Prompt #12: Travelers meet dozens, if not hundreds, of new people on every trip. They may become friends, enemies, lovers, and resources; they may stay in your life forever or be forgotten the next day. Tell about a time you felt a powerful connection – for however long – to another person while traveling. “The great difference between voyages rests not with the ships, but with the people you meet on them.” –Amelia E. Barr Solo travel makes you much more apt to meet strangers. It’s one of the fun things about travel, as the saying goes you might be Read more…

While Greece is the 20th most popular tourist destination for Americans (and thanks to the picturesque island of Santorini, one of the top honeymoon spots), there are still deals to be found and [almost] desolate beaches to explore.  I accidentally spent about a month in Greece last September.  While I had planned to stay for one week and then leave via Athens, I took a sailing trip which sent me even farther away from Athens.  So after I was done sailing I started the slow process of making my way back to Athens, one island a time.  Here are 10 Read more…

I had the amazing opportunity to see REM and Kaiser Chiefs for FREE while I was in Athens in October. MTV was launching a MTV Greece channel, so they sponsored the free concert. I found out about it from my hostel, so most of the hostel headed down to the stadium and the venue was surprisingly empty (although it looks fairly busy in the video). Anyway, it was a great concert and a really fun way to end my time in Greece. Here’s a video I found of the concert on YouTube. Oh and I yelled out this song right Read more…

My first experience traveling abroad was to France in 2006 (when I officially got the travel bug). Since then, I’ve wanted to go back and see more of Europe. However, with the euro and dollar exchange rate at $1.60 this summer, I decided to stick to the outer edges of the EU that don’t use the euro yet. By starting in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, I didn’t have to cringe every time I made a purchase, but still had the convenience of being in the EU. Turkey was my next stop, and while not quite Europe, it was an amazing Read more…

I’ve pretty much been walking to the grocery store since I started traveling. ;) I probably did most of my international grocery shopping in New Zealand and Greece though. New Zealand was an easy country to carry around a food bag and actually cook in the evenings, while in Greece I was buying more snack items like Bake Rolls and Laughing Cow cheese. So I originally put this on the list referring to walking from “home” to my closest market. But I’m still going to consider this one accomplished.