In-Between
Travel on side roads
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Colors of Colorado: Photos from a September Road Trip
Autumn photos from a van trip through Buena Vista, Crested Butte, Ouray, Silverton, and Mesa Verde National Park
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1 Year of Travel Selfies: July & August
I've looped! I booked a flight home for the end of August, meaning that my travel duration has been finalized at fourteen months, or 428 days. That's a lot of selfies! The finish line nears, but some of the best has been saved for last.
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Amazing Angkor Wat and the Churning of the Sea of Milk
July 20-23, 2024 The morning after I arrive in Siem Reap, Cambodia, I wake at 3:55am. I am doing a touristy thing. I am going to see sunrise at Angkor Wat. I don’t really care about the sunrise. In fact, I expect there to be no real sunrise. It’s rainy season and also, it seems like every time I get…
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My Love for Laos Restored by Looms and Rice
A month ago, I read about Living Land Farm in a Lonely Planet Guidebook and immediately clocked it as something I wanted to do. I’d been looking forward to it for several weeks and it lived up to my expectations. At Living Land Farm I learned how to... Grow, harvest, and prepare RICE.
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Laid-Back Laos Loses My Vote
Backpackers love Laos. Usually, when I ask them why, they say things like "it's less touristic." Another version of the same thing that I've heard it "it's more authentic." I understand the push for authenticity, to see how people really live.
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Solo Travel Snapshots in Vietnam: Sometimes You’re the Enemy
When I first walked through the turnstile into the courtyard, I wondered if it was a spoils of war museum. The courtyard was lined with US war machinery. US Airforce planes, a chinook helicopter, rows of tanks. A group of ladies in red and yellow Vietnam flag t-shirts lined up in front of several, smiling and posing.
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1 Year of Travel Selfies: May & June
May and June were busy and exciting--something new all the time! I explored Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
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Solo Travel Snapshots in Vietnam: Not Sweating the Small Stuff in Cat Ba
My first night on Cat Ba Island, I climb the steep hill out of town, walking on the road until I come to a turnoff. I am looking for the sunset spot I'd read about: Cannon Fort.
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Solo Travel Snapshots in Vietnam: Morning Castle Hike
I walk the streets of Dong Van town, guessing on the path to take to reach the ruins of a French fortress I'd read about the day before.
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Solo Travel Snapshots in Vietnam: Bonds Made on Winding Roads
The countryside we ride through begins to blow my mind. First, as we zoom along the road out of the city of Ha Giang, I think the mountains look like shark teeth.
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A Sloppy, Sweaty Trek in Sapa, Vietnam
The drive into Sapa was a cavalcade of buses. And, despite the many switchbacks, they were vying to be first, passing in the shortest of lanes so that often the bus being passed and the vehicle coming from the other direction had to slam on the brakes so the impatient driver could shoot through the gap.
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Good Morning Elephants!
The hum of bugs and the roar of water is interrupted by a bellow from the thick jungled hills. I lower my book onto my lap, raising my gaze from the wild-wood balcony to the green hill beyond. I can hardly believe what I know to be true. It’s the call of an elephant.
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Trekking a Trio of Deadly Volcanoes in East Java
I'm cold. I'm in Indonesia and I'm cold. Shivering. Shivering, on an island that is about 8 degrees of latitude away from the equator. To be fair, I am about 6,000 feet above sea level and it is 2:30 am. Why, you might be wondering, am I awake at 2:30am?
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Dragons & Mermaids – An Adventure in Komodo National Park
Small boats bobbed around the pier, shoving to get forward, to get close enough to the pier that passengers could stumble aboard or that luggage could be tossed onto the deck. But there was no order, just who could squeeze into which sliver empty space.
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Peace, Love, and Turtles – Gili Air, Indonesia
Beneath my feet, beneath the planks of the dock, it is the brightest turquoise. A pale sandy beach runs in each direction and the most perfect shades of blue stretching away. To my right is the large island of Lombok with green hills and mountains. To the left is Gili Meno and Gili T.
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1 Year of New Zealand Selfies: March & April
For the next couple months I travel all over the place, just watching the kilometers on my car add up and up. My grandparents join me for 16 days of fun (but not 16 nights of hostels). Then, lo and behold, I have more visitors.
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Haere Rā: Farewell, New Zealand
I’m sitting by a beach in west Auckland. It’s a sheltered beach, part of the Manakau Harbor. The waves are soft and calm and consistent and they are the only sound other than the occasional whistle of a bird and a few chirping insects. I’ve been in NZ for 288 days.
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Three Actual Trip Itineraries I’ve Done in New Zealand
This post includes three actual itineraries for trips I planned and executed with the participating parties. Each group came for a different amount of time with different goals (which I've also listed). Each was a successful trip, though I will include a few lessons learned at the end of each itinerary.
