Patrick McGinnis

Drawing is a highly intimate form of expression. Even thought it's highly relatable (we've all done it at one point or another), it's underappreciated. With the endless rush of blockbuster auctions and the celebrity-driven art scene, representational art is out of fashion. The tweeting masses aren't looking for the quiet...

When you're talking Rio de Janeiro, it's hard not to mention Carnival, the epic party during which the world descends on Brazil, especially Rio, for a few precious days each February. While lots of people love Carnival, it's not for everyone. Plenty of Cariocas (Rio natives) head for the hills...

Last May, I made a 20-hour stopover in Latvia on my way to Ukraine, where I was headed to visit Kiev and the Chernobyl exclusion zone As luck would have it, I arrived in Riga on the one night each year called the ""Night of Museums,"...

Just after Thanksgiving, I flew to Sao Paulo, for a week of meetings in South America's largest city. Unfortunately, as soon as I arrived, I discovered that my luggage had been misplaced during a layover in Detroit. While I was assured each day that my luggage would be coming the...

The citizens of Buenos Aires, commonly known as porteños, are known for their sense of style and for over 130 years the city's most fashionable address for the well-heeled deceased has been Recoleta Cemetery. The cemetery is home to former presidents and wealthy industrialists, not to mention the most famous...

Slum tourism is hardly a new concept. On a visit to New York in 1842, Charles Dickens visited the infamous Five Points slum, which he characterized as a place where "poverty, wretchedness, and vice are rife."

Two developments are now making this type of experience more accessible to large...

When I was growing up in Southern Maine, lobster was a once-in-a-year treat that I associated with the Fourth of July. On the Fourth, we'd head to a local lobster pound to pick up some lobsters and then we'd cook them up on our stove and eat them at the...

The government of Ukraine recently launched a slick tourism campaign under the slogan "Ukraine: All About U." The tourist agency's website features colorful photos of pretty Ukrainian girls, profiles of some main tourist attractions, and a catchy commercial complete with dancing maidens. What the site doesn't include, however,...

I was walking through Hayes Valley on Friday afternoon at 2 pm when I saw a line of people snaking through Patricia's Green. As a New Yorker, I'm used to seeing people queue up for food. Whether it's Joe's Coffee, Soup Nazi soups, Shake Shack burgers, or Magnolia cupcakes, New...

Although my flight touched down at Uganda's Entebbe airport at around 3 a.m., the country's position on the equator ensured that within seconds I was engulfed by outrageously humid air. My only previous experience with that kind of heat was the all-encompassing stickiness of Hanoi in July. Lucky for me,...

It's hard to believe that Colombia and its people were once almost exclusively known for drug-related violence and guerilla warfare. While pockets of conflict remain, the country has largely battled its demons. Foreign tourists are flocking to the beaches of Cartagena and the restaurants of Bogota. And they should. Colombia's...

As the old saying goes, New York is the city that never sleeps. In the West Village at least, this perpetual insomnia probably has something to do with the neighborhood's coffee shops. With an astounding breadth and depth of choices, New Yorkers need only look to the West Village for...

The year was 1996. I bought a ruggedly built Olympus camera for my first trip overseas. While backpacking through South America, I kept the camera safely stored in a plastic bag whenever it wasn't wedged in my front pocket. I judiciously decided what to capture on film and then developed...

Over the past ten years, Dubai has emerged as a global financial center known as much for its flashy denizens as for its adventurous architecture. The emirate's seemingly endless upward trajectory took a hit following the financial crisis in 2008, but Dubai's one-of-a-kind attractions remain intact.

Take, for example,...

Our passions, much like our addictions, often drive us to what some might see as flights of excess. Where I used to aspire to travel around the States or Europe, I now find myself seeking places that are farther from the beaten path. This search for increasingly remote destinations led...

Having spent time in places like Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey, and Dubai, one of the recurring themes I've observed is the necessity to negotiate even the most mundane aspects of life. In order to survive, I've learned to become adept at such time honored negotiation strategies as the exaggerated sarcastic laugh,...

In early 2010, I decided to leave my job and take a sabbatical. This was a direct result of the massive upheaval that the financial crisis caused at my employer, a division of AIG.

No, I wasn't involved in any of the losses, so please hold your...

Algeria, I've got to be honest, I'm a little disappointed. I know that things haven't been easy. In the 1990's, you suffered a terrible civil war that decimated your tourist industry, although I hear that things have been looking up with the return of peace.

Call me crazy, Algeria,...

Over the summer, I rented an apartment for a few weeks in Paris. As an avid biker at home in New York, I was intrigued to see that the city has introduced a bike sharing program -- called Vélib' -- that allows residents and visitors alike to rent...