Behind every smile is a pain, behind every pair of eyes a story that will break your heart. It’s hard to remember that sometimes, especially when we put up the ‘gram-worthy facades that make it look like everything is peachy-keen. Remember when Robin Williams died? It shocked everyone, that behind the mask of the Jester …
writing
Christmas Letter 2018
It’s been a few years since I’ve done a Christmas letter. Perhaps that’s because my last one didn’t go over too well with relatives back home. Perhaps it was just the craziness of my schedule at the end of 2016 as I geared up for my third year in Korea. Perhaps it was just laziness. …
Under the Stars in Spitzkoppe
You would’ve loved this place, brother. It was wild, raw, elemental. The type of place that makes you realize how you fit into the universe and be thankful for your capacity to experience just a fraction of what it has to offer. You would’ve loved the rocks, red with iron and worn down by millennia …
Rituals on the Open Road: Going Home
It’s always the greenness of the drive which gets me; after I’ve left the airport and merged on to I5, whether it’s northbound from Seattle or southbound from Vancouver. It’s so easy to take a color for granted, but such a concentration of it after an extended absence makes me realize what I’ve missed. The …
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 …
Best Credit Cards and Checking Accounts for Travel
Traveling can be a daunting task, with so much to plan and prepare for before you leave. Making sure you have the best credit cards and checking accounts for your trip can be something that slips your mind. I’ve compiled a list of the ones I use… they’ve served me well on my trips! I’ve …
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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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 …