A few dollars here, a few dollars there. Does how you spend your money when you travel really matter? Is it possible to align your travel approach and spending decisions with your values?
Amsterdam: For the Love of Street Art, Instagram Style
Amsterdam. Romantic canals, medieval trading houses, coffee shops leaking smoke and offering contact highs. A red-light district with voluptuous — or maybe voluminous — women seated in oddly-lit windows, looking bored and listless and occasionally interested. Bicycles. Tulips. Van Gogh. Art museums.
But street art?
Tourism, It’s the People’s Business
In pursuit of the iconic, sometimes we lose the people. Then we need to come back. Here are a few thoughts on the often overlooked importance of people to travel and the connection between travelers’ experiences, their spending decisions and the impact on the communities they visit.
It Happened In Monterey (Or, How We Met)
This is a story about finding love just when you'd sworn off looking for it.
In early September, Audrey and I co-presented at a conference in Monterey, California. Monterey just also happens to be the place where we'd first met almost exactly 15 years before, where our joint approach to life on the road got its start.
In the driveway, the exact spot where our lives together began, we got to thinking how best to answer another oft-asked question: “So how did you guys meet?”
Vienna, Austria: An Experiential Travel Guide
We’ve visited Vienna over 10 times, on each visit exploring a different dimension — from markets and wine to art and architecture — to get under the skin of the city’s polished exterior. After answering scads of questions about what to do in Vienna, we figured it was time to share our favorite activities and our perspective in this Vienna Experiential Travel Guide.
Terraced Vineyards of the Douro Valley, Portugal
Up until our recent travels into the heart of port wine country, and despite countless glasses of the stuff under my belt, I was still tempted to consider port as a heavy drink that was quaffed by older British men with a cigar after a pot roast dinner.
Then we traveled deep into the Douro Valley in northern Portugal, the epicenter of port wine. And there, things opened up to me.
Japanese Food: From Tempura to Takoyaki
Japanese food, where the dining experience is not only about the actual food consumed, but also the presentation, the design, the sheer beauty of what you're eating. From the traditional to the modern, from the quick to the drawn-out, and from the haute to the street — with a few unusual (and necessary) ideas for limited budgets to help your yen go a bit further — this is our take on Japanese food.
A Long Summer Weekend in Paris, The Instagram Way
Have you ever come away from a long weekend visiting a city, your map torn in half and frayed along the way? That's good old-fashioned map wear and tear, a sign that you've gotten lost many times. Sometimes you get to your original destination, sometimes you don't. Maybe you've found something else along the way, some unexpected discoveries.
That's what makes the weekend, your weekend, interesting.
And so it was with our recent long weekend in Paris for my birthday at the end of August.
Japan’s Mount Fuji: Following the Path of Pilgrims
This is a story about how sometimes it’s a good thing to take the long way, to miss the bus, and to find the shrine.
We Are All More Connected Than We Think
This is a short story in the form of a touching email I received recently. It demonstrates how life sometimes comes full circle in odd and delightful ways.
When Dan and I recall all the unusual yet universal connections we've uncovered throughout our travels and life experiences, we often reflect on how “we're all more connected than we think.” However, each time we accept this maxim and settle comfortably into its implications, life surprises us once again in an odd, humbling and inspiring way.