“Sorry this didn’t turn out exactly how I expected,” I told Mike. “I thought we’d be fishing in the morning after tai chi class and biking or kayaking around the lagoon after lunch. Then we’d watch the sunset together from our overwater bungalow and hold hands on a moonlit stroll. Maybe cap it all off […]
Things No One Tells You About Vietnamese Cupping Therapy Read More »
Stepping off the bus in New York City and into the metro station, I thought I found gold. Deep in my pocket was a metro ticket with $8 already loaded on it. Too bad that didn’t even last my first evening so I ended up buying a 7-day metro pass anyway. Before I knew it,
The Ultimate Guide to Visiting New York City on a Budget Read More »
I don’t like to talk smack about my city, but Richmond can be superficial sometimes. Not everyone — far from it — and not all the time…but occasionally, you’ll find conversation never moves beyond a few polite pleasantries. That is, unless you have a guaranteed conversation starter. After seven years in Richmond, I finally found
Picking a hotel should be a simple task, but I get lost in too many options. But when deciding where to stay in Fes, I didn’t have to search hard because I got an awesome reader recommendation for Dar Seffarine. Why You Should Stay in a Riad (or “Dar”) In Moroccan, a dar is a
This is a paid endorsement. All opinions are my own. * * * I don’t remember much from my 2005 Bogota stopover, but I do remember guns. Machine guns. And lots of them, everywhere I looked, all supposedly for “my own security.” Colombia has a history of being a violent country and
I wasn’t exactly excited when my sister told me the only time of year she could go to Peru was smack dab in the middle of rainy season. Almost everything I wanted to do was outside, but we weren’t about to let a little (or a lot) of rain stop us. All we needed to do
I acclimated to the Sacred Valley the wrong way. Admitting this kills me because I know I’m prone to altitude sickness and I knew in advance that Cusco altitude is 11,152 feet (3,399 meters). I took a lot of precautions to lessen the impact. But even though I did a lot of things right, I
I Acclimated to the Sacred Valley the Wrong Way (But You Don’t Have To) Read More »
Hurry up and wait. That should be the new tagline for Machu Picchu. I didn’t think much of it when I was standing in the world’s longest airport line for my flight to Cusco (Star Peru actually handwrote tags for checked luggage!), but that just foreshadowed what was to come. On Paper, It’s Simple Don’t
Travelers fall into two camps: those who love cruising and those who think it isn’t real travel. Strangely, a lot of travelers who criticize cruising have never tried it! Many of them just haven’t had the chance. Others raise claims on why cruising isn’t a good vacation for them. All of these concerns stem off of
5 Cruising Misconceptions and Which Cruise to Take for a Better Experience Read More »
I’ve never had any ambition to hike the Inca Trail. There’s little solitude throughout the journey and too much downtime at camp each night, so even though I like hiking and camping, it didn’t make sense to add the iconic trek to my itinerary. No doubt it’s beautiful, but isn’t all of the Sacred Valley?
Photo Essay: What I Did Instead of Hiking the Inca Trail Read More »
