After picking up our rental car from Athens (a brand-new car, but still a manual transmission, which once again meant that Rorie would be taking on all of the driving in Greece), we set off north toward Meteora, a fantastic-looking natural area with monasteries perched on the top of sheer Read more…
From Petra we headed a couple hours south into Wadi Rum, the large and well-known red sand desert that has been the setting for films such as Star Wars, The Martian, and Lawrence of Arabia (not to mention the real-life location of the latter, as we would soon come to Read more…
After over a week in Jordan, we were finally ready to go see its main attraction and one of the 7 wonders of the world: Petra! To get there, we began by driving several hours south along the Desert Highway, which is a fairly descriptive name for this stretch of Read more…
After saying goodbye to us in Borneo, my parents headed east around the world to hit Angkor Wat in Cambodia and Beijing in China before returning home to Seattle. Meanwhile, Rorie and I continued west around the world and left Asia, our home for the past seven-ish months. Our destination Read more…
We hopped on a short flight from Bali to the town of Labuan Bajo on Flores Island, the main town (and only airport) located near Komodo National Park. This national park is comprised of a collection of untouched islands, including the only islands in the entire world where wild Komodo Read more…
Once we joined back up together on the island of Nusa Lembongan, the next several days were spent not doing a whole lot. We took the motorbike around the island, exploring and finding beautiful ocean-side cliffs and views, eating more smoothie bowls than you can count, and laying by the Read more…
After a short flight from Udaipur to Mumbai, we began our last stop in India in its largest city (even larger than Delhi). Mumbai also happens to be the most expensive city we visited in India, and after some unsuccessful hotel searches we settled on an Airbnb for our accommodations. Read more…
We flew from Guwahati to Delhi on the eve of Holi, the holiday in India also known as the Festival of Color where people throw colored powder at each other, rub it into each other’s faces and hair, and generally have a spirited, joyful party. We planned to be in Read more…
Monywa is a small town with essentially no western tourism infrastructure whatsoever. Similar to Mandalay, there are a bunch of interesting and attractive sights scattered within easy driving distance of the city, and yet it doesn’t appear that there are enough tourists to support an industry of tour vans or Read more…
When researching Myanmar, aka Burma, we had heard that Yangon (the capital) didn’t have too much to offer other than the main airport for the country, and most travelers skip it altogether. It sounded a lot like what we’d heard about Vientiane, Laos, which was a city where we really Read more…
We’d heard that the town of Kanchanaburi, Thailand was a really nice, cute place a few hours outside of Bangkok, but other than that we didn’t know much about it. We did know that after a decade-plus each in New York City, we weren’t too interested in overstaying our welcome Read more…
We arrived via our slow boat in the tiny border town of Huay Xai, Laos ready for one of my most-anticipated adventures of the trip – The Gibbons Experience. After a couple friends had done it a few years ago, I knew that if I ever made it to Laos Read more…
Luang Prabang is a cute little town that has figured out an easy-to-love blend of westernized, tourist-catering coffee shops and affordable massages, while still maintaining a laid-back vibe of a place where locals live and thrive as well. The main street extends down a peninsula bordered by the large Mekong Read more…
After our brief but wonderful time in Vientiane, on December 31st we headed to Vang Vieng, a small town most known for its backpacker culture (read: drinking and drinking-centric activities), which isn’t normally our jam. However, Vang Vieng is also known for fun outdoors activities like river tubing, rock climbing Read more…
Caves are my thing – I love them and think they’re incredibly cool. Rorie knew this, so he was excited to stumble upon Phong Nha, a huge national park and area with some of the most incredible caves in the world, while doing research on sites to visit in Vietnam. Read more…
Since long before our trip, Rorie had been talking about “this one town in Vietnam where you can get custom tailored suits for really cheap,” and it was finally time to get there – Hoi An, Vietnam. Rorie had planned and budgeted to spend some real money on getting a Read more…
After 14 weeks continuously together since we left NYC and 8 weeks together travelling internationally, we decided to take a few days away from each other so as to have some independent time. This was our first scheduled opportunity for a break from each other, with others likely coming in Read more…
The journey from Sihanoukville, Cambodia, to Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon, or HCMC for short), Vietnam required an overnight bus and a land border crossing, both firsts for our trip. The overnight bus was a true “sleeper bus” that consisted of completely flat compartments wide enough for two people Read more…
Angkor Wat, the primary reason most people visit Cambodia, is the biggest temple in the world, but isn’t even close to the only site around. There are quite a few main temple attractions in the immediate area, and probably dozens if you include all the smaller ones. [Editor’s note: To Read more…
Phnom Penh We returned to Phnom Penh after our few days of relaxation in Kampot just in time to meet up with our friend, Giannis, who flew from New York to spend two weeks with us in Cambodia. After so long with just the two of us, it was a Read more…