This is story #8 in my Short Stories from the Road series. Introduction found here At the tender age of seven, I went with my family on a vacation to Puerto Vallarta. Being my first time out of the country, I was a wide eyed child attached to my mother’s right thigh observing all the […]
This is story #6 in my Short Stories from the Road series. Introduction found here Central Sulawesi, Indonesia Aaron was gone, his minibus rounding the bend and heading South. My travel companion of the last few weeks continued on his own journey and I found myself alone, again. Every minute that passed created more space […]
When people hear about my trip to Southeast Asia, the first question out of their mouth is, “What was your favorite place?” Now anyone who has gone on an extended traveling spree will understand that that question is basically impossible to answer. How can you sum up such a large portion of your life and […]
My normal traveling plan is to plan as little as possible. Plans are for the uptight, the less adventurous, for my parents. I love my parents, but they love to know exactly what the deal is. It gives them peace of mind. It removes the stress. I completely agree with that last point. Not planning […]
I was back on my own, traveling solo through one of the less traversed areas of Indonesia. This was no Bali. Seriously, I would eventually go almost 10 days without seeing another Western traveler. So at the time, it only made sense to try Couchsurfing again. It’s hands down one of the most authentic ways […]
I just did one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. I swam with giant manta rays. Our boat searched and searched the coast of Nusa Penida and my anticipation was starting to turn to disappointment. It started to look more and more as if we’d be unlucky and miss the giant animals. We passed […]
Clambering up the last 350m to the summit of Lombok’s Gunung Rinjani was physically one of the hardest things I’ve done. I’m not in rock star shape, I was literally racing to the top (I had a sunrise to attend), and it felt like I was Frodo in Lord of the Rings returning the ring […]
I just got back from a 3 day motorbike tour of Bali. It was quite the experience and awesome on so many levels. I whizzed around the eastern half of the island with my big travel backpack squished between my legs checking out the scenery and stopping for a few dives and some relaxing beach […]
The fish market in Jimbaran is a busy, dirty and grimmy place that never loses its fish smell, but looking out over the many fishing boats at sunset makes one think of a peaceful fishing village lost in some corner of Asia