Here it is, The End. Of this chapter of my life, anyway. Of bouncing from one city to another. From plane to bus. From couch to couch. The end of wea…

One night back in Sydney with the Irish boys before it's all over. Whether or not I'm ready for it, America here I come.

I had to backtrack down the coast to make my way back to Sydney. I stopped in Brisbane this time and reunited with old friends: John that I'd met in …

The roadtrip came to an end in Cairns. The final adventure of my journey would be a sailing trip to the Great Barrier Reef and an unexpected decision…

A stop on every backpacker's itinerary, a boat trip in the Whitsundays was the next adventure of the roadtrip. The sky was overcast and the snorkelin…

My remaining time in Oz was spent on a roadtrip up the Queensland coast. I hitched a ride with a german traveler, Daniel, and his red station wagon. …

I went to Byron because every Aussie I met told me I should, and my friend Toni was there and waiting to share the good times.

A week to soak in every view of the Harbor Bridge and Opera House and get some QT in with my favorite irish boys. It's all about reunions on this tri…

The Great Ocean Road. The adventure continues.

It didn't surprise me how much I loved this city, how much fun I had hanging out with old and new friends or how I would have moved there in a second…

I started my journey from Adelaide to Melbourne, via the Great Ocean Road, with three other backpackers I met 2 days before. We spent the first night…

I finally got to see some of Australia's notorious wildlife, as well as reconnect with my 1998 host mom on our weekend getaway to South Australia's K…

When my stay in Alice Springs was all said and done, I had spent one night in a hostel, one in the outback and two in the hospital. The second day of…

There are 1530 kilometers between Adelaide and Alice Springs, and I had it in my head it would be a shame to fly over them. Instead, it would be a tw…

It was in the quaint city of Adelaide that I spent the bulk of my Oz experience. A friend and a free place to stay were calling my name. So while mos…

Crabbing trip and weekend getaway to Mandurah Bay

There are two reasons one would make the effort to journey all the way to Perth, Australia--geographically, one of the most isolated cities in the wo…

An early, yet uneventful, flight carried me south to a warmer Hong Kong. As I attempted to type with the food tray jammed into my abdomen, I conclude…

Days passed and I eventually thawed out. I even acclimated enough to strip down to four layers instead of six. Christmas came and went, my kiwi frien…

I knew it would be cold in Beijing. I wasn't prepared, however, to lose eyeballs and digits to frostbite. As I roamed mapless in the freezing tempera…

Last few days with my sister. We spent them sleeping on a Junk and riding bikes through island trails. Not a bad way to turn 28.

Slightly more colonial architecture, just as many motorbikes.

Beach-bumming by day and drinks and dancing with our newly acquired Argentinian friends by night.

Adding motorbikes to the mix of a crowded Vietnamese street makes every safe crossing a mini miracle.

Displays of the tragic and not so distant Cambodian past.

The world's most famous Buddhist Temples and rightfully so. We spent a whole day roaming the ruins and nights hanging out with the cool guys that ran…

Not as much to do in a capital city as we were hoping for, but it does house the rather photogenic Wat Pha That Luang (Golden Temple).

Backpackers galore and "Friends" on every restaurant TV in town.

Home to a nightly street market and the best fruit shakes in the world.

Trekking through the jungle on top of an elephant.

A small guesthouse with an outgoing employee and acres of ancient temples to roam.

My enthusiasm for a return to Bangkok had nothing to do with pingpong shows. After a long night on a bus, and, in turn, longer day of catching up on …

My alarm woke me up at a time no backpacker should ever have to see at the front-end of their day. I groggily dragged myself and my belongings out of…

Phi Phi, I should clarify, is pronounced "Pee Pee." (Yes, it's true. Go ahead and giggle like a schoolboy.) Which has lead me to new ideas for a prop…

I began my Phi Phi experience the way I eventually advised everyone to. First, it's dinner at one of three tried and trusted restaurants. Large porti…

We went back to Bangkok just long enough to grab our bags and get the next bus out. Our paths would soon part, but Karl, John and I were able to expe…

On a whim, I followed the boys in their plans to head north. Karl, John and I threw a couple days' worth of clothes into a bag and disappeared into t…

The humidity that greeted me in Bangkok was the in-your-face, cut-with-a-knife kind. Gone was the dry heat of the desert. And luckily, the strict dre…

I find I have so much to say about my stay in Egypt, but struggling for the right words to say it all. At the same time, I realize how ridiculously b…

I've never felt more like a jetsetter than in these last 48 hours. Wake up in Croatia, party till the wee hours of the morning in Vienna, spend the n…

Let me give you a little tip...no matter how close they look on the map, getting from Croatia to Greece is not easy. In fact, some would call it a "p…

