After months of training-filled, REI-obsessed, anxiety-filled days, our weekend to climb Mt. Rainier had finally arrived. It meant more than just the $1244 we had spent on the 3 ½ day trip, and the nearly $2,000 on gear. It was about the almost six years that I had gazed at this mountain every time I [...]
Your brain finally registers that the beeping sound is your alarm clock. You can hear the wind howling outside, battering the tent, and every rational thought tells you to stay snug and warm inside your sleeping bag. But it’s 1 AM, and it’s time to set out for the summit. Struggling with heavy eyelids, you [...]
TBEX 2011 in Vancouver was my first blogging conference, and it was an absolute joy to finally put faces to the names of persons whom I already think of as friends. The travel blogging community is like no other I’ve experienced – there is endless support, encouragement, and of course, willingness to party! A huge [...]
I flew back from Mexico seven weeks ago today. In the few weeks that followed, I set about planning and implementing my self-hosted travel blog. I was full of enthusiasm and excitement for the list of articles that I had still to write, not having had time to finish them all while in Central America. [...]
I recently wrote a post about a very pretentious traveler whom I met in Guatemala this past March. Lots of you commented, and it would seem that it was a common experience shared by most of you at some point or another. I wanted to follow that post with this one dedicated to a traveler [...]
Undoubtedly one of the greatest joys of travel is meeting like-minded people along the way. I would even venture to say that whether one’s recollections of a particular place fills you with warm fuzzies or a sense of indifference has more to do with who you spent time with while there than with the location’s [...]
Belize is a great place exploring caves. And I had not received enough punishment the day before when I swam instead of tubing through a set of caves the day before. I was ready for the next challenge: Actun Tunichil Muknal, dubbed The “ATM cave” about 45 minutes from San Ignacio. My lovely tour guide [...]
Belize is known for its abundant limestone caves; formations that are a continuation of the systems also found in Guatemala. One of the methods for exploring these caves that Belize is marketing primarily to cruise ship passengers is floating through them in the safety of an inner tube. Cave Tubing: it’s what all the cool [...]
There are several reefs on Caye Caulker that are just too shallow to dive, so they make great snorkeling spots for a diver like me. Plus I had heard rave reviews of a particular spot known as Shark and Ray Alley in the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, where nurse sharks and stingrays congregate everyday around [...]
When Madonna sang “Last night, I dreamt of San Pedro” in the late eighties, she was referring to the town of San Pedro on the island of Ambergris Caye off the coast of Northern Belize. After having enjoyed two incredible days of diving on Caye Caulker, I decided to head over to San Pedro, rent [...]