Choosing what to do and where to stay when you travel can have direct social impact on the destination and community you visit. In Costa Rica, the government and local ticos believe in sustainable eco-lodges where you can sleep, eat, and travel in a more conscious way, and where your tourism dollars help support the local development. The Costa […]
Off Beaten Path
Two Day Buddhist Meditation Retreat
Two days seemed like an eternity. To sit in complete silence. In my own thoughts. With no conversation with the outside world. This is the girl that can’t sit still (or quiet) for very long. I wasn’t confident I could pass a meditation retreat in Thailand. But we were committed. In Chiang Mai, Dan and I decided […]
Muay Thai Training in Thailand
Guest post by Daniel Filipe I, like most red-blooded guys my age, am definitely not a stranger to combat sports. If there’s a big fight on Saturday night you’ll likely find my friends and I packed around a table with our eyes glued to the big screen. So as a fan, I’ve become fairly knowledgeable of […]
Homprang and her Thai Walking Massage
“I left school when I was 11. I made and used shampoo from butterfly pea flowers and I learned to walk on top of my grandmother.” I was invited me into Homprang’s home in Tawangtan Saraphi just outside of Chiang Mai. She smiled as her mind drifted back to her childhood. “I never learned to read or write. But I […]
Bangkok by Bike Tour
Traffic. Air Pollution. Over-crowded streets. These are the things most people think of when they think of Bangkok. Despite its bad rap, we wanted to find the calmer, more local side to Bangkok. We met Tammy, a local guide near the 14 October memorial. Just a few short minutes on our bikes and suddenly the city […]
Cuba’s Revolution in Food
In Cuba, an organic food movement is growing. During “the Special Period” in the 1990s, the country was on the brink of starvation. Lack of imports, farming tools like pesticides, and food shortages meant ordinary Cubans had to change the way they live, and eat Cuban food. People started growing their own crops in backyards and […]