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 […]

When the Night Falls: Night Markets in Taiwan

A few days before our trip, I was talking to someone who had previously visited Taiwan and their only piece of advice was straightforward and without mincing words: “Do not eat street food there.” This was completely unexpected. If they’d said, “Don’t go there under any circumstances,” that would have […]

Back to Asia: Discovering Taiwan

The last time we were in Southeast Asia was in 2019, which now seems like a lifetime ago. Our first trip to that region was Thailand in 2013, followed by India in 2014, Japan in 2016, China in 2017, Cambodia in 2018, and finally Vietnam in 2019.  On our first […]

France Flashback: Châteaux of the Loire Valley

If you’ve ever skimmed our blog, you already know our usual pattern: go to a country, spend two weeks there, enjoy the hell out of it, swear we’ll return, and then never set foot there again. It happens every single time, no matter how earnestly we insist that this time […]

A Whole New Life

By Julia / January 16, 2025

Start with Part I Here We were walking from Airbnb towards the livestock barns, and I noticed it wasn’t quite as dark as I thought it would be.  As we were driving up the mountain, my fear of encroaching darkness made me feel that it was much later in the […]

Nicaragua: A Road Less Traveled

By Julia / January 9, 2025

The dusk was setting quickly over Matagalpa, the little red and yellow coffee berries no longer visible on the branches of coffee trees lining the narrow, unpaved road steeply ascending into the mountain.  The light of our headlamps jaggedly bounced up and down, as our tiny, rented Toyota Yaris struggled […]

Girls, Girls, Girls.  Souvenirs: Part III

By Victor / December 12, 2024

Back by popular demand, here’s Part III of our souvenir inventory (Part I and Part II are here).  As we wrote before, we are very picky when it comes to souvenir shopping; yet, sometimes, we do bring souvenirs home.  Most of the time, it’s something related to the culture, religion, […]

One Day in Comuna 13, Medellin

By Julia / December 5, 2024

A while ago, I wrote a single post about paragliding in Medellin, completely skipping over the part where we went to Colombia in 2022 and spent five days in Medellin.  Now that I have a few free weeks after finishing all Norway posts and before the next trip springs up […]

Thanksgiving Around the World

By Julia / November 28, 2024

We are not big “holiday” people.  We can hardly be bothered to do much for most holidays, and usually use the Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Christmas as long weekends for travel.  But Thanksgiving has always had a soft spot in our hearts.  Maybe because it’s the […]

Exotic Guatemala

By Victor / November 21, 2024

When people ask me about the most exotic place we’ve ever visited, I am always torn about how to respond. Was it Egypt with its ancient temples, monuments, and stunning deserts? Or India with its dream-like Taj Mahal, colorful towns of Rajasthan, and ceremonial pyres burning corpses non-stop in the […]

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