There are two ways to set out on any adventure:

The way the Lonely Planet tells you
The secret map hand-drawn for you by a local.

I mean really, is there even a choice?!
Laura and I were ready to tackle the famed Cliffs of Moher and Carl, the owner of the fantastically accommodating and friendly Aillie River Hostel in Doolin, Ireland, let us in on a little secret – as long as you don’t park your car on the main road leading to …

I woke up to a spectacularly sunny day with huge puffy white clouds in the sky- it looked  like it was going to be perfect weather for a hike through the Krka National Park. I am one of those freaky earlier risers lately–my internal clock is set to 7:00am precisely (it was set to 5:30 in Nepal which pissed Helen off to no end…but we didn’t have any window curtains, so what could I do?). Anyway, while Helen and Jenn continued sleeping I decided to get in …

The trip to Cinque Terre is entirely for the five-hour hike that hugs the coastline and took us from the water’s edge to cliffs high above the sea, and then back down again as we passed through the five small towns. Cinque Terre is unapologetically spectacular. Some backpackers I meet scoff at the tourist beat – and Cinque Terre is definitely on the tourist beat, but to miss this gem would just be an atrocity. Even Helen loved Cinque Terre and she shuns the sun with full on red-headed …

Ok, so I have to admit, I never actually got the chance to..well.. dodge a wild rhinoceros…but I did see one! And according to my guide throughout my three days at the UNESCO listed Royal Chitwan National Park, wild rhinos are the least of our worries – it’s the wild elephants that will charge you and attempt to rip your limbs apart by stepping on you with a foot and then wrenching your body apart with their trunk. This was essentially my welcome speech when I arrived at Chitwan. …

I like to think that I have both a great sense of humor and a fair amount of tolerance…but India is trying really hard to test those two qualities at every opportunity.  Cousin Helen and I arrived in Ahmedabad exhausted from the constant jostling of nine hours of being stared at and touched by other Indian commuters on our train – it’s not that it’s bad, immersion is the whole point, but it’s not what we had prepared for mentally so it tested us.  I don’t think it’s a …

It was a little painful for Helen and me to wake up at 5:00am to catch our train out of Jaipur but we managed to drag ourselves out of bed, slung our pre-packed backpacks onto our shoulders and trudged to the train station – it was early and it really hadn’t hit either of us yet that we were on our way to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal.  I mean, can I just repeat this one more time…the TAJ MAHAL!  Once we got to the train station we …

Alrighty, well, the day after I parted ways with Pauline and Linda I had a true, quintessential  RTW travel backpacker  moment…I was forced to ponder just exactly why my head itched so much…
This is an unedited excerpt from my journal:
November 30, 2008
I kinda hate this backpackers hostel…this place brings the word filthy to a whole new level…right now I am pondering if I have head lice from the beds…ewww! Let’s hope not because that is going to rightly suck!  On top of all of that, I think that I may …

If all of Australia’s major cities could be considered siblings, arriving in Melbourne is like meeting the red-headed step child of the family.  The town is unapologetically alternative; and while Sydney relies on beauty and cleanliness to stay a favorite, Melbourne is an “anything-goes” city.  I arrived in Melbourne with Pauline and Linda and the three of us were immediately struck by all of the Asians, hipsters, punks, and businessmen all commingling on the streets of the city.
The CBD (Central Business District) is naturally full of shops on …