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 […]

Northern Albania – Mountains, Ferry, and Blood Feuds

By Julia / January 13, 2022

We weren’t planning on heading north in Albania. It’s a completely mountainous region, with narrow and steep roads, wholly unsuitable for inexperienced travelers such as Victor’s mom. And we have explored so many other mountain ranges in the past – the Rocky Mountains, Smoky Mountains, Swiss Alps, Andes – that […]

Albania Highlights

By Victor & Julia / January 9, 2022

One small change on this map – Google doesn’t do ferry routes, so the distance between Koman and Fierze is incorrect.  We took a ferry down Koman Lake and then Drin River, not SH5 and SH22 roads. Places Visited Tirana Kruja Lezhe Cape of Rodonit Shkoder Koman Fierze Valbona Bajram […]

Chicken Bus, 25 Tortillas, and Lava Rocks of Guatemala

By Victor / December 14, 2021

“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

By Victor / December 2, 2021

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

By Julia / November 18, 2021

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

By Julia / November 11, 2021

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 […]

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