I promise you won’t find gag gifts, or single-use items, or “fad” items. Instead you’ll find products I truly love (and have bought with my own money), causes I support, and gifts that do good. Conspicuous waste should never be celebrated.
From camera protection, to portable door alarm, these are must-have travel items under $25 for practical, non-sense travelers.
Took me 2 weeks to gather up the courage to go a hammam (read here if you’re not sure what a hammam is) in Morocco. Being naked in public has never been on my “Things I’m Dying to Do in Morocco” list. It was more like on my “Things I Still Might Not Do Even I Ever Got Bored Enough” list.
Going camel trekking in the desert has been something I’d dreamed of doing for many, many years. And finally, here in Morocco, I had a chance to make it happen. It didn’t turn out quite how I had imagined. (Most things never do).
I can’t believe I’m actually saying this, but after the cramped alleys of Fez, the open desert horizon was disconcerting.
Seriously, Chefchaouen is the most photogenic city we’ve ever been in. And I’m not saying that only because the houses in Chefchaouen happens to be painted in shades of powder blue which happens to be our favorite color.
The first thing we noticed about the ruins of Chellah in Rabat is not the ruins itself, but the friendly community of resident cats who greeted us on the path towards the ruins.
To greet and cuddle every single one of these cats, as one can imagine, makes for a very slow going. But as animal lovers (who miss having cats terribly), how could we not do it? Unless some of the cats in the medina, these ones look like they’re well taken care of. That fact alone makes us feel like our 10 Dirham entrance fee is worth it.
When I think of Morocco, I used to think of the madness and chaous of the souks of Marrakesh and the hassling touts in Fez.
Well, Rabat is nothing like that. We surely didn’t expect to walk out of the train station to find wide boulevards with palm trees, lined with imposing white buildings. Smartly dressed diplomats (it is Morocco’s capital after all) in suites mingle with traditionally clothed men and women on the wide sidewalks.
Colombia? The food is not much to talk about. The bus rides will probably kill you. Other than that traveling in Colombia is just as safe as any other countries we went to in South America. Or as dangerous. Depending on how you look at it.
Long layover sucks. On the way to New York from South America, we had a 10 hour layover in Mexico City. But getting out of the airport to enjoy a little bit of the city definitely beats moping around at the airport.
The desert is not for everyone, of course. San Pedro de Atacama desert’s beauty is one of the understated kind with its muted colors under harsh sunlight. Barren landscape dotted with knee length growths – so skinny and naked it’s not right to call it a bush just yet.
The main reason we came to Arequipa was for the food, typical comida Arequipeña such as ‘rocoto relleno’, ‘chupe de camarones’, ‘chicharrones’ and more. We had never considered ourselves foodies in the slightest bit before we got to Peru. Never before being obsessed with food, I think being away from good food for months in Colombia and Ecuador finally took its toll.
How much does it cost to travel Peru?
But Humberstone was not anything like that. The reason it was abandoned was something less sinister than a deadly extra terrestrial virus. For awhile it was a prosperous town of 3500 that thrived on nitrate mining for fertilizer. These people had a town complete with a hospital, a public swimming pool, and even a theatre.
