Cleveland!
As we traveled across the sleepy Ohio landscape, no one imagined the history we were about to encounter. We made our way through the tree lined streets till we were greeted by Alan Canfora, a self proclaimed...
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Shoebox Campout – The Things A Person Will Do When They Are Hungry
There is an annual boy scout campout my troop does every year called Shoebox Campout. Of all the trips that our troops does in the year, this is one of the most challenging. For one weekend,...
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Lost in Iceland
One year ago I had the opportunity to journey to Iceland with my father in hopes of finding an adventure. Beside the island’s infamous volcanic eruptions and music from Bjork, Iceland is home to a...
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Small Ship Cruising with Families
I have been on three cruises: one with a traditional, large cruise line and two with small ship companies. Yes, big ships offer swimming pools, rock climbing walls, and teen lounges. But...
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Yaquina Head: A Journey Never to be Forgotten
The vast ocean lay in front of me, a massive blanket with no end in sight. Overhead, streaks of cirrus clouds graced the pale blue sky like the wings of an enormous Trumpeter Swan. Beneath my feet lay...
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Italy: The Path of the Gods
The narrow, serpentine road hugs the hillside, rocks and vegetation to the left, a sheer drop to the Mediterranean to the right. We’re taking the Sita...
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The Way That Water Washes Over
If I had to pick one thing, for-sure, that I love most about Thailand, it would be the rain. Where I'm from (San Francisco, I tell everyone I meet, because it's close-by anyways and far more well-known),...
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Climbing to New Caledonia
The American flag waved above me as I paraded across stage with forty other Americans all wearing red white and blue. We were surrounded by the reds, whites, greens and yellows of twenty-six other flags...
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A Final Night to ‘Never Forget’- The Journey Between Summer Camp and Auschwitz
My whole life revolved around summer camp. I would dream of climbing onto the bus and taking off for another summer spent lakeside with my best friends at Emma Kaufmann Camp. The school...
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Dance is the Universal Language
I stood center-stage in a colorful costume and stared out into the crowd eagerly filling the cobblestone square. Beyond, the Sudety mountains stood proudly before a glowing sunset. The music began,...
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Fifteen Cent Priceless Glossy 4×6’s
I can still see myself standing in the middle of the Budget parking lot, basking in the scent of rental cars, trying to imprint the moment in my memory for the rest of my...
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Uprooted in Gold
It was that night by the gas station when I felt it. A liquid, a lightness, kind of like the golden air over my shoulder as I sat on the curb. For a moment it was stretched out soft, carrying me with...
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A Different Bird
I had been counting the days, then the hours during the plane ride. Finally I am in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, my home, the place I had been longing for the past year. And yet, back in the city, I feel...
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The Secret Behind the Twigs
When I looked at the island on the horizon, there wasn’t anything pretty to look at. After all, it was very small, like a child had stuck a small group of leafy branches into the middle of a puddle....
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An Unfortunate Day on the River
Skin blistering heat. River water moving as slow as an act of Congress. Disappointment after every turn from hope that we would soon reach the end. Our family’s much anticipated white water rafting...
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Memories Are Amusing
I remembered serenity: crunchy, sweet and sour bowls of chaat in outside cafés, aimless walks down busy streets admiring lavish storefronts, gentle, white flowers, tumbling from trees above. Memories...
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How Paris Showed Me the Stars
All the sounds fade away as the doors close and suddenly I am apprehensive, unsure and excited all at once. The elevator is packed with people who have come from all over the world for this moment....
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My Adventure in India
Travelling is a mentality. Am I willing to start the adventure? Vulnerable enough to step out the door to learn more about others, and, by application, myself? Not a tourist, but someone...
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Solving Indonesia
When I visited Indonesia in July 2015, I stayed with my cousins in Jakarta. They were both boys. My older brother easily joined their FIFA battles and Grand Theft Auto missions on the PlayStation...
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Our Foundation, Where the Mountains Meet the Water
Standing on a rock, overlooking the fjord with small ships crawling along, he turned to me. Kåre said, “This is where your great, great, grandfather stood and dreamed of America.” Never before...
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It Didn’t Bother Grandpa
When we arrived at the secluded, run-down looking beach house, it was just about the opposite of paradise. The cracked and peeling chalk white paint, the jungle of palm trees and overgrown greenery...
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Quito’s Canines
Where do I go when I want to stand on the equator but don’t want to sweat and definitely don’t like mosquitoes? Quito, Ecuador. The top of the Andes Mountains. South America. An elevation so high...
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Gordonton
My first foray into the North Carolina I was born to was in the late Fall of my sophomore year in High School. Adolescence is a time made for rebellion, and since my whole existence had been a middle...
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Expresso Shots, Butterfly Kisses and Sticky Hugs
Expresso shots, butterfly kisses, and sticky hugs are what I found in the small village of Villa Clara, Cuba. Culture shock began seeping in quickly, as I walked down the dirt streets littered by garbage...
