Lamu Island, Kenya

Most of today was spent copying my very first set of Kenya images over into Lightroom in order to back them up and to look through them with fresh eyes. When I journeyed to Lamu with Karen, Emma and Tessa in October of 2006 I was a baby traveler. Completely in awe and overwhelmed by [...]

Winter. Winta. Wiiintaaa.

Tuesday night found me boarding a taxi at the tail end of a blizzard, shedding my winter coat, and double checking to see that I’d packed enough SPF 45.  My destination, you wonder?  No, not a beach somewhere exotic - not even a poolside in Florida. Two Turkish Airline flights later I found myself in a [...]

Passport Stamps and the Stories They Tell

National Geographic Traveler recently shared a photo essay through their Intelligent Travel blog, depicting various passport stamps from some of their contributors and the stories behind them. This got me thinking about my own passport and how much I treasure the stamps inside. The US State Department must realize that travelers tend to get sentimental [...]

A new way of going down the mountain

7. Learn to snowboard. 3/6/13 Amy stepped off of the lift and leaned against her snowboard. "Where's your coat?" I asked, noticing the lack of her fluffy white, down coat. "I got hot, left it at the bottom of the hill," she explained, "hope no one takes it." "You should have tied it around your [...]

Mista, mista! Get me outta here!

Do you ever feel like that? Not that you're being held prisoner in a nursing home by a crazily mustached Ben Stiller, but simply that desperation of GET ME OUTTA HERE! I feel that at least twice a month. Ask my friends, my mom, my sisters... I frequently throw up my hands and announce, "I [...]

Realizing my Potential

For the past six weeks, I have been reflecting a great deal on the remarkable life of Sylvia "Sunny" Moore and the impact that she had on my own. I learned of Sunny's death as I was busy preparing for a 3 week trek in South America.  As I was folding trip scarves and placing [...]

Place Dropper? Guilty.

I love the World Hum blog. (And I'm not just saying that because I hope to one day be featured on their award winning site.) The pieces speak to real, gritty, Therouxian travelers - the kind of globetrotter I hope to be one day. Earlier I came across a brilliant and hysterical piece by Spud [...]