Three years ago, when I got laid off after more than four years at my job, I packed up my bags and went off to explore. It was the most fantastic adventure as I hit up Peru, China, Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan, Vietnam, and Hong Kong. This year, when COVID hit and halted the world in… Read More We’ve Gone Slo-madic — With a Pup!
Like many other travel lovers, I had trips canceled by this pandemic. And like many of you, I’ve been sheltering in place for weeks. I’m just as excited as everyone else about having things go back to normal and being able to travel again. But I am also terrified. It started with subconscious anxiety as… Read More Why I’m Terrified to Travel Solo After Coronavirus
Right about now, I’m supposed to be landing in Uzbekistan, there to celebrate their new year and spend 2.5 weeks exploring the Central Asian country. Instead, like many of you, I am at home, practicing social distancing and trying to help #flattenthecurve. It’s the responsible thing to do for ourselves and our communities, even if… Read More 5 Ways to Satisfy Your Wanderlust from Home
It has officially been more than a year since I returned to the U.S. after a period of long-term travel. People have often asked what it’s been like to go back to a normal life with a job, but I felt it was wise to let time pass before really reflecting on my reentry adjustment.… Read More Things No One Told You About Reentry Adjustment
Any female who has traveled, especially solo, no doubt has stories of experiencing sexual harassment while traveling. It wasn’t until last November though, after years of frequent travel, that an incident made me both pissed and wary enough to change my travel plans. It’s everywhere Go out with friends, and some guy will think he… Read More The First Time Sexual Harassment While Traveling Made Me Feel in Danger
“You have to go to Pai!” “Omg have you gone to Pai yet? I was just there and wish I could go back asap.” “Did you go to Pai? Pai is so cool.” I’ve heard dozens of variations of these enthusiastic exclamations over the past year both in Thailand and back home in the States.… Read More Why I Didn’t Love Pai Despite All the Hype
While Beijing may hold the historical treasures of China’s millennia-long history and Shanghai may be its global hub and largest city, it is Nanjing that holds the core of what China is today. Unless you or your relatives have lived in China in the past century or extensively studied the history of this period, you… Read More Why You Must Visit the Nanjing Massacre Memorial to Understand Modern China
Since I’ve been home from my travels, the two main questions I get asked are some variation of the following: “Where was your favorite place?” and “What did you learn about yourself?” While I have answers to those questions, perhaps the biggest change I found in myself was my improved ability to make what I’ve… Read More Fleeting Friends: On Making Friends While Traveling
Originally posted Monday, November 21, 2011 Home. It’s a word with which I have struggled with unlike any other. Whenever people ask me where “home” is, I hesitate before answering. In the days before I left for Europe, while I was at our new “home,” I listened to Miranda Lambert’s “The House That Built Me”… Read More Home – for a nomad on the loose
Growing up, I don’t think I had a conscious awareness of race until we moved to Florida, where the ugly legacy of slavery and Jim Crow made race something that was much more obvious. But while race wasn’t on my mind, I had always been fascinated with ethnicity. Not race or nationality, but ethnicity. China’s… Read More Does Cultural Tourism Help or Hurt Ethnic Minorities?