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 […]
Chicken Bus, 25 Tortillas, and Lava Rocks of Guatemala
“Chicken bus! Chicken bus! Please, stooooppp!!!” I am running along a dusty street in Jocotenango, chasing a brightly decorated, refurbished US school bus. In my right hand, I have a plastic bag with 25 freshly made corn tortillas. My left hand is desperately flailing in the air, trying to get […]
Valladolid: Exploring Yucatan’s Pueblo Mágico
We spent the night before visiting Chichen Itza in Valladolid. For years, this colonial town had been overlooked by visitors and served primarily as a lunch stop for people traveling to or from Chichen Itza. Recently, Valladolid finally started to get tourist love as more travelers began including it on […]
Accidental Fare Dodgers in Hungary
Part I of EuroTrip 2002 Here Part II of EuroTrip 2002 Here In Munich, we met up with Andrey and George, and later with Max’s long-distance girlfriend. We went from a cozy group of 3 people, 2 of whom unconditionally followed me everywhere, to a group of six highly disorganized […]
Train Wreck of a Trip
Start with “EuroTrip 2002 Begins” Here. Looking back at the European trip 2002, I am amazed at just how many things went wrong and just how unbothered by all this we were. Being young and optimistic and most importantly not being too concerned with screwing up our itinerary played in […]
Eurotrip 2002 Begins: Breaking and Entering in Hamburg
When I met Victor in 2003, I proudly told him I was an experienced international traveler. After all, I’ve been on four trips out of the country! Victor, who at that point had only been on the plane once, from Belarus to the USA, was properly impressed. Straight out of […]
Gaudi’s Barcelona
We arrived in Barcelona early in the morning after a hellish overnight train ride that we still remember more than 10 years later. Bleary-eyed and groggy, our zombie-like entrance into the city was less than glorious. But that didn’t matter after all. We were in Barcelona. The city of Lionel […]