I’ve been writing a lot lately about stereotypes, misconceptions, and open-minded travel (see: Understanding Istanbul and An Opportune Moment is Going to India). Learning from travel rather than confirming our own previously held beliefs is important to me, and it’s a topic that will continue to appear regularly on this blog. A few weeks ago I wrote about Charleston Tea Plantation and my first visit to South Carolina. This week, I’m writing about the other new-to-me state I saw on that road trip: Georgia. But first, some context: I was born and raised in New England and I’ve spent almost my entire life here. I’m incredibly liberal (I’m actually from…
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Understanding Istanbul
There were many things I liked about Istanbul: The steep, narrow streets that led Katie and me to Galata Tower, which, mercifully, had an elevator and rewarded us with this view: The contrast between the Hagia Sophia’s somewhat faded exterior and its cavernous, rich interior. The tea that our hostel always had on offer. The pampering we received at a hammam. The day we spent wandering around the city trying to find a post office to no avail because apparently the people of Istanbul like putting post offices on maps, and then moving them. And then not updating the maps. The morning I awoke to the sound of the dawn…
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Travel Linkspiration: May 2013
During May, I roadtripped through the Southeastern United States, spent a weekend in rural Maine, and visited Canada for the second time in my life. I took a photo of this Moose Mountie in Toronto’s CN Tower. He looks like a fun guy, no? In case you missed it, here’s what else happened around the internet in May: Ever in Transit ponders how travelers hope to make deep connections with places and people, but admits this isn’t always possible. Remember what I learned in Amsterdam? Well, Ali’s Adventures learned a similar lesson and explains how she’s ignoring what she should do while traveling in favor of what she wants to…
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Weekly Travel Inspiration: Shanghai Calling
You may have noticed that Weekly Travel Inspiration has been branching out to include book reviews, enough book reviews that I gave them their own category. Well, this is a movie review. So, I guess further branching out was in order. China has never been high on my list of countries to visit, and I know that sounds ridiculous because it’s a huge, dynamic, important country, but I guess I’d never seriously considered it. Then I saw the movie Shanghai Calling (directed by Daniel Hsia), and now, well, I think I want to go to China. Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB would have you believe that this movie isn’t worth your…
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One Month in “Paradise”
Thursday marked one month that E and I have been living and working on Maui. He works at the farm stand selling banana bread that’s baked fresh every morning. I work in the kitchen making candy and hot sauces that we also sell at the stand. We both work in the vegetable garden and around the rest of the property, pulling weeds, clearing space for more beds, spreading mulch. We sleep and store our things in a cabin without electricity. One of the farm cats likes to hang around the cabin, and sneaks in to sleep by our feet at night; her name is Munchkin. I’m not much of a…
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Weekly Travel Inspiration: Where to Go in 2013
I’ve seen a lot of articles lately about where to go in 2013 and it got me thinking about two things: 1. All the places I want to go in the world and how that list isn’t getting much shorter. 2. The way that pretty much every aspect of life is subject to trends. When I first realized — probably sometime in high school — that trends exist in categories beyond clothing I was astounded. People regularly talk about clothing trends or fads, but we don’t talk as often about trends in television shows or food or styles of teaching. In the end though, what is popular ebbs and flows…
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Weekly Travel Inspiration: The Happiest Countries in the World
When I first arrived in Copenhagen a few weeks ago, my mom (hi Mom!) shared this article with me on facebook. It lists the top 5 happiest countries in the world according to two different reports. The first is The World Happiness List (commissioned by the UN) which ranks Denmark as the happiest country in the world, and the Netherlands as fourth happiest. The other report is the Happy Planet Index, which looks at how happy the people are as well as how sustainable their lifestyle is. Costa Rica claims first place on this list. During The Great European Adventure, I’ve visited the Netherlands and Denmark, and my first trip…
