Europe

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 Warmth when Amalfi is Cold

My thick sweater and blue jeans reflected the London winter I left several hours before. Amalfi?s sun now broke through my warm clothes, bringing out a forgotten stickiness. After nearly twenty-seven hours of traveling with two buses, a plane, and a train ride,...

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...

Land of Black Mountain: Hidden Gems in Montenegro

It?s September 2021, and people are finally able to travel freely again. Since Covid-19 and the several lockdowns started, everyone was looking forward to freedom again. To me, the ultimate freedom is traveling. Of course, I didn?t want to put myself at risk and chose...

How I Spent Six Hours in Versailles

Versailles - there really aren't words to describe it. Amazing, magnificent, dazzling, over-the-top, breathtaking just don't do it. I had to see it for myself. And it is everything I ever imagined. I made a day trip from Paris to Versailles, twelve miles away and...

The Wild World of Icelandic Cuisine

I knew I wasn't in Kansas anymore when the girl sitting next to me explained that Icelanders don't have family names. I was still 30,000 feet in the air over the North Atlantic, and I was already intrigued with Iceland. I had only heard stories of the little island...

Cologne: A Cathedral and Brauhaus

It is a wonder the Cathedral was not bombed into oblivion. It was World War II and GPS precision bombing had not yet been developed. Although the Cologne Cathedral stood only meters from the train station, which was the intended target of the Allied Air Forces, it...

Le Crete Senesi –
The Italian Road Trip

In his classic road movie La Strada, Anthony Quinn finds adventure driving Italian roads. On the Crete Senesi I found this adventure too. Driving Le Crete The starting point for the trip begins in Siena, my home base for jet lag recovery and stocking up on road trip...

Scotland Travels with Snake Eyes

In the gusting rain, we pile our belongings in the trunk of a chili pepper red Toyota hybrid, then scamper into the front seats like water-resistant squirrels. Me, too timid to drive, plunks in on the wrong side of the car, but right to the Scots, as they say. I...

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...

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...

On the Shores of Lake Baikal

I was sitting cross-legged on a pebble beach. My roll mat and sleeping bag were already laid out next to me, in anticipation of the night ahead sleeping under the stars. It was perhaps on the cold side to attempt a bivouac, but the flickering campfire and large pile...