Hello All,

Just wanted to let you know that my new website has launched. It is essentially my portfolio site showcasing all of my video work. Please have a look when you get the chance!

So last week Bridget's Sexiest Beaches premiered on the Travel Channel. I was a bit disappointed that they decided to make a TV show about a Playboy model who goes around the world talking about sexy beaches.

First of all, I've produced work for the Travel Channel and I appreciate all that they have done for me. I also understand that the never ending quest for ratings is a bloody and merciless one, often leaving many casualties in its wake. You have to do what you can in order to survive, I get it. I just thought that the age of Hair + Teeth on the TC was over.

I once understood that the TC looks for informed insiders as hosts - think Bourdain (pro-chef), Zimmern (pro-chef) and Brown( err...pro Hair + Teeth?). Actually I'll hand it to her for adapting into the travel pro that she is now. Her show is one of the last traditionally hosted travel shows out there. I guess we can consider Bridget an 'informed insider' given the topic she is presenting - "Sexiest Beaches."

It looks like the majority of people want to see the sexy babes on sexy beaches. The hordes will follow. That is what separates travelers like myself, like many of my comrades in the travelscape. The funny thing is people always ask us "how did you find this/that place?" The truth is 80% of the time, I don't like answering that question. I just like saying "It is right under your nose. Open your eyes to the world." So, in many ways, Bridget's Sexiest Beaches is a necessary evil for many. Shallow shows for shallow people and it gives the real travelers some much needed breathing space. Everyone is happy! How elitist of me, I know.

At the end of the day I remember a very crucial thing: The Travel Channel is not a foundation or society or any kind of non-profit. It is a revenue generating business which has a significant presence in the travel industry. In fact it is "...the only television network devoted exclusively to travel entertainment." - according to their website. I'd like to emphasize the "entertainment" bit. Here is another one to remember "...the Travel Channel is the cornerstone of Travel Channel Media, an integrated multi-platform travel business wholly owned by Cox Communications."

Enough said.

The lesson? Stay true to yourself, to your travels and remember that paradise is not a tangible place waiting to be discovered, it is a state of mind that stays with you forever.

My obsession with rooftops began when I was in seventh grade. At that time I was enrolled in an international school in Jakarta, Indonesia and lived in an apartment directly above the embassy which my father worked for.

One day I found my way to the laundry room, which was also on the top floor. I have always been a very curious person, but at thirteen my curiosity rivaled that of a Macaque's. At the corner of the laundry room I noticed an iron spiral staircase which led up to a closed door. The closed door sent my imagination racing. I began imagining a portal to a lost world, colorful and all my own.

The curiosity and unstoppable surge of colorful imagery overwhelmed me and before I knew it, the cold railing sent a wave of adrenaline through my body leaving behind a trail of goosebumps on my skin from my fingertips down my spine and back up again raising the hairs on the back of my neck.

I opened the door as the sun was falling beyond the horizon and the flood of orange light enveloped me as the rush of warm, humid air carried the sound of the Adhan from the minaret of a nearby mosque. I was instantly carried away into another world.

The door slammed shut behind me but I could not hear it, I was enthralled by what I had discovered and all I heard was the muezzin calling everyone in for prayer. I found my portal, it was all my own. I spent many hours after dinner watching the sun go down and listening to the sounds of Jakarta life, breathing all around me. Jakarta is a huge city and from my vantage point it seemed the city was chasing the sinking sun into the horizon, leading my eyes to the silhouette of Monas, Jakarta's National Monument, surrounded by mosque spires reaching for the heavens. As the night crept in, the city lights began to illuminate and the endless stream of traffic on the raised highways stained the night red and yellow as it flowed by.

I spent many happy sunsets on that roof coupled with very sad ones over my last two years in Indonesia. An unusual calm would always take over me regardless of preset emotions which I would carry with me up those spiral stairs. As soon as I opened that door, those emotions would just fly away.

My last memory of this beautiful place was at the moment our driver began loading up our car to drive us to the airport on our last day in Indonesia. I ran to my rooftop and stayed there until the very last minute. I could hear my mother calling out my name several times from our balcony below but, as always when on the roof, all I truly heard was Jakarta. I focused on every detail of the horizon. I remember never wanting to forget it. All I have is this memory and thank God for that, because with it comes the feeling of being there once again. For a moment the walls of my Washington, DC apartment disappear and the Jakarta I knew emerges before me every time I conjure up this distant memory.