August 2011
5 posts
On Being a Female Traveler
Before we can go forward with the new, sassy/fabulous and SEO-encrusted Itchy Foot Adventures that I’ve promised my new corporate overlords, I need to clear the air a bit.
I feel really ambivalent about all this Travel… For Women! business. Especially because, ultimately, it is about the business. I don’t believe that there need to be special websites for vagina-bearing...
Back by Unpopular Demand
The three or four people who actually read this blog might have been wondering at the radio silence. Oh, who are we kidding - radio silence is the norm around here, and there usually doesn’t need to be A BIG REASON for it (unless the big reason is that I was marathonning through the entire series of Roseanne on Netflix).
But OK.
Just when I thought it was safe to forget that I had un...
I Want To Go To Here →
According to Wikipedia, this place is just outside Krakow. Ever since my visit to Slovenia, I’ve been more and more interested in traveling to Eastern Europe. This just cements it. (Pun?)
May 2011
2 posts
Something Very Precious I Was Probably Going To...
Last night, in the kitchen of my Brooklyn apartment in 2011, my first reaction on hearing the news that Osama bin Laden was dead was, “Can we go home now?”
On September 11, 2001, I was twenty years old. I’d been living in New York for a little under a year. When I said “home”, I meant south Louisiana, Terrebonne Parish.
I was a college dropout. I had an asshole boyfriend I lived with in...
April 2011
5 posts
Undead City
Like a lot of other cities people hate, I’m falling in love with Venice. Sure, it’s crowded with tourists. It’s run down. It smells funny. The food is expensive. But so what? It’s Venice.
Kyle and I are staying in a (literally) funky little hostel in the Canareggio neighborhood. It’s all brick and plaster, arched windows with decrepit green shutters, yellow flowers...
Packing For Europe, Mad Men Style
In a lot of ways, it doesn’t feel like the sixties was all that long ago. People were mainly dealing with the same problems we deal with today. Most of our pop cultural references stem from that era, from Mrs. Robinson to the Motown diner theme of the video for Cee-Lo’s “Fuck You”. Even fashion hasn’t changed all that much; half the clothes in my closet would be at home in 1963.
Flipping...
March 2011
1 post
July 2010
7 posts
Backpacking and Authenticity
I recently got a bit of a plug from Mariellen at BreatheDreamGo, talking about authenticity and travel to India.
Her first post on the topic inspired me to comment:
I spent two months in India in 2008, and by the second month of my trip people would routinely assume that I was an expat living fully within Indian culture. This was because I didn’t dress or carry myself like a backpacker...
Five Reasons I'm Glad I Waited To Travel
This GloboTreks post on why it’s better to travel when you’re young really got me thinking.
After two long international backpacking trips, staying in hostels and meeting other travelers in beach bars and rooftop cafes, I’m really happy I didn’t dash off on a big international adventure the day I turned 18.
I’ve met tons of younger travelers who’ve inspired...
Just To Clarify
I discovered the below post lurking in the “drafts” folder of my Tumblr account, found it hilarious, and decided I had to post it unaltered and as it was in the moment that I started to write about my hatred for the town of Chinchero, Peru, only to realize I’d forgotten to bring my notes. I love that it crystallizes my exact feelings in that moment, on that ridiculous day, like...
Back in Action
So It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted anything. I’m back from Peru, and all moved into my new apartment in Crown Heights. Ready to write again.
In the coming weeks I hope to post more Peru photos, as well as to dip into the “journey” of discovering my new neighborhood. Keeping with the title of this blog, I’m also already thinking about new travel...
June 2010
6 posts
Hack Update
Hi everyone - since these blog posts bounce to Facebook, this is the only way I have of getting in touch with people.
Thought I’d update everyone on the situation. I’m still unable to regain access to my google account, and have heard nothing from Facebook. I’m hoping the lag is just because the whole thing went down on a Friday afternoon, and there’s been nobody in the...
Everything Good That's Happened In The Last 24...
OK, now I’m going to write down the good things that have happened today, and hopefully it’ll balance out.
1. I had a pretty impressive (and well-deserved) coffee this morning.
2. The colectivo I broke off all my nails to climb into happened to be going to my exact destination, no need to change taxis in Urubamba.
3. Cute baby on the ill-fated bus to Chinchero.
4. I managed...
Everything Bad That's Happened In The Last 36...
