Not Giving Up on Kymyz
World travelers often disagree about what constitutes “visiting” a country. What is the minimum requirement that one needs to satisfy? Do you need to stay overnight? Spend a full day? Or is it enough to hang out for a few hours at the airport during a layover without going outside? […]
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 […]
Travels with My Mother: Uzbekistan Episode
During the pandemic, our favorite show on Netflix was Jack Whitehall: Travels with My Father. In this series (filmed in pre-COVID times), the British comedian Jack Whitehall travels the world with his elderly, curmudgeonly father, Michael, who detests travel and the exotic destinations Jack takes him to. The show is […]
Albania: When The Price Is Right
I never planned on going to Albania. Albania was never on my “Top Ten Places to Visit List” or even on “If I Live to be a 100 Travel Bucket List”. Albania was not even on the radar. Until one evening when Victor and I were both on our computers, […]
The Magic Dancing Dolls or The Scam That Took 15 Years to Solve
In 1999, a few girlfriends and I decided to take our very first international post-college trip to Europe. We had no idea how to go on our own, so we booked a bus tour that would take us across seven countries in a span of two weeks. The tour company […]
A Lesson On How Not To Get Scammed From People Who Got Scammed
From the moment we strap on our backpacks, tell the cats we love them and to behave themselves, and head out to the airport, an invisible target appears on our backs. We are now tourists and therefore the target of every tourist scam in the world. We are strangers in […]
Tour de World
When we travel, we generally rely on all modes of transportation available to us. Through the years, we flew on domestic Brazilian and Peruvian airlines, took overnight trains in India and Egypt, rode subways in Mexico City and Barcelona, and bounced in packed minivans in Jamaica and Guatemala. We also […]
NAKED BATH JAPANESE GIRLS
It’s always interesting for me to see which of our posts get more traction and which barely get a trickle of visitors. I often find it to be completely unpredictable when some of my own favorite posts fly under the radar (example 1, 2, 3) while uninspired 20-minute write-ups are getting […]
There Is Always Room for More: Exploring Japanese Cuisine. Part II
My last post was all noodles – soba, udon, ramen, but there is so much more to Japanese culinary traditions. To expand our food horizons, we visited Dotombori Street in Osaka. The name “Dotombori” refers both to the Dotombori Canal and to Dotombori Street, which runs parallel to the canal’s […]