After weeks of venturing across Rajasthan, deep to the far western edge of the Thar Desert. I made it to the edge of India, where Rajasthan meets Pakistan's Sindh province. This is a story of how I spent a few of my days in the wild borderlands of India. I opened my eyes to an intense beam of sunlight bursting through a gap in the window curtains where they had not been fully pulled together and slowly oriented myself by looking around the room. I had been so tired the evening before when we arrived, I simply fell into bed and succumbed to sleep without taking so much as a second to process the room I was in. Now, in the light and with consciousness trickling back in, I properly reviewed my surroundings for the first time. It was a very modest room with walls made of yellow sandstone bricks, cut in a similar size and rectangular shape to what might be found in the freshman dorms at a state community college. There was not much by way of furniture in the room. Other than a dark brown small wooden work desk, a ceiling fan, and a broken TV on the wall, apparently only for decorative purposes, the room was sterile. Thankfully, however, it was air-conditioned, just about the biggest luxury fathomable after having spent the last few weeks in sweltering hostel dorm rooms and cots out in the desert, more on this in a second. The view from my bedroom window in Jaisalmer Fighting the urge to start the day with my typical doomscroll through Instagram, I forced myself out of bed and towards the window, squinting to protect my eyes, which were still adjusting to the morning light. With my left hand shielding my face from the impending rush of light, I pulled aside the window curtain with my right. After a few seconds of squinting and blinking to allow my irises to adjust, I began to take in the view from the window. The town was a monochrome outpost of golden-brown buildings, deep in the Thar Desert. It appeared that, like the walls of the room I was in, every other structure in town was constructed with the same yellow sandstone bricks, held together by a gray clay material. If the town’s residents had chosen to live here, in the middle of a sea of sand, to be undisturbed and thus built their settlement in the same color as the desert to camouflage themselves from the outside world, they’d succeeded. Although I was only on the second floor of the building, I had a nice view over the rooftops of the shorter one-story buildings across the street and the large fort built up on a stony hill overlooking my room and the rest of the section of the town I was in. Since arriving in India, we had been to New Delhi and Agra before working our way across Rajasthan, traveling deep into the desert. During this time, we’d seen and visited many grand forts and other Mughal architectural wonders, such as the Amber Fort of Jaipur, the Mehrangarh Fort of Jodhpur, the Taj Mahal, the Jama Masjid of Fatehpur Sikri, and the Red Fort of New Delhi. While all of these were captivating to visit as marvels of engineering, architecture, and history. This golden-brown sandstone fort, standing directly adjacent to the window of my room, was unique among any other fort I’d visited in India. While not as imposing as the Amber Fort or as intricately grand as the Mehrangarh Fort, those forts had long since left their days as real, functioning residences behind and had begun new lives as museums. The fort here in the desert was different. This was because signs of regular life stood just behind the fort walls. As an apartment block in the South Bronx, air conditioning units jutted out of windows, TV antennas poked from the rooftops, and laundry lines were strewn across balconies. Unlike the Bronx, these amenities of modern life were found on the walls of a medieval Mughal fort, built centuries before the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam was taken over by the English during the Anglo-Dutch War and renamed New York. Jaisalmer Fort standing tall about the rest of town. Looking out at this desert frontier town and its long-inhabited fort transported me to daydreams of being a fly on the wall for Indiana Jones and his companion Saleh, celebrating the misadventures of their nazi foes in the race to find precious treasure, the mythical ark of the covenant. This daydream was shattered when I went to scratch my head, only to be met with a copious amount of sand falling from my hair. Shaken from my daydreams by this and shifting focus to my own body, I realized I was in a state which could be best described as fucking disheveled. Running my fingers through my hair felt like a layer of sandpaper had enveloped my scalp; the spaces beneath my fingernails were caked in dirt; I smelt like shit; and particles of dust, dirt, and sand were trapped beneath the hair running the length of my legs. Ironically, from what I could see, the cleanest part of my body was my feet. The dirt and sand left a clear line just above my ankles where they had been unable to penetrate through my socks. To say I needed a shower would have been an understatement; I needed a deep clean. The reason for this ungodly state? The two days prior to this morning had been spent in the desert. I’d been accompanied by my mate Ben, an Irishman whom I had met a couple of months earlier at a hostel in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and immediately hit it off with. So much so that after less than two full days of knowing each other, he decided to book his flights and tag along with me to India. A decision possibly aided by our great contributions to the Cambodian economy via cans of ‘Beer Cambodia’. Ben and I were also joined by a group of three Norwegians whom we had met a week earlier in Jaipur. Nikolai, Felix, and Max. Ben in the passenger seat of our Mahindra 4x4 As a group of five, we’d hopped into the back of a Mahindra and driven far beyond the last major town or settlement. So far, that eventually the 4x4 track we’d been on for hours gave way to endless sand dunes, and even the capable Mahindra vehicle could not continue further. At the last village, two plain rectangular single-story brick buildings, a well, and a chicken coop. We disembarked from the Mahindra and traded our modern metal vehicle for ones made of flesh and bone that had once carried traders across the ancient Silk Road: camels. We’d ridden these camels even further into the desert, beyond even the huts of the nomadic herders who moved throughout the desert. It took us about 90 minutes of riding to reach our camp, in the middle of nowhere, about 20 kilometers from the border separating India’s Rajasthan state from Pakistan’s Sindh province. The specifics of our camp from the previous days helped a great deal in explaining why I was so dirty this morning. There was no makeshift shower; water was a precious resource, and any water that was carried this far into the desert was meant for drinking, not bathing. There were also no protopodites or tents to speak of; number one was done directly onto the sand, and for number two, you were expected to first dig a small hole into the sand and cover it up when finished with your business. We slept on fabric cots placed directly outside, no walls beside us or roof above us, just sky and sand. Meaning whenever the wind gusted strongly enough, I was met with a soft pelting of sand which accumulated and stuck to every centimeter of my body. Like water, sleep was something I did not find much of here. It was an uncomfortable and harsh experience. The cots we slept on placed directly on the sand outside. Yet, between sitting around a fire drinking lukewarm beer with friends, learning about the lives of the tribesmen and villagers who inhabited such inhospitable lands, and the best stargazing I’d ever done in my life, I was happy that I had gone. Still, our excursion to the desert had taken its toll on me. So much so that when we’d arrived at our hotel in Jaisalmer the previous evening, I’d taken no time to examine the room I was in or even take a shower. Unable to fight off the seductive call of sleep, I’d ripped off my dirty clothes, dived straight into bed, and fallen into an undisturbed sleep until this morning. … At long last, in the morning, I had my shower. Despite the mineral-encrusted shower head, unheated water, and dribbling water pressure, it was a glorious shower. It was glorious to finally be clean again after days in the sand without so much as toilet paper to wipe my ass with. Little did I know that this newfound comfort and cleanliness would not last for long. Once I had finished washing up, I headed up to the hotel’s rooftop restaurant serving an extensive menu of eggs, toast, and your choice of chai or bottled water. When I arrived, two other patrons were already in the dreary restaurant: Max and Nikolai. The two of them, who had apparently recovered from our stint in the desert faster than the rest of our quintet, had already devised a plan for how they’d like to spend the day. Having spent the previous days at our camp within about 20 kilometers of the Pakistani border, they wanted to see if we could actually reach the border. Beyond just getting there, they wanted to attempt this on motorcycles. Immediately, I could see that this was more than just small talk; they explained that they had already spent the early part of the morning planning the route we should take and where exactly we could rent the bikes. Still exhausted from the previous day’s adventures, properly clean for the first time in days, and wary to set off on another sweaty and dusty adventure. My first inclination was to wish the two of them the best of luck and safe travels on their ride to the border, to let me know how it went when they got back to town. However, the more they talked, the feeling of “hey, what the hell, when am I ever going to be in a desert outpost on the frontier between India and Pakistan again in my life. I can rest when I’m dead” only grew stronger. With the art of persuasion slowly working its magic on me as I ate my eggs and toast and sipped my chai. My breakfast concluded in the way I had subconsciously expected it would from when I first heard Max and Nikolai’s plan, with the inevitable “fuck it, I’m in”. … Renting the bikes was an exceedingly simple process. Completely unnecessary was any sort of check for a license, passport, ID, or any other form of official documentation that would undoubtedly be required in Europe or America. Instead, a few strokes of a pen on the page of a liability form and seven hundred and fifty Indian rupees, or roughly five US dollars, appeared to do the trick to rent the bikes for the day. This was music to my ears as I had no such licensure to speak of. As is customary across many South and Southeast Asian countries, driving an unlicensed bike was nothing a fifty-dollar bribe to a curious police officer couldn’t fix. According to the owner of the motorcycle rental shop, India was no exception. On the topic of the owner of the shop, he ended up being a central character for our stay in Jaisalmer in his own right. Wearing a button-up polo shirt and designer jeans, to go along with his neatly cut hair and Ray-Ban sunglasses. Probably not much older than I, he was a fashionable and well-built man named Firozi. As I had come to realize, drinking chai was a regular part of doing business in India. Firozi offered the three of us cups to sip while we looked through the rental paperwork, and he explained which bikes we could rent. In addition to the chai culture, I realized that chit-chatting, especially with wide-eyed foreigners, was commonplace in business, too. Soon enough, the conversation shifted from the spec differences between a Royal Enfield Himalaya 450 and a Continental GT 650, and we became an audience for Firozi to share his life story with. He was a local from Jaisalmer, raised by one of the wealthiest and most influential families in town. Explaining that not only did his father own the bike shop and several restaurants in town, but his family also privately owned a significant portion of the Jaisalmer fort. Specifically, most of the large section of the fort that I could see from my hotel window. Still, even though he apparently came from a background of wealth and relative influence, he was kind, and it seemed his friendly nature was genuine, not just a ploy to do business. He went on to tell us that until recently, he had been a partying playboy living in a luxury flat in New Delhi, where he enjoyed a life of drinks and women. That was until two years ago, when he had experienced a religious reawakening, deciding to quit the booze and return home to help run the family businesses. Although apparently a little devil remained on his shoulder, he was quick to inquire about our luck on dating apps and didn’t hide his eagerness to share his opinions on how we should approach Indian women when back in New Delhi. Caught up in our conversation and entering the hottest part of the day, we were in no rush to ride off into the one-hundred-and-fifteen-degree Fahrenheit midday heat that roasted Jaisalmer. Exchanging stories, laughs, and sipping chai for hours, we didn’t leave the air-conditioned comfort of his rental office until the late afternoon. Aside from the heat, another reason for our lack of urgency was that, at one point during our conversation with Firozi, he had asked us where we planned to go on his bikes. We told him, “To the Pakistani border crossing,” hoping to be met with something along the lines of “oh that’ll be an amazing ride, you’ll have a great time”, our plans were not greeted