On Leaving Ukraine
I knew it was time to leave Ukraine when they knocked down the cigarette stands across the street. It’s not that I smoke cigarettes, but that was my go-to place for late night chocolate. I had established…
5 Things to Know Before Teaching English Abroad
Oh man, the dreams we have before embarking on expat life, the ideas we have before teaching English abroad! Visions of motivated students delighted with every inspired lesson, eager to listen to the wisdom you drop. Relaxing sunset…
Two Years of Expat Life, Three Lessons Learned
Today is my two year anniversary of getting on a plane and flying over Canada to Tokyo, where I’d spend a brief, adrenaline-pumped fourteen hours before continuing on to Singapore. It was the start of my expat…
It’s Not About the Castle, Vladimir.
I was walking alongside the road, in a Ukrainian village I couldn’t have pointed to on a map before this trip, when I met Vladimir. We had been riding on the same bus, but he discovered I…
10 Examples of What Solo Female Travel is REALLY Like
It would be nice to think that, here in the 21st century, solo female travel wouldn’t be that much different than solo male travel. It would be nice. But ignoring the differences between male and female solo travel…
Oaxaca: Where Local Life Spills onto the Streets
I arrived in Oaxaca in the middle of a protest. I had heard Oaxaca was a bustling city – but I was expecting parties and parades, not sit-ins and political rallies. In fact, I had planned my…
20 Life Lessons from a Year Traveling the World
October 6, 2015, and I was thousands of miles above Canada en route to Singapore. I had just pulled my eye mask down, put my earplugs in, and settled in to try to sleep, despite the adrenaline…
Getting Cursed Out in Romania, or Confronting Poverty in Travel
It was my first morning in Cluj, and as I walked through the city I felt a joyful buoyancy about my first change of scenery in five weeks. It was Sunday, so it was quiet, and I…
12 Tips on How to Travel like a Local
A hip hop jazz jam session on a boat on the Danube. A brand new craft beer pub hidden in the passages of Novi Sad. A restaurant you can only enter by giving the secret password and…
Am I Stupid because I’m NOT Scared to Travel?
The longer I blog and the further I travel, the more I get involved in the digital communities that support weirdos travelers like me. It’s a great way to share tips and have travel discussions with like-minded…
