Monterrey, Mountains, and Unexpected Mexico
For those of you following along, I mentioned how our tickets to Monterrey had been canceled twice, and it was becoming increasingly unclear whether the universe really did not want us visiting this part of Mexico or whether Viva Aerobus was only pretending to offer flights there. Well, we finally […]
In the Saddle: Conquering Cerro de la Silla
Its image is everywhere — on labels of tostadas and tortillas, wall murals, and even in the logo of the local baseball team. It’s the symbol of the city. The most recognizable landmark. It is as iconic as Rio de Janeiro’s Sugarloaf or Cape Town’s Table Mountain. Cerro de la […]
São Paulo: Hate At First Sight
“Skip São Paulo. It’s just a concrete jungle. Nothing to see there,” was the advice I received while planning a trip to Brazil. Nonsense. We are big city people. We love architecture, museums, and restaurants. Big cities have this never-ending energy and are always full of activities and things to […]
Bad Things
We arrived in Taipei on December 13th and left on the 18th to explore Alishan. On December 19th, 2025, a 27-year-old man threw smoke grenades and stabbed people in a Taipei metro station, killing three people and injuring eleven others. He then killed himself by jumping from a building. This […]
Taiwan: Shaking in Our Boots
It was an evening of our last day in Kaohsiung, and we were visiting the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas. Temples in Taiwan usually have dragons painted by one set of doors to indicate that those doors are used to enter the temple, and tigers by another set of doors, which […]
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 […]
Two Pubs, One Fort: A-Not-Very-Sober Day in Ireland
We woke up in Kinsale to the clatter of beer barrels rolling down the cobblestone street. The ultimate Irish alarm clock! After quickly grabbing coffee and splitting a scone, we started the day in this little sleepy Irish port town by taking a highly recommended walking tour. An old, cheery […]