It's dark out now, and the narrow, dirty streets of Varanasi are crowded with revelers blaring music so loudly we hear it straight through our barely-there hotel walls.
Read MoreStories about finding your heart and soul around the world.
Filtering by Tag: explore
Exploring the Khajuraho Temples of India
"There are no mistakes. Only new paths to explore."
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Colorful spices found in the Jodhpur street market.
The Seasons of Things + Visiting Jodhpur, India
Everything has it's season and right now, I'm travel worn. I kind of just want to sit bundled up in one place and not move. Is that bad? We are almost four months into our 13-month long journey, but travel in India is hard. Seriously.
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En route to Hampi, women construction workers walk along the train track
Stepping off the path + A train ride to Hampi, India
"Chai chai chai! Chai chai chai!"
"Pakora! Samosa! Pakora!"
We are on a train heading east to Hampi. Food hawkers jump on and off at every stop, rushing through the cars shouting, selling refreshments. I want to taste everything that passes—samosas served from a worn cardboard box, crispy masala rice snacks in a giant plastic garbage bag, fresh mango lassis carried in a tattered milk crate. Yet I cringe as the vendors grab food with their bare hands, passing it to customers wrapped in sheets of used newspaper."Chai chai chai! Chai chai chai!"
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Cows at a farm along the road in Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary, India
Jungle Leopards + Adventuring in Goa, India
Goa is where we motorbike through dry rural winding country backroads, weaving past gypsy camps filled with colorful Rajasthani women who wear brilliant red orange saris and layers of silver jewelry. Tents line the road where these workers from the north live temporarily doing hard construction labor, carrying bowls of rock on their head. Yaks and cows lazily wander, oblivious to the cars and motorbikes that zip past. The farther away from the beach we get, the more worn and dry the landscape becomes. Yellow haystacks á la Monet and brown rice paddies void of crop or water fly past as we move deeper inland.
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Poolside in Punta Cana
Bubble worlds & private water parks in Dominican Republic
During the second half of our visit to Dominican Republic, we leave the nest of the festival and decide to check out the famously crystal clear beaches on the east coast. We've already seen Santo Domingo, where Columbus first set up camp in the New World, and some of the mountains and tropical forests in the north. So we rent a car and head towards Punta Cana, known for its "all-inclusives" (as in resorts).
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Rafting down the Colorado
Down the Colorado River, through the Grandest of Canyons
Hiking out of the Grand Canyon — 8 miles, 5,000 feet — felt like re-emerging from a quiet haven inside the earth to stand again atop the soil of civilization. Back up here it's a hot and crowded mess. Everything feels excessive. Everyone seems oblivious. The chaos is distinct after having been so deeply peaceful and disconnected. It feels like I’ve been gone for months, yet it's only been seven days.
We saw so much in those 90 miles rafting downstream.
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Escape the default
I had never been to Black Rock City, Nevada before. An other-worldly place, a destination location available to vacationers only but once a year.
It arises from the empty white alkaline desert, completely pulsing and alive day and night, and then returns back into itself after just seven days. There is so much magic and wonder here, in a place that doesn’t even physically exist the majority of the year.
Notoriously difficult to describe, some people say Burning Man is a glorious experiment and experience.
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