with any such enthusiasm. We were shot down; no sooner had we told him about our intentions for his bikes than he sternly informed us that we would, in fact, be unable to ride to the border. While I typically lean toward the policy of asking for forgiveness rather than permission, he was resolute in saying this was not a good idea. As it turned out, Indian citizens are permitted to visit the Bawaliyanwala Indo-Pak Border, the border crossing west of Jaisalmer. However, we’d incorrectly assumed that like the Wagah Border Crossing which separates Indian Punjab from Pakistani Punjab, famous for its nightly border closing ceremony and nationalistic dance-offs. Where just about anybody could rock up. Security at the Bawaliyanwala border was apparently much stricter. Firozi informed us that non-Indians could only go if their visit was pre-arranged with the military weeks in advance. His optimistic belief was that, without the correct paperwork, unannounced visitors could expect to be turned back at a military checkpoint. On the pessimistic end, arrested and put into a holding cell. Rank hostels full of half-naked middle-aged men was where I drew the line; I had no interest in sleeping on the floor of a holding cell in the Indian desert. We were forced to reconsider our plans. Probably sensing our disappointment, he quickly pulled out his map and offered us some alternatives. Spreading a paper route map of the local area out across his desk, he circled a few points of interest that would be worth riding to. “Bada Bagh is very beautiful,” he said as he circled a spot on the map to the west of town. “You can also see Swangia Mataji. I go here to pray at sunset. Oh. Also, if you are interested, you can visit the Jaisalmer Laungewala war museum. They’ve got real captured Pakistani tanks there!” He drew two more circles on his map for each location: Swangia Mataji was due north of town, and the war museum was about 30 kilometers to the east. He then connected the circles by tracing the road we should take with his pen. Nikolai and Max took photos of the map and pinned the locations in their phones. Around three pm, our conversations and chai were finally exhausted, and the scorching sun was starting to relent very slightly as it began its descent towards the evening horizon; we were ready to hit the road. Firozi handed Nikolai, Max, and I each a set of keys for our rental motorcycles. Nikolai and Max, who came to India with some motorcycle experience, each decided to go with identical military green Royal Enfield Classic 350s. They were supremely sharp bikes, with green paint, brown leather seats, a large single circular headlamp, low-profile handlebars, elongated chrome dual exhaust pipes, and detailing such as a small painted-on Indian flag and white stencil-print numbers, all working together to create an undeniably timeless bike. From Nathan Drake to Laura Croft, any number of action heroes or heroines would look perfectly suited atop these bikes, jumping over desert canyons and evading brainless black-clad but otherwise non-descript mercenaries. I wish I could say I was riding one of these Hollywood-set-piece-worthy bikes as well. Unfortunately, if we’re not counting my Cannondale bicycle back home, I’d only ever been on two wheels once before, and that was a fifty-cc twist-n-go scooter. Even if I could handle the step up in CCs, the heavy-weight and manual gearboxes on these bikes were probably too much for me to handle. Neither I, nor Firozi were willing to take that risk. While I would end up taking the opportunity to post a picture of myself, on the road, posing on one of these Royal Enfields later that day. Those photos were a fabrication. The truth was, I settled on a canary-yellow 100 cc Honda Navi with an automatic transmission. A bike that was slightly less emasculating next to the Royal Enfields than the options of Suzuki grandma scooters I otherwise had. Nikolai, Max, and I each climbed atop our bikes and prepared to set off. We each kicked the bike stands up underneath the bikes and walked them out from the garage to the main road. Firozi was waiting on the street to see us off. He gave us his WhatsApp number and said, “Call me if anything happens, okay? Also, my family said I can show you all the fort tonight when you guys return, if you want `ya? Let me know.” Thrilled by the prospect of a night tour of the fort with our new friend. We met his offer with an enthusiastic “Yeah, man, of course! That sounds great, we’ll let you know when we’re heading back.” Then it was time. I put on my helmet, pulled the visor down, and turned the key in the ignition. Nikolai and Max did the same. Their bikes roaring to life in a thundering, low-pitched burst of sound, which settled after a couple of seconds into the melodic thump-thump-thump of idling, powerful engines. That was until Max’s masculine urges won, and he did the thing every man piloting a high-powered machine dreams of doing. He gave the bike's throttle a few revs, releasing renewed bursts of impressive sound in quick succession. Drowned out in all of this was my little Honda’s war cry as it sputtered to life, starting up in a quiet mechanical whiz. “All set,” I thought. We gave Firozi a wave goodbye, hit the throttle, and set off on the road. The first few minutes were a bit nerve-wracking. Even though the streets in town were not too congested, traffic rules were followed and enforced quite liberally. Imperative signage, such as stop signs, traffic lights, and median lines were more like suggestions than true imperatives. This resulted in the three of us dodging rogue tuk-tuks and speeding Tata sedans driving on the wrong side of the road. My bitterness about being stuck on the small Honda crotch rocket began to fade away when Nikolai and Max struggled to maneuver their heavier, more cumbersome bikes through the town’s traffic. Each of them more than once stalling their bikes out in the middle of the road. Yeah, sure, my bike looked like one of those ‘power wheel’ toys you gift a kid on Christmas, but I was bobbing and weaving around the road like a Muay Thai fighter in the ring. At a minimum, I think I was doing about as well as those westerners who come to Thailand to get beaten up for two months at a training camp. Nikolai and Max were probably closer to the drunk tourist who stumbled into the ring at Koh Phi Phi’s boxing bar. Head covering and sun glasses were absolutely essential for the harsh sunlight here. Once we left town, however, it was much smoother sailing. In fact, I don’t think there were many places in the world better suited for my first time on two wheels for an extended period than the roads outside of Jaisalmer. The flat arid landscapes made for ideal conditions. Unencumbered by obstacles like mountains, rivers, or buildings, the roads mostly ran in straight lines, head-on into the horizon. Being in such a remote stretch of the Indian outback, there was hardly any other traffic outside of town, too. Often going twenty or thirty minutes without seeing another vehicle. The first long, straight, lonely stretch of tarmac that we hit was sublime. I squared my bike down the center of the left-hand lane, lowered my head closer to my hands, and let the throttle rip. As I accelerated, pleasure chemicals like endorphins, dopamine, and adrenaline flooded my brain. The rushing wind blowing my clothes back, the sounds of revving engines, the untouched desert scenery, and the vibrations of the road traveling up through the bike to my body created an utterly euphoric sensation. Those moments of euphoric laughter, where your brain is so overloaded with dopamine and maybe even disbelief that you can’t help but laugh and smile from cheek to cheek. Moments like when that girl who’s way out of your league says yes to you asking her out, seeing your best friends again after years, watching back old videos of your dog when she was still a puppy, eating ceviche in Peru for the first time, sunrise in the Nepali Himalayas. Yeah, this was one of those moments too. Some traffic as we were riding through a small village outside of Jaisalmer We rode along like that for kilometers until a wide rocky plateau with a small manmade structure atop it came into view in the distance. As we drew closer, I could see the flat road we were following rise ahead of us, with a black stripe of tarmac twisting along the side of a cliff and disappearing behind the plateau's rim. After a few more minutes, the first stop of the day came into better view. On the left side of the road was a beautifully carved Rajput-style sandstone wall, complete with miniature chhatris fit for holding lanterns, lining the top of the wall every few meters. This carried on for the final three hundred meters or so to the bottom of the plateau. The road then sharply turned to the right and began a short but steep climb up the side of a cliff. The summit of the plateau was probably only forty to fifty meters above the desert floor. Still, the steep ascent, which started in a sweeping right-hand turn, followed by an equally steep, sharp turn back to the left, put butterflies in my stomach. While the left side of the ascent was guarded by the plateau wall, the right side of the road dropped away into a rocky cliff, with no guardrail or barriers to prevent tumbling down. While an experienced rider likely would’ve scoffed at my anxiety, I was far from confident in my skills. Yet, in the mental war between the impulses of “ahhh you probably shouldn’t” and “don’t be a pussy” I am afraid to say that much to the chagrin of my parents, the side of “don’t be a pussy” did in fact win this battle. I gave the throttle another big twist and began up the steep road. To my surprise, I flew up the road with relative ease. Despite the smaller engine, my bike was light and easy to maneuver, and I made it up without any close calls of crashing down the side of the cliff. Nikolai was also able to get his bike up without issue. It wasn’t until the two of us reached the top of the plateau that we realized that Max had not joined us. With our bikes now shut off, it was quiet. There were no sounds of another bike ascending the hill or screams calling out for help. Nikolai and I pulled our bikes over to the side of the road, dismounted, and walked a few meters back down the steep hill around the left-hand bend to where we could see the bottom of the hill from where we had come. Standing there atop his bike, but still squarely at the bottom of the hill was Max. Wondering to myself, “What the hell is he doing??” Nikolai read my mind, quickly offering a possible theory: “I bet he stalled himself out.” Sure enough, after a few minutes of us standing and watching Max from a distance, we heard the rumble of his bike’s engine coming back to life, and he began to make his way up. Still struggling with the cumbersome clutch of the bike, he made his way up with only one more stall out at the sharp left-hand bend halfway up the hill. Watching the spectacle, I was beginning to feel increasingly appreciative of my reliable little Honda. Eventually, after a few more minutes, Max joined Nikolai and I at the top of the plateau. Max dismounted his bike, only to be met with the obligatory ribbing from Nikolai and I for his struggles to make it up. My jokes were rebutted with a “I don’t want to hear from the guy driving a damn scooter. Get on a real bike before you talk.” Needless to say, my needling was undeterred. Continuing our joking conversation, we followed along a stone walking path lined with a few skinny trees on either side. At the end of the path was a large open clearing with an immaculately clean stone floor and sweeping views of the surrounding desert below. In the middle of the clearing stood the temple of Swangia Mataji. The temple was a small, rectangular, one-story, yellow sandstone building. Yet, despite its small stature, the building was clearly expertly constructed and held spiritual significance. On a burning black granite plinth, squarely in front of the temple, was a Hindu trident. The trident, known to Hindus as the Trishula, stood tall in the center of dancing flames. A few meters behind the Trishula, a few small steps led up to the temple's front patio, which was memorable for its intricately carved stone columns, separated by distinctive clamshell arches. The temple's roof was also lined with patterns carved into the stone, and a fluttering orange Hindu flag flew above it. Aware that we were in a spiritual location, our joking conversation faded away, and we quietly walked past the burning Trishula, up the stairs, and through the clamshell-arched temple entrance. We appeared to be the only people around, as no one else was outside, and there were no signs of life inside the temple either. The patio section of the temple we were standing in, shaded from the sun, was dark and cool. On the interior wall of the patio was more stone pattern work and three doors. In the middle was a large double door with steel bars in the center, allowing viewing into the temple's interior. To either side of the double doors were smaller, solid metal doors. The three of us walked up to the double doors and looked through to the temple's interior. With hardly any natural light penetrating the interior, it was hard to make out what I was seeing. It appeared that there were orange flowers scattered across the far end of the room and metal carvings of Hindu motifs, but it was hard to see in detail. The temple's interior, shrouded in darkness, and the lonely setting created an eerie atmosphere. We began to wonder whether it