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The Lost Girls

Lost in New Zealand: The North Island

NEW ZEALAND | Friday, 20 Apr 2007 | Views [3030]

Having alighted in a fantastically picturesque city where the streets were spotless, the residents spoke our language and we could indulge in the creature comfort we’d abandoned nine months ago (we now consider drinking water from the tap to be a ... Read more >

Tags: Adventures


Sweet As! Our Week in the City of Sails

NEW ZEALAND | Thursday, 19 Apr 2007 | Views [1148]

Casually mention to a Kiwi that you’re spending more than a night in Auckland (or just mention that you find the city charming) and 9 out of 10 will stop what they’re doing and stare at you in anticipation of some sort of punchline. ... Read more >

Tags: Friends


Easy, Breezy, Beautiful - Bali!

INDONESIA | Tuesday, 17 Apr 2007 | Views [10864] | Comments [3]

So I know it’s a bit lame to steal the Cover Girl cosmetics tagline for the title of my blog, but honestly, it’s the perfect way to describe Indonesia’s famous hedonist hotspot. To proof it, I’ll break it down for you one word at a time! Easy: ... Read more >

Tags: Beaches & sunshine


A Day of Remembering

CAMBODIA | Saturday, 14 Apr 2007 | Views [1183] | Comments [2]

HCC: We interrupt your usual broadcast of travel follies, restaurant picks and sporting adventures for a more serious topic we felt important to include in this here record of our around-the-world trip. Due to the graphic content, parental discretion ... Read more >

Tags: Culture


There's No Place Like Home

VIETNAM | Thursday, 12 Apr 2007 | Views [1273]

HCC: I never thought I’d travel halfway around the world to spend a Sunday night watching Sex in the City and ordering take out. When our new twenty-three year old French friend, Emmanuel (we met him on the train back from Sapa), invited us to his home ... Read more >

Tags: Friends


The Sapa Slide

VIETNAM | Wednesday, 4 Apr 2007 | Views [2657]

After spending several days pounding the pavement for essential cold weather attire, haggling hard core for souvenirs, playing endless rounds of “Frogger” with gangs of cyclo drivers and wading through the maze of overcrowded side streets in Hanoi’s bustling ... Read more >

Tags: Adventures


Lost in Hanoi

VIETNAM | Wednesday, 28 Mar 2007 | Views [2737]

ADP: When Holly first visited Saigon, Vietnam in 1999 (during a post-collegiate voyage with Semester at Sea), she didn’t have the funds to take an extra excursion north to the country’s capital and the nearby regions of Sapa and Ha Long Bay. Fellow ... Read more >

Tags: Scams & Robberies


21 Reasons We Fell in Love with Bangkok

THAILAND | Friday, 23 Mar 2007 | Views [1570]

ADP: New Yorkers tend to assume (or more aptly, believe with a deep, zealot-like conviction) that there’s no big city on earth that’s as funky, hip and prodigious as the one they call home. And, having spent most of my twenties falling in love with ... Read more >

Tags: Culture


Beyond the Full Moon

THAILAND | Wednesday, 21 Mar 2007 | Views [1307] | Comments [3]

Although it probably didn’t seem like it from my previous blog entry, Amanda and I actually didn’t spend our entire time in Ko Pha-Ngan sipping buckets. In between the half moon, New Year’s Eve and full moon parties, the rest of our time was spent exploring ... Read more >

Tags: Beaches & sunshine


Full Moon Dance

THAILAND | Wednesday, 14 Mar 2007 | Views [2245]

When it comes to certain famous cities around the world, most people tend to paint a romanticized picture in their heads about the specific type of experience they’ll have. You know, like dancing ‘til dawn in the streets of Rio with elaborately beaded ... Read more >

Tags: Party time


Blame it on the Beach

THAILAND | Wednesday, 7 Mar 2007 | Views [4837]

ADP: Long before there was a Sex in the City tour highlighting Carrie Bradshaw’s favorite cosmo-sipping spots and a DaVinci Code tour tracing Robert Langdon’s quest for the Holy Grail, backpackers were following the footsteps of their own unlikely ... Read more >

Tags: Party time


What the Phuket

THAILAND | Wednesday, 28 Feb 2007 | Views [24542] | Comments [2]

Nearly every backpacker we’d spoken with in Thailand vehemently recommended we skip Phuket in favor of one of the islands that hadn’t been choked to death by concrete and commercialism. Unfortunately, having not done enough advanced word-of-mouth research, ... Read more >

Tags: Culture


Making a Run for the Border

LAOS | Wednesday, 14 Feb 2007 | Views [1443]

