All Feature Articles
The Top 50 Travel Blogs (3rd Quarter: 2016)
Below is a list of the top 50 travel blogs for the 3rd quarter (July — September) of 2016 ranked by visitor traffic. There are a few other sites that have put together their own lists of the “top” travel blogs. However, each has their own subjective means of ranking sites, using everything from Alexa […]
February in Gozo
In my mind, I will always envision Malta as paradise. I realize much of this is down to timing — conditions that couldn’t be replicated. Leaving a dreary Scottish February at 1 a.m. and waking up among palm trees; exploring a new place without hoards of other tourists; a first one-on-one trip with a first […]
Catching My Breath On Mount Si
I could feel the sweat beading at my temples, threatening to drip into my eye and deliver the dreaded “sunblock burn.” But before I had a chance to wipe the sweat away, it slid down into the groove beneath my jaw line, then traversed my collarbone before disappearing into the depths of my sports bra. […]
A Journey Back In Time In Sri Lanka
I did exactly what you aren’t supposed to do: I looked down. For average non-acrophobes, it probably wouldn’t have meant much, but for those of us with a healthy fear of impending death (including a related fear of snakes, spiders and Abba), the idea the narrow metal staircase leading me to the apex of Sigiriya, the 6-story-high […]
How To Pack A Wet Tent: A Trek Through Torres Del Paine, Chile
The mountain itself seemed to be hurling millions of tiny frozen pellets from every direction, some even rising up from the ground, all apparently aimed directly at our eyeballs. It was impossible to tell the depth of the snow, as it blasted across some rocks leaving them bare, and piled improbably high where larger rocks […]
My Four-Day Trip To Peru To Try Ayahuasca
The sun was setting over the horizon, which meant the mosquitoes were getting ready for dinner. It was time to get inside. I was way out in the sticks, in a small jungle compound sitting next to a tributary of the river Amazon about a two hour’s boat ride from Iquitos, the nearest town and […]
Zanzibar On The Mind
The men sit and they wait, casually oblivious to my watchful gaze. I am standing on a small stretch of beach that straddles Zanzibar’s main Town, Stone Town, and the narrow ribbon of Indian Ocean, which separates the island from the African mainland. Fifteen traditional dhow boats wait expectantly at the water’s edge, tiny waves […]
Learning To Lime In Anguilla
Of the few stores situated on Anguilla, I saw two that were named “Limin’,” and they were wildly different. One was a boutique that sold high-end, brightly covered beach apparel and jewelry. The other was a large, run-down grocery store that sold the likes of Spam, sweetened bread rolls and coconuts. It took me longer […]
Why I Brought My Baby to Egypt
Shortly after 3 a.m., I was asleep on an overnight train from Cairo — until I wasn’t. Until my 10-month-old son started thrashing in my arms and convulsing. Until my husband stumbled down from the top bunk to help, until he flipped on the light in the tiny compartment, until he crashed against the bottom […]
This Is What It Was Like To Visit Syria Before The War
We had our visas but we were nervous. We had not yet been okayed to enter Syria and our Turkish van and driver had returned to Turkey. The minutes dragged as we tried to glimpse Meli, our Turkish guide, through gaps in the shaded windows of the Syrian border station. Would they be more responsive […]