had been a good idea for us to come here. “This feels like the type of place where stepping on the wrong stone block might trigger axes falling from the ceiling, or the floor dropping away into a bed of spikes. We’re probably not welcome here,” I thought. After looking around for a couple more minutes, Max apparently shared my unease. “I’m ready to go if you guys are,” he said. Nikolai and I agreed. With the three of us chalking up our visit here as a bit of a miss, we turned back towards the steps that led into the temple patio. Just as we were ready to leave, the solid metal door to the left of us creaked open. Pushing the door open was an elderly man wearing a dark blue lungi. He had dark, bronze, wrinkled skin and a thinning gray beard to go along with his gray hair. Mildly stunned by the sudden appearance of another person, I was ready to begin apologizing for trespassing and be on our way out. Right before I got the words out of my mouth, I noticed the man’s most important feature. A soft and welcoming smile. Stepping through the doorway, he stuck out his free hand, waving at us to come closer. “Let’s see where this goes,” I thought. As we stepped back into the shaded temple patio, the elderly man walked over to the set of double doors in the center of the wall, pulled a set of keys from his lungi, and unlocked the doors guarding the temple's interior. Pulling both doors open to reveal the interior temple room, he stepped inside. He motioned us to follow with an affirmative sideways head nod. We followed in. Once inside the room, he retrieved four seating cushions and a box of matches, laying three cushions out for Nikolai, Max, and me, as well as one for himself. After lighting a few candles around the room, he motioned for us to sit. In the flickering candlelight, I could make out the interior of the room. The floor-to-ceiling wall was constructed of polished white marble, and in the center of the room stood a large silver altar carved with Hindu motifs and deities. Leading to the front of the altar was a narrow, dark red carpet, and a bed of orange and red flowers covered the end of the carpet near the altar. The four of us sat in silence for a few minutes, absorbing the spiritual setting. I don’t know what precisely, but there is something about ‘religions of the East,’ i.e., Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Shintoism, etc. There’s something about these religions that makes their places of worship exceptionally calming. This isn’t to say that a Christian church or a Jewish synagogue aren’t also peaceful places. It’s more so when recalling some of the most meditative moments in life, I find myself thinking back to moments like in Istanbul, sitting in a mosque’s courtyard listening to the evening call to prayer, taking in views of Mt. Annapurna from an ancient Buddhist temple, listening to chirping birds and the buzzing cicadas from a forested, solitary shrine in Japan during the summer. Maybe it’s because I tend to experience these religions as a tourist and therefore, they feel more novel to me. Or maybe it’s because my view of church has been tainted by my experience seeing American Christian nationalism. With this in mind, I maintain the possibility of finding the same feeling of calm and meditation at an old hillside church somewhere in Romania, Georgia, or Armenia. I will update this take if that is indeed the case. Regardless, like the calm moments mentioned. Sitting quietly in this small, lonely temple, isolated away in the sandy final frontier of far west India. I felt at peace and grateful for my life. After a few minutes, the elderly man stood up and retrieved a bowl of red paste. It was clear that he didn’t speak any English, just as we didn’t speak any Hindi, Sindhi, or any other language he may have spoken. Therefore, our conversations were dictated by a series of hand and facial gestures. Bringing the bowl over to the three of us, he dipped his finger in the bowl and mimed the action of drawing a line on his own forehead before pointing to us. After a quick deliberation, we understood that he was asking us if it would be okay for him to mark our foreheads with the red paste. Up to this point, I’d seen many people in India with the small red “bindi” dot on their foreheads between their eyes. In fact, even for the uninitiated, this small dot is probably one of the features that comes to mind when people think of Indian stereotypes. My understanding was that the bindi dot was a highly respected symbol. However, I was also mistakenly under the impression that the dot was an accessory worn by women. So, I was a bit confused when this old temple servitor appeared to be asking permission to draw the mark on our three very white foreheads. I couldn’t help but wonder, “Is this a sign of respect? Or the second we leave, is he going to be chuckling to himself the rest of the day that three goofy white guys are riding around the desert with their foreheads marked like a married Hindu woman?” Anyways, if he was fucking with us, he had a good poker face. Airing on the side of not wanting to offend the old temple servitor, I nodded my head and accepted his offer. “If I see people sneering and chuckling at the sight of a white guy with a bindi dot on his forehead, it’ll probably wash off,” I thought. Nikolai and Max accepted too, and one by one, the old man gently pressed his red paste-covered finger onto our foreheads. When he finished, he stepped back, put the bowl aside, smiled, and gave us a small nod of the head. Sensing that this was a sign of respect, and we indeed were not being pranked. I smiled back, nodded my head, and said one of the roughly four Hindi words I knew, “dhanyavaad,” or, in English, “Thank you.” As we stood up to leave, the man stopped us one more time, this time pulling out an Android phone and typing a message into his translation app. Presenting us with a translation on the screen which read “this is a library”. Not sure what to make of this. Seeing that the small temple did not have more than a couple of books inside it, I assumed that something was lost in translation. Unable to extrapolate any further details or meaning to his message, we said our goodbyes and thanked him again for his kindness. It wasn’t until later that night that we would end up kicking ourselves for not trying harder to dig further into the meaning of his message. That night, during dinner with Firozi, we were informed that a massive subterranean library, dedicated to ancient and scholarly texts, lay beneath the temple, within the rocky plateau on which it stood. A labyrinth spanning fifteen thousand square feet and housing over two hundred thousand texts and pieces of artwork. The library, a treasure trove of knowledge, is the largest underground library in the world, and, remarkably, outside of the villagers who inhabit the surrounding harsh stretch of remote desert, hardly anyone knows of its existence. Highlighted by the fact that it was quite literally right under our feet as we stood inside the Swangia Mataji temple and still had no idea of its existence ourselves. As Max and Nikolai head back towards their bikes, I stood still, taking in one more look out at the surrounding landscape from up on the plateau. It was a desolate but surreal view. A few hastily built brick and clay buildings in the distance served as a reminder that we were still on planet Earth. Otherwise, the land looked entirely like a photo transmission sent back from NASA’s Mars rover. In a sea of yellow sand and red and brown rock, I was in a part of the world that seemed utterly inhospitable. Somewhere where the sun routinely scorched the Earth with temperatures over one hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit or fifty degrees Celsius. Yet, improbably, this land had continued to be inhabited for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Its languages, food, architecture, and culture at large, still meticulously preserved as if they had been put into a scorching-hot alternative cryochamber. In a world caught in an endless war to maximize productivity, conformity, and efficiency. Where every month, a different endangered language or species goes extinct without hardly anyone blinking an eye, a mere casualty for not adequately adapting to modern times. It was a shock to see a corner of the world that was bucking this trend and surviving. Here, in this utterly austere land, local languages flourished. There were Marwari-speaking communities, Sindhi-speaking communities, Dhakti-speaking communities, and communities speaking a host of languages that I, nor likely, many people outside of Rajasthan, knew existed. Looking out at this simmering golden-brown infinity, it was hard not to appreciate the past few days, seeing how people whose moral compass was not guided by the rise and fall of the Nasdaq lived. Not to glorify this life, I was raised as a house puppy. I am not under any illusions that I could go and live off nature with the wolves. But it was eye-opening to see communities that put such a priority on respecting the resources provided to them by nature and preserving the customs of their ancestors. I was caught in my own thought, “I need to put everything into perspective, next time I get cut off in traffic or my train runs late, or there is any other little day-to-day annoyance. Remember, that shit doesn’t actually matter. Be happy I’m alive, experiencing life and nature, and that one day I’ll get to pass on my experiences and knowledge to my kids, and then their kids. Encourage them to keep the cycle alive, live a full life, and don’t just go through the motions. Nobody will give a shit what kind of car you drive or what you own-” Max called out to me, ending this train of thought, “Danny, you ready?” -“Yeah, sorry about that, let’s get going,” I replied. Joining Max and Nikolai at the bikes, I climbed onto mine, and we headed off on the road again. Speaking with some locals we met at a village we passed through. … Even though it was now firmly in the early evening, just past four thirty, it was still brutally hot outside. By the time we reached the military museum, I was covered in sweat and totally parched. Even the wind while riding didn’t seem to have much of a cooling effect. Instead, driving through the hot air created a sensation about how I would imagine driving into a giant hair dryer would feel. Although it had only taken about forty minutes to ride from Swangia Mataji temple to the museum, I was in desperate need of a cold drink by the time we arrived. What we failed to realize as we made our way was that the museum itself was only a small complex of buildings within a much larger military installation. Perhaps naively assuming we’d be pulling into a pamphlet-adorned welcome center, you’d think of when visiting a museum. We were instead met by armed men in full military fatigues, standing guard at the entrance of a tall barbed-wired fence, which the museum was on the opposite side of. Again, as when we arrived at Swangia Mataji, I was partly wondering whether it was a good idea for us to be here. As we pulled up to the gate, I asked the guard, “is it possible to visit the museum?” My question was met with a reassuring sideways head wag that I had grown accustomed to. Thankfully, it appeared we were not going to be turned back or arrested. The guard reviewed each of our passports, which luckily all three of us had been carrying in our bags. Soon enough, after a few minutes, we were riding our motorbikes through the front gate of an Indian army base. After parking our bikes, the first order of business was getting some liquid back into our system. Even though it’d only been a couple of hours since leaving Firozi’s bike rental shop, all three of us were in desperate need of some shade and rehydration. Spotting a couple of military officers walking through the courtyard in front of the museum, we approached them. "Is there anywhere to get something to drink?" we asked. Apparently, not understanding what we were saying the two officers stood there for a second with a mix of bewilderment and amusement, before replying to us in Hindi. Clear that neither we nor the two officers could understand each other. We opted for the internationally recognizable language of making a fool of yourself, miming what you are asking for until some level of mutual understanding is established. Fortunately, this did not last for long. After a few seconds of pretending to drink from an invisible cup, one of the officers said, “Haan, saath aao.” “Yes, come with me.” Waving for us to follow him, he led us back through the courtyard in the direction that we had come, retracing our steps past our parked bikes and through to the opposite side of the lot we had parked in. There we came up to the door of a small, unremarkable building. Stopping a few meters away from the door, the officer pointed to it, said something in Hindi, and returned our drinking mime we’d done back at us to indicate that we’d arrived. Using what little Hindi we knew, we thanked him, then entered the building. Upon entering, it appeared we were in an appropriately utilitarian military canteen. The walls were painted plain white, and all the furniture came in the variety of metal and foldable. Luckily for us, we had not been let down, and there was a small booth selling drinks and pre-made snacks. After Max and Nikolai had paid for their drinks, I bought an orange Fanta and a samosa and went to join them at the table they had chosen. Sitting at the table beside us were three military officers who, despite the