Travel writing

An archive of links and essays relating to travel.

Travelers' Tales. In 1993, I co-founded Travelers' Tales with my brother James, a long-time travel writer. I thought that there were some interesting parallels between the technical book publishing I did and a gap in the travel book market. We created a unique, award-winning series of books that help people get the most out of their travels by learning from the stories of people who've been there. Over the course of the years, I've written a few of my own travel stories for Travelers' Tales anthologies.

Walking the Kerry Way. An account of a trip I took with another brother, Frank, back to some of my father's old haunts in Ireland. This is a very personal piece, and if you want to learn about some old O'Reilly family history and my relationship with my father, here's the place to do it. This story appeared in Travelers' Tales Ireland: True Stories of Life on the Emerald Isle.

Illumined in Sainte-Chapelle. A brief account of a visit to the enchanted stained glass of Louis IX's private chapel in Paris. This story appeared in Travelers' Tales Paris: True Stories of Life on the Road.

I Ran the Hundred Yard Dash in the Pythian Games. A less formal piece, written as an email letter home from Greece, to family and friends, but later published on the Travelers' Tales blog. Now available only through the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.

This morning, I scaled the Walls of Mycenae. Another letter sent home from Greece.

"There are tears in things, and mortality touches the mind.". A third letter sent home from Greece, this one about my visit to the Athenian Agora and the Archaeological Museum, with reflections on the death of Socrates and the last stand of the Spartans at Thermopylae.

Perfect Resonance. A fourth letter sent home from Greece, this one about the acoustics of the Theater at Epidaurus and the Tholos Tomb at Mycenae.