Category Archive: Travel

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 »

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.
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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 »

Often, when people hear that we’ve been traveling for five years, they think we’ve “done it all.” This could not be further from the truth – the more we explore of this world of ours, the more we realize how big and diverse it really is. This is something to be celebrated.

Caught up in Holi celebrations in old Dhaka, Bangladesh

When we began 2011 we could not have even imagined where this year would take us. Not only has 2011 been a year of activity and reflection, but it has also been a year of many firsts. Continue Reading »

You guys are the Perception Busters.

– A comment on our Facebook page in response to our arrival in Cairo earlier this week. And a label we’re happy to embrace.

Egyptian man on the streets of Alexandria, Egypt.

If you’ve been following us on Facebook or Twitter recently, you’re probably aware that we’ve been in Egypt this past week.

Egypt? But isn’t it unsafe now? Continue Reading »

Traveling to Iran as an American citizen may sound complicated and dangerous. It’s not. We’re here to dispel the myths and answer the questions piling up in our inbox based on our visit to Iran just a few weeks ago.

Our aim in the following Q&A is to answer actual reader queries and to help demystify the process of traveling to Iran. Continue Reading »

Although Persepolis is one of Iran’s top archeological and tourist sites, I was careful to keep my expectations in check before visiting. After all, what would remain of the 2,500 year-old capital of the Achaemenid Empire? Amidst crumbled columns, I found great detail that blew me away and a surprising connection to the present.

When I first entered Persepolis through the Gate of All Nations, I was struck by the scale of it all – the statues, the columns, the great stone. I tried to imagine the process of transporting the raw materials to this place, constructing the city and palace, and fashioning it all without the mechanical means we have today.

The Gate of All Nations.

But more than this, I was struck by Persepolis’ detailed carvings and the stories they told. In them, I felt like I really began to understand the greatness of ancient Persia.

And I also got the sense that ancient Persians were onto something in pursuit of an ideal that still eludes us today. Continue Reading »

We apologize for the silence on our blog over the last week. Our travels across Iran, while rich and deeply fulfilling, have teamed up with slow and censored internet, a blistering pace of full days that end late, and an attempt to process it all that feels like a slow drip.

A table of women in Kermanshah invite Dan to share their qalyan (water pipe).

Now that we’ve dispensed with the excuses, we offer a few snapshots of our journey to not-so-traveled Western Iran where our path through the country begins. Continue Reading »

What does it feel like to fly into Iran, to enter the country for the first time? Here’s the story of our flight to Tehran including some things you might expect, and some others you might not.

Destination: TEHRAN. I ogle my boarding pass at the departure gate in Istanbul. We bought the tickets months before, all easy enough. So easy in fact that we wondered if the day of our flight would actually ever come; a rejected visa application snatching it all away in a breath.

But our Iranian visas were approved and there we were waiting to board a plane — our plane — to Tehran. Continue Reading »

This is the story of Iran, a country we once expected to visit last, as a final bow wrapped around a journey that tells the story of making human connections around the world. It’s also an explanation of why we’re going there this Friday.

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