Trip Out? Is this, like, a site about ‘70s-style recreational drug use?

Yeah, man. Not really. But this website might bend your mind, if you let it. TripOut.Online is a website started by David Farley. Consider it a quarantine project. It’s like a virtual and literary incarnation of the zen concept of mushotoku: to do something for the love of just doing it. Trip Out was made out of a love of travel and writing and travel writing.

You’re tripping ME out. So, who is this mysterious David Farley?

Good question. Who really is David Farley? He’s a human. He’s a writer. He’s a brother, son, friend. 

Ooookay. That still isn’t telling me much.

Fine. David Farley is a food and travel writer, penning pieces for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Saveur, BBC, Newsweek, National Geographic, and the Guardian, among other publications. He’s been anthologized in The Best American Travel Writing and has written a few books of his own, including Travelers’ Tales Prague, an anthology of essays on the Czech capital and beyond; Underground Worlds: A Guide to Spectacular Subterranean Places; and An Irreverent Curiosity: In Search of the Church’s Strangest Relic in Italy’s Oddest Town, which was made into a documentary by the National Geographic Channel. You can read much of his published work here. He currently calls New York City home, but he’s also lived in San Francisco, Paris, Prague, Berlin, and Rome.  And just for good measure, here’s a photo of him!

Great. Now we’re getting somewhere. Anything else we should know?

Not really. I mean, Jeez, what else do you really want to know? His weight at birth?

In fact, yes!

8 pounds, 3 ounces.

He was a big baby!

He’s been called worse. Can we please talk about the website you’re looking at? TripOut.Online is a collection of stories written by that adult big baby David Farley. Many are about food and travel. Some go beyond that.

So, is this what the kids call a blog?

We’re not sure what it is. It’s just something to either make you think or allow you to escape from what Camus called “the absurdity of life.”

 Heavy, dude. I think I need to get high now.

Well, have a nice trip!