LIVING A LIFE EXTRAORDINARY
On the third night of Diwali, the most celebratory eve of the 4-day Hindu holiday, I sat cross-legged on cushions high above the Rajasthani city of Udaipur at the Soul Meet Cafe, taking in the silky black waters of Lake Pichola, and watching as festivities unfolded below and above my perch. A steady stream of…
I thoroughly enjoy adding new terms to my general lexicon, and while scanning my Lonely Planet for deets on the famed Darjeeling sunrise overlooking the 3rd highest mountain in the world, I found a new doozy: Bunfight. What it means? I can only imagine, as it was used to describe the mayhem of the crowds…
I am fairly certain that it is completely inappropriate to admit to really disliking India’s holiest city, not to mention realizing my great takeaway from the visit will be visions of feces, but alas, here I am. The guidebooks say to “give it a chance”, that for those with patience, Varanasi can be a hidden…
Nothing I write will ever match all that the Taj is to see. Here’s my attempt to capture some of that magic in photos.
The task, you see, was simple enough. While in New Delhi – that great, chaotic city of technology outsourcing and IT heroes – get my broken Mac Air fixed at one of the city’s many Apple-certified resellers. Though, in India as I was to quickly learn, few tasks are ever so straightforward. And that’s what…
I’ve been called a glutton for hammam punishment, and perhaps I am. But who can resist, I ask, when absurdity, nay, downright DANGER lurks behind each scrubbing hand? Now, perhaps friends and family will remember my Moroccan Hammam experience (dirt roads, cement floors, Abu Ghraib-like room, naked North African women climbing on top of me,…
Call me “Old One-Shoe, Brokeback Val.” Really, you can. And I dig it. Because that’s the short of my story in Fethiye. And because of the short, I’ve come to understand a good, long lesson. Arriving in the seaside town of Fethiye, I exhaled a sigh of relief on a soul level — no lie….
A few things ought to be noted, right off the bat. First, it’s not technically my computer (the bestest most brilliant friend, Alex Hillman) has generously loaned it to me for the Journey. This makes my predicament all the more woeful, as I suffer from an acute case of an Italian-and-Catholic-raised guilt complex. Second, the…
Today’s mantra: This is not a vacation. This is your life. And that’s a really good thing, trust. That said, I’m growing to realize that wrapping my head around this entire experience, and truly understanding it as my new reality will take a bit of doing — in a good way, of course. I mean…
After packing up my apartment and moving into a storage unit, battling a virus that I can only imagine felt quite similar to the plague, and flying 8 hours next to perpetually screaming toddlers … I’ve arrived. First stop of the long-awaited trip is Istanbul, and thus far, the city proves to be fascinating —…
For the past few years, I’ve saved my income as best I could, dutifully meeting a financial advisor, nodding responsibly as he highlighted my retirement options and murmuring agreeably as he’d point to certain savings and say, “Now this here is what you can use toward down payment on a home.” I played the part…