A Thank You to Everyone Who Has Helped Me Travel

Even if my family and friends weren't on the plane next to me, their lessons and gifts were with me.

How I Traveled for 30 Hours Straight and Didn’t Become a Monster

Somehow, someway, my new husband and I traveled for 30 hours together on 1 bus, 3 flights, and 1 car ride and did not kill each other. We did eat McDonald's outside of the Ho Chi Minh City airport. Maybe that helped? All the grease could have blocked the anger reflexes in our brains.  I'll…

A Vietnamese Garage That Reminds Me of Home

As soon as we arrived at the garage of Cuong's Motorbike Adventures, full of U.S. Army Jeeps, motorbikes, and stacks of spare tires, I knew we had made the right decision. This garage was my kind of place. I was ready for a 3-day motorbike tour of northern Vietnam.  I had been nervous about the…

Washing Our Clothes By Hand in a Bathroom Sink in Vietnam

This morning, I stood in front of the hotel's bathroom sink that looked like an over-sized pho bowl, squeezing dirt from Joe's blue T-shirt in water that was gradually turning a coffee-with-milk color. This dirty water was a result of our travels–our strain and our sweat. Warm bubbles floated up between my fingers. My arm muscles…

I Am Quitting My Job (Without Another One Lined Up)

My boss went slightly paler than normal when I said, "I have some news." He pushed aside his desk lamp and tilted his head slightly. Then he sighed, seeming to know what was coming. "I'm putting in my notice," I said. He nodded, saying he figured this would happen soon enough. I had worked at…

Suddenly, I Am a Wife

The Milky Way streaked overhead as the light from my Kindle illuminated the sad state of affairs: Joe and I lay in the back of our rented Mazda, wearing every piece of clothing we had brought with us to Iceland—puffy coats, thermal layers, a new Patagonia hoodie I had spent $150 on earlier that day…

Sometimes The Radical Decision is to Stay

I have had a whirlwind of a year—I moved in with my boyfriend, finished my Master's thesis, graduated, adopted a dog, got engaged, and started wedding planning. In the midst of all this, we were talking about moving to another city, maybe Philadelphia, maybe elsewhere. And I was up for it. Until I wasn't. When…

Advice on Taking the Amtrak Cross Country? Maybe Don’t.

Well, Joe and I made it back in two pieces from our Amtrak trip across the country, from D.C. to San Francisco. But only because we radically altered our plans along the way and didn't actually take the train across the entire country. Otherwise, we would have gone insane. Our trip ended up looking like…

The Wrong Train Took Us Through Charlottesville

We got on the wrong train. Well, we were booked on the wrong train from D.C. to Chicago. Our train took 8 hours longer than it should have. Plus, it arrived 3 hours late. We either sat up or crunched into fetal positions for 28 hours and breathed in only 4 minutes of fresh air…