Chicago: Keeping the Blues Alive

Today is a special day in Chicago: Buddy Guy celebrates his 90th birthday.  Although we are currently busy writing posts about Uzbekistan, this milestone-and America’s 250th year-makes it the perfect moment to celebrate one of the country’s greatest musical traditions: the blues. At his birthday bashes, Buddy Guy usually tells […]

Not Giving Up on Kymyz

World travelers often disagree about what constitutes “visiting” a country.  What is the minimum requirement that one needs to satisfy? Do you need to stay overnight? Spend a full day? Or is it enough to hang out for a few hours at the airport during a layover without going outside? […]

Uzbekistan: One Conversation at a Time

We were in Margilan, a medium-sized town in the Fergana Valley, on a quick day trip when we stopped at the street market for lunch. We found a tiny café serving hot tea and potato samsas, sat down, and ordered a pot of tea with three samsas to share. As […]

Monterrey, Mexico: World Cup Edition

Back in February, we climbed Cerro de la Silla and marveled at the striking Estadio BBVA from above. There, on the hiking trail, I had an interesting thought: “How cool would it be to see this mountain from the stadium seats during the world’s biggest sporting event?” Later that evening, […]

2026 FIFA World Cup: Hogwarts vs. Narnia

Those who follow this blog know I am a big soccer fan and try to attend games in every country I visit.  This fact is even listed in my section of “About Us” on this website.  So, it won’t surprise anyone that attending the World Cup this summer was on […]

Nicaragua: A Road Less Traveled

By Julia / January 9, 2025

The dusk was setting quickly over Matagalpa, the little red and yellow coffee berries no longer visible on the branches of coffee trees lining the narrow, unpaved road steeply ascending into the mountain.  The light of our headlamps jaggedly bounced up and down, as our tiny, rented Toyota Yaris struggled […]

Girls, Girls, Girls.  Souvenirs: Part III

By Victor / December 12, 2024

Back by popular demand, here’s Part III of our souvenir inventory (Part I and Part II are here).  As we wrote before, we are very picky when it comes to souvenir shopping; yet, sometimes, we do bring souvenirs home.  Most of the time, it’s something related to the culture, religion, […]

One Day in Comuna 13, Medellin

By Julia / December 5, 2024

A while ago, I wrote a single post about paragliding in Medellin, completely skipping over the part where we went to Colombia in 2022 and spent five days in Medellin.  Now that I have a few free weeks after finishing all Norway posts and before the next trip springs up […]

Thanksgiving Around the World

By Julia / November 28, 2024

We are not big “holiday” people.  We can hardly be bothered to do much for most holidays, and usually use the Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Christmas as long weekends for travel.  But Thanksgiving has always had a soft spot in our hearts.  Maybe because it’s the […]

Exotic Guatemala

By Victor / November 21, 2024

When people ask me about the most exotic place we’ve ever visited, I am always torn about how to respond. Was it Egypt with its ancient temples, monuments, and stunning deserts? Or India with its dream-like Taj Mahal, colorful towns of Rajasthan, and ceremonial pyres burning corpses non-stop in the […]

Cool Cats of Türkiye

By Julia / November 14, 2024

It is time to acknowledge that a great injustice has been done in this blog.  While the name of the blog is “Two Cats Backpack” referring to the never-ending struggle between staying home and spending time with our two cats or packing the backpack and heading out to explore the […]

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