This is story about five-sided underwear, a laundry detergent named BARF, socks that smell like goat cheese, and jeans that have never been washed. Oh, and it’s an answer to “What do you do about laundry while traveling?”
The other day, Audrey and I walked into a laundry service here in Oaxaca, Mexico and after a confounding exchange we discovered that they don’t accept underwear. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Humor, Travel by: Daniel Noll
49 Comments | 30 January 2012
One part transportation hub, another part monument to the human experiment, Grand Central Terminal is said to be number six on the world’s most visited places list with 21,600,000 visitors each year.
Hitler sent spies to sabotage it, Croatian nationalists attempted to bomb it and visions of the future once conspired to demolish it. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Panorama, United States by: Daniel Noll
14 Comments | 27 January 2012
Do you ever question what popular news media have to say about what’s going on in other parts of the world?

Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Perspectives by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
60 Comments | 22 January 2012
Dahshur, Egypt. As we pulled up to the Red Pyramid, we noticed there was something missing — people.
No tourists, no vendors, no camel drivers trying to pull us onto their decorated beasts for a photo op. It was delightfully quiet, almost eerily so. Only our small group. For visitors like us, it was one of the benefits of visiting last month when tourist numbers in Egypt had dropped off almost 85% from year before.
In silence and open space, we were able to take it in and appreciate all that the Red Pyramid had to offer inside — worth the crab-walk all the way down a steep stairwell — and out.
Open the panorama below to see for yourself. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Egypt, Middle East, Panorama by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
6 Comments | 13 January 2012
More than five weeks in Bangladesh? Is there really enough to do there?
– A typical response when we shared our Bangladesh travel plans.
Let’s face it. Reliable independent travel information about Bangladesh doesn’t flow quite as freely as it does for some other nearby countries in Asia.
Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Bangladesh, South Asia, Travel by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
13 Comments | 10 January 2012
When time is limited, you have to make tough decisions. In Alexandria, Egypt, I decided to hit the streets of its old town rather than going deep into the ancient catacombs. I was looking for interaction, for life on the streets.
And rather than heading down the main street, I found the loneliest alleyway to take me in a different direction. I ended up in a vein of street markets that wasn’t so lonely after all. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Egypt, Panorama by: Daniel Noll
14 Comments | 6 January 2012
We can learn from our food.
Really.
As I assembled photos and descriptions for our recent 2011 travel round-up post, I kept getting distracted. Perhaps unsurprisingly for those who know me, food was the culprit. I was continually drawn back to memories of unforgettable meals from each country — memories not only of the taste, but to the time, the place, the people.

When I considered these experiences, a few instructive themes emerged.
So what were some of those great meals in 2011? And perhaps more importantly, what can we learn from them to take with us into 2012?
Let’s dig in! Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Food, Travel by: Audrey Scott
10 Comments | 4 January 2012