Dispatches

Rumble in the Jungle: Surviving Macaques and Danish Tourists in Thailand

Phil Goldman barely survives a macaque attack and wily Danish tourists in the jungles of Thailand.

36 Hours in Seattle, Washington

Think Seattle is nothing more than Starbucks and endless rain? Ben Hancock explains why Washington’s largest city is so much more.

Port of Call: Riga, Latvia

Like what you see? Subscribe to the full RSS feed.I recognized those haircuts. I’d seen them in 1987. Complete with tapered stonewashed jeans tucked into high-top sneakers, teenagers and young adults filled all decks. This was, I presumed, going to be their booze cruise. The next demographic up were middle-aged men with forlorn looks […]

Home, No Longer: Bittersweet Memories and a Final Departure

Ben Hancock details his one last visit home before crossing the Pacific, and on to a new life in Seoul.

Moto Culture: How to Be an Easy Rider in Southeast Asia

Stepping onto the tarmac after a grueling 24-hour journey from Chicago, my new acquaintance John and I were to meet our colleagues for lunch at one of the numerous open-air cafes on Phnom Penh’s breezy riverside. Barely able to spit out a coherent a sentence, I still felt exhilarated by my first few moments in […]

Off the Deep End: The First Steps in Leaving Home

Understanding the fears, the anxiety and the excitement of leaving home for a life abroad.

A Late Night Visit to Prague’s Kutna Hora Bone Church

The day had already passed its prime, yet we decided to set out for a destination none of us wanted to miss. Although the dreary cloud cover and apathetic mist that once set the mood for the bleak communist city of Prague was beginning to roll in despite the 1989 revolution, we headed east. […]

Following the Wind: Hitchhiking New Zealand’s Wild Northland

Traveling to New Zealand to revel in its wild beauty and farm the land where sheep outnumbered people eight to one.

The Art of Getting Sloshed: The Finer Points of Korea’s Drinking Culture

There is no bar time in Seoul. Evenings tumble forth endlessly in the city while citizens enjoy copious amounts of beer and soju — or, more recently, wine and cocktails. From the late-night alleyway restaurants to the posh clubs of the Apgu district, drunken nights are part of the culture: they seal business deals, solidify […]

36 Hours in San Francisco, California

The stores on Fisherman’s Wharf filled with shot glasses declare, “I left my heart in San Francisco.” Sadly, what many people see in the City by the Bay is little more than the trappings of tour buses and t-shirt vendors. But it doesn’t take much to venture away from the hawkers and to […]

One Hell of a Long Walk: Trekking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela

Nora Dunn explores the fascinating ins and outs of trekking Europe’s 800km Camino de Santiago de Compostela.

Skydiving Queenstown: An Acrophobic’s Rite of Passage

Nestled against violet mountains on the South Island of New Zealand lies the self-proclaimed “Adventure Capital of the World”: Queenstown. This alpine resort town has it all – a pristine recreational lake, nearby ski slopes and the gateway to some of the most scenic hiking trails on the planet. On almost every street, advertising brochures […]

A First Timer’s Guide to O’ahu, Hawaii

Christian Vetter indulges childhood fantasies of crashing Hawaii - a fantasy world of pirates, savages, and delicious rabbit soups.

Experiencing Pure Darkness in Stockholm’s Färgfabriken Art Gallery

“Only when standing in a pitch-dark room do you realize that you actually start to see. Even in the perfect darkness, there is always some kind of light.” – John Duncan Darkness – true darkness – isn’t something I expect to see as a city traveler, in gothic cathedrals built to lift worshipers’ eyes to the […]

How I Ambushed Airport Security with a Purple, Plastic Laser Gun

I never thought they’d actually confiscate my gun. I was eight years old. I didn’t even know what confiscate meant. My carry-on backpack held all the trappings of an elementary school boy: Walkman, magic markers, a few Garfield coloring books, and a travel tic-tac-toe game. But the new pride of my toy box was Shockwave: a purple, […]

These Things Take Time: Berlin’s ‘Lange Nacht der Museen’ Museum Crawl

Meredith Snyder feeds an unhealthy museum addicition with Berlin’s bi-annual, late night ‘Lange Nacht der Museen’ Museum Crawl.

Lost in Thailand: Surviving Fire Ants and Jungle Rot

I was green; a guide with the Thailand Jungle Adventure Tour Company all of two weeks. Maow, the tiny but tough boss of the operation, decided to test me, see if I could keep up with her. She took me to a remote corner of Khao Yai National Park where visitors never go. The jungle […]

Visiting Mr. Friendly and (Almost) Drowning in the Gulf of Thailand

Even in the friendly isles of the Gulf of Thailand, paradise has its pratfalls. John M. Edwards grabs an orange life vest and deems it a beautiful day for a ferry sinking.

Arctic Travel: Racing on Thin Ice

The sound of tiny spikes on wheels crunching through snow was the only sound we heard for miles. The dark umber landscape was caked in fresh, knee deep snow. An obvious glutton for frigid temperatures, I once again find myself adventuring through Lappland country not far from the Arctic. This time around, we had a date […]

36 Hours in Madison, Wisconsin

A few years ago, I couldn’t have pointed to Madison on a map (for those of you still looking, it’s the capitol of Wisconsin). Like the many Americans who populate the coasts, the Midwest to me was flyover country - nothing but a great, grey mass between Seattle and New York. But things have changed, and […]

Way Past the Arctic Circle: A Journey to Sweden’s Original Ice Hotel

… I was thousands of miles from home. My short nap had been a false illusion of comfort. I had awoken to the freezing Arctic Circle.

In Defense of Cardiff, Wales: It’s Not That Boring!

“Why are you going there?!” was the question I kept getting asked. “Because!” was my weak response. Apparently, people saw Cardiff as a waste of time. The common song was that there is nothing to do there besides a visit to the castle, which compared to other European castles … ummm … seemed to validate […]

36 Hours in Perth: Australia’s Last Urban Outpost

Perth usually gets tagged as the most isolated city in the world. If you’re visiting Perth, you’ll probably realize that it is a heck of a long way from anywhere as you take flight after flight to get there, but once you’re strolling around Kings Park or having a beer at the Brass Monkey it’ll […]

Hiking The Pemigewassett Wilderness, New Hampshire: Pemi East Side Trail to Wilderness Trail

Magnificent white birch trees of the Pemigewassett Wilderness K was booked with work for Labor Day weekend, so I decided to take a “walk in the woods” as Bill Bryson would say. Last Sunday, I headed up to Lincoln, New Hampshire - not far from the foot of popular (and quite touristy) Loon Mountain - […]

Au Pied de Cochon, Montreal: Best. Meal. Ever. Period.

Artwork © Marc Séguin, Pied de cochon, 2003, Photo: Éliane Excoffier. This post is coming a bit late, as it pertains to a trip to Montreal that K and I took back in May. What follows was truly the denouement, the coup de gras, the creme de la creme, and some other great French adjectives […]

Sunday in Montreal: Body Worlds, More Mojitos, and Getting Lost

This all happened Sunday, May 27. I awoke early Sunday as I had the previous morning with mojitos and the sounds of barely tolerable French Canadian pop music simultaneously sparring for center stage in the sleepy haze of my head. We’d imbibed on both a bit too much Saturday night. Are there worse signs […]

On to Montreal - Je Me Souviens!

K’s had one helluva birthday this year in what seems like a week-long celebration. Parties, booze, Yahtzee, staying up past 9:00 p.m. I think Lindsay Lohan showed up one night. It’s madness. In the interest of continuing this ongoing bash, my gift to her this year is to take her to […]