Just like with my first trip to Indonesia, I capped off my most recent one with a week in Bali. It was sad to say goodbye to Gili Trawangan, however I can’t deny that I was excited for some of the finer things in life. The finer things in life being, obviously, warm water showers, a…

In many ways, Koh Tao and Gili Trawangan are sister islands in Southeast Asia. Both are small tropical diving meccas, filled with backpackers in search of scuba certifications. I wrote a Guide to Diving in Koh Tao a few years ago, and judging by the number of aquatic-related questions I’ve received since first landing in Indonesia…

Recently a Facebook friend of mine was lamenting the difficulties of life in New York, and wishing that she could afford to live elsewhere. My reaction was something along the lines of: “GIRL! If you can live in New York City you can afford to live pretty much anywhere on this planet!” It did get me…

Start with Part I and Part II of this series. Just because I was too much of a wuss to make it to the summit of Rinjani doesn’t mean you all should be denied the stunning views. Anders, being the mountain man that he is, practically sprinted to the summit — while occasionally stopping to do…

The first thought that entered my head when I woke up on the third day of our Rinjani trek was a simple “I do not want to do this.” We set off at 3:30am. By 4:00, I was in tears and growing more overwrought with every step. I knew I could not make the rest of…

Holy. Shit. What have I gotten myself into? Apologies to my grandmother for the profanity, but that’s what ran through my head as I stood on the shores of Gili Trawangan and watched the sun rising over Lombok, revealing the volcano we were about spent three days scaling. Gunung Rinjani is not only the second highest…