The Most Amazing Gift Shop in the World
Mist shrouded our 4x4 Jeep as we crawled up Route 606 to Monteverde, Costa Rica. The rocks on the unpaved road had been jostling us back and forth inside of our car for close to three hours. Very slowly,...
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Escape Into Letchworth: Sehgahunda, “Vale of Three Falls”
Letchworth State Park is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Located in the hills of Western New York State, the 17-mile stretch of the Genesee River is known as the “Grand Canyon of the East”....
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Ajanta Caves: Elegance Set in Stone
I must admit, when I first stood at the base of the Ajanta Caves in the sweltering June sun, I didn’t understand why my family and I had left the...
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Culture Shock & New Home
For two years, my classmates and I raised money for a Mission's Trip to Peru. We were going to serve at an orphanage in Ayacucho, but since this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, we also decided...
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From the City to the Suburbs, Experiencing All New York Has to Offer
I’m in love with two New York’s.There’s New York City, where everything seems bigger, bolder, tastier and more alive. When I look out a window in NYC, it feels like life is moving by at...
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Simple and Free
The wind fanned my sweat-sticky face as I rode on the back of my dad’s motorbike. It was our last day in Thailand and already half of it was wasted. We had planned to leave the mainland early in...
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A Staring Contest with the Great Perhaps
“I go to seek a Great Perhaps.”-François RabelaisThese words are so often quoted in travel magazines and young adult novels,...
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Spine of the Earth: A Hike Through The Great Smokey Mountains
Sweat dripping down my back and feet crunching the dry earth, I pushed past tree boughs drooping in my path as I walked along the ridge of the Great Smokey Mountains on what has been referred to as...
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A Final, Perfect Memory
“This is the best part!” says Hannah as we watch cheese buyers and sellers haggle. We are at the cheese...
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Savannah: New Blooms, Old Scars
In Miami, we have a saying: “You have to go north to go south.”I whisk around notions of bayous, plantations, country lilts and comely manners as I take my first hungry glimpses of this mysterious...
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A Love Affair With The City Of Love
Each and every year, my family sets off on a trip to Paris, France: the City of Love. It is my absolute favorite place in the worl,d and I love it...
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Small-Town Delight in a Big-City World: Discovering Baldwinsville, NY
You probably wouldn’t think of Baldwinsville, New York as a conventional trip destination. Most people have never even heard of it! It’s true that we don’t have palm trees, white sandy beaches, or...
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Cows, Colleges, and Contentment
Telling people I’m from Northfield, MN usually elicits one of three responses. They haven’t heard of it, they know it as “that college town”, or, my personal favorite, a chuckle, followed by...
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Vancouver. (No, not BC.) Washington. (No, not DC.)
Most likely all you know of Washington is that it is home to vampires and werewolves, that is somewhere up north next to Canada, that is caught up in a never-ending torrential downpour. There is something...
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The City of Sawdust “Claws” its Way into Top Tourist Destination
A group of teenagers, with their hipster hats touching their eyebrows, and TOMS shoes treading lightly across the path, open the door to New Moon Café. Once inside, they are barraged by the sound of acoustic...
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Colors in the Air
The sharp smack of a slippery body being slammed down. Fishmongers yelling out orders in unison like a pirate crew out on sea. Standing up on your tip toes trying to get a better look at the spectacle,...
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Life Under the Big Sky – Bozeman, Montana
Being a girl from Montana, it’s not uncommon for me to be asked by tourists if I ride a horse to school or if I own a billion pairs of cowboy boots. However, my all-time favorite question is "So do you...
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Sunshine. Simplicity. Ssenga.
Early morning rays shine on mud-brick houses and the dirt road which weaves between them. Tin roofs glitter beneath pink and orange clouds, and green gardens are covered with droplets of dew. Everything...
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The Hidden Gems of Canton
So -- you want to come to Canton, Ohio? My hometown. Umm, you could…
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The Chocolate Covered Pretzel I Call Home
It’s almost like a chocolate covered pretzel. The salty ocean air combined with the sweet smell of breathtaking flora; that’s the first sign you’re approaching Laguna Beach, California. The next...
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Hipsters and Wanderers
As a bibliophile and foodie, my excursions into my city tend to include the best bookstore in the world and one of many interesting eateries. The nice thing about where I live is that I am never more than...
