One of the best nights of sleep I’ve had in my entire time in China has been… on a 16-hour fast train from Beijing to Chongqing!
Who knew that the key to a restful slumber was sticking yourself in a metal box hurtling hundreds of miles per hour through the most populous country on Earth?
For those of you who sometimes forget this, China is larger in area than the United States, so [...Read More!]
“Be careful at zee Forbidden City,” our French hostel roommate warned. “Eet eez so big and so beautiful, that after a while you say: too much!”
“But look at that tiny rectangle on the Beijing map,” I protested, pointing to the box labeled “Forbidden City.” “I could walk that in like five minutes.”
The French lass guffawed heartily, said, “Well, just arrive as early as possible in zee day!” and headed off on [...Read More!]
We had been in China for less than 24 hours, the moment we found ourselves high atop the Great Wall of China, giddy with happiness.
At somewhere between 3,800 and 5,500 miles in total, depending how you measure its parts, the Great Wall of China stretches longer than the entire border between the United States and Canada.
This fact not only boggles the mind, but it also makes it tough for a tourist [...Read More!]
Hello from China, all the way across the world from where I was last week!
In the five days since I arrived here, I’ve already hiked the Great Wall, reunited with my dear friend Gareth who is teaching here through Peace Corps, toured the Forbidden City and Tienanmen Square, taken a 15 hour sleeper train to the center of the country, and (continuously) stuffed myself silly on mouth-watering Chinese food. In short, life is [...Read More!]
Do you dream of extended travel?
Well, wait no more. The time is NOW to make those career-break travel dreams a reality, because the ticket to finally planning and booking your travel tickets is HERE!
How? Where? The Meet, Plan, Go! Career-Break Travel Conference is coming to 17 North American cities on October 18, and tickets are on sale as of TODAY!
The concept of MPG is simple, but deeply powerful.
On October 18, you will MEET expert [...Read More!]
Tears poured down my cheeks and into my gourmet hot dog as I sat across from my friend Meg, less than a week before my flight to Beijing and the subsequent 50-something hours of trains and buses I will take through Chongqing, Yunyang, and Shanghai.
“I’m sorry,” I choked out, “but I’m always a complete mess before international travel. Every little thing makes me freak out: an offhand remark from a friend… a [...Read More!]
“I’m not sure we’re going to survive the Everglades,” I gasped, browsing the Official Everglades Website. “Just listen to these warnings. They’re terrifying!”
“Please do not bring pets on the trails. Not only do you put your pet’s life in danger, you put yours in danger as well,” I read.
“I have this image of bringing a tiny yappy dog and having it instantly whisked away in the drooling jaws of a ‘gator!” I [...Read More!]
Hello. Ahem. Pause ogling that photo over there for just a moment and look over here at these words, please.
The image you see to the left is a real Miami mannequin, which boasts (as you may have noticed) somewhat un-real proportions.
What you observe over there is merely one of about forty-thousand Bust-a-licious Mannequins in Miami. These top-heavy plastic ladies are in EVERY South Beach window these days!
You see, at a certain [...Read More!]
Getting a cheap travel package in exchange for sitting through a Timeshare presentation is a bit like wrestling an alligator. Sometimes you escape, unscathed, and sometimes you get… caught. For that reason, this article on surviving Timeshare hard-sells without buying is accompanied by photos from an alligator wrestling show we saw in the Everglades, Florida. Logical, no? Well at the very least, let it be entertaining.
For those of you unfamiliar with [...Read More!]
When foreign folks ask which cities in the United States I most recommend to visit (cities, not unmissable national parks like the Grand Canyon), I always say: New York City, Boston (I’m biased on that one), Washington DC, San Francisco, and… South Beach, Miami!
Because it’s so far “down there,” a lot of people skip Miami and focus upward, but Americans and visitors, alike, if you haven’t yet been to Miami, put [...Read More!]