Exploring coffee cultures around the world. Follow two caffeine junkie-backpackers searching for the world's best coffee! The quality of a cup of coffee is determined by a complex combination of factors, both environmental and method of preparation. Since altitude, soil quality and climate are influential factors, the bean origin influences coffee quality. These were our favorite coffees around the world. South East Asia Coffee culture … [Read more...]
Alaska: Wilderness Unbound
Alaska is absurd. Bears, moose, mammoth mountains, soaring pines, jagged peaks, water streaming past boulders, surging down valleys, crashing against sand. We started in South Dakota, attending a wedding in the Black Hills the weekend prior to departure. This was July of 2014. On Sunday, we drove to Denver, hopping an Alaska Airlines flight to Seattle, using two companion certificates. Our departure from Seattle to Anchorage was delayed. We … [Read more...]
A Remington and a Volvo
At 9, I thought it was crazy. My dad was going to squeeze Mom and all six of us kids into a boxy, top heavy, narrow Volvo station wagon, and we were going to drive for three months from our home in Paraguay to Kansas where my father grew up. This trip had been his dream since coming to Paraguay in 1951 to found and manage a Mennonite leprosy mission. “Is there really a road that goes all the way from Paraguay to the States?” I asked. Dad … [Read more...]
This is Africa
We left Varela on the coast in Guinea Bissau at 5am - determined to make it back to Dakar in time for our 145am flight that evening. No small feat since it took us more then 20 hours to get to Varela from Dakar. Unfortunately the border between Guinea Bissau and Senegal is not open all night; in the morning it opens at 8am. We arrived at the border at 630am - avoiding all the corrupt police on the road as they had not yet reached their posts. … [Read more...]
Mount Koya: Beware of Bears
The story of the Karukaya, wandering the Kongobuji & Danjo Garan and spending the night in a shukubo The hall is now preserved as a hermitage where father and son practiced asceticism together for over forty years. I stop at Karukayado (the Hall of Karukaya). The Karukaya is a story of a boy called Ishidomaru who came to Koya-san in order to meet his father. The boy met a monk, who was in fact his father, but, as the monk had renounced … [Read more...]
Scandinavian Cruise to the Baltic Capitals
A Scandinavian cruise to the Baltic Capitals sat on our travel list for several years, while easier and less expensive trips took precedence. For us to set sail towards our Viking roots, we needed a big occasion—like a 50th birthday. I think of 50 as an easy going innocuous number. It’s neutral (fifty/fifty), romantic (Fifty First Dates), and even sexy (Fifty Shades of Grey). But for my husband, 50 conjured dark and disturbing … [Read more...]
Visit Malta – June 2017
Malta is a series of tiny islands located about 80 kilometers south of Sicily and east of Tunisia in the Mediterranean. The country has a rich cultural history with both Islamic and Catholic influence. It was a part of the British Empire until 1964 when it gained independence. The charming capital city of Valletta is Europe's smallest and with 450,000 people living on the islands Malta is one of the world's densest populated countries. Valletta … [Read more...]
Where’s the Steering Wheel? Driving Off the Map
Many years ago, I was a passenger in a ’57 Chevy driven by a maniacal friend. The steering wheel came off in his hands while he was making a turn—and he laughed. Though it seemed unlikely then (particularly because I thought survival was dubious), that wheelessness was a benchmark for unusual driving experiences to come, many of which produced the same sensation of bewilderment, shock and terror. Filter in the unsettling elements of … [Read more...]
St. Lucia Stopover, ARC Race & Captain Lars
So far my latest trip to the Caribbean has involved a variety of transportation modes, a bicycle, a bus, walking, plane and now a helicopter. In the fading rays of the strong sunshine on the island of st. Lucia I hopped on board a helicopter for a 10 minute journey over the interior of the island from Hewanorra International Airport in the south to George F. L. Charles Airport in Castries City in the north. The interior of the island is … [Read more...]
Istanbul Travel Tips even for the Experienced Traveler
, I sometimes go there just to roam the streets, take pictures, eat the traditional food and talk to the locals. It is possibly my favorite city of all that I have visited. I really could have benefitted from some Istanbul travel tips before I went the first time. I learned to do my research. The first time I went to Istanbul I felt an energy as soon as I left the airport. I believe a city is a living, breathing, ever changing organism. … [Read more...]
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