When I say I’m obsessed with all things travel, I mean it. I’m the type of person who will watch any movie or any TV show as long as it has something to do with travel. A bad horror movie that’s set in Colombia? Count me in. Andrew Zimmern is eating something bizarre in Peru? Hell…
By now I think I’ve expressed my disillusionment with organized tours, so when it came to visiting the Hindu temples of Prambanan on Java, Indonesia, I decided to heed my own advice and travel there independently. For those who don’t know, Prambanan is a cluster of ancient Hindu temples that were constructed in Central Java around…
Now that I’m back in Southeast Asia it’s becoming increasingly clear to me why I just can’t stay away from this part of the world. I spent a large chunk of the past year backpacking around the region. I visited six amazing countries and relished my time in each and every one of them. Now that I’ve…
My recent move to Jakarta, Indonesia, was a sudden one. I literally had three weeks’ notice to move across the world. My few weeks back home in California were spent shopping for hard-to-find items, freaking out about what to pack and cramming in visits with family and friends. Time flew by and I barely had…
I’ve now been on the road for exactly one year. It’s crazy that so much time has passed so quickly. And it’s incredible that a year’s worth of travel has now evolved into another year abroad. The past year has been a whirlwind – to say the least. It’s very easily been one of the best years…
When visiting Indonesia most travelers tend to make a beeline to the tourist mecca of Bali. However, since it is significantly more expensive to fly directly into Bali, I opted to start my trip in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta. Not only did this save me a couple hundred bucks, but it gave me the chance to explore…
When most budget travelers think of Bali, the first thing that pops into their mind is, “It’s too expensive!” As a long-term, frugal-minded traveler I came close to skipping Bali altogether during my two-month trip to Indonesia. Guidebooks and friends alike warned me that this world-famous island would be way too pricy for my $40-a-day…
The first time I rode a motorbike I was terrified. I was vacationing in Hawaii when my family peer pressured me into renting a scooter. Though my family views me as both a laid-back hippie and an adventurous traveler, I am actually a pretty anxious person. So I was petrified as I swerved my scooter onto the highway and…
By the time we arrived on Nusa Lembongan my boyfriend, Aaron, and I had traveled through Southeast Asia for exactly 203 days. For nearly seven months we’d lived out of backpacks, cohabitated in tiny (and often grimy) hotel rooms, and spent virtually 24 hours a day together. We’d proved that we rock not only as…
I kicked off my flip-flops, waded into the warm Balinese water, and clumsily hoisted myself onto a rickety 20-foot boat. The motor grumbled as we forged into the deep-blue ocean, the small vessel bobbing up and down on the ocean’s rounded swells. The journey would take nearly two hours, but despite my slight nausea I…