Curated Fernweh
From the citadel of Victoria, you can see nearly the entire island of Gozo, Malta's smaller island. I thought this was a neat trick considering the fortified city is only about 400 feet above sea level. Fields already green in early March rippled across the landscape like so many inbound waves. Through notches in the distant hills, I could see slivers of the Med. It called to me. I texted back and said I'd be there soon.
Setenil is one of Andalucia's pueblos blancos, whitewashed towns that gleam like beacons in the desert. This one is unique because it began its life under the bedrock, where residents used natural caves to escape the punishing Andalucian sun and to age their wine. And I have a secret about how to best enjoy it...
Once, I went to a Van Gogh light show in Paris. Of course I've known Van Gogh's work since childhood, but this show turned all those familiar static pieces into brilliant illuminations that drifted and swam all around me as I sat spellbound on the floor. This is what the whole world looks like in the Faroes.
It was 10 below zero and I was bundled into a kicksled, propelled north along the sea ice by my obliging brother. Spectral waves of green aurora washed across the black sky above our heads, and the meter-thick ice creaked and groaned beneath us.
My slow travel era began with a train journey through Switzerland to Genoa and then an overnight sleeper ferry to the Italian island of Sardinia
That one time a 30-pound wild macaque jumped on my back in Gibraltar.
The late-afternoon sun already touched the mountain behind me and I stood in shadow, but below me the entire eastern coast of the island blazed as a golden wave that flowed from my feet all the way down to the Atlantic.
Some days during my European life, there is little to disabuse me of the notion that I’ve slid sideways into a rom-com.
We went to China's Fujian province to look at trees, and ended up also seeing tulou and tigers and geoparks and...
Freiburg im Breisgau is the best city in Germany. I promise I'm not just saying that because I've lived, studied, and worked here for 5 years. It's just a city that draws people in. Freiburg is a small city at the threshold of the Black Forest, but don't let the name scare you, because it's... Continue Reading →
Accepting an unsolicited invitation from a complete stranger to speak at a Shanghai conference after I published one single scientific article was objectively crazy.
You are presented with an endless series of open doorways. One will lead you into a slot canyon of carved walls and gnarled trunks. The next leads into a tumbledown courtyard filled with beehive temples. The next has you following the taffy-like trunk and roots of a single behemoth tree.
The wooden plank that served as my seat shivered in time with the longboat's naked motor as we shot across Cheow Larn Lake. Sheer limestone cliffs stabbed upwards from the jade water all around us. Every one of the hundred islands was shrouded in jungle trees that were shriveling their way through the dry season.... Continue Reading →
The second chapter of my 2024 Thai adventure was full of Khaos - Khao Lak and Khao Sok, that is, southwestern destinations near the ocean and jungle.
French Alsace’s medieval villages are an archipelago scattered across a sea of vineyards.
The perfectly-square Old Town of Chiang Mai is a compact 1.5 miles on each side, yet the density of temples apparently rivals the concentration of churches in Rome.
My final three days in Japan, which I spent patting wild deer amid temples in Nara, inhaling cheesecake in Osaka, and disintegrating in the volcanic hot spring waters of Kinosaki Onsen.
I'm a firm believer in letting myself be surprised by a destination rather than doing too much research beforehand, which can have either disastrous or amazing results depending on whether I happen to miss or find the highlights.
If I had to summarize my impression of Japan after my ten-day visit using only one sentence, it might be this: “I imagine Japan emerged from ancient East Asian culture in a similar way to how shibas somehow evolved from wolves.”
On my panicked internal response to the ubiquitous question of "How was your trip?" after I returned from a month traveling through eastern Asia.
Goshuin, or hand-made calligraphic seals that are painted and stamped at Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, are scattered across Japan like a secret endless scavenger hunt to be found by those in the know. Here I show you the 22 goshuin I collected with a map if you want to collect them yourself!
The basilica of Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore, floodlit in gold, scintillated against the indigo sky. I flew beneath its lofty towers, only remembering that I sat astride an electric bicycle whenever I hit a particularly ill-placed cobble.
Italy. The promised land of cuisine: pizza and pasta, bruschetta and focaccia. Sounds amazing…unless your body has a problem with wheat. I'm here to tell you: absolutely don’t let this idea put you off of traveling in Italy. It’s 2023, baby, and we’ve got options now.
While we’re on the subject of airplane food, let’s talk about British Airways.
As evidenced by my illustrious undergrad career, I do not need any help with drinking whisk[e]y. My sophistication, on the other hand, is always in dire need of a leg up. I’m one of those people who can tell you if wine is made from red or white grapes, or whether I like the taste... Continue Reading →
When arguably my two best Turkish friends invited me to their wedding in Ankara with 4 months’ notice, I only swore at them for a second before I tripped over myself to change all my preexisting travel plans to the Faroe Islands for that weekend.
Photograph-and-prose love letters to some favorite places in North America.
True short tales of absurd things that have happened to me around the world
“The world is a book, and those who don’t travel read only one page.” -St Augustine You may recognize this quote; it’s become ubiquitous in the travel world. I think there is a certain wonderful truth to it, but there are also many delicate caveats to its truth. The important thing is to restrict the... Continue Reading →
I stick a hand in my pocket and find a medium-sized coin, and I can tell which nation it’s from without even looking at it. The metal of it feels wrong somehow; the face that kisses the pad of my thumb is a little denser and softer than what I’m used to now. American…not Canadian. ... Continue Reading →