War in Sarajevo: Tunnel of Hope and Roses

The first thing I noticed after getting off the plane in Sarajevo was the mountains. Towering on all sides, they dominate the horizon, their steep slopes cloaked in lush alpine forest. These mountains have shaped Sarajevo for centuries, restricting its growth to the narrow valley, while positioning it along key […]

War. What is it good for. Mostar Edition.

Any time we mentioned we were traveling to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the first question was always the same: “Isn’t that the place with the war?” Yes. But the war ended 30 years ago. It’s safe. Don’t worry! That answer was usually met with a head shake and a muttered comment […]

Bosnia and Herzegovina: One Country, Two Regions, Three Nations

What is a country? It’s a strange question, especially from someone who has traveled extensively.  But the answer is not quite as simple as a glance at a political map might suggest.  We have been to countries that no longer exist (Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, USSR), regions that used to be countries […]

Smuggling Molcajete

One of my most impractical dreams, born from years of travel, is this: I want to decorate each room in my house in the style of a different country.  The bedroom would be designed like a chamber in an Indian palace with ornate fabrics, carved wood, and a hint of […]

Dancing with Chinelos

The old, battered bus was bouncing on the road with dusty Mexican countryside rolling outside the window.  Google Maps on my phone was showing we were approaching our destination – Yautepec de Zaragoza.  Before the trip, I could not even imagine that we would be trying to get to this […]

Normandy, France or How We Spent Nearly $4,000 in Four Days

By Victor / June 25, 2020

In the summer of 2009, after I finished my second year of law school, we decided to visit France. I flew to Paris two days before Julia to get my “art museum” fix and managed to visit four art museums in those two days. Upon arrival, I immediately discovered that […]

The Highway to Our Own Personal Hell (Wyoming)

By Julia / June 18, 2020

Our road trip in 2004 had many memorable moments in California, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado, but the one anecdote we always associate with this trip actually happened in the “drive-through” state of Wyoming, on a long stretch of a highway, deep at night. We were eight days deep into our […]

The Trip That Started It All

By Julia / June 11, 2020

This is probably going to be the oldest story published on this blog, back from March 2004, before we had our backpacks and cats.  Victor has been in the US for less than a year and was itching to discover more of America than just the Chicagoland area.  He was […]

A Traveler’s Dilemma: The Human Zoo

By Victor / May 28, 2020

In December of 2013, while traveling through northern Thailand, we had the option of visiting indigenous hill tribe villages. As we walked the streets of Chiang Mai, nearly every tourist agency and hotel touted trips to nearby ethnic minority villages by displaying pictures of smiling women in colorful traditional dresses […]

Egypt: Camping in the Desert Mustafa-Style

By Julia / May 21, 2020

Our Egypt desert adventures start here. As the sun was setting over the White Desert, our Jeep headed towards the overnight camping spot.  With no large dunes or stones to block our view of sunset or sunrise, our guide and driver found a spot in a large flat valley, white […]

Egypt: Black Desert, White Desert, Best Desert

By Julia / May 14, 2020

We’ve never had a bad trip.  We’ve had a lot of mishaps and quite frankly several shitshows, but we never have been to a country we didn’t like.  And now, looking back at dozens of excellent trips we’ve taken around the world, I can tell you with complete honesty and […]

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