One of the first conversations I remember having with Michael when we met early in the pandemic was when I told him I had a dream of doing some long-term solo travel as soon as I could. And while I…
Ukraine, Kosovo, and the Disappointment of Changing Itineraries
My original itinerary looked quite different when I began crafting it 3 years ago. It’s shrunk, expanded, shifted, and is still being altered by the day. But there were some alterations that were hard to let go of. In all…
Beautiful Krakow and the Lessons of Auschwitz
It didn’t make logical sense to go to Krakow. Michael was meeting me just two days later in Budapest, and I was conveniently a two-hour train ride from there. The route to Krakow was particularly inconvenient and out of the…
Night Train Nightmare and Bratislava, Slovakia, to the Rescue
I had such a romantic idea of my first night train. Probably there would be a little lamp by my bed where I could write as night fell. I’d undoubtedly be sharing my bunk car with a couple of fascinating…
Italian Summer and First Loves (Cinque Terre, Lake Como, and Venice)
I visited Italy for the first time 11 years ago in what felt like the culmination of a decade of incessant determination, serendipity, blind faith, and unbelievable luck. The program director for a summer program for high school students somehow…
My tumultuous relationship with Switzerland
I’m going to admit a thing that I feel some guilt about and that might cause people to hate me. And I’m truly so sorry for this, but I can’t deny hard truths. Here it is—I really didn’t care for…
