A Long-Overdue Affair: The Wisconsin State Fair

Last year, it finally happened. I went to the Wisconsin State Fair! Although I had lived in the state for over a decade, for whatever reason, I’d never made it to the festival grounds in West Allis until last year. Ironically, it took me to move out of Wisconsin to […]

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 […]

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 […]

Summer in Norway

By Julia / August 8, 2024

What does summer look like in one of the northernmost countries on Earth? That is the question I should have asked myself when packing for our trip.  But I didn’t. “It’s summer after all!” I thought, shoving shorts and T-shirts into my backpack.  I wasn’t even planning on bringing my […]

No Way! Norway!

By Julia / August 2, 2024

It feels like every time I start a post about a new country, there is the same theme.  “Look, we are doing something we’ve never done before!  We usually don’t travel like this, but we made an exception this time!”  A long time ago, we started out as budget travelers […]

How I Sent My Parents To The Concentration Camp

By Victor / July 24, 2024

Because my parents still live in Belarus and I live in the States, I like inviting them to join our trips from time to time.  This way, we can kill two birds with one stone: enjoy some quality family time and explore a new destination together.  Over the years, we’ve […]

San Diego. Finally.

By Julia / June 20, 2024

After twenty years of traveling, we have been to over forty countries, almost every U.S. state, most national parks, and basically every major U.S. city.  But there are still places out there to explore. “We have still, somehow, not been to San Diego,” Victor said. I vaguely remembered how.  We […]

King’s Day in Amsterdam

By Victor / June 13, 2024

Earlier this year, we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago and saw the city turn into one big green, drunken mass.  Despite having lived in Chicago for over 20 years, we rarely participate in St. Patrick’s Day festivities and normally avoid the downtown area during that weekend altogether. So, when […]

Tulip Paradise

By Victor / May 30, 2024

As we started to descend toward Schiphol Airport, I was peeking through the plane window and couldn’t contain my excitement: “Look! Tulips!” I shouted. Colorful strips of tulip fields started to appear out of nowhere and stretched to the horizon. On the train ride from the airport, we passed more […]

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