Go For Gözleme
The previous post about fish, bread, and never giving up on food dreams reminded me of something that happened two years ago, during a road trip from Izmir to Antalya in Türkiye. We left our Airbnb early in the morning, eager to start a long day of sightseeing, and skipped […]
Searching for Fish and Bread in Istanbul
Two years ago, when we did a road trip through southwest Türkiye, I kept looking for balık ekmek. If you don’t know what that is, don’t worry. Neither did I. But Victor kept mentioning how he and his parents enjoyed a delicious balık ekmek in a restaurant by the Bosphorus […]
Our Travel Wishlist: Yemen
This will be a different kind of post. Normally, we describe places we’ve been to, but today we want to tell you about a country we want to visit. Recently, the area where we live saw a boom of Yemeni coffeehouses popping up here and there. These spacious, lavishly decorated […]
Against All Advice: Finding The Perfect Beach Near Istanbul
Planning a trip for just the two of us is now easy, as we know what we like and what kinds of trips bring us joy. But earlier this year, planning a family reunion trip to Istanbul with Victor’s father, brother, sister-in-law, and niece was a whole different story. Victor’s […]
Is Istanbul Now More Expensive Than Dubai for Tourists?
In August, we spent a week in Istanbul meeting with my family, and the city once again left us speechless. But this time, it was not for the reason you might expect. I could write about incredible sites or delicious food (of which Istanbul has plenty), but, as a travel […]
An Honest Conversation in Havana
There is a conversation that happens in every country we visit. The locals earnestly ask, we honestly answer, the locals are thrilled, and by the end of it, everyone is happy. But this one time, it went off script. “How do you like Cuba?” the taxi driver asked, flashing us […]
Our Own Museum of Travel
Our condo is a museum of our never-ending globetrotting. African masks, religious statues, souvenirs, and mementos from all over the world constantly fight for shelf space with the cats. The more we travel, the more things we bring home. Our minimalist way of life directly conflicts with the constant desire […]
Unexpected Food Capital of South America
How come Peru has two restaurants in the top 10 restaurants in the world list, while the U.S. has none? This was the question we puzzled over while boarding our flight to Lima. The answer was found shortly thereafter, during our nine-day crisscrossing of the land of the Incas, alpacas, […]
Peninsulas of Ireland Part II: The Luck of the Irish
Start here with Part I: The Undiscovered Peninsulas of Ireland. Day 4. Ring of Kerry on Iveragh Peninsula. We spent a long time discussing the Ring of Kerry during the planning of the trip, and it all came down to this not-very-common itinerary question: clockwise or counterclockwise? I can’t recall […]
The Undiscovered Peninsulas of Ireland
“It looks like a claw,” Victor said. We zoomed in to the bottom left corner of the island of Ireland on Google maps, and I clearly saw a claw with five crooked digits protruding into the ocean, the five southwestern peninsulas. The peninsulas, Mizen, Sheep’s Head, Beara, Iveragh, and Dingle, […]
On the Edge of the Crater: Volcano Hiking in El Salvador
My recent post about hiking (and running) through Dunloe Gap reminded me of the most spectacular hike we did at the end of last year. El Salvador and that entire region, including Guatemala and Costa Rica, are chock full of volcanoes, and yet another volcano hike didn’t sound like anything […]