Little Teapot Short and Stout

If your country historically has rocks and water in close proximity to each other, I will probably end up writing a post about it. Let me explain. Anywhere in the world where there are rocks and water, there will usually be deposits of clay, created by the breakdown of igneous […]

The Mist, the Cloud, the Tea, and the Sunset: The Trails of Shizhuo

The hardest part of any itinerary is usually not where to visit or when, but for how long. There are always disagreements online over how much time each place deserves, with some people claiming to have fully explored everything in one day, while others take a week. And when it’s […]

Spilling the Tea about Alishan

Victor loves coffee, and this blog is a clear testament to that. There are so many posts about coffee tours, coffee shops, coffee destinations, conversations about coffee over coffee, and even hiking through coffee plantations. Yet if you were to go through our kitchen, you’d find at most two bags […]

In the Sea of Clouds

When we travel, we usually try to avoid pre-planning everything. By rigidly scripting every activity down to the minute, you can easily deprive yourself of genuine travel experiences, instead just following the “script”.  But that doesn’t work with sunrises and sunsets, especially if you want to catch them from a […]

Hugging Trees in Alishan

Alishan was giving me a headache. Trying to fit this mountainous forest into our itinerary was a challenging task. No direct trains from Taipei. No direct buses. Renting a car and driving up there? Maybe. But that wasn’t ideal. The most reasonable option was to get to the city of […]

Welcome to Lycia!

By Julia / October 19, 2023

We visited Lycia, and I am here to tell you all about it.  If you are staring at a map, confused and bewildered, let me get you a little better situated.  Lycia is a maritime district of southwestern Anatolia and can be found on the Teke Peninsula, surrounded by the […]

Türkiye: The First Time

By Julia / October 5, 2023

The first time we ended up in Türkiye was back in the winter of 2013, and to be perfectly clear, we didn’t go to Türkiye, we went to Thailand for two weeks and had an overnight layover in Istanbul on our way back.  And so, Türkiye was an afterthought.  We […]

Small Towns, Big Problems

By Victor / September 28, 2023

Even before the pandemic, Europe had been seriously suffering from over-tourism, with masses of tourists visiting the most popular destinations at rates not seen before.  The pandemic didn’t ease the situation, and to some extent, even exacerbated the problem, causing people who’d skipped travel in the last 2-3 years to […]

The Unexpected India

By Victor / September 14, 2023

India was our best trip and our worst trip.  Nine years later, I’m still shocked that, while still being relatively new international travelers, we had enough courage to pick India as our second Asian country to visit. We wrote extensively about 16 unforgettable days in India that included, among other […]

Six Wonders of the World: Part II

By Julia / August 30, 2023

Start with Part I here for the Colosseum, Chichen Itza, and Taj Mahal. 4.  Christ the Redeemer By the time we visited Brazil in 2015, Christ the Redeemer was firmly established as one of the New Wonders of the World, and the tourists were certainly aware of it.  From our […]

Six Wonders of the World: Part I

By Julia / August 17, 2023

We were on a mountain in Peru, looking down at a gorgeous green valley, peppered with ancient stone constructions. “I can’t believe we are finally at Machu Picchu!” Victor said, “Congratulations!  You have now visited all “New Seven Wonders of the World”!” “I have?” I asked, unsure. “Well, let’s see.  […]

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