backpacking

“Is This the Bates Motel?”: A Day of Absurdities from Medellin to Salento

January 27, 2014 backpacking

Please don’t let me be the only foreigner on this bus. Please don’t let me be the only foreigner on this bus! This is running through my head as I wait aboard a bus bound for somewhere south of Medellin. It works. I spot another solo traveler, someone I met while riding a cable car […]

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The Rough Road to Santa Marta, Colombia

October 9, 2013 backpacking

Bananas. That’s all I see for miles as we drive though some unknown location in Northern Colombia as day begins to gain strength over night. Bananas. That’s how I feel after about a dozen hours cramped up in a night bus with the air conditioning inexplicably blasting on us while we shiver. One member of […]

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Enter Asia

March 5, 2013 backpacking
SE Asia 012

The feeling you get when you’re about to set foot on a new continent for the first time is one of the greatest rushes you can experience. As you exit the airport and head into the unknown, there is a palpable sense that the world is about to open up to you in previously unimaginable […]

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But Oh, Those Berlin Summer Mornings (and Prague Nights)

March 27, 2012 backpacking
Berlin - Party Rockin' in the Metro Station

While hosteling in Berlin, I quickly realized that even if you sit out the Saturday night partying, the party will eventually make its way to you. That was especially true in the nightlife heavy neighborhood of Friedrichshain I stayed in at the beginning of my trip. In my hostel dorm room, there was a lively […]

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A First Time Solo Traveler’s Guide to Hostels

February 11, 2012 backpacking
Lima - Hostel Kokopelli

When I travel on my own, where I choose to stay can make a huge difference in my overall experience in a location. In my second post for my solo travel for beginners series, I suggested that hostels were excellent place to begin if you want to meet people while you’re traveling solo. I know […]

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Travel for Travel’s Sake

February 6, 2012 backpacking

If you follow my blog regularly, you may have realized that I have a penchant for the journey aspect of travel — all the things you see and experience while moving from one point to another. The points might be what have attracted me to a place, but I love the discovery — self or […]

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Journeying on to the Mexico City Magic

January 6, 2012 backpacking

Oaxaca de Juarez wanes slowly as you leave overland. Centro is the core and the ideal. It’s not always the reality of the city, but it encapsulates the essence of it. As you exit the center of the city, the bright colonial houses fade into buildings that cosmetically tend to be more functional than fancy. […]

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A 20 Hour Indian Train Experience

March 10, 2011 backpacking

4:30 pm The panic I felt while stuck in mind-boggling traffic is fading. I’ve made it to the Varanasi Junction station in time for my 4:45 train to Agra. I step inside, and India assaults me full force. It seems that not a single spot in the train station is unoccupied; people are sitting and […]

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