There are some places you never leave. You may not be there physically, but a piece of you stays behind forever to be with the place that stole so much of your heart. It lives there, reliving those initial memories and waiting for new ones to be made. Last year, I visited Lisbon for the first time and though the visit was short, thoughts of it never left me. I fell madly in love and the city claimed a hold [...]

My first visit to Barcelona was in 2006. I fell in love with the city – the street performers, food (oh! the food!), laid back lifestyle, history, people, and plethora of activities. Three years later, I returned again. Then a few months ago, I went back with a friend to show her how amazing the place was. And every time I come back, Barcelona surprises and inspires me anew. Barcelona is like Paris, New York, or Tokyo – there is [...]

I don’t write about food often. I always have these grand desires to do so but I never feel like I’m in a city long enough to make an expert judgement on the “best places to eat in city x.” It’s only when I spend extended time in a place — like I have in New York City and Bangkok — that I feel comfortable recommending a list of restaurants. But over the years, I’ve done a lot of European [...]

They say you just know when you are in love. That this feeling of certainty comes over you as if you two were always destined for each other. While I’ve never been in love, it’s a feeling I’ve experienced before. I remember the moment I walked out of the metro onto Paris’s Champs-Élysées. I knew right there I loved Paris. I could feel it in my bones. I loved Paris and every day I’ve spent there since has only made [...]

Remember how I’ve been talking about moving to Sweden since the beginning of the year? Remember when I moved to Stockholm last month? Even though it was only going to be for a few months, I was very excited to relocate to Sweden. I mean it’s beautiful, it’s clean, the people are nice (and beautiful), the quality of life is great, and did I mention the people here are beautiful? Plus, I was looking forward to learning Swedish, having my [...]

I didn’t really know what to expect from Croatia. Everyone I know always raves about how beautiful and amazing the country is. Croatia is always on some best travel list as the place you shouldn’t miss. So I went last week with a bit of excitement (warm weather, sun, beaches!) and trepidation (is this going to be a crowded tourist trap?). I was spending a week sailing around Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast and, while it was overly bursting with people (July [...]

I’ve been preparing for it so long now that it doesn’t seem like it’s really happening, but today is the day I move to Sweden. As you read this (as long as you read this on Monday), I’m boarding a flight to Stockholm, where I will spend the rest of the year. Everyone keeps asking me if I’m nervous or excited or scared to be moving there, but to be honest, today I don’t really feel anything. It seems like [...]

As I’ve been planning my move to Sweden, I’ve been trying to figure out how to get past the 90-day limit placed on tourist visas. This is a problem encountered by travelers every year and a question that regularly pops up in my inbox. “How can I stay in Europe for more than 90 days?” I am asked. It’s a great question with a very complicated answer. I’ve always known it to be difficult but until I started researching on [...]

Back in September I wrote the ultimate guide to travel hacking. It was a way for me to share tips and advice on how to travel cheaply without sacrificing comfort. And as I watched people’s reactions and answered questions about that guide, I hit upon an idea. It’s one thing to say “Hey, this stuff works,” but it’s another to actually show that this stuff works. I decided that as I hopped, skipped, and jumped around the world, I was [...]

Ages ago, I wrote a post about my favorite hostels in Europe. Since that time, I’ve slept in a lot of new and amazing hostels around Europe. So I thought, rather than rehashing an old post, I would simply create a new post about the recent hostels I’ve been to that I think are some of the best in Europe: The Bulldog (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) Though The Flying Pig is one of my favorite hostels in the world, a great [...]