The below Istanbul tips and city guide are for first time visitors who want to see the main sites and also get off the beaten path a bit. You’ll find tips on where (and what) to eat, where to drink, wander, shop, learn, and immerse yourself in Turkish culture in […]
To this day, Kahvalti – the word for a traditional breakfast in Turkey – is by far the most fabulous, most delicious, most diverse in flavors and foods of breakfast in any destination I’ve visited. And somehow, thankfully, the recipes that make up a Turkish breakfast are relatively easy to […]
I spent a year living as an English teacher in Istanbul, fumbling my way through the challenges and culture shock that come with being a foreigner in a country you’ve never visited. Before remote work and digital nomadism became so prevalent, finding community, accommodation, and professional opportunities was a different experience.
To get from Naples train station to a tiny town called San Lazzaro in a region called Agerola, it’s a 30 minute ride on the Circumvesuviana and then an hour-long bus ride that winds up the steep precipices of the mountains behind the better-known towns of the Amalfi coast – […]
Reader, I’ve pulled this from the archives. I wrote about my trip to Sofia around the same time I started my original blog, in 2011. Around the corner from my old apartment in New York City’s East Village, where I loved in my 20s, there was an establishment called the […]
Cappadocia has become wildly popular in the decade since I visited. Nestled in and around the Nevsehir province in central Turkey, Cappadocia looks like a moonscape or the other side of a portal to another planet. With its strange rock formations, a history of hermit cave dwellers, places with names […]
The first time I went to Berlin it was my first real solo trip and it changed my life, sparking a passion that eventually inspired me to move alone to Turkey for a year. On my second trip, I spent one week in Berlin and felt just as inspired. As […]
Reader, please note that I wrote this in the summer of 2010. This is a story for entertainment purposes as certain details are too out of date to be a travel guide. Bribery, alliances, medieval tradition, grandiose public displays of emotion, danger, violence. I read about Il Palio in Siena, […]
The Turquoise coast of Turkey is teeming with opportunities for authentic adventure. The day I went hiking in Butterfly Valley Turkey took an unforgettable turn. One moment I was drinking a beer on a quiet beach, swinging in a hammock, chasing butterflies, and looking in awe at the dramatic cliffs […]
I spent almost exactly 36 hours in Warsaw, arriving at 8PM on a Sunday and departing at 8AM Tuesday. Inspired by the New York Times series, here is my view of a day and a half of exploring Poland’s capital. What lead me to Warsaw? The desire for another stamp […]