Well! This is just going to be a short blurb about my initial impressions of Asia in general and Chiang Mai in particular, because I just got here and I need a nap. The actual traveling part is always the most stressful, since once you get settled someplace everything else seems to come out alright (if not great!). This trip was no exception. It turns out they really want you to have a return ticket before they'll let you check in for your flight to Thailand. I...

Dobry Den! (good day, in Czech) I always feel like I am in Ireland when I say that, and hear it as a response. However, Prague is definitely not like any Ireland I have ever imagined (seeing as I've never been to Ireland, I couldn't tell you for sure). I know this blog has gotten neglected since I left Switzerland, but that is the nature of travel blogs, isn't it? We all start out, rosy-cheeked travelers intent on updating in every city, if not every other day,...

Bon jour from Switzerland! I know...I missed a country. After departing from Paris, the amazing city of lights and music, and the best pan au chocolat I have ever tasted, I caught an overnight train to Stuttgart, Germany. The tickets were a great deal, and I found out why when I boarded the train. Instead of being more like a bus with seats that went back a little, the train had small compartments with seats against the walls that did not recline at all. I guess...

Paris! I made it in, even though the United representative at Washington Dulles didn't think they would let me in with a one way ticket. I guess, when you think about it, it does make sense that if I had no return ticket and no visa they might wonder as to my legal status in the country. However, after stressing about it for much of the flight, while watching sappy chick flicks, the immigration guy glanced at my passport, flipped through it to find my other stam...

Fireflies! I had forgotten these existed, having not been on the East Coast for years, but while we were walking back to the apartment on my first night in D.C. they were lighting up the bushes with their twinkling bottoms. That was my first reminder that I had left the West Coast behind for a while. The next was the weather. Although I thankfully avoided the hot and sticky East Coast summer, the air here is still heavier than Davis, and the fantastic lightning ...