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...
Read More 2 min read
Sin Cuenta
Our group of high school juniors and seniors stayed up until midnight at Las Tortugas, a turtle reserve in Limón, Costa Rica. The night before, we patrolled for four...
Read More 3 min read
Shoes for Haiti
My trip to Haiti this year was a completely unexpected miracle that expanded my view on the world. This year the family trip was supposed to be a three week fiesta in Europe - "exploring the world"...
Read More 3 min read
The Other Side of Costa Rica
I have been blessed with the opportunity to travel all over the country. By age sixteen, I had visited New York, Hawaii, Florida, and many other states. However, I had never...
Read More 2 min read
Havasupai Thrills
“I’ve done it before, I can do it again. Easy!” Never before in my life have I been so utterly proved wrong by my own self. The last time I hiked the eleven miles through...
Read More 3 min read
Who’s Really Got It Figured Out? Us or Them? Trip to Vernazza, Italy
The anticipation of finally arriving at your vacation spot seems to grow as the month, week, day, hour, minute & second near. I won't forget the way the way I felt and the...
Read More 3 min read
Back to My Homeland
The Philippines – it is my hometown, my birthplace, my childhood. And yet, before the Spring of 2009, I only remembered bits and pieces of it. After eight years of living in California, my mom and...
Read More 4 min read
Memories from Scotland
A trip to a foreign land never fails to leave everlasting footprints along the shores of your memories. New experiences and encounters with foreign cultures embed themselves in your memories and, without...
Read More 2 min read
Climbing Cadillac Mountain
Four years ago, in July of 2007, right after I turned 13, my family and I drove up the east coast of the United States and back down it again. We traveled from Chesapeake,...
Read More 2 min read
¡Bienvenidos a Ecuador!
Until two years ago, I had never been anywhere outside the United States besides Canada, and the idea of jungles and wild tapirs seemed like something out of a fairy tale story....
Read More 2 min read
Saying Goodbye
I scuff at the orange dust with my flip-flop and stare at our cinder-brick house. It’s all packed up—my life stowed in Tupperwares tied expertly to the top of our Land Rover.The whole village has come...
Read More 3 min read
Trip to India
It took me years to recognize the importance of diversity and customs. As a girl growing up in two cultures, I found my own tradition something to be ashamed of. I was just a little innocent four year...
Read More 2 min read
A Trip to the Land of My Ancestors
There I was, an American born Indian boy, from the Texan suburbs, in the middle of rural India. I lay in a cot outside in the humid muggy air staring up at a dark star strewn sky, feeling strange, out...
Read More 3 min read
The Kingdom for Friends
The morning shone bright, the trees swayed in the wind, and the laughter of a charter bus of teenage students filled the air. After six hours of traveling from Austin, Texas to...
Read More 2 min read
Mother Nature’s Teachings
Scampering through the vast plantation, the toes of a young girl embraces the warmth of the earth underneath. The mass of trees encircling her, surrounding her with the sweet scents of the flourishing...
Read More 2 min read
A Slice of Literature
Going back in time requires no supernatural powers, no new-fangled machines with walls of blinking buttons and levers—walking into an era long-gone can be achieved as easily...
Read More 2 min read
(N)everchanging
Every two years, my family would save up enough money to travel back to our roots: Hong Kong. In the August of 2009, I returned back to my homeland. It was different this time around compared to the...
Read More 2 min read
The Journey: Be A Man
After stuffing suitcases, duffels, chairs, and an assortment of other odds and ends onto the short bus, the 17 of us climbed in. The trip we had been looking forward to for weeks...
Read More 2 min read
Old City Jerusalem, Arab Quarter
A marketplace. To anyone else my age, this might be considered “ghetto.” But to me, this is beautiful. The walkway is narrow and composed of smooth rocks, with small steps every few feet to follow...
Read More 2 min read
Seeing Paris Without the Lines
The quintessential Parisian experience that tops everyone's list of things to do is to reach the top of the Eiffel Tower and see the entire city at your feet. What many don't...
Read More 2 min read
Finding My “Other Half” in China
As I boarded the plane for Bejing, China, all I could think of was the summer that I was leaving behind. To me, a proud California native, my sparse memories of the few visits from my childhood suggested...
Read More 3 min read
Spirit and Heart Capturer: Egypt
As a young girl, I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to travel. I, personally, traveled to many stunning countries like Greece, France, and London, but the country...
Read More 3 min read
My Cruise Into Romance
When my dad told us that he was going to take us on a cruise through the Mexican Riviera my entire family leapt with joy. I was especially excited because I was just getting over...
Read More 3 min read
One Exotic Island – Three Amazing Worlds of Indonesia
It's all about perspective – looking out from a temple across the ocean at sunset, walking crowded streets and hearing motorists whiz past, or breathing in sweet mountain air while watching the fog roll...
Read More 2 min read
Remembering the Coast
I crane my neck, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. Turn after turn in the road, I hope this one will reveal the never-ending expanse of water. When the ocean is finally...
Read More 2 min read
The Happiest Place on Earth? Perhaps Instead, the Happiest Place in My Memories
It is deemed the “happiest place on Earth”. As a teenager, it was deemed by me as “another family vacation”. The last time I had set foot onto Main Street’s walkway...
Read More 3 min read
India’s Hidden Secrets in the Midst of Wealth and Indigence
My journey to India was unlike any other. Europe and South America are in my blood, but Asia is a whole other creature, and India was simply chaotic. The car ride to the Halcyon Apartments in Koramangala...
Read More 3 min read
The Warring Polar Opposites of Palestine and Israel
After 9/11 many racial assumptions arose as people questioned others from Arab countries. Two summers ago I travelled to Ramallah, Palestine to learn more about my heritage. My mother and I flew to...
Read More 2 min read
Dominica, The Island Full of Experiences
Slowly, I drifted my feet in the mixture of sand and rock. The breeze surrounding me was never-ending, but so soft to the point that it could put...
Read More 2 min read
