of people in my two years abroad. Inevitably, at some point in the conversation, I get asked "What's up with your country?" The United States' unique economic, defence, and political position in the world gives us a lot of pull, but it also makes people think about us. Like learning the English language, the more someone tries to learn about the American way of things, the more they get confused.

Border controls like this one are a fact of life for long-term travellers like me. As Americans, we have an idealised view of what international travel looks like as we take our annual two-week vacation to popular tourism destinations. We are often waived through without serious inspection, our tourism dollars more valuable than customs regulations. I wasn't visiting tourism hotspots; I was visiting countries both on and off the beaten path.

Watching the spectacle before me, I realised it was the first time I had seen something die before me in person. This wasn't a movie, video game, or a thought experiment. Death was real in the ring.

In the post-October 7th world, the term "Zionist" became a widely-used, poorly understood slur. Anyone who condemned October 7th or affirmed Israel's right to defend itself was labelled a Zionist whose opinions should be wholly discounted.

I am an American, and I fell in love with tauromaquia...