Traveling around the world has always been a dream of mine. Eight years ago, that dream made the transition from imagination to reality when I packed up and moved overseas to South Korea. I’ve managed to keep that dream alive — living in Korea, New Zealand, Mongolia, Georgia, and now China… with no plans of …
The World
REVIEW of Acacia Africa: Desert and Delta Express Tour
Last month, I got to fulfill a childhood dream and travel to southern Africa. My sister Alisha and friend Sejeong went with me, and after a great deal of research on Alisha’s part, we decided to make this journey with Acacia Africa. There were several reasons for choosing them. They have a reputation for sustainable, …
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Best Visa-Free Countries for Americans to Visit
The Passport Index recently ranked the US Passport at Power Rank 5, along with Canada, Malaysia, Switzerland, and Ireland. This gives Americans plenty of options for visa-free travel, but most of those destinations allow Americans to stay for 30-90 days before requiring a visa of some sort. There are, however, a few countries which offer …
Farewell to My 20s!
Ten years. Looking ahead, it seems like such a long time, but looking back it’s amazing to see how the time has flown. It seems like such a short time ago that I was planning my first trip overseas. But then, when I think back to what I’ve done in that time, the span of …
Credit Card and Checking Account Sign-up Bonuses
One of my methods for saving money, as well as making the most out of the money I do spend, is by using credit cards and bank accounts wisely. A way to get a huge return on spending is to take advantage of sign-up bonuses for different cards and bank accounts. Another way is to …
My Grandfather’s Coins
Travel is many things to many people. It is many things to me. But perhaps the thing I cherish most about travel is its ability to imbue meaning into other things. For memories of it to link to those of people and experiences, for it to entwine itself around the roots of who we are. …
I Used to Hate: A Look at How Travel Changed My Life
The person I was 10 years ago was very different from the one I am today. Development and change are intrinsic to living and growing, but what’s happened to me over the past decade has been more than typical maturation. I’m still me, to be sure, but so many things that I thought defined me have …
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Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Korea
You’ve completed the most important part of the process by merely making the decision to go. You’ve decided to take the leap and move to another country (Korea, in this case!) to teach students your native language of English. What next? How do you make the transition from living at home to teaching English as …
Fear and Loathing on the Pamir Highway
It was an awful night. Trapped at the border station on the Tajik side of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border, my lack of acclimatization and over-exertions from the previous day had led to an intense bout of altitude sickness. I spent the night staggering from my bunk in the barracks to the pit toilet outside, alternating between …
Living on the Edge
This year, I’m going to be featuring some guest writers on my blog, other travel writers whose work has inspired me. Each person will be writing a post about the following question: What’s an experience you’ve had on the road which has changed your life?” The goal is to gather some intriguing tales involving the …