Travel Bag Tales
A good friend just gave me this anti-theft travel bag that I can’t wait to use. It has locks, cut-proof straps, RFID blocking compartments, the works, but my favorite feature is the cute LED light attached to an internal strap — brilliant for when you’re looking for something in the dark. I’ve written about the time I almost got robbed […]
Survivor: Nowhere
If your friend is going to be stranded in a desert island, The Daily Post asks, what five objects would you send her off with? Well, what a coincidence: my friend Ruby is going off to a small island next week. There’s a low pressure area or two currently brewing in the Pacific, looking like […]
Conquering Fear
Traveling with an anxious child * This little boy doesn’t like closed spaces, especially tight, crowded ones. He cries when we take jeepneys. He panics in elevators. No matter how happy and carefree he is seconds earlier, the moment he realizes he’s in a cramped space, he starts to flap his hands in distress. He […]
Brilliance and Darkness
* The brilliance of Vincent Van Gogh is palpable in his paintings. Literally: his exuberant brush strokes give his canvasses a rough, passionate texture. This and his often riotous use of color lead many people to believe he was an artist who painted purely on impulse. Yet upon visiting the Van Gogh Museum — one […]
The SMALL-TOWN GIRLS, MIDNIGHT TRAINS Travel Manifesto
♥ ♥ I will see the world with wonder, with gratitude, with respect. I will strive to stay, though ever moving, right in the happy middle: the intersection of longing and contentment. I will not close my eyes to the harsh realities of life and will endeavor to respond with compassion and action, but I […]
The Cost of Kindness
The one thing I’ve learned to appreciate so much more as I’ve grown older is kindness. Acts of kindness, big or small, are blessings during the best of times, but it’s especially when the going gets rough — when getting through the day is like slogging through solid air — that one kind word or […]