This post is part of a new series I am introducing in which I tackle a packing predicament. If you have a packing problem in need of solving that you would like to see featured here, shoot me an email and I might feature an answer for you. Time and time again, I pack up my suitcase with a sense of accomplishment. I gather up all of my clothing items and fit them accordingly, admiring just how easy the whole process seemed. When I reach the end of the road, the end of the line with my clothing items to pack, there is always dread over what comes next. I must then find space for shoes, those Continue Reading
How I Afforded Traveling The Greek Islands
I put off traveling to the Greek islands for one reason and one reason only. Travel to these pieces of paradise always seemed to cost the price of purchasing one of the islands. Flying all the way to the Greek islands was a charge that appeared as insurmountable as climbing Mount Olympus. Those accommodations with infinity pools to the sea on Santorini remained on Pinterest boards and stayed there due to the reality of what those would cost. Finally in September, I made it to the Greek islands after years of resenting my wallet and bank account for holding me back. And while traveling the Continue Reading
The Gas Station Queue for Kansas City Barbecue
A man nudges me aside to pay for his cigarettes. A woman plows through to pay for her full tank. Shelves are stocked with snack foods and sugary drinks. I’m waiting in line at a gas station, but this ordinary setting is not quite normal. An abnormal amount of barbecue sauce is up for sale and roughly a 100 of us are just standing in a makeshift line snaking around the store. The woman in front of me jokes, “Is this the line to pay for gas?” Her predictable line isn’t funny to a grumbling stomach. I smile through my hunger and resolve to wait as I would for a Michelin starred restaurant. It Continue Reading
Extra Passport Pages and The Instability of Stability
I scurried out to the mailbox and there it was, my new passport and all of the potential in its blank pages. This book would become my travel companion and confidant for the next 10 years. When I ponder 10 years from now, I hope to stare back at a book filled with decorated stamps and stories. As I submitted my renewal application, I had the option to automatically add more pages to my book. I checked the box casually, but this was in fact a grand decision. In those extra pages was a hope of travel. And the day my passport arrived in the mail, my life seemed to change with it. After getting Continue Reading
Folegandros Wishes You Were Here
Wiping the sweat from my brow, I look up to the scene before me. Wedged in between two rocky hills with no sign of any sort of life, for a moment, I wonder if I just stepped into Folegandros’ past. The island in the southern Cyclades is often associated with the words remote, rocky and isolated. Since Roman days, Folegandros served as a place of exile for political prisoners. In fact, up until the 1970s, those who had ruffled the feathers of the powerful were plopped down in Folegandros’ nothingness. With few sights to see, the 13 kilometer long and 4 kilometer wide rock in the southern Continue Reading
How To Dress Up on Winter Travels Without Trying in 4 Easy Pieces
For most travelers, how they pack is mostly dictated by comfort and the quest to blend into the destination. While I pack according to both comfort and where I am going, there are those events that creep into our travels where we must dress up, ditching the cozy airplane sweater for something fancy. In the winter, it seems like the traveler must get all dolled up more than any other time of the year with the holidays in December, January and February. However, packing for such a feat can’t lord over too much space in our bags. A dressier look can’t lend too many components that won’t work Continue Reading
The Favorite Island: Naxos
“What was your favorite island?” It is a question the traveler just back from Greece will receive again and again as I came to know. Oddly enough, I didn’t have to think too deeply about which island I preferred before all others of the same kind. Greece is home to 140 inhabited islands, but some total the island count in the country to around 3,000 if you include every small patch of land floating in the sea. Of the 140 inhabited islands, I experienced just five floating pieces of land. To hone in on a favorite of those five was simple. I merely responded to those questions of favoritism Continue Reading