A Long-Overdue Affair: The Wisconsin State Fair

Last year, it finally happened. I went to the Wisconsin State Fair! Although I had lived in the state for over a decade, for whatever reason, I’d never made it to the festival grounds in West Allis until last year. Ironically, it took me to move out of Wisconsin to […]

Chicago: Keeping the Blues Alive

Today is a special day in Chicago: Buddy Guy celebrates his 90th birthday.  Although we are currently busy writing posts about Uzbekistan, this milestone-and America’s 250th year-makes it the perfect moment to celebrate one of the country’s greatest musical traditions: the blues. At his birthday bashes, Buddy Guy usually tells […]

Uzbekistan: One Conversation at a Time

We were in Margilan, a medium-sized town in the Fergana Valley, on a quick day trip when we stopped at the street market for lunch. We found a tiny café serving hot tea and potato samsas, sat down, and ordered a pot of tea with three samsas to share. As […]

Monterrey, Mexico: World Cup Edition

Back in February, we climbed Cerro de la Silla and marveled at the striking Estadio BBVA from above. There, on the hiking trail, I had an interesting thought: “How cool would it be to see this mountain from the stadium seats during the world’s biggest sporting event?” Later that evening, […]

2026 FIFA World Cup: Hogwarts vs. Narnia

Those who follow this blog know I am a big soccer fan and try to attend games in every country I visit.  This fact is even listed in my section of “About Us” on this website.  So, it won’t surprise anyone that attending the World Cup this summer was on […]

Beyond the Flowers:  Hiking Ruta de las Flores

By Julia / February 16, 2022

If a foreign tourist does venture into El Salvador, he will inevitably come for one of two things – to surf or to visit Ruta de las Flores.  As Victor is diligently working on his “surviving surfing” post, I will, in the meantime, describe one of the most magical regions […]

Searching for Crashed Planes, Helicopters and Guerillas: A Very Unusual Christmas in El Salvador

By Victor / February 4, 2022

We spent the past holidays in El Salvador, and it turned out to be one of the strangest Christmases we’ve had during our travels.  No, it didn’t top our Christmas in India in 2014, when on Christmas Eve we nearly lost our camera, money, and Julia’s passport and ended up […]

El Salvador: The Beginning And The End

By Julia / January 27, 2022

For our very first story about our recent trip to El Salvador, I will start at the end and then, logically, will go backward. It was our last day in the country, and we had our backpacks ready with tourist trinkets, dirty clothes, and at least five bags of coffee […]

Chasing the Light in France

By Victor / January 20, 2022

In the summer of 2009, we went to France to “chase the light”.  When I initially announced plans for the trip, Julia gave me a confused look and asked me to elaborate. I explained that we would start in Paris, visiting as many art museums as possible, and then venture […]

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 […]

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