The ruins of Chichén Itzá were my first stop on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. As my first set of Maya ruins of this trip, I have to say, they’re quite a bit different from the temples architecture of Asia – and a good thing too because I got really “templed out” by the end of my time in SEA and India.
The Maya ruins are a whole different ball game though; the history behind the temples and the sacrifices and religious ceremonies held at Chichén Itzá are incredibly different from …

Sometimes I hate Los Angeles. From the delightful orange smog coating the city skyline to a general lack of public transport, truly hellacious traffic (I’m not particularly prone to road rage, but the closest I come is when forced to navigate an LA rush hour) and the “Fake Factor” of plastic people and botox, there is a lot to hate
But I also love Los Angeles.
And I feel like backpacker or passing travelers can easily come to LA and see all of the bad. But! with the eye of …

The oldest girl in the group of children, she couldn’t have been more than 13, leveled a sly look my way before stating:
“Lady, you buy our bracelets or who knows what will happen to your bicycles…”
At that point, I think my jaw dropped.
The Backstory
Laura and I rented bikes for a day of exploring the Angkor temples closet to Siem Reap – and after a pretty harried bike ride down a dusty and trafficky road we were grateful to chain up our bikes to a nearby tree with some pretty …

Nearing exhaustion and having already wandered about the Metropolitan Museum of Art for hours, I finally spotted a lone Degas painting on the wall – one of his classic ballerina studies.

Like a dog onto the scent I darted a quick look around the room, scanning the paintings and then moving my eyes to the small white attribution plaques under each painting. I’d been searching the met for about 45 minutes already for the section of the museum holding a large collection of Edgar Degas’ works (yes, I should have just …

Happy Sunday all! I’m going out of contact for the next week but have some stories lined up from recent and past travels – I won’t be responding to comments until I get back from a certain place in the Caribbean that I’m *not* visiting (wink, wink), but don’t let that stop you from sharing thoughts and stories, I’ll be reading them all next weekend  :-)
Current Vegetarian Mexican Food Situation
As for the current moment, I’ve been in Mexico for four days now and concluded that I’m going to be eating …

Let’s take a flashback today to the Cambodia stop on my RTW trip…exactly this time last year; I was traveling with a friend through SEA.

I’m not sure what it is about music, but it just bridges gaps. Perhaps it’s the nature of music – inclusive; everyone who can hear it feels a part of the experience.
Laura’s green guitar and with a hand-embroidered Laotian pink strap was like a magnet for all of the children hawking bracelets and guidebooks near the temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. As soon as …

So there I am, 16 years old, hiding in the hotel bathroom while sobbing on the phone and spilling my teenage woes to my dad.
And that’s when he hit me with my favorite advice from him:
The Advice
“Shannon, it’s just money. It’s not worth you being in a miserable situation, I’ll buy you a ticket and you can come home tonight.”
 
 
The Back-Story
My dad isn’t one of those pageant parents, so when I told him I wanted to travel out of the state for an Irish dance competition (the Southern Regionals – …

It is high time that I do an update of sorts since it’s been quite a few weeks – and in that amount of time a lot has happened for me, and a whole lot in the travel community.
First off a thanks to everyone who reads the site, and an apology for slacking lately. I’ve been weary; it’s the best word I can think of to describe it – this travel site and I needed a little break. I’m back in the saddle though and wanted you to know in …