April 2026 Newsletter This month was one of those where we didn’t travel but spent a lot of time planning future trips. However, we are lucky to live in NYC where the whole world exists around us or makes a visit! At Lincoln Center Jazz, drummer Ulysses Owens Jr. and British Nigerian bassist Michael Olatuja with 5 saxophones, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, 4 vocalists and a keyboardist performed "Big Band Afrobeat to Afrobeats". Afrobeat (singular) is a 1970s genre pioneered by Fela Kuti, blending...

February 2026 Newsletter Khadija and I were thrilled to receive our NomadMania certificates, verifying we both have traveled to 150 of the 193 UN countries. It took over 40 years of personal and work travel for both of us to get this far. Surprisingly, we had the passport stamps for almost all of the countries and only needed to show alternative documentation for a few. Our goal is to experience a country and make a concerted effort to dive into the culture, history and geography. We try to...

January 2026 Newsletter We recently spent a week in Malawi, a new country for me (#158) and Khadija (#155). By road, we explored the southern region of Malawi, surrounded on three sides by Mozambique, and the central region by Lake Malawi. Malawi has several ethnic groups including the Ngoni, who originated from the Zulu nation in South Africa and migrated northwards in the 19th century, spreading across parts of Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania. As they settled, they incorporated...