Last year, I went to Madrid during my summer European tour. Unfortunately, my visit coincided with a bad cold and I spent most of my time bed ridden. My week in Madrid – that my week I was supposed to be spent exploring one of the greatest cities in Europe – was instead more like 5 days in bed and 2 days dragging my sick self around the city because I at least needed to see something. Madrid is famous [...]

After my visit to Bali, I totally saw why so many expats move there. Bali is a beautiful, cheap, and verdant tropical island worthy of everything that is written about it. If it had better Internet and ended those rolling blackouts, I would move there. Except not for Kuta beach. Kuta beach is the tourist mecca of Bali. Once you leave Kuta and then the smaller tourist areas of Ubud and The Gili Islands, there are so few tourists you [...]

Auckland isn’t one of my favorite cities in the world. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad city. I just find it to be quit boring- it’s a business city lacking the character of Wellington or Queenstown. I think living in Auckland would be great. It’s a beautiful city, there are a lot of parks around, and you can drive to beautiful beaches. As a tourist though, I found the city lackluster. There are a few things to do here but [...]

Cairns is Australia’s gateway to northern Queensland. From here you can visit the Great Barrier Reef, the Daintree rainforest, the Atherton tablelands, Cape Tribulation, and much more. Cairns is a pretty typical tropical city in that life focuses here on relaxing, staying cool, moving slowly, and enjoying nature. Cairns is small with a population of about 120,000 with a city center encompassing a few streets of shops, restaurants, and bars. Despite it being overly touristy, I liked Cairns. It’s easy [...]

Back in 2008, I wrote about some of the cities in the world I didn’t like. Since then I’ve been to a lot more places in the world. I liked about 99% of them. But, you can’t like everywhere. While I always try to look for the good in place and be fair my judgment, sometimes I just dislike a place. Places like these: Auckland Auckland isn’t a bad city. It’s just boring. Sure, it might be different if you [...]

The Cinque Terre consists of five beautiful hillside towns (Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, Monterosso) on the west coast of Italy. They are famous for being historic and, well, beautiful. Not just “This place is beautiful” beautiful but more like “I died and gone to heaven and never want to leave” beautiful. I visited here on my first tour through Europe and was only supposed to spend three days. I spent a week. If it wasn’t for the money (The Cinque [...]

Rotorua, New Zealand is one of the most popular tourist destinations on the North Island. (UN)Affectionately called Rotorvegas, this city is the launching ground for nature walks, Maori cultural experiences, trips to smelly geysers, and luxury spas. Besides being known for its hordes of tourist, this city is famous for its smell. The sulfur springs emit a funky odor that can be smelt all over the city. Yet whatever smell people walk away complaining about, I didn’t notice so Rotorua [...]

The first thing you notice about Edinburgh is its beauty. The cobble streets, tight quarters, the castle, the Gothic architecture of many of its buildings- it jumps out at you. While the city has a modern section, the charm of old Edinburgh permeates the whole city. There is history everywhere you look in this city. One of the real charms of Edinburgh is that it is very walkable and you almost trip over the history where you go. Some of [...]

This wasn’t my first time in Barcelona. During my first trip around the world, I came here after deciding Amsterdam was getting too cold. I heard only good things about the city, and with cheap flights to there, it seemed like the best place to go. I was only there for three days but I fell in love with the city. It had such atmosphere. I knew I would come back. A few weeks ago, I did. Barcelona is one [...]

Located near the Cambodian border, I first heard of Ko Chang during my first visit to Thailand back in 2005. I was in Chang Mai and two backpackers were arguing over whether I should go to Ko Chang or Ko Samet. Back then, Ko Chang was a backpacker’s paradise. If Thailand had something close to “The Beach,” this would have been it. There were few tourists on it, no resorts, no organized tours, a dirt road, and only a handful [...]