ADP: After experiencing life at a languorous pace for nearly two weeks in Laos, Jen and I procrastinated as long as we could in booking the taxis, tuk-tuks, buses and plane flights we’d need to meet up with our friend Beth several hundred miles south ... Read more >

Tags: Misadventures


Lazin' in Laos with Friends

LAOS | Wednesday, 7 Feb 2007 | Views [1742] | Comments [1]

"Oh My God! This is the one where Ross and Rachel first get together. I love this episode,” we heard an overly-perky blonde exclaim from across the crowded restaurant. Hmm! Very interesting!  This wasn’t the sort of thing we'd expect to hear in ... Read more >

Tags: Relaxation


The Woman Behind The Wat

LAOS | Wednesday, 31 Jan 2007 | Views [1543]

After Jen and I melted into rosemary and lemongrass-scented puddles at the forest temple (called Wat Sok Pa Luang ), I decided that I had to meet the pleasure-loving mind behind the herbal-infused steam baths and tropical group massage sessions. I ... Read more >

Tags: People


Holy Laos!

LAOS | Thursday, 25 Jan 2007 | Views [3284] | Comments [1]

While there are some drawbacks to following the backpacker trail - - competing for the same Lonely Planet-recommended hostels, squeezing onto over-crowded buses and trains and being constantly reminded just how much Bush sucks (for the love of God, ... Read more >

Tags: Culture


The Beach Girls

INDIA | Friday, 19 Jan 2007 | Views [1561]

ADP: Until now, we’d spent weeks struggling to keep pace with frenetic, chaotic, religion-centric, sanitarily challenged, confusing, stimulating and draining India. But here in Goa, we finally had a chance to dig our heels in the copper-colored sand, ... Read more >

Tags: People


Gotta Goa

INDIA | Sunday, 14 Jan 2007 | Views [1573]

ADP: After spending nearly a week purging our bodies, minds and auras of all sorts of impurities at the Sivinanda Ashram in Southern India (who knew onions, sugar, alcohol, garlic and salt were so evil, anyway?) Jen and I decided that it was high time ... Read more >

Tags: People


On the Rails

INDIA | Sunday, 7 Jan 2007 | Views [1162] | Comments [1]

ADP: While it’s theoretically possible to snag a cheap fare from Delhi to Chennai on one of India’s new low cost carriers, getting from A to B in the subcontinent (especially on a backpacker budget) usually means traveling by train. And when cities and ... Read more >

Tags: planes trains & automobiles


'Om' My God!!

INDIA | Saturday, 30 Dec 2006 | Views [1272]

“You can check out any time you’d like, but you can never leave!” echoed through my head as the gangly, Indian security guard stood between me, Amanda and the exit gate. Now, of course, that’s not really what he said to us, but I could feel an eerie, ... Read more >

Tags: Adventures


Bargain Basement Dubai

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES | Saturday, 23 Dec 2006 | Views [5163] | Comments [1]

ADP: In the last decade, Dubai has become a red-hot destination for ex-pats eager to make an overnight fortune and spend it just as quickly. Boasting the world’s only seven-star resort, the world’s largest indoor ski slope, the world’s highest number ... Read more >

Tags: Travel Tips


How We Booked Our Flights

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES | Sunday, 17 Dec 2006 | Views [934]

ADP: Back in New York, when the girls and I were strategizing the cheapest ways to convey ourselves and three very heavy packs around the planet, we ruled out the infamous RTW or round the world ticket. Not only do Americans have to shell out hundreds ... Read more >

Tags: The Planning Phase


Fear Factor

INDIA | Friday, 15 Dec 2006 | Views [816]

HCC: Sure, travel involves risk: Robbery, bombings, bird flu. But we’ve already addressed the fact that taking a trip is no more dangerous than driving your car (you’re much more likely to die in an accident only a few miles from your home). Yet with ... Read more >

Tags: Philosophy of travel


A Monkey Ate My Mango

KENYA | Friday, 15 Dec 2006 | Views [1076]

ADP: We seem to have a little problem with the animals of the world stealing our stuff. Well, more accurately, Holly's stuff. First there was the kinkachu in the Amazon that bit holes through her wallet and nearly made off with her shiny new camera. ... Read more >

Tags: The Great Outdoors


Beds, Baths and Beyond

KENYA | Monday, 11 Dec 2006 | Views [1336]

When Holly, Amanda and I decided to take an entire year off from the ‘real world’ to globetrot together, we realized it was a huge commitment. We knew from experience that we were excellent travel buddies, but jetting off for a week’s vacation to escape ... Read more >

Tags: Laughter


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