fact that we were remarkably out of place, appeared to pay us no mind. From my perspective, however, what stood out were the AK-47 style rifles, propped up against their table. Caught looking at their impressive weaponry as I was taking my seat, I met eyes with one of the officers who was facing our direction. His nod in my direction caused the other two officers to turn their heads towards us, smile, and nod as well. Nikolia, Max, and I returned the gesture and before we could say anything the three officers turned away from us, resuming their conversation amongst themselves. We couldn’t help but quietly chuckle, not only at the oddity of this situation, but of the entire day so far. Here I was, sitting in a fake Thai soccer shirt with the Chang beer logo plastered across it, athletic shorts, and a beat-up pair of runners. Max and Nikolai, also in similarly unflattering attire, were sitting here, inside the gates of an Indian army base. Casually snacking on samosas and sipping Fanta, beside three grizzled, fully kitted soldiers, who had reacted to us as if we were just three more members of the platoon they saw every day. I guessed it would’ve made sense if the base’s museum was some big attraction, making the officers accustomed to regularly sharing their canteen with inappropriately dressed foreigners. But from what we could see, we were the only visitors around. Other than our bikes, the lot we parked in was empty and walking through the museum’s courtyard to the canteen, the only other people we’d seen were uniformed servicemen. This made me think back to one of my first days in India, when Ben and I were at a bar in New Delhi. That night, we’d made friends with a group of Indian office workers who were enjoying their Friday night. We spent the night chatting and joking about a host of topics, but one quote kept proving to be true throughout my time traveling in India. While discussing what Ben and I planned to do during our time in the country, I found myself asking questions along the lines of, “Well, we’d like to do this, but what do you think? Is it possible?” As I was asking some version of this question for the fifth or sixth time, one of the women in the group we’d been talking to stopped me before I could finish my sentence, saying, “Yooo man, you can just relax. India is not like your country; anything is possible here. The answers to your questions are almost always, yes. If there’s something you want to do here, you can do it. Especially for the right price.” Thinking back on this and reflecting on the days I’d had since that conversation, I had to chuckle at the truth behind what she’d said. In the past seventy-two hours alone, with hardly any prior planning, I’d been on camelback riding out to God knows where, to sleep between sand dunes with nomadic villagers and friends I’d made on the road along the way. Now today, I was riding a motorcycle that I’d rented for five dollars and no ID or insurance through the desert. To think I woke up expecting to spend the day resting after returning from the desert the night before was laughable now. She was right, anything was possible here. After cooling off and rehydrating in the canteen, we head to the museum. The truth was that it was okay, but it didn’t amount to much more than a few small rooms of Indian war propaganda. There were cool things to see; the captured Pakistani tank and troop transfer vehicle, both parked outside the museum, stood out as particularly interesting exhibits. And inside, there was a high-altitude combat suit soldiers would have worn during the Kargil war, a highlight too. Although I can’t say I quite understood its inclusion here, given that the museum was dedicated to the Battle of Longewala, fought in the deserts of Rajasthan between India and Pakistan in 1971. Whereas the Kargil war was fought in 1999, hundreds of miles to the north of Rajasthan, in the high Himalayas. My best guess is that anything to stick it to their archrivals, Pakistan, could be included. Me, I had no skin in the game, I’d love visit Pakistan in the future, got nothing against those guys. So, after reading few plaques about how great the Indian army is and alternatively how shitty the Pakistani army is, I just enjoyed looking at some old guns, uniforms, and vehicles without putting too much thought behind it. We deliberately took our time looking through the exhibitions and gift store that was stocked with Indian flags, military pins, shirts, and other trinkets. Waiting for the sun to continue dropping towards the horizon, we killed about an hour mulling around the sleepy museum. Just before 6 pm, when the museum was set to close, and all visitors were required to leave the army base, the heat mercifully dipped below 40 °C. This was our cue to get back on the road. … True to the ‘choose your own adventure’ style traveling I’d spent the last couple of months doing. Leaving the army base there was no plan of where to go next. Nikolai suggested heading toward Bada Bagh, an ancient Mughal mausoleum in the desert. But we decided against this, Bada Bagh was west of Jaisalmer and we’d been riding east. Meaning we would need to back-track all the way through Jaisalmer town on the road we’d already ridden. Unsure of what to do, I opened my phone’s map app, looking to see if there were any interesting routes we could ride. Huddled together, zooming in on the roads near us, we identified a small bypass road that would take us off the main roadway on a loop through a particularly isolated section of the desert. This road would start by continuing west before gradually looping back east, connecting to another main roadway parallel to the one we had been riding on. Looking at the map, we guessed it would probably take us about two hours before we arrived back in Jaisalmer. Thankfully, we were smart enough to resupply on water before leaving the Army base; however, we didn’t have any food or other provisions, and from what we could see on the map it appeared we would only pass through one small village the rest of the way. We would certainly be hungry and likely riding in the dark by the time we made it back to Jaisalmer. This was a little risky, especially for someone like me who had just popped their motorcycle cherry, but between the three of us, we guessed it would probably be okay. Plus, who ventures this far out into the badlands of India just to play it safe. “It’s a little sketchy, but we can go for it” I said. Max and Nikolai, a bit more relaxed than me, agreed. “Yeah, I think we should do it, as long as we’re not going in the dark for long, I think it should be no problem” Max replied. Nikolai nodded, succinctly stating his opinion, “All good with me.” It would be a lie to say that I wasn’t a little apprehensive to the idea of riding through the Indian desert in the dark, that the smarter idea would be to head back the way we came. But the magnetic pull of peer pressure is something the human brain has not yet evolved to effectively counter. Before, I could think of any good excuse not to go, Max had already climbed on his bike and had the map ready to go on his phone, mounted on a stand between his bike’s handlebars. Nikolai was starting up his bike as well. “Well, I guess its decided. It’ll be fine” I nervously thought to myself. … From the start, the sensation of riding a motorcycle through the desert was utterly euphoric, but in the desert, it was also punishingly hot. It had been exhilarating from the start, but now it was finally barely cool enough to be almost comfortable, too. Not long after pulling away from the army base did the feeling of euphoria return to me. The heat and humidity dropped away a touch in the evening sun, just enough for the breezing wind to cool and relax my body. … I always kind of thought motorcycle guys were an odd bunch, masochists who terrorized the roads and enjoyed putting themselves in unnecessary danger for fun. After all, a fender-bender for someone in a car may very well be a death sentence on a bike. With the added risks that being on half as many wheels as a car posed, the entire endeavor always struck me as a bit needless and selfish. Well, that was until I did it myself. Nearing sunset, riding through the lonely roads of the Thar desert, I learned the appeal. It was an odd sensation; on one hand, I was absolutely dialed into all my senses. Every vibration traveled into my fingertips and palms, up through my arms, and into my chest. My eyes scanned the road with acute concentration, looking out for upcoming hazards and changes in the road. The bike and my body morphed into a single unit, swaying with my weight, gently steering to the direction I desired. On the other hand, it felt meditative. Despite the abject hazards that come with riding a motorcycle, I was entirely relaxed. As we rode on, I lifted my helmet’s visor, allowing the cooling evening air the rush against my face and dry the sweat from my nose and cheeks. I felt weightless, as though I was on a magic carpet ride, effortlessly gliding across the desert. Now writing at my desk, where I have spent the bulk of the last few months sitting, working, studying, and writing. My body yearns to feel this again. Like a heroin addict who nostalgically reminisces on that first hit of smack, the feeling of cruising through the evening air is permanently imprinted into my psyche. We rode along for forty minutes, or maybe it was an hour. I’m not sure; it was easy to lose track of time. As the air gradually cooled, the sky began to change colors, too. The vivid afternoon blue faded into hues of light purple with streaks of orange reflecting off the wispy clouds above us. As the sun dropped lower on the horizon the orange tones grew more intense. The golden sand and rocks around us took this color too and soon the evening light hit a crescendo as everything from the desert floor to the sky above us was engulfed in the warm tones of sunset. As for the sun itself, it was perfectly circular and bright red. A slight haze in the horizon was blocking out the star’s more intense bright rays, allowing me to look straight into it. Although I’m sure this is still not advised by optometrists. How can I best explain how I felt in this moment? Not being a smoker myself, I can’t relate to the highly regarded sensation of dragging a cigarette right after sex. What I can say is that during the first round of the 2022 NFL playoffs I watched my Philadelphia Eagles rout the New York Giants, all while eating chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream straight from the container, stark naked in bed, besides a lover, in a beautiful hotel room in Greece. The feeling I had this evening riding through the desert sunset this evening was comparable. A bright red Rajasthan desert sunset As we rode, the twinkling lights of a village in the distance, visible in the dusk hour, came into view. “This must be the small village we saw on the map when choosing our route”, I thought. Expecting a few sandstone buildings and not much else, we were surprised by what we saw as we approached the village. In terms of infrastructure the village was indeed not much more than a small collection of undecorated single-story sandstone brick buildings. Yet, despite the unassuming nature of the village, for whatever reason, it appeared that every man in Rajasthan had decided to come here this evening. Lining the road were scores of parked motorbikes and scooters and in a field just out of the center of the village was a raucous crowd of what appeared to be at least one-hundred men and boys, all shouting and cheering. Was this a protest? A wedding? We weren’t sure; after hardly seeing anybody all day, it was jarring to see such an amassment of people. With a touch of nervous energy, we slowed our bikes and timidly approached the crowd. Eventually the road became so congested with bodies that we had to nearly come to a complete stop as to not hit anyone. There were men on all sides of us, young and old. Many of the younger boys were wearing Western-style T-shirts, soccer shirts, and leather jackets. Nearly all the older men wore traditional two-piece lungis, typical in many regions of South and Central Asia. Just as we were shocked to see this amassment of people in such a remote village, I could see and feel that we were beginning to receive some strange looks our way as well. Yet, despite the many inquisitive looks we received, the members of the crowd we passed didn’t appear to be hostile towards us. In fact, for every intense scowl I saw, there appeared to be someone else smiling at us, waving at us, or enthusiastically shouting in our direction. Suddenly away from us, in the direction of the field we were trying to maneuver past, a deafening roar of excitement erupted from the crowd. “Okay, what the hell is going on?” I thought. People were shouting, screaming, jumping, and pumping their fists in the air. Then through a gap in the frenzied the crowd, I received my answer. “It’s a cricket match!”, I shouted to Max and Nikolai. In a space between the flailing crowd of spectators, I could see a cricket pitcher, more accurately called a bowler. Standing confidentially then transitioning into his throwing motion as he delivered his next bowl. The ball left the bowler's hand and flew out of sight, vanishing behind the sea of bodies that were obstructing our view of the field. It appeared to be a good bowl, as the crowd roared in excitement again, and I could see the bowler himself confidently pump his fist forward and shout something toward the spectators. Nikolai, Max, and I looked