I’ve spent a fair few nights on sleeper buses around the world at this point, and honestly? The experience is wildly different depending on where you are. I’ve taken overnight buses in Turkey, Western Europe, Thailand, Vietnam, all over South America, Mexico, and even the UK, and each region has its own quirks, comfort rating, and chaos level. Some buses are genuinely brilliant, like in Vietnam, where they have lie-flat seats that could rival a hostel bed. Others… well, let’s just say I’ve spent more than one night wide awake, […]

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Urca: The Tranquil Refuge in Rio de Janeiro The Urca neighborhood, one of the oldest in Rio, is where the main house of the film is located, a setting that blends charm and serenity. With tree-lined streets, historic houses, and a stunning view of Sugarloaf Mountain, Urca evokes a sense of warmth that is central to the film’s narrative. Take a stroll along the Mureta da Urca, enjoy a pastel with a cold beer, and watch the sunset in one of the calmest places in the city. And since you’re […]

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Waiting until the last minute and short on some upcoming vacation time, I scored what I thought was a bargain, at a room located next to the beach on Ko Lan. This was the last budget option I saw listed through various booking sites. And only a few other resorts had rooms, all of which were extremely expensive. Satisfied, I pulled a Spy wine cooler out of the fridge, grabbed a book and hit the hammock for the next few hours. The next morning I received an email that my […]

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Who Will Accompany You? is a a look at two separate international trips simultaneously told through the eyes of Meg (the mother) and her daughters Kate and Gale. Thoughtfully written, this journey follows Meg and Kate to the Himalayas where Kate spends her time meditating at a monastery while Meg hikes in the mountains. The second part of the book is about a trip to Colombia where Meg follows Gale who is part of an organization helping provide safety to villagers during dangerous times. This book is not only a […]

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An initiative by the Brazilian Tourist Board in partnership with Sebrae will offer immersive and multisensory experiences promoting the world’s largest biome to international tourism. The lushness of the Brazilian Amazon, a unique place of connection with nature, its colors, flavors, rhythms, culture, and ancestry. The Visit Brasil Gallery – Amazon, an initiative by Brazilian Tourist Board (Embratur/Visit Brasil) in partnership with Brazilian Service of Support for Micro and Small Enterprises (Sebrae), brings an immersion into the world’s largest biome to the heart of New York City from September 23 […]

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Sometimes I feel like a broken record talking about my recent backpacking trip in Central America and South America, because I’ve written so much about it on my own blog. But here I am on a brand new website, with a brand new audience, and I guess I’d better start from the beginning. I had this grand plan to spend a year backpacking from Mexico City to Santiago de Chile, completely by bus, boat, train, car; anything except from flying. This was for a few reasons. The first being that […]

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An old man hunched over with a baseball cap and a small cloth pack hanging from his back, scoots in beside me on a small well worn bench. He quietly calls out to an old woman who has casually wandered over to us carrying a Styrofoam box perched on top of her shoulders . She places the coffee carefully in between the wooden slats on the park bench in between myself and the older gentleman. We sit here in silence, yet surrounded by music and watch pigeons peck ferociously in […]

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Out of the blue, a friend sent me a Whatsapp note asking where I was. Knowing his proclivity for international travels and knowing my schedule, we both could have been just about anywhere on the planet. “Thailand”, was my reply. I had recently arrived in the Kingdom, immediately following three months in the Caribbean and Colombia. Remarkably, he said he was in Khorat which was only about 2 hours north of where I staying. It had been years since he helped saved my life in Nepal and we had seen […]

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Aguascalientes, Mexico – Mexico may be best known for its spirits like tequila and mezcal, but Mexican wine is one of the fastest-growing industries in the country. Within Mexico are several wine regions, many of which are becoming regular household names. Aguascalientes, while one of the smallest states in Mexico, is the fifth-largest wine-producing region in the country. With an average elevation of more than 6,500 feet above sea level, Aguascalientes is one of Mexico’s highest-elevation wine regions, producing unique bottles that are sure to impress even the most discerning […]

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A friend and I discovered a sign indicating ‘restaurant’ near our eco lodge, a metal shack located behind the owners home. An elderly woman who we call grandmum lives there with her husband and her son. She is a wiry and energetic woman who is always happy to see us; for some reason, there are never any other guests. Sometimes her dog Lola comes running out; she recently suffered an injury, a nasty claw mark down her back resulting from a fight with an iguana that lives on the property. […]

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While not native to Colombia, coffee is now an important agricultural crop within the counry. Not on any map, but located about 25 minutes from Guatape, this 4.5 hectare coffee farm is perched on a steep hillside far above the Guatape River. Accessible only by foot or a sturdy Jeep, the road to get here is steep and extremely rocky at times. From the main road, the road leading to the coffee farm is about 1km (almost all downhill going and uphill returning). Cafe Artisanal Cirpes focuses on cultivating coffee […]

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My first introduction to gold mining in Colombia was through stories told years ago by a friend of the family. His father had been mining in the country sometime in the 1920s and hit it rich. He brought the gold back with him to the states by ship. But partway into his journey he began to suffer from yellow fever and probably malaria which left him delirious. His findings were stolen from him on the ship, leaving only a few nuggets in his possession. Two of those nuggets ended up […]

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Karl Bushby is a British ex-paratrooper, walking adventurer and author.  Since 1998, he has embarked on his Goliath Expedition – a round-the-world circumnavigation solely on foot. His journey has covered 43,493km so far. Giant Steps: The Remarkable Story of the Goliath Expedition From Punta Arenas to Russia is his book journaling his extraordinary journey. Karl was kind enough to let me interview him recently. Q1. One of the common questions when people Google you is – “Where is Karl Bushby now?”. Tell us where are you now and what have […]

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I was super excited; I was flying back to Florida from Medellin, my first time in the U.S. in nearly 3 months. I had booked my hotel several weeks before, remembering the sticker shock of the price for one night, as compared to the cheap living I had experienced in Colombia. I arrived at the Fort Lauderdale airport, one of my favorite smaller airports to arrive into after an international flight. No one was at customs, the agent asked me what my job was and then waived me through. I […]

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I have been fortunate to have sampled a lot of alcohol on my travels around the planet, ranging from regional beers, to homemade rice wine, local concoctions in various villages including illegally made home-wine in a remote Iranian dessert village and some truly special beverages that were memorable due to their quality, pedigree and age along with external factors including companions and location. But there are a few drinks I count as being the especially significant; these are five of our most memorable drinks enjoyed to date. Rum punch infused […]

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