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),…
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…
The South Island was made for road trips. It has glaciers, fjords, volcanoes, vineyards, Lord of the Ring forests, impeccable roads, and very few people sharing it. With only one million inhabitants in a landmass the size of New York State, the South Island feels largely untouched and the ultimate place to connect with nature…
Our expedition ship squeezes through the Lemaire Channel, sandwiched between the towering mountains of Booth Island and the Antarctic Peninsula. Even in summer, there can be too much ice for ships to pass, but we are heading into the gauntlet of Kodak Gap, an apt nickname for this extremely photogenic passage. Standing at the windy…
After four days navigating the icebergs and glaciers of the Antarctic Peninsula, we pull into the polar opposite: Deception Island, a red-rimmed volcano peeking out of the sea. The geothermal activity melts the usual thick blanket of ice and reveals the layers of oxidized iron, black ash, with a sprinkle of snow on top. We…