I am in cooking school for 5 weeks. I am living and learning at Ballymaloe Cookery School which is an organic farm in southeast Ireland teaching farm-to-table and sustainable cooking from French, Italian, Spanish, Asian, South…
I know no one in Ireland. This section of my trip was authentically solo. So I rented a car from Dublin airport and set out on a 10 day journey down the West Coast of Ireland…
I had a 48 hour stopover in London en route to Edinburgh which I had planned to use as a little rest break, catch up on some reading, and spend a little time resting from daily…
Visiting Zurich is like coming to another hometown for me. Ian lived here for four years, so it has a special pull for me, and no trip to the continent would feel right without a bit…
So I went to Cannes to hang out with one of my best friends, Yan, from my UC Berkeley days who I met in a summer school Spanish course — the very beginning of my journey…
I cannot really ‘wrap up’ my time in Spain since I have at least two more quick visits planned between now and September, but my extended stay with this mob has come to an end and…
As I was heading back to Madrid from Seville, one of my former students (from 2014). . . . . . reached out and said his grandmother's flat in Paris was available and he and his…
This is Spain. I have been wanting to come to this region for a very, very long time, so my birthday gift to myself was a 7am train from Madrid to Cordoba with my friend Jonathan…
There is no greater cultural whiplash than traveling from Munich to Barcelona. Within minutes of arriving I was met by my former flatmate, Francesc, and a blazing Catalonian sun. Roomies Reunited! We had several long walks…
My little brother was born in Munich. My twin sister and I went to primary school, and my older brother to Junior High there. In childhood, there is a period known as the years of innocence,…
The Berlin Adventure started on the train-ride in. I had an assigned seat, and I made it onto the correct carriage but was looking for my seat when I asked this woman (below) to help me…
The best antidote to the whirling lights and sounds of Amsterdam is a few days decompressing in Denmark. Copenhagen came out on top when I had to choose between it, Stockholm, and Oslo. And it was…
They said Amsterdam would be cold and rainy, but all I got was sunshine and flowers. Of all the streets and neighbourhoods we could’ve stayed, we landed one of the last hotel rooms available, due the…
I have come to realise there are very, very few places I have enjoyed as much as Mexico. When I consider how much I like a place, it always comes down to the breadth of experiences…
I won’t be saying much about Playa Zipolite because it is not a place that holds up to description. You’ve just gotta get here and feel Zipolite. It is probably the only place I cannot imagine…
I swore I was not going to snap dozens of food photos and pretend anyone wants to hear about my meals for the next 6 months, but along came Oaxaca. Oaxaca, Mexico is a state along…
Ciudad de México is a big, old, grand, hotbed of food, fiestas, and fun. I am trying to keep my food photos to a minimum, but I cannot go past the vegan ceviche or the breakfast…
Spring walk in South Carolina I’m learning to walk again. It’s been a long time since I have wandered down streets unrestrained by time, but visiting my mom in South Carolina has given me time and…
It is 5am, dark and freezing, and we are gathered in Aguas Calientes at the entrance to Machu Picchu. All they kept repeating to us was ‘cerrado, cerrado’. They closed Machu Picchu while we were standing…
If you have been following along geographically, you are correct in noticing Cartagena is a hell of a long way from Mendoza. Mendoza is at the bottom of South America and Cartagena is at the top.…
Mendoza = Malbecs, which for me equals pilgrimage. So I found myself in the town where even the fountains spout red wine. I also booked my first hostel stay in Mendoza; by which I mean I…
So five of us are squished into the tiniest 4x4 I’ve ever been in. It’s 7am, 8 degrees outside, and we are en route to the edge of the Northern Ice Fields in Puerto Tranquilo, Chile.…
The Rock, River & Tree A Rock, A River, A Tree . . . Hosts to species long since departed. I’m quoting from memory, but I believe the words go in that order. These are Maya…
So I’ve camped before. Been to Burning Man three times now, and each visit was the only time I have camped for more than one night and not in a backyard. My first BM I slept…
So I met up with this jokester in Buenos Aires and the next thing I knew we were on a three and a half hour flight South to the bottom tip of the world; the other…
When I was a sophomore at Uni, my roommate wanted to meet up with a girl he liked in Paris during our Spring Break, but she would only go if her friend came along too, so…
Imagine creating a dream itinerary for traveling around the world. Converting lifelong dreams, goals and whims into one continuous direction of travel with a maximum number of stops is not easy. Now imagine calling your mother…
Joshua fought the battle of Jericho. The short story is Joshua of the Israelites won the battle of Jericho when he and his men surrounded Jericho and continuously blew their trumpets until the walls of Jericho…
I am a very bad, terrible student. It is as if I have accumulated two decades of naughty students in my soul and they have all decided to come forth and re-live their naughtiness through me,…
I live on a noisy, teeming street. Next door is Texas Fast Food, which is not fast at all. Instead, they feature chimichurri steaks (Argentina) and beef strips with a cheese fondue (Switzerland?) for dipping .…
People ask me why Colombia. The short answer is that Colombia, with its accent and its warm people, provides one of the best places to understand and practice the Spanish language. The long answer is Papi.…
I do not post food images; this is an experiential image. I am a breakfast purist. Few things set my day better than scrambled eggs (w/cheese), hash browns (extra crispy), bacon, and a side of pancakes…
. . . and that’s a wrap. Boom. Done. Wheels up in a matter of hours and I report back to work in 13 months and 16 days. In the meantime, this photo is exactly how…
My wardrobe for the year. I hate luggage, which is ironic because I love the idea of a bag. Own quite a few of them, but to be clear, nothing strikes me as more cumbersome and…