I watched a lot of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom when I was young, and I think as a result I’m quite drawn to the idea of seeing wild animals up close. The bigger and the more dangerous, the better. The mountain gorillas are no exception.
Glenn and I have been apart for 37 days, which included one birthday, one wedding anniversary and one past life regression (as one does.) That is by far the longest time, and the longest distance, we’ve ever been separated since we started dating many, many moons ago. When we made the decision to experiment with […]
Glenn has left me. He’s been building up to it for well over a year, and finally the day has come where he said goodbye. About six years ago Glenn and I went to see a documentary called Six Ways to Santiago. Our dear friend Kim (of The Yellow Envelope book, in which Glenn and I […]
“You should join a marathon training running club” was the epitome of the worst weight loss advice I’ve ever gotten from a doctor.
One year ago my mother died. Anniversaries are often meant to be momentous occasions. A milepost in the march of time when one is supposed to pause and take stock of how far they’ve come over the past year. Progress…decline…stagnation. All best measured against one’s status exactly 365 days prior, or so I’m led to […]
I recently started riding an electric bike and it fills me with great shame. Or at least it did…until recently. Who knew a bicycle with a battery and a little motor would be so fraught with emotional baggage? It seems this bike has given me a front-row seat to the underbelly of both 1) the bike […]
Somehow, Glenn and I found ourselves in Hawaii recently. A month or so ago we sat slumped in our living room chairs, staring mindlessly at our iPads after a long day at work. It was dark, cold and rainy. Again. “I want to go on a trip,” Glenn suddenly proclaimed. “Me too!!” I replied. We […]
I learned a lot of things on a recent weeklong backpacking trip with a bunch of guys… …including the fact that boys like to talk about poop. A lot. Their poop-banter was delightfully juvenile and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I also loved having the opportunity to spend so much quality time in nature with friends […]
“That’s on my bucket list” is a common refrain I’ve used in the past. In reality, I didn’t actually have a list – just a general sense of things I wanted to do if and when I ever got around to it. So, several years ago – long before we began losing weight and getting […]
There is always that one person on most every group travel trip. You know… “the one.” They often exhibit one or more of the following characteristics: An exhausting personality or offensive sense of humor. The embodiment of the crass and entitled (North) American tourist stereotype. Talking your ear off at dinner, all the while complaining about […]
For longer than I can remember, my work has had a tradition where fellow staff give lunchtime presentations about their international trips. It’s a fun way to learn about the world and dream up new exotic locations to visit before returning to the email-meeting-email hamster wheel we all seem to find ourselves stuck on. When […]
Somewhere along the way Glenn and I lost that sense of awe that comes from traveling. We no longer felt the little tingle in the pit of our stomachs that said “oh wow, look at that” or “huh, this is a new and somewhat uncomfortable situation.” Traveling went from a grand adventure to a little […]
Where has the time gone? We only have a few weeks left in our amazing six-month adventure traveling the world. Both Glenn and I are sad that our trip is coming to an end…but also excited to return to the comforts of home. We spent this past week backpacking the Overland Track in Tasmania. (You […]
I’m trying not to develop a complex, but natural disasters seem to follow us everywhere we go. I feel like our arrival in a new country should be taken as a bad omen as the power of nature will soon befall those in our path. When we arrived in Quito (Ecuador) the nearby volcano Cotopaxi began […]
Kiwis are an endearing lot. The people, not the birds. Although I am sure the birds are nice too. New Zealanders always seem to be happy and positive. I love how they tell you to have a great day and actually mean it. I love that they seem genuinely excited when you give them your […]