It's a straight shot on a 2-way coastal highway from Split to Dubrovnik. And, I thought, a perfect opportunity to give European hitchhiking one last …

I stepped onto the ferry panting, dripping in sweat and feeling like the lone pink elephant in a room of clustering Croatians. The train ride from To…

Let me tell you about life in Torricella. There are two roads in town, and they both lead you abruptly out of it. Train tracks determine the city lim…

I knew I was back in Italy when I saw a gelateria across from a United Colors of Benetton on every corner. And considering two-thousand-year-old ruin…

Don't worry...the story doesn't end with me stuck in Paris and my journey and fun continued. I'm going to fill this page with delightful little gems…

With the good, in traveling, comes the bad. And sometimes, the momentarily cataclysmic. In an ironic twist, my venture to transform Paris from the kl…

I'm in France and I can feel it. The buildings. The people. The baguettes. I even saw a beret and heard an "ooh la la" on the first day, just to clin…

Entry coming soon for the lovely little city of Bath and a trip to stonehenge. I know you're on the edge of your seat...

There were many places we wanted to see and a limited time to see them, so moving quickly was unavoidable. Oxford was the next stop on our whirlwind …

When traveling, it's impossible to account for everything that might slow down your journey to the next destination. Sometimes it's a traffic jam, fl…

I had five days to discover everything London has to offer. While I'm guessing we missed a street or two, it wasn't a bad start. The "we" is not a s…

Edinburgh and Glasgow have a friendly on-going war between them. If you're from one you, naturally, can't like the other. Tourists often skip the les…

Before leaving Comrie, Carly, Adam and I tried to soak in some authentic Scottish culture by attending the Highland Games. We used our day off to bus…

I knew it was the right decision to come to Comrie Croft the minute I arrived. Comrie is a tiny Scottish town, about an hour and two bus rides away f…

I caught an uneventful ferry ride across the Irish Sea to the land of the Scots and arrived in Glasgow with the continuing trend of not knowing where…

I got lost on the way to a bus station that even the locals admit is tucked away into a camouflaged pocket of the city. This resulted in missing, wha…

A day's worth of buses, ferries and always more buses, carried me to a flooded, dark and dripping Belfast without any clue as to where I'd be staying…

The sky opened up the morning I left for the Aran Islands and did its best to wash away the earth until well into the evening. Heavy rain and winds m…

My bus ride to Galway could have been (if I may be so dramatic) a catastrophic one. Apparently, when the driver said our stopover in Limerick would e…

I arrived at my new hosts' flat with the intention of staying for one or two nights. Seven days later I finally said my goodbyes to Carlos and Fabien…

Part of my reason for going to Limerick was to be that much closer to the city of Cork. For a few days in August, Krisitine--my host and friend from …

I left Dublin in a hurry when a job didn't seem close at hand. Not because I didn't like it, but I felt my time would be better spent seeing the rest…

It's a strange life I'm living, I know. Six months ago I was part of the 9-5 nation, complete with morning meetings and happy hours. Now, w…

I went back to Stockholm for my last few days in Sweden. I couldn't leave without a proper goodbye or the chance to see the last of my recently-acqui…

Sweden is all about friendly faces. This time it was Lillit and Marie--my Berlin hostelmates--waiting for me when I finally escaped the capital city-…

I've been a little guilty of thinking every new city is my favorite, but I really mean it this time. I love Stockholm! There's water everywhere, it's…

We must have been good in a past life, because on the third night, Bre and I shared our hostel room with 6 Brazilian lawyers. And if you've never had…

The next couple days were more of the same roaming the streets and hanging with other hostel guests. Bre and I took advantage of having a fellow trav…

Mait left for a weekend surf camp, so I headed to a nearby hostel. After couchsurfing consecutively for the past couple weeks, I was looking forward …

Today I checked something off of my life's 'To Do' list: I hitchhiked. As an American, I think most of us assume this art has been left to bums and t…

One of the most unforgettable moments in my trip thus far, came from an unexpected source. Riga is hosting a Latvian song and dance festival this w…

I took a 2-day break from Riga in the middle of my stay and went to the nearby town of Jelgava. I stayed with Antra--a girl I'd met briefly in Berlin…

I left Klaipeda and my companions on a bus for Latvia. It was nice to travel with the girls and a huge relief to have someone else do the planning fo…

It worked out perfectly that the two girls from Quebec, Andreanne and Charlotte, were planning to head to the Baltic coast of Lithuania the same time…

On Sunday night I actually switched couchsurfing hosts. Justas's apartment was going to be crowded with the addition of the Canadians and I wanted th…

