A little because I hate air travel, a little because I love trains, and mostly because it just seemed like a very cool way to see the middle of the country, Mr. M & I took a 2-night rail trip from Pretoria to Cape Town on our honeymoon in South Africa. It was agonizingly expensive (just […]
Day #10,242: On the third day of our Parisian adventure, Mr. M & I woke up early in a futile attempt to beat the masses on their pilgrimage to the bourgeoisie capital of France. (Try as you may, my friends, it ain’t gonna happen. Unless you steamroll your way through the interior like you’re sprinting […]
Heading back to California to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family has me thinking about the concept of home. Sure, NYC is my home for now… as a temporary New Yorker, I have taken to wearing a lot of black and can surf the subways like a pro. But having grown up in Southern California, I can’t […]
Day 10,674 1/2: Feeling quite smug with ourselves at figuring out transportation to the Batu Caves and back, Mr. M & I exited the central Kuala Lumpur train station to transfer to our next rail stop… and ran smack into a massive crowd of confused-looking people. The station, which just so happens to be adjacent […]
After the world-famous Petronas Towers, one of the most visually arresting sites in the Kuala Lumpur area is the Batu Cave system: huge limestone caverns housing some of the largest Hindu temples outside of India. Although tours decidedly exist, Mr M & I are decidedly not Tour People. We determined to set out on our […]
Day #10,670: We landed in Singapore at 11:30pm on the 4th of July- perhaps not your average 4th of July celebration, but at least as exciting as a firework display. Singapore started living up to its reputation as Utopia right from the start. The customs line- wait for it, peeps- moved quickly. The friendly customs agents […]
A while back, Mr. M & I were lucky enough to take a five-day trip to Paris. It goes without saying that Paris is a rich & unrivaled city: the culture, the atmosphere, the food (lawdy, the food… if you go for a week and don’t gain 5 lbs, you have Failed the Mission and […]
Day # 11,051: Our second day in the Amazon, and breakfast proved to be much more entertaining than I had imagined: the lodge does a great job of serving up local Amazonian cuisine, and breakfast was one of the highlights. Fried plantains, tapioca pancakes made from the ubiquitous local manioc plant (points for style, but […]
Day #9,473: One of the things that struck me most about Africa- this being my very first international trip- was the lack of warnings. No ‘Stay Back From Cliff!’ or ‘Slippery, No Running!’ or ‘May Cause Cancer!’ South Africa requires you to be adult about things; it expects you’ll make sane choices and leaves you […]
Day # 10,654 1/2: My favorite aspect of Balinese Hinduism is the strong belief in karma, which is why the terrorist attacks that occurred in Bali in 2002 and 2005 (violent Islamist groups set off several bombs in tourist areas, killing hundreds) were even more of a shock to the locals- they just couldn’t imagine why […]