Koh Samui, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pai, Chiang Mai, and Bangkok again — I’d been all over Thailand in just a few weeks. It was time to go home. This pier always makes my heart swell. Photos by Heather Holt. Returning back to Koh Tao post-Yi Peng wasn’t in my original plan. But once I fell back…

It’s not cancer. I say that with a kind of apologetic laugh, anytime it comes up that I’ve now had two tumors surgically removed in the past two years. Nope, it’s not cancer. But it is a pain in my butt – or more accurately, my boob. It’s not cancer. I say that because sometimes I…

In a life that sometimes feels like a never-ending parade of amazing experiences and beautiful moments, I’m the first to admit I’m grateful — and the first to admit I can get a little jaded. To shake me out of those occasional weary times, I need one of what I (and, granted, Oprah) call our “aha…

Tomorrow I’m wheels up out of San Juan del Sur and onward to Leon, exactly two weeks after arriving in this teeny surf town. I have bittersweet feelings about going. On one hand, I’ve really fallen in love with it here and can see how easy it would be to just never leave. On the other…

“Heather. Don’t move. Your leg is covered… in leeches.” Heather let out a guttural cry as I looked down and saw that I, too, was covered in bloodsucking parasites. We frantically picked them off our limbs as our companions, a Thai guide and his Hmong sidekick, just laughed in reply. We were deep in a remote…