After eight weeks of pretty non-stop travel, I slowed way down and put the breaks on for Month 31 — a much needed Christmas present to myself. Our original plan for this period was even more sloth-like, but insane prices in Montañita caused us to slash our time there to a third of what we had […]

 

This may shock you: I am not much of a tent-sleeping kind of girl. While I may rough it in the name of adventure every once in a while, I much prefer accommodation that includes running water and electrical outlets. And, to be totally honest, I’m a pretty big fan of mattresses. I know, right? What […]

 

Welcome to my final Peru hostel roundup! I’ve reviewed accommodation from the big city, the jungle, and the highlands, and now I’m covering my favorite region — the coast. The hostels in this roundup are proof that you don’t need to break the bank to enjoy an oceanfront view or a swim up bar! Kokopelli Paracas […]

 

Confession — one of my favorite things about Mancora was the endless array of restaurant options boasting cuisine from all corners of the globe. While my food budget skyrocketed during our ten days here, so did my tummy’s approval rating. I get plenty of thumbs up from readers on my Where to Eat in Koh Tao […]

 

Diving in Peru? It might not be one of the first adventure you associate with the country (the Inca Trail just steals all the thunder, doesn’t it?) but we’d soon discover it was an unexpectedly impressive one. Originally we had attempted to dive in Lima, tempted by the offshore sea lion colonies. But the prices were […]

 

Don’t worry, I’m not going to draw this one out. The magic of Mancora, quite simply, was that we stayed put there for ten entire days. Mancora is so far north in Peru it’s practically making out with Ecuador, and many travelers use it as a short stop to break up the overland journey between the […]

 

Merry Christmas from Ecuador. I hope you all had a merry one. It actually wasn’t very festive at the beach (we couldn’t even find santa hats!) but thanks to the magic of Photoshop it sure looks like it was! I appreciate all your input on our New Year’s Eve dilemma that I presented last week — […]

 

Yesterday I arrived in Ecuador (both Anders’ and my 22nd foreign country, isn’t that weird?), making this my final of my eleven editions of Photo of the Week from Peru. Eleven weeks! The only countries I’ve spent so much time in are Thailand and Indonesia. And, well, the United States. Our arrival in this new country […]

 

This week brought me back to my happy place — the beach. After two months of past-paced, constant travel and an intense workload of blogging and freelance projects I’ve been teetering towards burnout. I can’t stop meeting deadlines and — let’s face it — I’ve got workaholic American blood in my veins so I wouldn’t want […]

 

I don’t usually set off for a country with a developed itinerary. Sometimes, things are scheduled more or less to the minute, like my eight days in Iceland. Sometime, my plans for five months in Southeast Asia can be summarized as — and I don’t want to overwhelm you here with how detailed this is — […]