New Zealand, the land of the long white cloud, is full of epic mountain vistas, rolling green hillside, and azure colored lakes. New Zealand respects their land, and rare ecosystem more than any other country I've visited. Overall, New Zealand is hands down one of the most beautiful countries in the entire world. Here are...

Some of the potential drawbacks of group travel are often the very perks of a solo trip: no arguments over where or when to go, no mismatched food tastes, unbalanced fitness levels or clashing differences in hygiene habits. When you’re alone, you’re free to make any and every decision without worry of offending one of...

In March of 1989, the Exxon Valdez struck a reef off the coast of Alaska, resulting in the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Initially viewed as an ecological disaster, this catastrophe did wonders to raise environmental awareness among average Americans. As television images of oil-choked sea otters and dying shore birds were beamed across...

I awoke, this morning, thinking about our journey and the excitement of being home for a few months. I opened my eyes to messages of love and daily life from people around the world, fellow travelers, as well as those who never leave home and I realized, again, just how thankful I am for the...

“A virtuous life doesn’t reward you with travel.” -- Rolf Potts I had the pleasure of connecting with Rolf in person this week. I’ve written on his blog since 2012 and we’ve passed a few notes back and forth as we’ve shared the occasional orbit in cyber-space but there’s something different about connecting at eye...

Last week I shared five things that life and travel are teaching me. This week, I’d like to share five more... 1. To figure it out There is nothing like having everything go to perdition on a far off continent when you don’t speak the language. In epic ways: like the stock market crashing and...

It is raining this morning, and I am sick. It’s one of those mornings where I long for a bathtub and a big fluffy bed and endless documentary television to while away a day when I’m too icky to do anything else. Instead, I’m tucked up in my little cave bed with my second cup...

Our family has a long history of making memories instead of collecting things. We love to give gifts, don’t get me wrong, but most of them are little homemade things, or gifts of self in some capacity. Perhaps most precious are the gifts of time and of memories. We didn’t get a honeymoon. I had...

“But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.” – Aldous Huxley, Brave New World This quote stopped me in my tracks this week. I’m a lover of Huxley’s works and of course Brave New World is a classic. I’m...

If you’ve been traveling for any length of time then you’ve been asked the same questions a million times: Where are you from? Where are you going? Where have you been? What’s your favourite place so far? Which place has the best food? Isn’t it dangerous? The questions get tiresome sometimes, but I understand why...

“ Watch this Gramps, ” he hissed to my Dad, “ Do you know how to get the best price on a taxi? This is how... just watch Mom!” My Dad chuckled, Ez continued his play by play narration: “The cab driver will pull up, and Mom will ask him how much.... see.... okay, now...

This week a friend of mine had her iPhone stolen in Antigua. It’s ignited another round of discussions in our traveling circles about theft on the road, how to avoid it and the various gear and gadgets marketed to minimize the likelihood of being burgled on the road. I would like to say two things...

The subject of my life as a minimalist keeps coming up in conversations lately. I’m always a bit taken aback when someone suggests it, because I don’t think of myself as a minimalist at all. It’s true, I’ve lived out of a backpack, essentially, for over five years now. My whole life fits into one...

I've been spending a lot of time uncomfortable in Indonesia this month. I confess to being a bit burnt out, a bit gritchy about the things I generally have a sense of humor about (taxi drivers and touts at the top of the list). We flew to Bali for some R&R and to eat our...

A young friend of mine is posting elated pictures from Amsterdam, and two days later, from Dubai. She’s just graduated from Berklee School of Music in Boston, no slouch accomplishment, and she’s treating herself to a couple of weeks of travel. The joy in her journey is palpable in the photos she’s posting. Of course...

With the New Year upon us, thoughts naturally turn to new beginnings, the continuation of the adventure and living the next phase with intentionality and purpose. For those of us with tendencies toward the vagabond life, may I suggest three resolutions to guide your journey? From my family, on the fringe of the jungles of...

Christmas this year find us on the edge of the jungle in Borneo. Hiking yesterday I found a pocketful of nutmeg and remembered making a Christmas phone call years ago, with my brother who was here in the Spice Islands while I was “at home” changing diapers. He told me about the orang utan he’d...

I love sitting in the common room of a youth hostel, or on the deck of a boat sliding down a jungle river swapping stories with other travelers. I love the light in the eyes of that girl who’s just had her first real adventure and lived to tell about it. I love the excited...

This article is the sixth in a series of posts explaining how to bring your music on the road and get to travel with it. Read the series’ introduction , Post#1 , Post # 2 , Post #3 , Post #4 and Post #5 In my last post I concluded that vans are the ideal...

This article is the fourth in a series of posts explaining how to bring your music on the road and get to travel with it. Read the series’ introduction , Post#1 , Post # 2 and Post #3 In the last article of this series I mentioned that a band may decide to book their...