It’s no big secret that my very favorite part of my entire two-week trip to the South Pacific was our side jaunt up to Aitutaki. Sadly, we were only there a grand total of two days, but I saw enough to know that I want to go back. Pronto. From there, we took a day [...]
Make Like a Transparent Ball and Throw Yourself Down a Grassy Knoll
March 25, 2009 By 30 Comments
So, wow, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything of substance, eh? And you’re going to have to wait a bit longer for some wit and insight to the Cook Islands and New Zealand, as I’m being charged per the megabyte everywhere on the North Island (weird, huh?). But for now, do you all know [...]
Rin on the Rox: Up Close and Personal
March 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment
While traveling in New Zealand, I thought I’d post the unedited copy of my story that appeared in the Style section of the San Francisco Chronicle last week. Ellen fans out there will appreciate it, this much I know. After my mom first spotted Rin on the Rox in a 30-second clip on the Ellen [...]
Trekking Across New Zealand’s Tongariro Crossing
March 21, 2009 By 47 Comments
Like any good travel writer, I turned—where else?—to the Internet when planning my whirlwind tour of the North Island, namely to fellow bloggers and Twitter friends who have far more knowledge of New Zealand than I. And I’m glad I did—a number of fellow travelers threatened to hang me up by my toenails and sacrifice [...]
Photo Friday: Dracula’s Hometown and that Time I Interviewed a Monkey
March 20, 2009 By 13 Comments
*Guest post alert! Compliments of SVV. Sometime back in 2005, Kristin and I took a come-hell-or-high-water road trip across the lower spline of Eastern Europe and deep into the Carpathian Mountains. We spent two days in the bullet-ridden but quite charming Budapest before finding a local car rental and striking out towards the Black Sea. [...]
The Road Less Traveled
March 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment
I’m off to the Cook Islands’ northern gem, Aitutaki, barring any additional weather “systems” (seems like we’re finally in the clear as of last night, though we’re still being pelted by occasional showers). While you writhe in contempt for me, alongside my beau who once again was left at home, enjoy the travel bloggers I’ve [...]
Kia Orana*
March 17, 2009 By 36 Comments
This morning I was quite disgruntled. Eighteen hours after leaving San Francisco, I landed in what is quite possibly the most gorgeous place on Earth, and woe is me, I’m tired! And my phone doesn’t work! And I have no Internet access! (In my defense, if SVV weren’t so much a worrier and I didn’t [...]
Photo Friday: La Habana, Cuba
March 13, 2009 By 34 Comments
Do any of you out there work for the IRS? No? Good. Because a few years ago, I did something that wouldn’t really fly with our federal employee friends: I packed up and went to Cuba. What prompted me to do such a thing? Well, I met a girl, Andi, through CouchSurfing in New York, [...]
And We Danced Anyway
March 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Hey guys! Remember me? The girl who ran off to LA on a romantic girlfriend getaway with Jemima for four days without even having the nerve to tell you? That’d be this girl; heartless personified. And I’m heading out to some super-awesome, semi-undisclosed (for now)(unless you follow me on one of my bazillion other social [...]
We Heart Our City: San Francisco
March 9, 2009 By 24 Comments
The first place we take visitors from out of town is on a driving tour: starting at Ocean Beach, over through Golden Gate Park, up into the Presidio and down along the Marina for stunning views of the Golden Gate Bridge. The night tour of Alcatraz is also not at all overrated, but if you’re [...]