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Orange City: Iowa’s Most Unique Cultural Jewel
What comes to mind when you hear the word “Iowa”? Let me guess: endless fields of corn, too many cows to count, and possibly no running water. On the contrary, my friends! Iowa...
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Shades of Gray: Mixing Light and Dark in St. Petersburg, Russia
For some, it's a place; for others, an idea. Whether tangible or not, everyone has a home, and everyone can speak proudly of its attractions and appeal to visitors. I have two. There is the home I was...
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The Wonderful Land of Coney
Friends and family, ladies and germs, welcome to the one, the only, Coney Island! Cue the circus music and the...
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Slices Of Life: Charleston, South Carolina
My momma passed a hand over her eyes the other night and mumbled, “I need to get out of town.” She’s an artist, you know – one of those pensive, sensitive types. She needs to keep her chakras in...
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Rain Or Shine: A Family Intertwined
With a jolt, my family and I were awoken by the piercing horn of the ferry, signifying our entrance into Norway. To my mother, this was a melancholy reminder of the life she had left behind to raise her...
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Vietnam And My Baby Sister
It could have been yesterday: The tangled stratum of purposeful noises, the primitive industrial pollution, the draft of oriental fragrances, the fluctuating wall of rushed foreign syllables....
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Road to Lonavala
Mumbai has two temperatures; hot and hotter. Especially during the summer months, the city can be nearly unbearable. The traffic, the incessant push of humanity, and the raw poverty that fill the muddy,...
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My Internal Journey
Ever since I was fourteen years old, the same routine has always occurred. Each morning, I wake up at the break of dawn, and I see my parents getting ready for another day of work in the fields, full...
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Trash Talk
Tiptoeing quietly out of the thatched dwelling, I slowly navigated the winding dirt path in the dim light. Past the tropical fronds and under the curving trunks of the palms I walked. Noises of the Vietnamese...
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To Italy with Chocha
Chocha is my grandmother. She was born in Rome, Italy and had promised me since I was a small child that she would one day take me to visit her homeland. This was a day that I dreaded! You might...
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Life Changing
To say I’m uncomfortable would be an understatement. With a cold sweat, I wake up from a dream where I’m running. It’s about 4:00 in the morning. I’m nauseous. I’m about to suffocate from...
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A “Thriller” Night in Biko, Mali
I shifted in the metal folding chair, picking at the threads of my shirt. Nervous, I glanced at my host family, who surrounded me in a semi-circle. Thirty eyes stared expectantly back at me. Intimidated,...
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Aspetta (Travels in Italy)
The first week in Italy, I lost my watch at (approximately) 12:47 pm. For someone always in control, I now felt powerless without it. I had relied on its safe rigidity, but now I stood in the piazza,...
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The Pennsylvania Hills
I learned to measure milk in a half an eggshell, found doppelgangers exist, fell in love with rollercoaster-like land . . . and decided family reunions had possibility. I truly tried to avoid my...
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Visiting a Homeland
In December of 2008, my mom and I took a trip halfway around the planet and to an entirely different world. We visited my parent’s home country of Bangladesh after almost...
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The African Field of Dreams
Throughout the canoe ride across Lake Bunyonyi, all I could think about was building my soccer field. We had come to Uganda, East Africa from the U.S. through Brussels to work with Juna...
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Vacation to Home
The morning is just light enough to distinguish blurred human figures already bustling through the streets of Beijing. I lie in my bed listening as the voices outside...
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Most Cars Don’t Come Back: A Final Trip to Croatia
The airports in Germany won't allow you to take rented vehicles into eastern Europe. This puzzled my parents and I, because in two weeks we were about to take a road trip to Croatia. We...
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The Experiment In International Living: Turkey 2007
I pushed a seed...
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The Forbidden Island of Kaho’olawe
Kaho'olawe; also known as Kohemalamalama'okanaloa, is translated as "the holy genitals of the Ocean God Kanaloa" and is the only island throughout Polynesia to be named after a God. The following are my...
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Tennessee Perspective
It came. I knew it would, even before I exited the flight. The small plane had just landed at the Knoxville Airport in Tennessee, and my apprehension had already escalated to a sizeable amount. The seatbelt...
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