Have you ever rewatched a movie you loved as a kid? It’s usually a mistake. The sets are cardboard; the acting wooden. Your bubble of joyous memories is deflated by the poorly-written, laborious reality. So, by that logic, is it a mistake for a traveller to revisit one of their favourite places? I was afraid to find […]
Read more "Cinque Terre:An opening in the clouds formed the shape of a heart. Through it, a single star became visible. The North Star. “Make a wish”, whispered the spirit guides to our unlikely hero, a gangly lad from the bottom of the earth on the cusp of an age he never dreamed he’d live to be. But […]
Read more "Life Lesson #53 – You Can Live a Fairytale in a Weekend"The Amish have always struck me as somewhat of a fairy tale. The idea that an entire community would choose to freeze themselves in time strikes me as something from Oz, not modern America. The majority of Amish villages are in the lush farmlands of Pennsylvania, and that’s what drew me to visit the keystone state. […]
Read more "Welcome to Hotel Pennsylvania"Is it ok if I get a bit melodramatic for a minute? It’s exactly a year since I left New Zealand. I just put on the playlist that I made on that day and it’s giving me all the feels. Just four songs, all with the words “home” or “goodbye” in the title, that I […]
Read more "The Hard Thing"The fog was so dense that – though I was assured I was standing right in front of the Taj Mahal – the invisible backdrop to my selfie could just has easily have been a bronze bust of Elton John. As my guide led me around, I tried to remember what it looked like from pictures I’d seen. […]
Read more "Taj Mahal:This is the photo that tourists are supposed to take of four hundred year-old Jama Masjid mosque in Delhi. Pretty, isn’t it? The more adventurous tourists will remove their shoes, rent a robe, and figure out how to climb one of the minarets. They’ll be rewarded with this photo. And they’ll see the city of Delhi […]
Read more "The Real Delhi"In 2012, National Geographic’s Traveller magazine named Kerala as one of the “ten paradises of the world”, and “50 must see destinations of a lifetime”. And yet, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who’s been there. So, when my best friend Kat told me she was going for a few days (it’s a little […]
Read more "Tea Fields and Backwaters: Kerala in Photos"