to one another and began to laugh. “Let’s stay and watch!”, shouted Nikolai. We didn’t need to be convinced. The three of us parked our bikes on the side of the road and joined the raucous spectators. We pushed our way past a few people until we had a better view of the match. After wrestling my way forward and seeing the entire field for the first time, I couldn’t help but think, “How the hell does anyone know who’s on what team?” All the players in the match were wearing the same style lungis and there did not appear to be any sort of color coordination between teammates. The pitcher was wearing white while his teammates wore white, brown, and different shades of blue. The members of the opposing team also wore the same mismatched assortment of white, brown, and blue. As for the spectators, despite the game’s appearance of being about as organized as a backyard pickup game amongst friends. The crowd around us brought a level of energy you’d expect find from Knicks fans at a home playoff game. While I had no stake in the game, the atmosphere was electric. Like the unfortunate girlfriend who gets dragged to a sports bar when date night happens to clash with game day, we cheered when the people around us cheered. Even if we had no idea what the hell was happening. Initially, our attendance appeared to be alright. The game went on and the fans continued to cheer as normal. But as time passed, we began to get the creeping feeling that our sudden attendance at the game could be an unwanted distraction. Every minute that went by I began to feel more eyeballs pointed our way as a sense of bewilderment at the fact three foreigners had just spawned out of nowhere, hopped off their motorbikes, and pushed their way into the crowd, grew stronger. A few more minutes passed. Most of the crowd was still focused on the game, but a few people began to push their way to our direction. The spectators nearest to us began trying to speak with us. While most of the inquisitive, predominantly unhostile shouts we heard in our direction were in Hindi or another local language, and thus unintelligible to the three of us. We did hear some shouts in English as well. Questions like, “where are you from”, “why are you here”, “what is your name”, “can we take a photo” began to rain down on us. We tried our best to answer these questions shouting back answers to the crowd, “we’re from Norway and the United States”, “I don’t know myself, we’re just exploring Rajasthan”, “Our names our Danny, Max, and Nikolai”, “Sure we can take a photo!”- (and we did proceed to take many photos). Soon enough, the attention of the crowd, who only a few minutes prior had been cheering for their village cricket team like their lives depended on it, had been completely rerouted in our direction. We were in the middle of a crowd of people, all trying to speak with us or take a photo with us. The game was still going on, but the once passionate cheers for the players had been reduced to about what you’d expect to hear during a midweek high school JV volleyball game. Instead of the pitch, the epicenter of the crowd’s raucous energy had squarely shifted to us. About five more minutes went by and in this time, we shook hands, took photos, and answered questions in relentless succession. To this point, the crowd around us was energetic, but never felt threatening. Suddenly a sturdily built older man, standing taller than myself, with a long-peppered beard, and dressed in white lungi, pushed his way to the front of the crowd. The commotion around us came to a sudden halt as everyone’s attention shifted to the imposing and seemingly important man who now stood directly before us. I felt my chest tighten as a twinge of real anxiety for my safety, that I had not yet felt, forced its way into my psyche. The man looked at us, then toward a younger Rajasthani man, who had been speaking to us in English and translating for us. In a collected, but forceful tone he began to speak to the younger man beside us in their local language. The younger man nodded his head with a downtrodden look. I was nervous now, and the worst-case scenarios were beginning to creep into my mind. “Maybe we’re about to be kidnapped and held for ransom. Maybe it’s more likely we’re going to be chased out from this village by an angry mob.” I tried my best to suppress these thoughts, to keep believing everything was going be okay. Then, the younger man then looked toward us and began to translate what he had just been told. “This man, he is the head of this village. He would like to apologize, but you being here it uhh makes it difficult for the focus on the match. He uhh says that there is not so much light left today and they cannot continue during the nighttime. He wants to say if you return a different day you are welcome here. Now is just no good to visit. He is sorry, I am sorry too, but now it is better if you are on your way”. Hearing this, my initial reaction was embarrassment for disrupting their game, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was relieved as well. Out of the potential scenarios that had begun swirling around in my head, being politely asked to leave and even invited back was certainly a favorable outcome. After the younger man had finished translating, the older village headman stuck out his hand, meeting Nikolai, Max, and me each with firm handshakes. Ironically, before we could leave, he asked to take a photo with us as well, of course we obliged. As the formalities concluded, we apologized for all the commotion and went to set back off on the road. A few young boys from the crowd, likely in their teens, rushed over to their bikes as well. They would form a sort of unofficial escort out of the village. Four motorbikes, each carrying two or three of these teenage boys, raced beside us as we rejoined the main road, the boys on the backs of the bikes cheering and videotaping on their cellphones as they rode alongside us. The bikes zig-zagged across the otherwise empty road, erratically riding like this for five minutes or so. Then, as we grew further from the village, they pulled to the side of the road and gleefully shouted “goodbye!” However, this was nearly drowned out by the horns of their motorbikes, which they were also blaring. About twenty minutes after pulling away from the village the last traces of the day’s sunlight had vanished away. Instead replaced by a blanket of stars which grew more vivid with every passing minute. We would end up riding through the dark desert for about an hour. Luckily it passed without incident. Although, we did spend most of this leg of the ride riding on the far shoulder of the road after a couple of semi-trucks came flying past us, far exceeding the speed limit on the dark road. Needless to say, it was a welcome sight to see the lit-up hilltop of Jaisalmer fort and the twinkling lights of the surrounding town again. ... Nikolai and Max passing through village where the cricket match was being played. Back in Jaisalmer, driving up to Firozi’s rental shop, I was spent. The last few minutes riding through town, my thoughts were consumed with dreams of a cool shower, a cold air-conditioned room, and a comfortable bed. It wouldn’t take long to find out the Firozi had other plans. Waiting just long enough for us to switch off our bike’s engines, but not quite long enough for us to dismount, Firozi eagerly delivered us an update for the plans of the evening. “My family would like to host you for dinner tonight! We have made a feast; my father and uncles will join too. We will eat outside my uncle’s flat at the top of the fort. Also, your friends Ben and Felix came by this afternoon already too; I have already invited them as well. Come and follow me, we will head there now, we can stop and get some beers for you all along the way too if you would like.” The wave of exhaustion that engulfed me was still there; part of me silently scrambled to find an excuse to retreat to the hotel and slip away into much-needed sleep. On the other hand, Firozi’s family’s dinner invitation was not something I could easily refuse. Using what energy and willpower I had left, I forced myself to shift focus from my desire for rest to the desire for sustenance. Once I did, I realized the oppressive exhaustion I felt had been masking how hungry I was. With images of a home-cooked Indian feast on my mind, the thought “shit, yeah, I guess I am pretty hungry too” became all-consuming. With that, only minutes after arriving back in Jaisalmer, we were following Firozi up through town into Jaisalmer fort. The sale of alcohol in India is a tricky matter, with beverages containing the drug completely prohibited in certain states such as Gujarat and Bihar. Even in the states without full prohibition, the sale of alcohol was typically highly regulated, normally only sold in licensed liquor stores or bars, especially after dark. In Rajasthan for example, the sale of alcohol after 8 pm was typically not allowed. Under normal circumstances we would have been out of luck, but Firozi was adamant that he knew where to find what we were looking for. As we approached the massive front gates of the walled fort, Firozi took us on a detour, directing us over to a dimly lit side street. We stopped at the façade of a neighborhood grocery store. With the metal rolling shutter pulled down over the front of the store for the night, it was clear that this was an after-hours shopping trip. Firozi, without hesitation, knocked on the metal shutter a few times. Within seconds, the shutter rolled up about three or four feet, and an older man stuck his head out from underneath. Firozi began speaking to the man in their local language. With no explanation as to what was discussed, he told us, “Give this man two thousand rupees.” We did not ask questions, quickly handing over the money under the metal shutter. Soon after the money had changed hands, I heard glass clinking together and the unmistakable rattle of plastic bags. Without saying another word, the man reemerged from under the shutter, this time with two black plastic bags hand in hand, clearly loaded with some heavy cargo. Sure enough, inside each bag were five 650mL bottles of ice-cold King Fisher beer. As we turned to walk away, I heard the metal shutter creak shut. We walked for about fifteen more minutes, through the front gates of the fort, up the steeply inclined cobblestone road that led to the central plaza, then through the winding labyrinth of ancient alleyways. Finally, we came to an opening at the edge of the fort. "This entire wall of the fort is my families, about 100 meters in each direction is ours. The apartments you see are ours too. Where we will eat tonight is one of the best views in Jaisalmer.” Firozi led us up a short flight of stairs, through a darkened apartment, and back outside onto a balcony high up on one of the fort’s battlements overlooking all of Jaisalmer town below us. I could smell the food before I saw it; the divine aromas of Indian spices and fresh chapatis hijacked my senses, and I likely could have found my way through the dark apartment just by following the scents. After a tiring day on the road, the meal was a sight to behold. On the table were five or six bowls of different curries, all circling a mountain of chapatis. When we entered, Firozi’s father and two uncles were already seated at the table. They stood up to shake our hands, and we thanked them profusely for their hospitality. They were quick to stop us, insisting that it was nothing and told us to take our seats. We obliged and dug in. Taking my first bites, I found the chapati fresh and warm enough to still be slightly uncomfortably hot on my fingertips. I gleefully plunged the pieces of hot bread into a cacophony of green, red, orange, and brown curries. Each perfectly spiced with their own distinct flavor profiles. It was a spicy meal, but my favorite part of Indian food is that it never feels spicy simply for the sake of being spicy. Rather, the spice comes from the bold flavors found in each dish. The flavors of each curry felt deliberate and concocted with a precise blend of specific spices. Indian cooking truly is a science. I cracked open my first glass bottle of king fisher, chasing the bread, meat, and curry with a refreshingly chilled beer. There had not been enough seats around the table, so I had elected to forgo a chair and sit up on the battlement wall, which was about a foot higher than the table and three feet wide. The other side of the wall was a forty- or fifty-foot drop. As I sat there, left foot hanging over the abyss, plunging curry-soaked bread into my mouth, savoring each sip of my Kingfisher, a cool desert breeze washed over me, and my body felt utterly at ease. Above me, contrasting with the black desert sky, were billions of twinkling stars, and around me was a group of friends sharing a meal together, as if they were family. Ben, who had quickly become someone I would consider one of my best friends, I’d only met about six weeks earlier. Max, Felix, and Nikolai only a week earlier. Firozi earlier that day, and Firozi’s family quite literally only minutes earlier. Yet somehow that eclectic group of an American, an Irishman, three Norwegians, and four Indians had ended up together atop an ancient Mughal fort to eat, drink, and laugh the night away. In a world where we are constantly reminded how different and divided we are. There’s no easier way to see our shared humanity than by putting a few chairs around a table full of curry, beer, and chapatti. It had been one hell of a day.

