So how have you been coping?

Pico Ira left his lockdown in Japan to take care of family back in California.

He's noticed how most people in Japan viewed the pandemic as yet another situation that you just had to take in stride.

They don't see these kind of crises as shocks or insults or aberrations.

They think of them almost as the way life always is.

Eric Weiner traveled to the places where great philosophers and thinkers lived.

From Athens to the Alps, India to Walden Pond, he recommends letting the wisdom of the

ages add depth to your world.

We travel and we philosophize for essentially the same reason and that is to see the world

through fresh eyes.

And hear how Fiji plays a leading role in the South Pacific.

Fiji, to us here in the United States, seems like such a small country, but actually in the context of the South Pacific,

Fiji is kind of a leader. It's one of the bigger countries.

Here what you can discover in the hour ahead, it's travel with Rick Steeves.

The island Paradise of Fiji is also a major influence in the South Pacific.

We'll find out about Fiji a little later in the hour on today's travel with Rick Steves.

Plus, author Eric Weiner tells us what traveling to the homes of the world's most important philosophers

taught him about life. Let's start by checking in with friend of the show, author Pico Ayer,

to hear how he's faring during this pandemic summer.

Peko was raised in England and Southern California by parents who were both philosophers and religious

scholars.

We caught up with him in Santa Barbara.

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