Post Archive


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

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

It has been quite the week with a lot of moving pieces.

I was disgusted with this policy. I wasn't disgusted with the businesses which used the legal system to lower costs, but with the Communist Part of Vietnam for allowing its people to be exploited by foreign capitalists. It was the very definition of hypocrisy. I was also disgusted with Americans who supported communist ideals back home while simultaneously decrying President Trump's tariff policy.

Publishing my first book was a ton of work, and I had a steep learning curve as I steadily marched towards the launch date...Here are my top 10 lessons learned from this first publishing journey

What a few weeks it has been back in Texas.   To be honest, there's not much of an excuse not to have written a dispatch since the end of...

Poverty, true poverty, was a systemic issue on the international stage. There weren't rich forces at play controlling the world economy like some conspiracy theorists may have believed, but there were real problems out of an individual’s control that caused them to live in poverty. It wasn't simply a matter of moving or pulling yourself up by your bootstraps; when the average income for your country was 4,000 USD, getting out of a poverty-stricken world took more than sheer g

It is impossible to fully experience a new destination in just one or two days. Even the sleepiest of towns have more to offer in the way of exploring and atmosphere than just a couple of days' stay will provide. When we rush through new places in the name of "doing" the city or country, we often miss out on "experiencing" the city.

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

I spent months (about ten) packing, unpacking, and testing my packing list to perfect it before leaving in June of 2023, and even after all that time, I still got some things wrong.

The costs for trekking in Morocco and Iraq are STEEP. I knew these two would be more expensive, because I will need a guide. Even so, the quotes are pretty high.

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.

I'm back in East Texas for a bit. Between the book launch, prepping for the Wayfarer expedition, and ticket prices, it was time to head back. Honestly, I was ready to leave Tulum. As much as I love the place, and I do love it, I finished the first book faster than I thought I would, and I was beginning to get bored.

The war has gone on for more than nineteen months, and resulted in tens of thousands of civilian casualties, mostly Palestinian. As of this writing, there is no end in sight, as neither side is willing to budge on its war aims or political objectives.

It's almost time to leave Tulum. In just a few days, I will board my American Airlines flight out of the city for the last time for a long time. Tulum is my home away from home. I've made friends here, learned to relax in the cenotes, fell in love with diving, and used its coffee shops to kickstart my writing endeavours.

I'm just a week away from heading back to the United States from Tulum, Mexico. Honestly, I'm ready to head out. Not necessarily to head...

Before I left home, I never realised just how many little things I took for granted. I’m not talking about cultural differences; I'm talking about the practical stuff: drinkable tap water, air conditioning that works, toilets that flush. They say you don’t know what you have until it’s gone, but I never understood just how much I had until I found myself sleeping in a stagnant room with no fan, no power, no working Wi-Fi, wondering how to ask for directions in a language I di

People ask me all the time why I travel. It's not a cut-and-dry answer nor a sound-bite. My reasons are diverse and personal, at the same time simple and difficult to explain. Yet, people look up to me as a seasoned traveller, and many times have sought my input or assistance on starting their own journeys. My advice is always the same: have a why.

Few things are more daunting than packing for an open-ended trip around the world. When you pack for vacation, you pack with a theme, like beaches, camping, or exploring cities, but on an open-ended trip to destinations unknown, the packing list can get confusing.

Therein lies the element of faith. Did Jesus really feed 5,000 people with just five loaves and two fish? Did John really preach and die in Ephesus? Is Christianity truly superior to Hellenism? The truth is, we don’t really know and likely never will. Archaeology and history are soft sciences, and without a time machine, we can only make an assessment of what actually happened. But I answered those questions with some of my own.