Over the last 8 years I have had the privilege to travel to over 80 cities, 30 countries, and 5 continents. I have made new friends, ate incredible foods, had some crazy nights out, navigated sketchy situations, and much much more ! With this in mind, I decided it would be a good idea to really sit down and put my thoughts to paper deciding what cities stand tall beyond the rest. This week #8: Medellin, Colombia THE GRADING CRITERIA -Category 1, "Food" 10 PTS -Category 2, "Safety" 10 PTS -Category 3, "Activities / Things to do" 10 PTS -Category 4, "Cost" 10 PTS -Category 5, "Energy / Excitement / Good Vibes" 10 PTSd -Category 6, "My experience (I.e. How much fun did I have)" 50 PTS Subjective ? Yes ! However, I am not ranking these cities by how comfortable I think they are or what would be the best city to live in. Rather, the main factor really just is: Did I have fun and make some life-long memories while here ? #8 Medellin, Colombia. Total Score: 91 / 100 -Food: 6 / 10: My sincerest apologies to any Colombians or lovers of Colombian food out there. I must admit, I'm not the biggest fan of the local cuisine. While nothing I had in Medellin was offensively bad, I also didn't really have any meals that were memorable. For the most part I found Colombian food to be a bit bland without many spices or seasoning. When ordering the traditional Colombian food platter 'Bandeja Paisa' (typically consisting of pork, beans, plantains, and fried egg), I found the side dishes tended to lack in flavor and the pork was often too dry. At first I assumed this may have been a result of trying not to break the bank on meals. So myself and my friend Jordan went out of our way to do a bit of research and indulge in a few splurge meals. Unfortunately, we found not only was the food bland at budget restaurants, but also at highly reviewed, pricier restaurants as well. Moreover, Colombia's famous savory pastries; arepas were good. Yet, I found them to be very inconsistent across the city, with some being down right delicious and others being borderline inedible. The best arepa I had across Medellin (and one of the best savory pastries I had across all of Latin America) was during my time exploring the city's infamous communa 13 neighborhood. Approached by a boy and his mother selling arepas wrapped in tin foil out of their backpack and largely won over by the boy's persistent but charming salesman tactics. I decided to roll the dice and buy an arepa for myself and Jordan. Unlike many of the arepas we had from street vendors and restaurants. Which were commonly too dry. These arepas were absolutely succulent and packed full of flavor. Certainly a highlight of my culinary experience in the city. Aside from Colombian food Medellin is quite a large city with various options for international cuisine. Yet, when compared to cities around the world of similar size I found the international cuisine in Medellin to be average to below average. However, I would be remised if I did not mention the tacos at Criminal Taquieria in Provenza. The tacos here were absolutely bursting with flavor and not far behind with what I had in Mexico City. What really boosts Medellin's score in the culinary category is it's excellent cafe scene. Colombia is world renowned for its delicious arabica coffee beans harvested in the regions between Medellin and Cali. While a large percentage of these premium beans are shipped to countries abroad to be enjoyed by coffee aficionados around the globe. Thousands of kilograms of these beans are also loaded into trucks and brought to cafes across Medellin as well. Best of all is that while a cup of Colombia's finest coffee might hit you for a cool fifteen to twenty dollars at a bistro in New York City, London, or Tokyo. In Medellin ? You will be able to find these same fine coffees for an absolute fraction of the price, think two to five dollars for a cup of some of the best coffee in the world. If you are a fan of light roast Colombian arabica, packed full of creamy and floral flavors you'll find no shortage of coffee options that'll suit your palate in Medellin. In particular I would recommend checking out Cafe Pergamino in El Poblado as well as Tribu Cafe in Laureles. -Safety: 5 / 10: Once infamous for being amongst the most dangerous cities in the world, in recent times Medellin has significantly improved its reputation. While the city now welcomes in flocks of tourists from around the world, it would be dishonest to say that Medellin is not more dangerous than your typical tourism destination. While the powerful cartels and guerrilla militias which once ruled the city have lost their stranglehold. Violent crime as well as petty crime still frequently take place, with some areas in and around the city remaining as no-go zones for tourists as well. We stayed in El-Poblado which was full of parks, gyms, restaurants, and trendy cafes. While you should still be aware of your surroundings pretty much anywhere in Medellin, El-Poblado was a very lively area with a high security presence. We walked from bar to bar and through parks even once the sun had gone down and there was never a feeling of impending danger lurking around the corner. In addition to El-Poblado, Laureles was a very relaxed residential but hip neighborhood. With plenty of carefully manicured greenery lining the streets and specialty coffee breweries dotting the spaces between higher-end apartment blocks. The area felt quite calm and welcoming. Generally, a rule of thumb in Medellin is the further north or south you venture into the city the more dangerous it gets. Whereas the central areas of the city typically tend to be safer. If you're sticking to these areas and only exploring around town during the day time it is unlikely that anything bad would happen to you. However, there is so much more to see in Medellin than what it has to offer in its central tourists areas. If you are coming to Medellin you should experience the city's legendary night life, as well as, visit the city's famous mountain side communas (such as communa 13). You should just keep in mind that there are inherent risks here to be aware of. When visiting certain parts of the city (such as a commua) definitely consider going as part of a guided tour. Also, you should be aware of areas that are typically safe during the day, but should not linger around after sundown. Moreover, if you are going to party it is a good idea to make friends with locals in your hostel or in the tourist-friendly parts of town before heading out, especially if you want to get out of El-Poblado and party where the locals do. To be fully transparent, Medellin is a city where many of the vices of human society are quite visible; people may approach you inquiring if you are looking for drugs, there is very visible prostitution, and violence certainly does happen in pockets of the city. With that all being said, the same could be said for cities like Los Angeles or New York. The common denominator being, if you visit these cities naive or looking trouble - trouble will likely find you. If you practice some street smarts you should be fine, just as we were during our visit. -Activities & Things to do: 10 / 10 Action packed, wild, energetic are the first adjectives that come to mind when asked to describe my time in Medellin. No matter what kind of trip you are looking for you are sure to find it in Medellin. We spent a week in the city with each day following a similar pattern: Wake up hung over from the previous night. Track down breakfast and an absolutely delicious coffee from one of the city’s many specialty roasteries. Spend a hour or two relaxing and enjoying panoramic views of Medellin in the late morning/early afternoon sun at a roof top pool. Meet up with friends and head to the activity of the day. After a day of exploration heading to dinner and drinks. Ending it all off by crushing an increasingly blurry number of club colombias and aguia lights in energetic bars across the city. A standout moment for me was going to watch an Athletico Nacional football match against their rivals from Bogota. Truth be told, even calling this a ‘standout moment’ does not quite do it justice. Going to the game was akin to a religious experience. The energy and passion brought forth form the raucous die-hard fans around us was so intense that both Jordan and I found ourselves fighting to hold back tears. I can’t quite pin-point the exact reason for this emotional response, but between fans hanging off the upper deck with nothing holding them back other than their fellow fan’s arms, blinding green smoke, blaring noise makers, and so many thousands of people jumping with such unchained energy and fervor not only could you feel the stadium shaking, you could see the upper levels of the concrete stadium swaying. Somehow this combination of extreme stimulation to the senses unlocked an emotional response in me that quite literally brought me to tears. Judging the scene without any context you would think Jesus Christ himself was about to come down from the heavens. Much less a football squad entering the pitch. While I still can’t quite put the precise description of my feelings into words, I certainly can’t recall many moments where I have been more awestruck in my life. What I am sure of is that in that moment I was thinking something along the lines of: “Holy shit is this incredible. How the f- did I end up here”. If this sounds a little intense for your taste then an option would be to attend a game as part of a tour. Pretty much every hostel in town offers a tour service to the game for any interested gringos. In taking this option, you also have your transportation to and from the game covered so you won’t need to worry about navigating public transport after the game. Aside from attending a football match, visiting the infamous communa 13 was also a great experience. While it does have a very mild tinge of distastefulness, considering the neighborhood’s history and the current disneylandification of the community. Overall, I had a great time here. Learning about the history of the neighborhood and taking in the stunning panoramas of Medellin from high up in the communa are going to be staples in the cool dad lore library. Other highlights include: cafe hopping through the city's many neighborhoods that are lush with tropical greenery, partying until sunrise, and enjoying the legendary albeit infamous nightlife scene. Another great option for anyone looking for an easy day trip would be to head out to Guatape to take in the stunning nature views there. Cost: 9 / 10 While Medellin is a budget friendly city, it is undeniably a city with an aura of luxury and a sense of suaveness to it. Like many cities across Latin America beers are cheap, and you’ve got your street vendors selling churros, arepas, along with an array of other delicacies. While all of that is great what I really loved about Medellin was that it also feels like a mountainside Miami. With streets lined with lush tropical vegetation and a skyline that is punctuated by high-rise apartment buildings complete with rooftop pools, lounge bars, and outdoor gyms. From the second I stepped into Medellin this sense of comfort was evident. To start, the hostels that I stayed in and visited in the city were some of the nicest across all of my travels in Latin America. During my time in Medellin I stayed at the Rango Hostel which for the price of twenty dollars a night came with a roof top pool, full-service bar, and an in-house bakery serving superb breakfasts every morning. I also partied the Masaya hostel, Los Patios hostel, and the Viajero hostel. All three ranging between fifteen to thirty dollars a night and each equipped with their own rooftop pools and bars as well. Regarding transportation, despite the mountainous terrain of the city Medellin is a city that is easy to navigate thanks to its efficient, affordable, and sprawling public transportation system. During my time in the city, the metro system served as an excellent option for moving north to south (or vice-versa) across valley with extremely affordable single ride fares of just about 82cents. When visiting the mountain communities there are options as well with gondola services helping people move throughout the mountain communas. Again, for less than a dollar a ride. For food and drinks I found Medellin to be more expensive than average when compared to cities I visited across Latin America. However, compared to North American or European prices it was still quite affordable. Restaurants and cafes around El Poblado and Provenza were a touch pricey with dinner and a drink typically going for around 10 to 20 dollars. However, at your local roadside bakeries, cafeterias, and sandwich shops you could frequently find cheap eats. Usually nothing special in terms of flavor, but perfect for a backpacker balling on a budget. In addition to food my experience buying alcohol in the city was quite similar as well. While the bars and nightclubs that catered to tourists tended to be quite pricey. Some of the most fun I had drinking in Medellin was at a curb side liquor store selling beer bottles for about 50 cents a pop. Let me tell you, no amount of ambient lighting and professional DJing could beat dancing with a bunch of locals on the side of the road to a blue tooth speaker with a blown out base blasting Colombian dance tunes into the night. Energy, Excitement, and Good Vibes: 10 / 10 Medellin is a city with a palpable vibrancy that is immediately felt from the second you enter the city. Through the taxi window on our way from the airport into the city, I could feel this energy from my first views of the city’s hill-scape skyline. To add to this point, Medellin is a very unique city from a geographical perspective. Located in the Aburra valley, a naturally formed river basin of the Colombian Andes the city