Today is Australia Day — and I’d love to wish a very happy Australia Day to my beloved Australian readers. This time last year, I was in Hanoi, Vietnam, and celebrated Australia Day for the first time…in a truly unique fashion. I was staying at the excellent Hanoi Backpackers, home to one of the best [...]
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone say in passing, “Everyone loves Chiang Mai.” Each time, it makes me wince — because it’s not true. Not everyone loves Chiang Mai. YIKES! Someone finally said it. I can understand why people would think that everyone loves it. Chiang Mai is home to a sizable [...]
2012 is going to be an amazing year for travel. I’ve been working on some trips for awhile now, and I’m excited to share the preliminary plans with you! While many of my upcoming trips are in the development stage at the moment and shouldn’t be unveiled just yet, I’m able to share several of [...]
It’s December — and that means it’s time to buy a 2012 calendar! I am pleased to announced that I have opened my first online store, the Travel Calendar Shop! And before you read anything else, you can get 50% off if you buy two or more with the code GIFT4THEYEAR — not sure how long [...]
I’m a big advocate of traveling in the off-season and reaping the benefits: lower prices, fewer crowds, a more local experience. But as I sit here in Turkey, I’m disappointed at my decision to come here for three weeks in late November. Istanbul was great if a bit cold, Cappadocia was freezing cold and creepily [...]
Shortly after arriving in Florence for my semester abroad, I met a guy wearing a gold belt buckle shaped like a lion’s head, a pair of boot-cut jeans tight enough to cut off circulation on top, a shirt unbuttoned almost to his navel, and the trendiest near-mullet I’ve ever seen. And he was American. This [...]
One year ago today, I landed in Bangkok and began my six-month journey around Southeast Asia — and, though I didn’t know it yet, a life of full-time travel. I had prepared for Thailand — I had read the guidebooks, perused the photo galleries, and had read hundreds of blog posts on the country. But [...]
One of the highlights of spending extended time in Southeast Asia was that I got to see so much beauty, and so many different kinds of beauty. Here are the most beautiful places in Southeast Asia: Thailand’s Andaman Coast Clear turquoise water, limestone cliffs, white sand, longtail boats — this is the Thailand of postcards, [...]
One of the joys of traveling Southeast Asia is the children. In Laos and Cambodia, however, they were very special. Little kids would run up to me and give me high fives. Older kids would shyly come over to practice their English. Whenever I rode my on a motorbike, kids of all ages would wave [...]
It’s no secret that I wasn’t a fan of Kuta, the most popular beach resort town in Bali. But if you want to escape Kuta, you don’t have to go far — just visit Seminyak. Seminyak is part of the Kuta area, but it’s so different that it could be a different island. Instead of [...]
