I went skiing in Niseko having skied only once or twice in my life and with basically zero planning. So it’s no surprise that I ended up on the bunny slope with weaving trains of six-year-olds (already more graceful than me), accidentally sent myself down a red “challenge” course, and watched my boyfriend lose both […]

If you’re trying to figure out the best time of year for a river safari in Borneo, here’s the honest answer: there isn’t one single perfect month, and Borneo is a year-round destination! But there are better times depending on what you care about most. Weather, river levels, wildlife visibility, and even how crowded the […]

For years, visiting the pyramids of Giza without a guide was the travel equivalent of juggling knives in traffic: perfectly possible, but probably not the best decision you could make. So when I say that in as of 2026 you should go without one, I understand why your internal alarm bells are going off. So […]

My toxic trait is that I’ll plan an entire international trip around the possibility of seeing one specific animal during during an even more specific window of opportunity. Even if you aren’t irrationally rearranging your PTO around an obscure animal migration (yet), you probably are trying to figure out when a place is at its […]

Imagine you’ve just arrived in Marrakech, Morocco: you’re walking down a narrow cobblestone street dodging wayward roosters, donkey-drawn carts careening down alleyways, and men in long djellabas zipping by on mopeds between red mud buildings draped in mismatched fabric hangings. You pass hole-in-the-wall bread shops with hand-painted boulangerie signs—a reminder of Morocco’s French colonial past—and […]

This year, I boarded my first scuba diving liveaboard in Komodo National Park, Indonesia. I’ve been diving for 15 years, but the idea of being stuck in tight quarters at sea with no escape never appealed to me—until the temptations of a manta ray citizen science project at one of the most spectacular dive sites […]

When I got the itch to leave my 2-month stay in Bali to explore somewhere with a few less juice bars and volcano-screaming spiritual gurus, my curiosity nudged me toward Taiwan. It’s sometimes overlooked by tourists in Asia, and I didn’t have a plan—no Pinterest board, must eat, or must do list. But after a […]

Looking for the best tips for driving the Road to Hana in Maui? You’re in the right place! The Road to Hana, or Hana Highway, is a 64-mile scenic road trip on the northeast coast of Maui, Hawaii. Bubbling waterfalls, black lava sand beaches, rainbow bamboo, plunging sea cliffs, and overflowing tropical gardens of Jurassic […]