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…
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…
Before getting started, we want to apologize for the delay in our blog posts. I experienced a family medical emergency (no worries – it’s all turning out okay now) that forced us to catch a last second flight from Dubai back to the U.S., which threw an unexpected wrench in Read more…
The city of Georgetown, located on the island of Penang in Malaysia, marches to the beat of its own drum. As it relates to tourism, it sorta zigs where everyone else zags and has embraced a fairly alternative scene that makes it the Brooklyn of Asia (in our estimation). Since 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…
Our first few stops in and around the Indian state of Rajasthan were in a trio of cities known as “The Golden Triangle” – Delhi, Agra and Jaipur – which were wonderful and beautiful, but also a veritable viper’s nest of con artists and scammers attempting to prey on us Read more…
A popular tourist trail in India is known as the Golden Triangle, which includes Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, so our arrival from Agra to Jaipur signaled our end of this loop. Jaipur is interesting in that it is known as the “Pink City” and is the capital of the state 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…
The mental image most people have of India – and that we shared prior to this trip – is that the country is very large and diamond-shaped. Few people seem to realize that, from the northeast portion of the diamond, there is a thin strip of land that juts out Read more…
Because of the adjustments to our trip arising from my prolonged stomach illness (aka: Myanmar trying to kill me slowly), we commuted straight from Bagan to the town of Nyaung Shwe for the last leg of our Myanmar journey. The bus ride itself was adequately comfortable and lasted for roughly 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…
After a mere 2 hour bus ride from Kanchanaburi we were greeted by the sprawling mass of humanity known as Bangkok. With a population somewhere around 10 million people, the city is an interesting mix of many different types of settings, hurdles and cultures. The city has a pretty broad 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…
When I did research on where to go in Laos, almost every single blog and internet posting about Vientiane basically said to skip it and not think twice about the capital of the country. In fact, many long-term travelers we’ve met have decided to skip the country altogether, deeming it Read more…
Our shuttle back from Halong Bay deposited us in Hanoi on a Sunday afternoon, also known as Christmas Eve. The place was a zoo, in the best possible way! Hanoi is notoriously known for its chaotic traffic (even other folks in Vietnam comment on how ridiculous it is), but each Read more…
As Jess mentioned, she loves caves. I think they’re cool, but my love affair with them is not quite as involved. But one passion her and I both share is a love of adventurous, rigorous hiking. So when we found an opportunity to couple these two passions by joining a 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…
Following Hoi An, our next destination was supposed to be Hue. The problem was, weirdly enough, navigating the transportation options to get from one city to the next, as they were roughly 3 hours away from each other. The issue is that there were several highly recommended sites to visit Read more…
After a few days apart, Jess and I reconvened in the mountain city of Da Lat in central Vietnam. Recharged after our brief reprieve from each other, we were extremely excited to tackle our next great adventure: canyoning. As it’s located in the mountains, Da Lat is surrounded by forests, Read more…