has some of the most striking natural and urban vistas of any city in the world. Going back to that first taxi ride into the city from the airport. We arrived at night, looking out at the city through the cab window in the dark. The city’s mountainous terrain with its lit up vertically built communas created a visual effect that looked as if we were heading straight toward a twinkling tsunami. From the second I stepped out of that taxi I could feel, hear, and see that Medellin was an energetic but suave, chaotic but serene, and stressful but confident city. That was my initial impression at least and everything from my week spent in the city helped reinforce these feelings. During my time in the city, I saw that people danced, drank, ate, and partied on the streets at all hours of the day. Roof top pools, restaurants, top notch gyms, bars, and night clubs were buzzing nearly everywhere you looked. There were lush green tropical gardens, manicured just enough to keep you from thinking the concrete was being reclaimed by mother nature. These parks also happened to frequently be the scene lively markets full of stalls selling fruits or intricately created trinkets. In contrast, the aura of chaos and violence from the city’s past still clings to it in the background. The city has not lost it's edge and despite welcoming more foreign tourists each year you certainly don’t feel catered to as a tourist here. While this may be off putting for some people, I quite enjoy cities with a bit of grit and authenticity to them. Along with Medellin cities such as New Delhi, Berlin, New York City, Mexico City are among my favorites. None of which would win awards for being the most tourist friendly in the world. Yet, each of them get the adrenaline flowing a bit and in the process allow you to feel as though you are truly experiencing somewhere new and different. My Overall Experience: 50 / 50 Medellin is a city that I will never forget. From the friends I made here to the experiences I had there are very few places in the world that match the level of excitement I felt while visiting the city. If New York City is the city that never sleeps of North America then I am proclaiming that Medellin is South America's equivalent. With an atmosphere of partying, somberness, sophistication, and chaos. It is a phoenix that has risen from the ashes of its infamous past, and is now a city is of perfect contrasts. In many ways serving as a microcosm of the human experience itself. From the beauty of the lush green low peaks of the Colombian Andes surrounding the city and the atmosphere of joy that can be felt on many of the city's streets. To the many vices of drugs, and violence which can also be found here. It may sound hyperbolic, but I truly feel as though the city serves as an accurate representation of what choices we have as humans. Should we embrace the wonders of our planet and cherish loving relationships we form with those around us or will we be pulled in by the powerful sway of many of life's unwieldy temptations. With all of this mind, along with the fact that I had a hell of a good time here, there are not many places that have left such a lasting impression on me. For that I am eternally grateful for my visit to Medellin and highly recommend you add it to your bucket list too.

Over the last 8 years I have had the privilege to travel to over 80 cities, 30 countries, and 5 continents. I have made new friends, ate incredible foods, had some crazy nights out, navigated sketchy situations, and much much more ! With this in mind, I decided it would be a good idea to really sit down and put my thoughts to paper deciding what cities stand tall beyond the rest. This week #9: Siem Reap, Cambodia THE GRADING CRITERIA -Category 1, "Food" 10 PTS -Category 2, "Safety" 10 PTS -Category 3, "Activities / Things to do" 10 PTS -Category 4, "Cost" 10 PTS -Category 5, "Energy / Excitement / Good Vibes" 10 PTSd -Category 6, "My experience (I.e. How much fun did I have)" 50 PTS  Subjective ? Yes ! However, I am not ranking these cities by how comfortable I think they are or what would be the best city to live in. Rather, the main factor really just is: Did I have fun and make some life-long memories while here ? No. 9 SIEM REAP - CAMBODIA // Total Score: 91 out of 100 A monk standing outside the main gate of Angkor Wat -Food: 5 / 10: Road side noodles and beer with our tuk tuk driver. Not the worst cuisine I have had by any means, the Cambodian food I had need Siem Reap was decent, but largely unremarkable. Unlike most of my other favorite cities the culinary culture didn't qualify as one of the highlights here. However, I did manage to have some memorable meals in Siem Reap. Being a city of locals that feels far more akin to a large village than what truly constitutes a city in most people's eyes. Many nights were spent sitting on tiny plastic chairs on the side of the road, eating fried noodles and drinking Beer Cambodia with inquisitive and tremendously friendly locals. Even when stepping away from the street food and focusing on the restaurant scene, there are virtually zero western or asian chains operating in Siem Reap. During my time stay all the restaurants I visited were small family owned affairs. Often with a small dining room and kitchen in the back with the husband or kids taking orders and then helping the wife with the cooking once the orders were placed. For the most part the food in Siem Reap consisted of fairly simple rice or noodle dishes. Yet, the care it was made with unquestionable. About 50 cents worth of Beer Cambodia In particular, I highly recommend paying a visit to Taprohm 189 for an excellent home cooked traditional Cambodian meal. Highlight dishes included Amok and Lok Lak which were bursting with flavor and crafted to perfection. Moreover, if you want to try something authentic, but certainly unfamiliar to the western pallet you can go for the Cambodian fermented fish dish known as 'Prahok'. Not that it cracked my list of all time favorite dishes, but it was certainly a cultural experience. One final note, Taprohm 189 honors the '1 free beer' pull tabs found in cans of Beer Cambodia... if you know, you know ! -Safety: 7 / 10: Before traveling to Siem Reap I heard mixed reviews regarding safety in Cambodia. After traveling to Siem Reap myself I am happy to report that it felt quite safe. While in town I went for runs, walked by myself, and was out late at night after ingesting a few (or more than a few) adult beverages, through all of this I never felt sketched or in danger. The city center and surrounding streets stay moderately lively throughout the day and late into the night. Day time safety felt completely safe and at night as long as you are with a friend and aware of your surroundings I would image nothing bad would happen as well. Pagodas just outside of the Siem Reap city center. Buddhist paintings in a shrine near the city center. However, I would recommend is to picking an accommodation close to the city center. You will notice on the drive into town from the airport that the areas surrounding Siem Reap are quite underdeveloped. While I still think your chances of being a victim of violent crime are still low, many of these areas do not have street lighting. This, combined with the fact that there is virtually no public transport in Siem Reap and many dangerous wild animals living around the city like king cobras, vipers, and venomous scorpions you don't want to be wandering around the outskirts of Siem Reap after dark. Staying in the town center will certainly give you peace of mind and make your time in Siem Reap easier. - Activies & Things to do: 10 / 10: Despite being the smallest city on this list with a population of just under 140,000 people and feeling far more akin to a frontier town rather than a sprawling metropolis there is still so much to do here. Siem Reap truly punches above it's weight as my days here were action packed. In many cases even more so than compared to much larger cities. Many people (myself included) come to Siem Reap to visit the world famous ancient ruins of Angkor Wat, which should not be missed. Originally when planning my trip to South East Asia Siem Reap was not included on my itinerary at all, but the day before flying to Bangkok a random instagram reel showcasing Angkor Wat popped up which led me to book a last second flight from Bangkok to Siem Reap for the day after I arrived in Thailand. Upon arriving, I really had know idea of the true scale of the site. I've been to other famous landmarks like the Roman Colosseum and the Taj Mahal, I anticipated Angkor Wat would be a similar experience. I was mistaken. While the main and most famous / most photographed area of the Angkor Wat temple complex was a similar experience to visiting other famous landmarks. What I did not know was that this area was only the tip of the iceburg and that the entire Angkor Wat complex is roughly fifty square kilometers with hundreds of temples, many of which were hidden in the jungle - adding to the undeniable tomb raider atmosphere of the place. Yet, while Angkor Wat was amazing, this is just scratching the surface of what you can do in Siem Reap. In fact, perhaps even more so than Angkor Wat, I really enjoyed visiting the 'floating' villages found in the Tonle Sap lake. These little fishing communities consisted of huts built on bamboo stilts out on the water, allowing travelers to visit their community, see their ways of life, and even stay overnight. Our visit was the village was capped by one of the most perfect orange and red south asian sunsets I have been able to witness. Immediately going down into the 'core memory bank' Crocodile farm located on the Tonle Sap lake. Other highlights including getting a traditional bamboo tattoo from a buddhist monk, riding a tuktuk to the top of a mountain to catch sunset, drinking endless 'free' Beer Cambodias, and late nights partying on Siem Reap's pub street (which I found to be one of the best in all of South East Asia). Preparing for a traditional bamboo and hammer tattoo. -Cost: 10 / 10: Siem Reap provides some of the best bang for your buck of any city in the world. Outside of India, Nepal, and Thailand, the city just might be the best budget city I have ever travelled to. In this category, Siem Reap truly shines with the options you have for accommodation. I found that most hostels in town were between 5usd to 7usd. While this is a good price point for hostels, in many cities across south east Asia you can find options at this price point. This difference here is the quality of accommodation you can find for such a low price. Many of the hostels in town here feel more like communal resorts rather than your standard hostel. In fact, the Lub D hostel I stayed at here for 5usd a night might be the nicest hostel I have visited across all of my travels. However, food here is not the cheapest. I think this is in part due to the fact that Cambodians use USD for many of their purchases rather than their own currency, driving up the price for a meal. On average I was spending about 7 or 8 dollars per meal, which is still very affordable, but about double of what I was spending for a meal in India, Nepal, and Thailand. On the other hand beer here is mind-blowingly cheap so like life itself, balance is achieved. -Energy, Excitement, and Vibes: 9 / 10: An A+ sunset from the tonle sap floating village. Siem Reap is action packed, wild, adventurous, calm, and serene all in one. The best way I can put it is that the city feels the south east Asian version of a wild west frontier town. I can't deny that there is an aura of lawless you feel in the city, but not necessarily in a dangerous way. It just feels like one of those towns Indiana Jones would find himself in before embarking off on some grand adventure. On the flip-side there is a sense of peacefulness and 'zen' which I felt here. A local artisan, creating carvings. While Siem Reap can feel like you're standing on the edge of the frontier, it also feels incredibly welcoming and I would be remised if I did not mention that the Cambodian people of Siem Reap are perhaps the friendliest people I have had the pleasure of meeting anywhere in the world. Sitting on a hill top and watching the sunset behind the shadow of distant rainstorm, or having a beer sitting on plastics stools, looking off at rice fields as far as the eye can see were truly cathartic experiences. In contrast, many of the nights were spent partying until the wee hours on Siem Reaps excellent pub street. Props here are due, as compared to the pub streets in Thailand the drugs and prostitutes were noticeably less in-your-face which made the experience all the more enjoyable. -My Experience: 50 / 50: River cruise to get to the floating village. My summer 2024 south east Asia & India trip started in Siem Reap and I really visited the city on a whim, making it a very last second addition to the itinerary. I can't say it enough how happy I am I decided to book that last second city hopper from Bangkok to Siem Reap the night before starting my trip. I came to the city with no expectations other than wanting to see Angkor Wat. Yet, by the end, my week spent in Siem Reap was some of the most fun I have had across all of my travels. When sitting down and putting thoughts into what my favorite cities are - the area I put the most credence into is 'where did I have the most fun'. Judged purely off this metric Siem Reap is one of the best of the best. Moreover, the people I met and made friends with here were amazing and at the core I believe is what tied the whole experience together. In fact one of friends I made here, an Irish lad named Ben, ended up traveling with me for about three months after we met in Sieam Reap and is now someone I would consider one of my best friends. All in all, my experience in this city was absolutely remarkable.

