👋 Greetings from Tokyo! It feels like conversations about cost of living are everywhere right now. Housing is more expensive, travel feels harder to justify, and a lot of people are rethinking what’s actually sustainable. Ten years ago, I shared country-specific cost breakdowns during a long-term trip in order to be transparent about what life on the road actually cost me compared to staying in Hawaii. I’ve been getting similar questions again lately, so this time around I’ve been keeping...
11 days ago • 4 min read
👋 Konnichiwa from Tokyo! Late in the evening on Monday, I was jolted awake by the feeling of the room shaking. Having lived in Hawaii and Turkiye, where earthquakes are quite common, I thought I knew what was happening when I felt the shake. I started to hear murmurs of conversation around the usually-silent capsule hotel room. "Was that an earthquake?" I started to hear the word for earthquake in various languages as heads poked out of the capsules. Sure enough, it was! I checked my...
17 days ago • 4 min read
👋 Konnichiwa from Tokyo! I have just started settling into the rhythm of the city and trying to stop my brain from reaching for Turkish phrases every time I need to say something in Japanese. It's been wild how many Hawaii people are traveling in Japan these days! Last week over Thanksgiving dinner in Honolulu, my friends Melissa, Laurie and I realized we were all headed here on the same flight, yet a day apart! Of course wherever Melissa goes, amazing foodie experiences follow! Yesterday...
25 days ago • 5 min read
👋 Hello from Honolulu! I wrapped up my time on Maui with an early Thanksgiving with my family (including a special trek upcountry for our favorite pumpkin pie from Komoda Bakery) to cap off a few weeks of delicious memories. I hope that you and your loved ones also had a nice holiday! Next I headed to Honolulu for a special Thanksgiving dinner invitation to finally try Istanbul Hawaii! I've been following Chef Ahu & Chef Nili eagerly from Turkiye, and watched as their restaurant came to life....
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
👋😎 Aloha from Maui, I finally made it to Maui after being stranded in Portland for two days by the Alaska Airlines IT Outage last month. I'll be working on a post about what I learned and what you can do if it happens to you. (Besides taking a train instead if, ha!) In related news, Travel + Leisure reports on the withdrawal of compensation requirements for flight delays in the US. I'm so jealous of the requirements in the EU where passengers actually do get reimbursed! I'm still waiting for...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
😎 Hello from the edge of Sequoia, Earlier this week we celebrated Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which reminded me that I’d mentioned Owamni in last week’s email but never shared the details. The modern Indigenous restaurant in Minneapolis, founded by Chef Sean Sherman, ended up being one of the most memorable meals of my travels. My Instagram post (also on Facebook) about the experience seems to have struck a chord with people and has more than 32,000 views to date since the chef shared it too! If...
2 months ago • 4 min read
😎 Hello from sunny California, It's been an incredibly busy few weeks! When we last left off, I was begging for your votes on my Eurail story. (Sadly, I only came in third place. We tried!) But so much has happened since: Did you know that one of the original “Rosie the Riveters” is 100 years young and lives in Wichita? We got to meet her at the Kansas Air Museum. I bought the Amtrak USA Rail Pass (10 segments within 30 days for a fixed price) and used the first two segments to travel six...
3 months ago • 4 min read
👋 Hi friends, A couple of weeks ago I shared my Matador Network piece on Buffalo from this summer and I'm still getting caught up on sharing the behind-the-scenes from the trip. I've got up a new Instagram post today with some of the food highlights, and later I’ll be sharing more about where I stayed, the makers I met, and how Buffalo is marking the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal this week! With National Sponge Candy Day coming up this Sunday and the Bills off to a winning start, it...
3 months ago • 4 min read
👋 Hi friends, Before leaving Istanbul, I was invited to join a very special food tour. Our guide Yumna introduced us to dishes from her unique perspective, along with other immigrant cuisines from Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. While our group was waiting in a local park, we were even spontaneously offered to share a plate from a picnic at the neighboring table! The area where the tour takes place is only a few tram stops from famous sightseeing spots like the Hagia Sophia and the Blue...
4 months ago • 4 min read