Day #9,467-69: After 40 hours of traveling from LA to DC to Senegal to Johannesburg, the newly married Mr. M & I touched down in the city of Durban on South Africa’s eastern seaboard. It was midnight and the first time my feet had ever stood on foreign soil. My first night abroad was not […]
Life Lessons from The Tourists
The word “tourist” conjures up nightmarish images of herds of fanny-packed folk clogging the sidewalks for cheesy photo opps and complaining loudly about locals who don’t speak English. (Can you imagine only knowing your one, native language? The nerve, am I right, fellow Americans? Oh… wait…) If neon is the new black, ‘tourist’ is the […]
The Land of Fire and Ice
Life is pretty darn fantastic when I’m given the opportunity to buy a new travel book. The occasion, you ask? Mr. M & I are headed to Iceland for the 4th of July weekend! From the pictures I’ve come across in my trip planning, Iceland seems to offer up unbelievably gorgeous natural scenery: waterfalls, glaciers, […]
Bom Ano Novo in Portugal: The Path to Port
Days #11,190: Having successfully completed our first Portuguese road trip, our band of six graduated to the next level: an overnight trip into the Porto region of the country. After Lisbon, Porto is perhaps the most famous region in Portugal, as it’s the birthplace of Port wine, that syrupy sweet moonshine listed at the bottom […]
Entering the 21st Century
Seeing as how we’re a solid 13 years in, the time seems ripe for me to join the rest of the 21st century. I was thinking about this ole blog the other day and considered that my ADD writing style might engender reader frustration. One day I feel like writing about a nearby day trip… […]
The Fruit of the Rainforest
Our trip to Australia predated my understanding that “Rainforest” doth not equal “Willy Wonka’s Wonderland of Animals.” While the rainforest may indeed be jam-packed with wildlife, thou shalt not see any. That’s so consistently the case across the continents that if I had a Ten Commandments of Adventure Travel, that would make it onto the […]
The City of Brotherly Love, Part Two: Free to Stroll
Saturday was filled with colonial history and Philly cheesesteaks, but Sunday… Sundays are made to be indulgent. Forgiving of obligation. (Even when said obligation is touristing through Philadelphia. Yes, it’s hard work. Don’t judge.) Day #11,300: Indulgence is defined by brunch, and that seemed like a damn fine place to start. After finding our first […]
The City of Brotherly Love, Part One: The Size of Liberty
We’d visited Philadelphia once before- almost ten years ago when Mr. M & I went on a we-just-graduated-college roadtrip from Connecticut back home to LA. My Operation: Roadtrip scrapbook confirms that our principal impression of Philly, circa 2004, was: “The Liberty Bell is a whole lot smaller than you’d imagine it to be.” Mr. M determined […]
Lounging in Langkawi
Mr. M & I didn’t have the typical, chillax-by-the-Caribbean-Sea kind of honeymoon. This is for the best, as those Sandals commercials with handsome couples wearing all white and running hand in hand down the beach make me snicker. Who are these folk? Even at 15, Mr. M & I were never so desperately in love […]
The Berkshires By Any Other Name…
The Northeast has a certain high-falutin’ way of naming its suburban wilds that somehow elevates them to the level of Inaccessible. For months I imagined that The Poconos (did I dare breathe its hallowed name?) was an enchanted playground for the rich & famous… not the birthplace of the in-room champagne hot tub. Similarly, I […]