Michael O'Connor's Home Page

Michael O'Connor's Full profile

Hometown

Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

Location now

Portland, Oregon, USA

Work published

Michael has been published in high school and college literary magazines, The Winston-Salem Journal, CO-ED Magazine, and in scores of Marvel Comics, most notably the comic book, The Saga of Squadron Supreme.

Travel philosophy

Immersion.

Craziest place

The Texas Panhandle. No, really. What's crazier than ghost towns, free 72 oz steaks, a 190-foot tall sheet metal cross, and a row of Cadillacs sticking out of the ground trunk-up in the middle of a stinking cow pasture?

Bizarre experience

Living in Florence, Italy for three months without meeting any Italians.

Advice

A guidebook is a useful starting point, but avoid the tourist attractions and get to KNOW the area you're visiting: its structure, its attributes, and its population. Search for the ingredients that make the place you're visiting different from everywhere else you've ever been.

Dream destination

Sydney, Australia.

Traveled before

Outside of the United States: Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, and Canada. Within the United States: most of the East Coast, all of the Southeast, Southwest, and West Coast, a few states in the Midwest, but none of the Great Plains.

Going next

To the grocery store.