Stop reading this blog post. Please. Immediately close this page and open up a new tab… And book your next vacation to Sri Lanka A.S.A.P. This country has it all. Beautiful beaches, ancient ruins and temples for days of exploring, mountains for hiking, national parks for safaris, and even men in skirts. You name it […]
Reflecting on our Volunteer Experience i...
“India is a land of contrasts” the coordinator of our volunteer program told us during orientation. This became evident to us immediately. The wealth gap stretches way beyond what most other countries experience. On the street you will see women dressed in the most beautiful sarees in every color of the rainbow, but you will […]
Our Introduction to India
Thirty-one hours from Cappadocia, Turkey, to Amritsar, India. Four flights, three shuttles, and one auto-rickshaw ride got us to within three blocks of our hotel, but that’s as far as they would take us. We were dropped off in the middle of an intersection near a police barricade, our driver pointed us in the general […]
Turkey: From Europe to Asia
Eighteen days after the deadliest bombing in modern day Turkey occurred in the capital city of Ankara, we arrived in Istanbul. This was in addition to a bombing that had happened in Istanbul back in August. For the weeks leading up to our arrival, we had seen the non-stop news coverage of the rising death […]
Wrapping up Leg One of the Trip
Over the past few weeks, we finished up our time in Greece by hiking among the cliff-side monasteries in Meteora, spending a week in Athens and Santorini with Christina’s sister, Abigail, and her boyfriend, Travis, and then ended with a short stay in Mykonos. Then we spent a week apart. Christina headed home to the […]
My Big, Fat, Greek Family Reunion
My great-grandfather was the perfect example of the American Dream. A young teenager who came to the States in 1911 with only $50 to his name, Panagiotis (Pete) Tsirtsis eventually landed in Boonville, Missouri, and opened up a successful café which he ran until the time of his death. All throughout my childhood, I would […]
Visiting the Top Travel Destination of 2...
Each year, the New York Times Travel section puts out a list of the world’s top “Places to Go.” Contributing writers to The Times provide their nominations and the editors narrow it down based on a number of criteria including city events, attractions and other points of particular interest for that year. For 2015, there […]
Back to Sicily
When it comes to traveling in Italy, there is a well-worn path consisting of a few destinations that seem to always be a part of any itinerary, and with good reason. There’s Florence, along with the entire region of Tuscany, and its beautiful landscapes. There’s floating Venice with its many islands and interconnecting canals. Of […]
Grateful Houseguests: Visiting Friends a...
One of the goals of our trip was to visit as many friends and family around the world as possible whom we don’t normally get to see very often. Over the past two weeks, we’ve spent three days staying with family just outside of Paris, reunited with a high school friend in Berlin for a […]
Paris on a Budget
After having spent a week in rural Réparsac, France, keeping an eye out for mice, flies, spiders the size of your hand, and working with more goats than people, we almost wept tears of joy when we pulled into the Gare du Montparnasse in Paris. The City of Lights made us feel like we were […]