Chengdu’s Wenshu Monastery Neighborhood: What to Do (and Eat)
I’ve just returned from the Wenshu Monastery neighborhood, and I’m itching to go back. When I arrived two days ago, I did so with no expectations and zero research. I simply dropped my bags at the hostel and started walking. Bustling markets, fragrant Sichuan cuisine, fascinating people, ancient history, and a vibrant culture — […]
Blogging for Beginners: What I’ve Learned in My First Six Months
Like countless other bloggers, I’ve come to see that creating and maintaining a blog is far more demanding than I first thought. I started this website knowing that I loved to travel, write, take photographs, and use the internet, but I didn’t know much else. I stepped into the world of travel blogging blindly […]
Fostering Pets Abroad: Kittens Have Taken Over Our Apartment
I awoke before sunrise this morning to the frantic skittering of little paws sliding across the slick laminate floor of my apartment in Chengdu, China. I pried open my eyes to a brief flash of fur zooming across my bed and over my nightstand. In the distance, someone was stripping the dead leaves off […]
The Bodyweight Travel Workout: No Equipment, No Problem
When caught up in the exciting and unpredictable throes of travel, it’s quite easy to push personal fitness to the back-burner or neglect it completely. I get it. I’m living and breathing proof. I’ve pulled hazy all-nighters at Peruvian casinos. I’ve ingested frightening amounts of Chinese street food under the buzz of flickering streetlights. […]
How to Write a Perfect Blog Post Outline (7 Steps)
Do you ever feel like you’re hopelessly stuck between Point A and Point B? Point A: I want to write a blog post, but all the ideas are unorganized and bouncing wildly around in my brain. Point B: I now know exactly what I’m going to write about and precisely how I’m going to […]
Laugavegur Trail: 7 Things Iceland’s Insane Weather Taught Me
On July 7th of 2014, I embarked on Iceland’s most famous multi-day trek, the Laugavegur Trail – four days of waterfalls, glaciers, and harsh, unearthly landscape. In short, I was unprepared and my hike was an unmitigated disaster. My situation went from bad to worse in a hurry, and I was left scrambling to […]
Osprey Exos 48 Review
Price: $200 MSRP – Check Price on Amazon Noel’s Rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars Pros: Extremely comfortable, lots of useful features, great airflow between back and bag Cons: Not very durable, mesh loosens after time, lid is hard to access Weight: New Model: 37 oz (1.05 kg) My Model: 41 oz (1.16 kg) Volume: 48 L Lighter Option: Zpacks Arc Blast: […]
Sleeping in Hostel Dorms: 8 Tips for Falling (and Staying) Asleep
Let’s face it: finding sleep in a hostel dorm with eleven strangers doesn’t exactly come easy. Chances are, one person will snore like a freight train, another will stumble into the room drunk at 3:00 a.m., and a third person’s alarm will go off well before the sun rises, (and they will hit snooze […]
Braving Tepito: My Trip Inside Mexico City’s Infamous Market
“Don’t go there. You’ll get robbed.” This was the popular advice given to me by taxi drivers and hostel managers when I asked about Tepito, Mexico City’s most notorious neighborhood. I’m usually great at listening to advice from locals, but this particular day I decided to keep asking until I got the answer I […]
My 30 Day Blog Challenge: Create 15 New Posts
Lately, I’ve run into a problem along my journey to become a self-employed travel writer: I’m struggling to create new content. It’s not due to a lack of material — I have plenty of meaningful travel experiences — I’m just having trouble focusing and creating. Plain and simple. This is not a good feeling for a […]