Why you oughta visit Guanajuato, Mexico
DAY 10 – How I handled diabetes in the hilly UNESCO town of Guanajuato, Mexico, and why you should drop everything and go there now! [keep reading]
Valenciana: close to home but a world away
DAY 3 – Valenciana, Mexico was not on the itinerary, but ending up in surprising places is one of the very best aspects of free, open traveling. [keep reading]
How to waste money before the trip even starts
How I spent $400 extra dollars on a trip completely unnecessarily. I hope you have never wasted this much travel money before a trip even started. [keep reading]
Three days in Beijing without sightseeing
DAY 87 – How is it possible to spend three days in Beijing and see NO tourist sites? It's easy when you learn you have to make sudden plans to get out of China. [keep reading]
Sand dunes and street food in distant Dunhuang
DAY 79 – How to visit the Gobi Desert for free and keep insulin cool while you're climbing among the huge dunes. This is Dunhuang, a distant but remarkable place. [keep reading]
Through the desert to Dunhuang with special permission
DAY 75 – With an Aliens' Travel Permit we took a bus through high desert from Golmud to Dunhuang, China, a trip that featured camels, snow, and (eventually) peeing. [keep reading]
Golmud, dusty crossroads on the edge of nothing
DAY 74 – We spent a few days in Golmud, a town in the middle of the Tibetan Plateau where we secured permission to continue through the rugged desert. How fun! [keep reading]
Xining, the high and dry fulcrum of central China
DAY 72 – Xining is an ancient crossroads on the Silk Road in central China, a high, arid city that acts as a gateway to the rowdy west: it readjusts your focus. [keep reading]
I left my jaw in Chongqing’s hotpot
DAY 68 – Chongqing, a humongous urban area in central China, gave us the opportunity to rest up after the Yangtze River cruise. And, we ate food spicy enough to sear holes in the Earth's crust. [keep reading]
Three nights on the smoggy, majestic Yangtze River
DAY 64 – How we became the only English-speaking non-Chinese tourists on a three-day cruise up the famed Yangtze, which is as beautiful as its reputation. [keep reading]
Eight days in a backpacker’s oasis in Wuhan, China
DAY 53 – A stay at a hostel on a wooded lot in Wuhan, China gave us the opportunity to rest up, book a Yangtze cruise, and engage in some fierce music wars. [keep reading]
Overnight stay in Zhuzhou, a town I can’t remember
DAY 51 – Funny how some places you visit leave no impression on you whatsoever, like ghost towns of your memory. Zhuzhou, China was like that for me. [keep reading]
Tea leaves and local families in Taxiacun
DAY 49 – An extra day in tiny Taxiacun, China let us explore the town and even get a surprise invitation to a local family's house, where they gave us tea cake. [keep reading]
Fujian tulou houses and the perfect kindness of strangers
DAY 47 – After a bus ride to the famous tulou in China we found no facilities at all, and fell in with a group of Taiwanese cyclists who took us under their wing. [keep reading]
Gulangyu, a Chinese community like no other
DAY 46 – Quiet and relaxed Gulangyu is a peculiar island in south China that feels a lot more European than Asian. It's easy to forget time on "Piano Island". [keep reading]
Shaoxing and the mysterious yin-yang of travel
DAY 36 – There is a "yin-yang" aspect to travel: you see some things and you miss others. Shaoxing, China showed us that that is how it should be on the road. [keep reading]