Walking around Ljubljana’s Old Town, I looked liked a tourist and I didn’t care. With my vegan spinach borek from Back Werk bakery in hand, I marveled at the variety of architecture, reveled in all the dragons and enjoyed navigating the cobble stones in the pedestrian city. Already won over by my newest visited country, […]
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With a smile on his face, the man who checked us into our guesthouse in Sjenica reported that we were the first guests from the USA. Couple that with the vast majority of the license plates we passed being domestic from Serbia (unlike all of the other Balkan countries we’ve visited on this road trip), […]
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“Dober dan” I said with a smile to the woman wearing a Mercator uniform. “Dan” she responded not returning my smile. “Do you speak English?” I asked her in Bosnian. “Ne”, she replied and started to walk away. “This is my chance”, I thought to myself. I was eager to try the very little Bosnian […]
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I found myself not knowing where to look. The scenery was nothing short of breathtaking in every direction and so my eyes darted from here to there and I marveled in the natural beauty. The hike up to Chimney Rock at Ghost Ranch near Abiquiu, New Mexico turned out to be one of my most […]
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Editor’s Note: We met Cameron while attending the Tampa VegFest in 2017. It was easy to see why his booth was bustling with people. We too were immediately drawn to his portraits. We began looking for familiar faces among his many gorgeous photographs and we spoke about several sanctuaries at which we too had had […]
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Our chartered yellow school bus drove under the sign that read “Greenbelt Metro Lot Full” and I said to my friend quietly, “wow, really?” in disbelief. I could hear other women saying, “I’ve never seen that lot full” and “It can’t already be full so early in the morning”. But as we passed the very full parking […]
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Due to jetlag we had been awake since 1:30am and the sky was just starting to get light. It was finally time to begin our journey from Manila to Puerto Galera. We checked out of the hotel with our two backpacks and headed towards the Pedro Gil Light Rail Transit station (LRT). Jeepnies were starting their morning routes […]
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It was so cold that I could see my breath in front of me, my feet and legs ached and I was standing at the bottom of the black diamond trail looking up at what I had in store if I accepted this challenge. I hadn’t seen a single person for over an hour and the way looked a bit precarious […]
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We planned our Polish trip completely unaware of World Youth Days, Catholicism’s way of rejuvenating young Catholics about the religion. This week-long event also included a visit from the Pope. This meant that young Catholics from all over the world were in Krakow when we arrived which while fascinating at first, quickly turned to annoyance […]
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Sitting with one of the beach dogs we had befriended, I looked out across the silvery water and could smell a mixture of salt and impending rain in the air. I was glad that we were staying for an entire week. Talipanan Beach was quite small and cozy and was said to be the quiet answer to […]
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The beautiful views of green farm land became difficult to see when the sky suddenly became dark, very dark, perhaps even darker than we had ever experienced before. Before we knew it the sky opened up and dumped LOTS of water on our car in the fast lane of the Highway 94. Little did we know […]
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As our train crossed the Oder River and we noticed that signs had changed from German to Polish, our excitement and anticipation of Polish adventures were rejuvenated. It had been nearly a decade since we had been there and I was looking forward to visiting familiar places that would remind me of “back then” as well as exploring […]
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As the East German buildings became more interspersed and the lush greenery started to take over, my shoulders dropped and I began to relax. When I spotted cows outside the train window I became more and more excited about our weekend in the Spreewald, nicknamed the Venice of Germany, which seemed to be the perfect antidote […]
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I used to frequent the mid-west city of Chicago in my 20s but on this trip I felt like I was seeing the great metropolis for the first time. Since my last visit, I had traveled to many new places and so now Chicago’s bridges reminded me of Dublin’s bridges over Liffey River and the […]
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I became very excited when our plane finally touched down in San Francisco, a city I hadn’t visited in over 15 years but had frequented in my 20s. Memories of climbing Coit Tower, driving on Lombard Street, visiting Golden Gate National Park, touring Alcatraz, exploring Fisherman’s Wharf and attending the latest opera came flashing back like […]
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As Izekiel Goodband spoke about various varieties of heirloom apples in a tightly packed room full of people eager for apple knowledge and apple tasting, I couldn’t help but compare this event to wine tasting at say a Napa Valley vineyard. An understanding of (or the lack thereof) a specialized vocabulary very quickly set apart those in the […]
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Megan wasn’t feeling well and so had been staying in the house for the previous few days. Cabin fever set in as she missed the outdoors and all that it had to offer: the sunshine, her friends and berries. Mindy and I had become fond of Megan; after all, she was the very first resident […]
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Winnifred Beach in Jamaica’s Portland Parish (northeast) has a very special vibe to it, unlike any other beach we’ve ever visited. It was lively, had ample shade and was filled with welcoming locals. After we scraped the car once, we decided it was best to park our small rental car and walk the rest of […]
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