I stayed a total of four days with Justas, exploring the streets of Vilnius while he worked. On Saturday I met up with another couchsurfer, Margarita…

When Justas left for work in the morning, he--thankfully--left me with the keys and the understanding that I'd deliver them once I was out and about.…

We pulled up to a cold and rainy Vilnius around 9 in the morning. I was surprised by two things: 1)The signs in the station were very clear and usual…

In the words of my friendly polish hero Jozef "It's a tragedy when you don't share a language." It's also extremely inconvenient when trying to catch…

I was never able to find a couch to surf in Krakow. I think it was the poor timing of hitting a long holiday weekend, where most of the locals left t…

We went to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps today. I'll refrain from my usual attempt at humor for this entry, for obvious reasons. The cam…

By Sunday, I didn't have to worry about hanging solo anymore (or finding random friends in the street). Rob from Canada followed to Krakow, bringing …

There has been an element of luck and chance involved in the meeting of all my new friends on this trip. But I think Poland takes the cake on randomn…

I checked into a hostel for my last night in Berlin. I did this to be closer to the train station and, let's face it, give Márton some space that he…

Five days later and I'm still at Márton's. Charlotte is as well, so I don't feel so bad. He just makes it so easy and comfortable to be here, it's h…

I explored the area of Kreuzberg a little more today. Márton lives in Neukölln, which is slightly dirtier but very close to K-berg. I don't know if…

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the fabulous invention that is Couchsurfing. My Seattle friends already got a taste of this when I invi…

Okay, seriously. This is almost TOO easy. I didn't even have to leave my room this morning to meet my new companion for the day.Sometime during the n…

In an unfortunate coincidence, all of my new hostel friends left on the same day. I was thrust back into solitude and forced to begin anew. This last…

I went to the little country town of Oranienburg this morning. I meant to go to Oranienburger Street. Apparently there's a difference. And by my esti…

My mom (a german teacher) has lead tours of Germany every other summer for the past 18 years. In the last 4, they've finally worked it out so my dad …

My first day in Europe doesn't really count. We landed in Frankfurt before I had time to sleep. I can't say that I've ever had a flight go too fast b…

I left New York with a glow. It may have something to do with cramming into the subway car like those damn sardines who have never known the meaning …

First impression of New York: I love it! I'm a sucker for downtowns, bustling streets and the nonstop entertainment of people watching. My second imp…

After the not-so-fun effort of condensing my sprawling belongings into two bags and finally getting to breathe on the drive to the Albuquerque airpor…

All good things must come to an end. As do - thank the heavens - the frustrating/tiring/dramatic ones. After what seemed like 27 schedule changes, th…

Work ping-ponged us from the dust of Galisteo, to the streets of Albuquerque, back to the stage in Santa Fe, only to put us, once again, in the New M…

We left the comfort of the sound stage for the wind and dust of the desert. Our art department built a full-scale diner and movie set about 30 miles …

My life at the moment is more consumed by work than it's ever been. After weeks of establishing the routine: work...sleep...shower...work, I go to be…

I just finished my first official week of saving lives...I mean, making a movie. It's easy to confuse, considering the way everyone runs around yelli…

We arrived in Santa Fe on Thursday afternoon, but dad had to leave us the next morning. I think it's safe to say the rest of his roadtrip will be muc…

It had to be done. If we're driving through SE New Mexico, I'm going to demand a picture with the aliens of Roswell. Luckily my Dad humored me and w…

In order to assure he wouldn't miss me too much on my year abroad, my dad and I planned a roadtrip. 40 hours together in a little car ought to do the…

If you can imagine, my poor Seattle skin hasn't seen the light of the sun for what seems like forever. So I did my best to soak up the 80-degree good…

I keep saying my trip begins in June, when in reality it began the day I packed my car and left home sweet home Seattle. I was amazingly still sane a…

It was strange and good to be back in Iowa for the month of March. I did my best to see all the good friends I could and made the rounds to Des Moine…

Because I haven't driven enough already, I decided to head to Chicago for the long weekend. I wanted to squeeze in a few more good friends, family an…

Iowa at last. I got back just in time for my college roommate's wedding and a myriad of family and friend gatherings. This will be the longest I've s…

Spent my second night in a hotel in Rapid City, SD. After my not so rewarding photoshoot with Devil's Tower, I decided it was worth it to take the B…

Even though I couldn't make it to Devil's Tower before sunset, I wasn't worried. I had my tripod in the car and the waning sun could still provide en…

Day 1 of my 3-day trek back to Iowa took me as far as Missoula, Montana. I've been fortunate in my time in Seattle to befriend a few real life Montan…

In a proper Seattle sendoff, it rained today as I drove away. I'd like to think the city was as sad as I was to see me go.