Getting My Ears Picked in Taiwan

One of the pleasures of going to Asia, at least for me, is the massages.  Everywhere from Thailand to Vietnam to Cambodia, the massages are excellent, cheap, and widely available. From restorative foot massages after a long day of hiking, to full body deep tissue rubdown that leaves me in […]

Kaohsiung 高雄市: My kind of town

“Please just point to it on the map. Don’t try to pronounce it!” Julia pleaded with me as we approached a ticket counter at the Tainan train station to buy tickets to our next destination. The day before, she was chatting with her massage therapist and tried to tell him […]

Introductory Course: Taipei 101

All of a sudden, everyone knows what Taipei 101 is, after Alex Honnold scaled Taiwan’s tallest building with no ropes and no fear, live on Netflix. We were in Taipei a month before this death-defying stunt, and when Victor mentioned that we would visit Taipei 101, I had no idea […]

Hail Mary at Taoist Temple

“You enter on the right through the dragon door and exit on the left through the tiger door. And you never enter or exit through the middle door. That door is for gods.” We sat on a bench in front of a brightly colored Taoist temple with a rooftop looking […]

Taiwan: The First 24 Hours

The first 24 hours in Asia are crucial. This isn’t an easy 4-hour flight to Mexico City, where we get out of the airplane and hit the ground running, only occasionally stopping to marvel that just a few hours ago we were at home. It doesn’t have a mere 6-8 […]

Following the Musical Trail (U.S. South)

By Victor / September 10, 2020

When we travel, we rarely have a “theme” for our trips. Usually, we simply show up in a country or region and explore everything it has to offer. But in summer 2008, we drove through three southern U.S. states (Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana), exploring sites associated with rock-n-roll, blues, and […]

Wallonia: Discovering Undiscovered Belgium

By Victor / August 27, 2020

We love Belgium! Despite its tiny size, the country packs a lot, and spending eight days there was barely enough to scratch the surface. Roughly the size of Maryland, Belgium has three very distinct regions: Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north, French-speaking Wallonia in the south, and the capital city of […]

Poland: Blast From My Soviet Past

By Julia / August 20, 2020

Please start with Part I of My Solo Polish Travels Here When Belarus very unceremoniously refused me entry, I thought my memory trip back to the U.S.S.R. was over. As strange as it might seem, I was actually looking forward to rude serving staff, late buses, and angry janitorial staff […]

Жыве Беларусь! Belarus Fights for Freedom. We Need Your Help!

By Victor / August 13, 2020

Today will be a different kind of post, as for the last five days, I have been waking up in a different kind of world. Those who follow this travel blog know that I was born and grew up in Belarus.  It’s more than the country of my birth and […]

Me, Myself, and I: Traveling Solo Through Poland

By Julia / July 30, 2020

To begin understanding why I was alone in Poland, please start with the previous post “Back to U.S.S.R.”, a story of pain, betrayal, and Belarus. I disembarked the plane in Warsaw after a 9-hour flight, my backpack pressing heavily against my back, my crumpled itinerary sheet in hand.  I stood […]

Back to the U.S.S.R.

By Julia / July 16, 2020

I had no plans to travel alone.  Traveling alone sounds tedious, lonesome, and possibly dangerous.  Ever since Victor and I took our first road trip to California back in 2004, the thought of traveling alone never even crossed my mind.   What I did want, and what I still want to this day, was […]

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