The Great Train Journey – part 3
By Hilbert Haar We leave Irkutsk on a Monday morning – rising early because the train leaves shortly after 8 a.m. for a trip of 22 hours to Ulanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. Our cabin is more luxurious than the one on the train from Moscow to Irkutsk and our travel companions are Andreas, a young Pole and his father-in-law Jan; at age 73, Jan’s More...
The Great Train Journey – part two
By Hilbert Haar On a Thursday at 3 o’clock in the morning our train rolls into the main station in Irkutsk, with around 600,000 inhabitants one of the largest cities in Siberia. Finally we are out of the digital More...
The Great Train Journey – part one
By Hilbert Haar This is how it began on a Sunday morning in Moscow. We took a taxi to the Kazanskaia station; that was already quite a little trip through town, but it only set us back 300 roubles, roughly $4.50. While More...
Homeless by choice
By Hilbert Haar My life as a global nomad began on June 26 when I stepped on a plane in Grand Case headed for Paris. Reality did not kick in immediately: I traveled with my wife Myriam from Paris to Amsterdam with More...
The presumption of innocence
By Hilbert Haar The presumption of innocence is a crucial component of our judicial system. You are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. If you are not happy with a court ruling you are free to appeal More...
A liberating experience
By Hilbert Haar We’re getting closer to the beginning of our big trip towards Asia. St. Maarten is in the rearview mirror, after we left the island at the end of June. It is still weird not to be involved in what’s More...
Caribbean aviation taxes may cause economic strangulation
by Cdr. Bud Slabbaert If an airport in the Caribbean wishes to be an international hub, or even a regional hub, it is probably well advised to drop departure taxes and other passenger taxes. Passenger taxation is More...
Understanding our Parliamentary Democracy Government: The nullifying of the political crises/dilemma
By Political Analyst, Julio R. Romney Knowledge is understanding – with the swearing in of the Council of Ministers on June 25, 2018, the ruling United Democrats/Sint Maarten Christian Party (UD/SMCP) coalition More...
The big To-Do about failing Caribbean airlift
by Cdr. Bud Slabbaert In past three weeks, politicians and industry leaders at a number of summits in the Caribbean have expressed the urgent need for better air connections and more reasonable prices. Sorry folks. More...
Conversations while swimming
by Chris Morvan The woman I’m talking to is almost naked and so am I. So is everyone else in the vicinity, for that matter. But the woman and I can’t see much. Just each other’s head, really, and arms wafting More...