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Go to Hell
The greatest piece of advice that I’ve ever been given that relates to learning about myself and making a palpable difference in the world was basically to “go to hell.”...
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Strata of Wonders
My sandaled feet splashed the fine grains of sand and trampled across patches of tumbleweed. After two excruciating days during a heat wave at Las Vegas, with its dazzling “around the world” displays...
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Blue Skies and Sunsets
Every summer or Christmas since my third birthday, we’ve left the comforts of town life - the 2am donut runs or running out of milk and needing 15 minutes to buy a new gallon - to visit my grandparents...
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A 250 km/Hour Discovery
Fluttering skirts, rhythmic tapping of pointe shoes, dense air- the kind that is formed from hundreds of people holding their breaths in anticipation and admiration, gentle and perfectly apt music....
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Weird Flocks Together
From the beginning of my memory, I have never had a typical mom. Never has she dyed her peppered hair, hid behind layers of make-up, and don’t even try to coax her into a pair of heels. Not only does...
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A Trip to the Magical Town
Around thanksgiving of 2015, my family and I traveled to Zacatecas, Mexico. I’ve been to Mexico before however, this time I learned to enjoy another liestyle. After five hours in a cold plane flight...
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Timeless Nonetheless
The black, bead-like eyes of hundreds of startled crabs seemed to twinkle as they caught the yellow glow streaming from my flashlight. Gazing
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More Than a Memory
I have admired this city in countless stock photos and numerous travel blogs. I draw a deep breath as a futile attempt to calm myself. The van jumps around the cobblestone road and I clumsily juggle...
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A Land of Juxtapositions
The air is heavy with humidity, but we are fortunate that the rainforest canopy shields us from the scorching rays of sunlight that beam down on this hot summer day. The trees surrounding us stretch...
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The Rain, the Rock, and the Marmot
This past summer, my parents and I traveled to Yosemite National Park in California for what I can say was an adventure of epic proportions and grueling obstacles. Our goal was to conquer the Half Dome...
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Transcending Language Barriers with Manners: Life Lessons from the Japanese
Waking up at five am is never pleasing, especially on vacation. But the blaring alarm signaled a new day, the promise of adventure. With my legs still stiff from the 14-hour flight, I arose and peered...
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Ten Popsicle Toes
When my mother announced the family would be traveling to Iceland for Christmas my stomach dropped. A California girl, the mere thought of Iceland(!) during wintertime (!) made my toes curl, but there...
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Life at 10,000 Feet
They told me oxygen would be scarcer, but they didn’t tell me it was the mountains that would take my breath away. I was deep in the heart of the Peruvian Andes, in a small village called Ollantaytambo....
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China in Transit
Hangzhou, China is beautiful in the spring. The weather is lovely, the trees are in bloom, and if you look above the buildings, the sky is even blue. On the west lies a long, gleaming lake; on the east...
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Is that….pepper???
I looked at the Styrofoam plate that held the cheesy lasagna and closed my eyes trying to convince myself to take a bite. Oh yeah. I forgot to mention; it was covered in bugs, not pepper. I recently...
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Beyond the Brass Handle
In first grade, my teacher asked us to bring in postcards from all the exotic places we’d been in our lives. My friends brought back little cards with photographs of beautiful beaches, tall towers,...
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A Different Type of Language
I wake up in a wooden hotel, the musty smell of morning fills the air. I get out of bed, hearing the creaking of the wooden floors beneath my feet. The entire hotel must have heard this through the...
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The Balcony
The four hour and thirty minute drive to Kemah, Texas was enough to give me the audacity to jump out the window and join the bugs as they splat against the passing cars. I sleep half the time and...
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A Stitched Portrait of a Chinese Garden
To the left of my bed is my most prized possession: a collection of pictures, each representing a place explored and a lesson learned. My love for travel stemmed from a young curiosity towards adventure...
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A Mandir Medley
The sun sparkled high on this specific Sunday morning in Chicago, the weather perfect for the cultural encounter that awaited me. Yet, I was hesitant to interact with a society whose values and traditions...
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Foxes and Persimmons: Defining the Hoosier State
Our small group of teenagers huddled together as we followed our counselor into the clearing. Not three feet before us, the ground fell away into an earthen waterfall of rock and creeper vines. Thousands...
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My Heart of Turquoise
I had never seen so many junipers in my life. The green, bushy plants stretched for miles into the desert of New Mexico like they could go on forever. We were far outside the city limits...
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One Love
I ease my water shoes into the chilly water, trusting our leader to guide us safely through the Dunn’s River Falls in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Our excursion group stayed together as directed: holding hands...
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Enduring Burdens as an Ally of the World
When we entered the Cibeles Palace in Madrid Sunday morning, trailed by a few early spring gusts, it was virtually empty, besides employees and a few Madrilenians tucked in corners of the offered reading...
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