What 1 Year of Travel Has Brought Me

I’m draped across my princess bed that I managed to score on airbnb, sucked into that page turner Fall… [more]

What 1 Year of Travel Has Brought Me What 1 Year of Travel Has Brought Me

Rajasthan – Jewel of India

When the train lurches, propelling itself from the platform in Delhi, leaving behind the dense, smoggy… [more]

Rajasthan – Jewel of India Rajasthan - Jewel of India

Couchsurfing for Solo Women Travelers, Good or Bad?

As a solo woman in and out of the traveling world, I'm taught to be afraid.  Do not walk alone at night.… [more]

Couchsurfing for Solo Women Travelers, Good or Bad? Couchsurfing for Solo Women Travelers, Good or Bad?

Why I Travel

I never did thank you.  For raising me.  Although we didn't always connect, seemed worlds apart - I… [more]

Why I Travel Why I Travel

Sally Hope Says: The Right Time

December 26, 2011

It’s the holidays, a time of renewal and wistful remembrance of the past year.  What would you change?  How would you change it? What would you keep the same?  What do you want to do now?  Sit down and plan out those resolutions, isn’t it time to do what you’ve been burying during the past year? [...]

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What I Packed for the Trans-Manchurian

December 19, 2011
trans manchurain

I’ve been fielding a number of questions lately about that little Train Challenge I tackled back in September. When I tell complete strangers that I spent six days on a train without getting off, eyes as large as saucers pierce me viciously.  Shocked.  Astounded.  Even slightly in awe of my gumption to torture myself with [...]

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Adventure of a Lifetime: China to Taiwan by Ferry, Part 2

December 15, 2011

Morning came.  It was difficult to leave my cozy bed at JinJiang, yet an unwritten day was ahead. I placed things out the previous night, had a packing sequence all set, and began in earnest to launch my intention to enter Taiwan by boat first, and god knew what else. Airplane?  Another ferry? Events from [...]

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Adventure of a Lifetime: China to Taiwan by Ferry, Part 1

December 12, 2011

The HostelBookers search results flickered against the dim light in my hostel room. A tremor of panic made my hand quiver against the track pad of my laptop. Fuzhou does not exist, at least in the backpacker’s realm. Hostels were a zero search result for this southern Chinese city. I vaguely wondered if the Wikitravel [...]

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Shanghai: The Bund

December 8, 2011

You could accuse me of being a cynic  A big, fat one.  See, I’ve seen a lot of amazing things. Huge, spectacular, memorable and life-altering.  Maybe I’m at the point where a monument of beauty and historical significance really has to move me.  To tears. Or ripples of joy. When I was in Shanghai, I [...]

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Looking for Tina Turner at Wenshu Temple

December 5, 2011

I blame my interest in Buddhism on Tina Turner. She was once featured on 60 Minutes, draping her lithe, gazelle frame on an Italian leather chair in her house in Nice, France (yeah, it was a modest house, overlooking the ocean) as Morley Safer became more and more bewitched with her radiance. I was jealous [...]

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What is Up With December? HostelBookers & More!

December 1, 2011

Sometimes my old life feels like a hundred years ago.  And in that old life I use to fantasize about two things.  1) Coconut cream pie.  2) Spending Christmas somewhere exotic and unpronounceable. Number one was hard to come by, but number two I’ve managed to accomplish once already.  Nothing is more exotic than spending [...]

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Pandas in Chengdu: Photo Essay

November 28, 2011
chengdu pandas

Where is Chengdu you may ask?  And why should you go?  Located in Sichuan Province, Chengdu has been called the “Land of Milk and Honey”, because it’s so rich in resources. Truly, there are so many things to do in Chengdu.  Wenshu Temple.  Taking the bus to Leshan town and checking out the 71 meter [...]

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The Baffling Delights of China

November 24, 2011
china

After my recovery in Saigon, I did the train trip from Vietnam to return to China yet again.  This time it’s travel at my pace.  S-l-o-w. I’ve been in China a little while, and forging solo has allowed for some interesting moments of discovery without distractions. China is a combination of massive development, grit and [...]

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