Ka-ra-kal-pak-stan
This was a real tongue twister. Ka-ra-kal-pak-stan. Ka-ra-kal-pak-stan. Now say it faster. Ka-ra-pa-kal… Damn. After spending nearly a month in the ancient Silk Road cities, the Fergana Valley, and the Nuratau Mountains, we thought we were finally getting a grasp on Uzbekistan’s diversity and complexity. We were starting to understand […]
Night Trains
Years ago, when we were staying on an island in Cambodia in a little bungalow on the beach, Victor walked off the bed platform in the middle of the night and fell down a few feet. He wasn’t fully awake and somehow didn’t hurt himself. When his mom heard this […]
Next on the Bucket List: Oktoberfest in Munich
I was chatting with my cousin, who lives in Frankfurt, Germany, and telling her all about our 36-hour trip to Munich just to attend the opening of Oktoberfest. “Have you ever been?” I asked her. “Oh no!” she exclaimed. “We are not big drinkers at all!” “Neither are we!” I […]
People Live Here. Nuratau Mountains.
We were outside the Jizzakh train station, patiently waiting on our Yandex Go taxi driver, when another taxi pulled up. The driver, a tall lean man in his early seventies, leaned out the window, “Where are you heading?” We explained that we were waiting for another taxi and he nodded, […]
Full Bloom in Namangan
A Tajik woman in a colorful dress was elbowing and pushing me away. I was too close, and she demanded space. She was also bothered by my camera, hissing at me that it kept poking her in the back. But what could I do? We were in the crowd, and […]
Summer in Norway
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!
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
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.
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
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
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 […]