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 …

It’s the peat. Ireland just has this certain something that makes the country feel incredibly unique; a something that I couldn’t quite identify for the first three weeks I spent in the country.
I’ve concluded that if Leprechauns, fairies and the such exist, then surely they all congregate in Ireland’s “Wild West.” From Galway City I drove through hours of brown-speckled hills weakly lit with the few and tiny bits of sunshine able to wrestle from behind gray rain clouds and drove into the heart Connemara.
And just for the record, …

The spicy mingling of scents when you step foot into the country is, perhaps, my favorite memory of India. The food selection in the country is simply outrageous. They have hundreds and hundreds of traditional dishes that vary from region to region and the entire country is suffused with the scent of spicy curries emanating from street stalls and local restaurants. (In addition to the dishes – have you tried the curd…it’s divine ;-)
And as a vegetarian, India meant I was in foodie heaven. I actually  fear what’s in store …

This week wraps up our three part series on how to travel around the world completely via land and sea travel. Michael is a full year into his RTW trip (he thinks it will last about 16 months total) and has shared valuable tips and information over the past three weeks about ways other travelers can plan a flightless trip around the world…from giving yourself a lot of time to travel overland (1), to coping with the extra cost of flightless travel (2).
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Reduce Your Carbon Footprint: Skip the …