Post Archive


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

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.

Spain faces rising tensions over illegal Muslim immigration amid mosque fires and street violence. Jack takes a closer look at what's fueling unrest and growing public concern.

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!

I still prefer the classic corrida, but after last night, I won't summarily write off the rejoneo like I have in the past.

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.

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

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 week it has been. Well, a week and change since my last update. Time is moving fast as my Wayfarer expedition approaches, and I'm not near as ready on the website, Instagram, and YouTube side of things as I wanted to be.

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.

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