I’m going to write down everything bad that’s happened in the last 36 hours, and in the end most of it isn’t going to sound so awful.
1. Yesterday I got drummed out of bed at 8 so that the hostel cleaning people could inexplicably clean the dorm. Checkout time isn’t till 10, and none of us in that dorm were checking out yesterday. In the ensuing confusion, the cleaning...
HOLY SHIT, YALL
I’m pretty sure my gmail and facebook accounts have been hacked. For instance, I suddenly can’t log into either of them.
I’m working it out with the relevant websites, going through the usual security protocol, changing passwords on my other accounts, etc. And I’m not too worried since I’m usually very careful about security. BUT: if anyone gets in touch with you...
May 2010
31 posts
Signing Off...
That’s all y’all are getting from me this afternoon - It’s been a long couple of days, I have not even the remotest ability to put the Machu Picchu experience into words yet, and I’ve got a traditional dance performance to attend here in Cusco.
Maybe my new friend Annie can shed a little more light, having a whole day’s head start on me? Check out her blog right...
Coming - Really Awesome Post About Machu Picchu
I’m back from Machu Picchu! Unfortunately at the moment I’m on a horrendous youth hostel computer with an un-usable keyboard (seriously, it’s a chore just typing these few sentences) and no functioning USB port to upload photos. Expect something more interesting within the next few hours…
Warning To My Mom Et Al
Just thought I’d let everyone who is concerned about my safety know that, starting tomorrow, I’ll be spending a few days traveling around some of the more remote parts of the Cusco area, on my way to:
Machu Picchu!
I may not have internet access, and even if I do, I’ll be so busy catching chicken buses and hiking around Inca ruins I won’t have time to get online. So do...
And Now Back To New York For A Moment...
My latest article is up at BootsNAll!
A rundown on free and ultra-cheap summer entertainment in my fair city.
Check it out if you’ll be in my neck of the woods this summer, or heck, even if you won’t.
And now, back to your regularly scheduled Cusqueño chatter.
You Know You Learned Your Spanish In Catholic...
You sound like a drooling semi-verbal mental patient trying to check out of a hotel, but you understand every word of Mass.
******
I was sitting on a bench in the little churchyard near my hostel, following Paul Theroux’s never-ending progress towards Patagonia, when I heard a brass band in the distance. “Ah, Cusco. So much character!” I thought, turning back to my book. ...
Bus Sweet Bus
There are many things I miss about home, and many things they have here in Peru that I wish existed in America. But in absolute first place OMIGOD How Did I Ever Live Without This territory is Cruz Del Sur.
Cruz Del Sur is an executive bus company which runs long distance routes all over Peru. It´s expensive by Peruvian standards, but cheap compared to any form of transit in the US ($30 for...
The Most Embarrassing Things I Have Done This Week...
1. Accidentally put mayonnaise in my coffee.
One important thing to note about Peru is that food service works a little bit differently from how it works in the USA. For instance, if you order a cafe con leche, it is entirely possible that the waitress will first bring the coffee, sugar, and an inexplicable (and most importantly, unmarked) bottle of mayo to your table. Later, after you have...
Housekeeping
Sorry there´s no real blog post today - I´m feeling a little under the weather and have lots to accomplish before heading to the bus station later today for my next destination - Arequipa!
Re the under the weather - I´m fine, just a bit of Montezuma´s Revenge, though it makes me sort of irritable and uninspired to do anything. Or maybe that´s the fog talking. Or maybe Lima just isn´t that...
The Fog
I´ve never been moved to write about cloud formations before. But la garúa is weird.
Flying here from my connection in Bogotá, the skies were so clear that I had a perfect view of the ground during almost the entire flight. I could see the jungle and clay-colored rivers, then foothills building into mountains. In the valleys were towns along yellow dirt roads. It was like playing with Google...
Estoy Aqui en Lima!
Hi everybody - well, I´m here.
Lima is a weird mishmash of other places. Downtown looks like some strange hybrid of Rome and the French Quarter, with a side of Boston´s Fanueil Hall, but smells like Mumbai (that unmistakeable cocktail of gardens, incense, and fumes). But with an overlay of roasting chicken seeping out of the pollerias which seem to be the go to food option.
Right now I´m in...
