The second international trip Mike and I took together was to Belize for our PADI open-water diver certification. In many ways, the vacation was a test to see, not only if we loved scuba, but also traveling together. After days of exploring the tropical waters, swimming alongside eagle rays, nurse sharks, countless reef fish, and…
Malaysia is one of the world’s 17 “megadiverse” countries, with Borneo being their crown jewel of biodiversity! The world’s third largest island, fringed by a coral reef, covered with a 130-million-year-old rainforest, and teeming with endemic species, this is a place of epic proportions. While Borneo is shared between two other countries (Indonesia and Brunei),…
Part turtle sanctuary, part permaculture farm, part luxury resort, and 100% off grid, Playa Viva is not just thinking about the well being of their guests but that of future generations. We found out about this forward-thinking eco-lodge while researching the “Conservation” chapter of our glamping book, Comfortably Wild, and recently had the chance to…
Beautiful beaches come in all shapes and sizes. Find the one that suits your style with this round-up from our National Geographic book, Ultimate Journeys for Two. In each chapter, we created a top 10 list inspired by that section’s destination style (mountains, jungles, deserts, etc). For the Beaches & Islands chapter, we scoured the…
You don’t have to be Prince Harry on honeymoon to afford unforgettable glamping destinations. To research our new book, Comfortably Wild, we spent three years, traveling 73,000 miles across 9 countries in search of the best glamping destinations in North America. Even after staying at Relais & Châteaux treehouses and Forbes Five-Star Ranches, some of…
We had amazing penguin encounters throughout our whole Antarctica expedition, but this was by far the most up close and personal. After months of continuous feeding by the mamas, the chubby adolescents are left to fend for themselves. A little hangry about the situation, they go on squawking, chasing each other for scraps, and approaching…
Everyone’s heard of Punta Cana…but Barahona and Pedernales? You’d think this area of the Dominican Republic would be famous for having the country’s only UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, the lowest point in the Caribbean, and the one place in the world to find the precious Larimar stones, but no…the Southwest DR is a hidden gem. And…
Bucket list is often a euphemism for the dreams I’ll get to someday. Why wait– especially when many of these epic destinations are way more affordable than you think. We’ve been honeymooning since 2012 and have experienced world wonders across the seven continents and kept our average budget under $40 a day per person. Of…
British Columbia has one of the densest bear populations in the world, and this was our chance to finally see one. We set aside a month to road trip the western Canadian province, hike temperate rain forests, scale glaciers, and hopefully, spot bears in the wild. There are said to be upwards of 150,000 black…
We’ve always dreamt about going to Montana, and who hasn’t? The land of Big Sky, where buffalo roam, cowboys rule the rolling hills, and A River Runs Through It… it’s the wild west at its most romantic. Ever since the railroad blazed a trail across the country in the late 1800s, Montana has captured the…
A message popped up from our travel buddy Deb, “Want to dive Komodo?” Visions of nine-foot-long dragons attacking our air supply went through our heads. “Let’s do a liveaboard in Komodo National Park, I hear the diving is killer.” Gulp. Deb is a proper scuba junkie with 357 dives around the world, and counting. So…