I am sitting on a stony curbside in complete darkness. My head hurts. Dogs bark in the distance. The sweet darkness of Albanian night is hugging me gently as I rub my temples, trying not to throw up. That’s not how I envisioned our first meeting, Gjirokaster. Last summer, we […]
Read MoreAuthor: Victor
Donbas of My Youth
The train arrived at 3 a.m. We descended from the passenger railroad car, groggy and disheveled, into a dimly lit platform, the edges of which were swallowed by the night. Kolya, our team captain, silently motioned, and we marched down the platform behind him. I was 19 years old, and […]
Read MoreMuseum of Russian Aggression
The world is shocked by the unprecedented Russian aggression in Ukraine. But the sad truth is that it was very much precedented, by Russian aggression in Georgia in 2008. Much like Ukraine, Georgia began eyeing integration into NATO, which led to a deteriorated relationship with Russia and eventually to the […]
Read MoreSearching for Crashed Planes, Helicopters and Guerillas: A Very Unusual Christmas in El Salvador
These past holidays we spent in El Salvador, and this was one of the strangest Christmases we had in our travels. No, it did not top our Christmas in India in 2014, when on Christmas Eve we nearly lost our camera, money, and Julia’s passport and ended up drinking opium […]
Read MoreChasing the Light in France
In the summer of 2009, we went to France to “chase the light”. When I initially announced my intentions for this trip, Julia gave me a confused look and asked me to elaborate. I explained that we would start in Paris, visiting as many art museums as we possibly could, […]
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