Europe

Just Before WWII – an Australian Girl’s Gap Year…

In 1937 Australians didn't take 'gap years' - least of all girls. So it was a big deal when my grandmother, June Gray, deferred her first year of university to travel Asia, the US, Canada and Europe. While I didn't find out about this until a decade after her death,...

Dog-sledding in Svalbard, Norway

After a late night wandering the streets of Longyearbyen, under the midnight sun, I was up early. Waiting in the crisp Arctic morning air, my breath visible despite it being June, I could see the tour van driving towards the guesthouse that I was staying in. This was...

Travels in Armenia

Armenia in Video From Armenia with love I know I rarely write "as the Editor" and this needs to change. Mostly, because ITKT has been doing building a number of big projects for the new year. Still, in the midst of it all, I try to cut a video and do a little writing...

Navigating Northern Albania

When I first announced I would be traveling to Albania, I was met with utter confusion - by colleagues and local Albanians alike. Why was I going to Albania, of all places? Where is it? What are you doing there? Is it even safe? Just go to Greece. It was in this...

Finding the Bogs Outside of Riga Latvia

It's not often that there are more highlights outside of a small country's capital city than there are in it. Latvia's capital city Riga is quaint in an ex-soviet, medieval, tourist-hot-spot, type of way. Quite a lot like Estonia's Tallinn, and Lithuania's Vilnius,...

Quiet Corners in the West of Wales

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Even if you tour Europe, you're probably not going to go here." These were the words, spoken by my mother, that enticed me to take a break from my busy Los Angeles life to join my parents on a trip to Pembrokeshire and its coastal...

A Break from CoVid-19 in Finland

As the fireworks exploded over Kalajoki Finland, I reflected on the past two weeks of travel, how easy it had been, and how far away CoVid-19 had felt. The Finn's don't wear masks, they don't queue outside of shops, and when I asked them about social distancing and...

A Hidden Concert
in a Berlin Warehouse

It is a chilly Sunday evening in Berlin. Late October and the trees have shaken off their leaves. I shuffle my feet through piles of golden yellow and approach two steel doors with graffiti scrawled on them. Two smokers huddle in the cold, shifting from one foot to...

Biggest Cities of Slovakia and the Czech Republic

In front of Slovakiaâ€™s National Museum stands a 1988 memorial, celebrating the seventy year anniversary of the establishment of "Czechoslovakia."™ It's amazing to think that within a few short years, this country unifying the regions of Slovakia (of whose capital is...

From Ukraine to the “Kind of Still Soviet” Transnistria

Having loved all my travels in Eastern Europe, I was excited to be going to Ukraine for the first time; and the self-declared Republic of Transnistria â€“ a country that doesnâ€™t officially exist â€“ a second time. Kyiv Ukraineâ€™s capital, dating back to the late...

Traveling in Spain? What not to Expect!

What to Expect Traveling in Spain Visiting Spain Spain has been welcoming millions of tourists from all over the world for decades. And with its heat, colorful history, friendly locals, and incredible food scene itâ€™s easy to see why. Traveling in Spain is an...

Bucharest: What a difference a decade makes!

My first trip to Bucharest, twenty years after the end of Communism, and Iâ€™m among few tourists on streets that feel a tad threatening. Now, a decade later, Iâ€™m stunned to find Romaniaâ€™s capital as inviting and â€˜happeningâ€™ as any Western European...