Over the last 8 years I have had the privilege to travel to over 80 cities, 30 countries, and 5 continents. I have made new friends, ate incredible foods, had some crazy nights out, navigated sketchy situations, and much much more ! With this in mind, I decided it would be a good idea to really sit down and put my thoughts to paper deciding what cities stand tall beyond the rest. This week #10: Seoul, South Korea THE GRADING CRITERIA -Category 1, "Food" 10 PTS -Category 2, "Safety" 10 PTS -Category 3, "Activities / Things to do" 10 PTS -Category 4, "Cost" 10 PTS -Category 5, "Energy / Excitement / Good Vibes" 10 PTSd -Category 6, "My experience (I.e. How much fun did I have)" 50 PTS  Subjective ? Yes ! However, I am not ranking these cities by how comfortable I think they are or what would be the best city to live in. Rather, the main factor really just is: Did I have fun and make some life-long memories while here ? No.10 SEOUL - SOUTH KOREA // Total Score: 89 out of 100 Women dressed in traditional Korean dresses at Gyeongbokgung Palace. -Food: 8 / 10: If you are a big fan of Korean food fan (as I am) you will love the food scene of Seoul. Being an ultra-modern mega-city you can find gastronomic options from all ends of the spectrum. From eating bindaetteok dumplings shoulder to shoulder with businessmen on their lunch break in Gwangjang covered market to enjoying gourmet Korean cuisine in a quaint traditional wooden hanok house in Bukchon Hanok village and everything else in between. The flavors of Korean cuisine are distinct, delicious, and over the past few decades have brought flocks of food lovers from around the world wishing to indulge to the city. With a diverse range of dishes at just about every price point Seoul is truly a paradise for Korean food lovers. I did find outside of Korean food Seoul lacked just a touch in regard to it's international food offerings at least when compared to cities of the same size and scale. That being said while I have been to Seoul three times, each time was not for very long. I might just need to spend more time in the city to experience the range of food on offer to a fuller extent. Some of my recommendations are: - Hanmechon , Located in Bukchon Hanok Village this quaint restaurant offers guests an array of excellent traditional korea food, primarily in the form of small dishes you can either order individually or as part of a set menu. The setting here is also a highlight as the restaurant is in a traditional hanok house, adding to the cozy feeling of eating a home cooked meal. -Okdongsik Seogyo, A seven time michelin recognized establishment. Located just outside of the Hongdae nightlife district you will find the welcoming, but busy Okodonsik Seogyo. This counter service only restaurant (albeit in a refined way) puts you right up and close to the action as you can watch the restaurants busy staff prepare soup, and cook dumplings. Famous for their delicious (and affordable) pork gomtang and kimchi dumplings, this is one you should not miss. Just a word of warning you should be prepared to wait in line regardless of if you are going for lunch or dinner. I would recommend a week day. -Gwangjang covered market, Arguably Seoul's most famous food market, at least once during your visit to Seoul you need to make a stop here for lunch. Featured as part of the Netflix program "Street Food: Asia", you can find everything from steaming Mandu dumplings, fresh gohyang kalgusku (knife cut noodles), hot stone bibimbap, and perhaps most importantly fried twisted cinnamon donuts. While all of the options here can feel daunting, rest assured that whatever you go with you can't go wrong. Various spices and soups for sale at Gwangjang market. A late afternoon lunch in the market. A couple enjoying afternoon tea in a cafe near bukchon hanok village -Safety: 10 / 10: There is not a ton to say here. It should be no surprise Seoul gets full marks in the safety category as it is one of the safest cities in the world. Violent crime is extremely rare and unless you're sticking your head where you shouldn't other forms of crime are very unlikely to find you as well. The public transport in Seoul is excellent, and the streets are clean and well maintained across neighborhoods of all economic backgrounds. Seoul is a city you can freely roam and explore with confidence and without stress. - Activies & Things to do: 9 / 10: Seoul is a sprawling modern mega city with no shortage a fun activities to get into. From the ultra-modern star field shopping mall, equipped with an aquarium and massive library that looks like it was taken straight from the set of a sci-fi movie to the historical grounds of Gyeongbokgung Palace. Seoul offers travelers with a myriad of options for unique experiences. You can't miss the street markets which extend far beyond being only food markets. As you wander the streets you'll discover markets specializing in just about anything from shoes, books, and just about any random trinket you can think of. What is cool about these markets is that you can clearly see that the shops here are where Seoul's locals do much of their shopping. Unlike the bazars of Istanbul or the street markets of Bangkok, in Seoul you won't find a myriad of shops selling knock off tourist clothes. Instead you'll see shopping streets full of locals doing their shopping for the day. If it is your first visit to the city I would also recommend heading up to N-Seoul tower to get a panoramic view of the entire city. What makes this view unique is that the tower is situated at the top of large hill (small mountain) right in the middle of the city. Meaning, compared to other city view points N-Seoul tower is much higher. This allows for some incredible views, letting you properly take in the concrete ocean that is Seoul. After my visit to N-Seoul tower I had a new appreciation for the size and scale of the city. In regard to day trips from Seoul, the most famous tour on offer is the day trip from Seoul to the Korean DMZ (border with North Korea). While I have not done this myself I would imagine that this would be a very unique (& presumably somber) experience. A street vendor and his book stall. The side streets of Seoul are bustling and easy to get lost in. -Cost: 7 / 10: Seoul is another one of those cities which is certainly cheap when compared to American standards, but a bit more than what you would find in south east Asia. It is also a city that has gotten much more expensive in the last six years or so. Back in 2019 on my first visit to Seoul it was noticeably less expensive than Tokyo. However, since then I have visited Seoul more recently in 2023 and last year in 2024. From my observations the prices for just about everything are now pretty much on par with what you would find in Tokyo. (Aside from the taxis, which are still much cheaper in Seoul) . For a hostel your probably looking to spend about 20usd per night, fairly standard rates for hostels outside of Europe or North America. For food and drink you really do have the full range of options. Street food is cheap with most dishes going for around 2usd to 7usd. However, if you want to have a proper sit down meal in a restaurant you are probably looking at about 10usd to 15usd, and Korean BBQ or upscale dining options typically going for 30usd or more. What is really cheap is the alcohol, especially if you're sourcing most of your drinks from Seoul's many convenience stores. Moreover, unlike most countries the Korean drink of choice is not beer. Instead many Koreans opt for the infamous soju. Virtually every Korean convenience store carries soju where it is nearly always about one to three dollars for a bottle. With an ABV typically around 15% to 20% Koreans have mastered the art of getting plastered - economically. -Energy, Excitement, and Vibes: 9 / 10: Seoul is an extremely vibrant city that is constantly bustling with energy. Simply walking through the streets of the city or taking the metro and being swept away in the tide of commuters moving throughout the city allows you to immerse yourself in the organized chaos of Seoul's hustle and bustle. However, beyond the crash of thousands of bodies moving throughout the city there are also pockets of peacefulness. Seoul has many gardens and parks where you can find moments of calm. Moreover, with Seoul being quite a hilly city I really enjoyed that you can often find parks or quiet neighborhoods up high. Going here to see and hear the city go by below was quite relaxing. In particular, I really enjoyed Bukchon Hanok village. While this area is known for being touristy, it is actually quite a large area. If you can make it past the crowds and continue deeper into the neighborhood there are more than a few quaint cafes and restaurants to enjoy. It also must be said that Seoul's nightlife is absolutely wild. While I unfortunately missed the heyday of Seoul's Itaewon district, nights out in Hongdae certainly did not disappoint. On the topic of hongdae, while it is not the largest nightlife district I have been to. It is certainly one of the rowdiest, especially when compared to other cities in East-Asia. After partying in Hongdae. Shibuya and Ximending, the famous nightlife districts of Tokyo and Taipei feel noticeably tame. I highly recommend starting the night at the bar "Thursday Party" where it is quite easy to make friends before heading to one of Hongdae's many head banging basement nightclubs. -My Experience: 46 / 50: At the time of writing, I have been to Seoul on three occasions and on each of those visits I have had an excellent time. My first visit to Seoul was back in 2019 together with my mom. While I didn't get into any partying or other social activities on this initial visit. I did have a wonderful time site-seeing many of Seoul's famous sites. We spent our days visiting attractions such as N Seoul tower, star field mall, Gyeongbokgung Palace, and Bukchon Hanok village. To this date, this is the only proper trip I have been able to take with just my mom and for this I have a great appreciation for this visit to Seoul. Since then my two subsequent visits to Seoul have been solo trips. On these trips I hit a excellent balance of site seeing by myself and socializing with other travelers. Destinations where I make good friends typically standout more so than others and Seoul is no exception to this. My days were spent wandering the streets of the city and its many shops and markets. While many of the nights were spent out until sunrise in one of Hongdae's many nightclubs with friends I had made at the hostel.

Over the last 8 years I have had the privilege to travel to over 80 cities, 30 countries, and 5 continents. I have made new friends, ate incredible foods, had some crazy nights out, navigated sketchy situations, and much much more ! With this in mind, I decided it would be a good idea to really sit down and put my thoughts to paper deciding what cities stand tall beyond the rest. This week #11: Mexico City, Mexico THE GRADING CRITERIA -Category 1, "Food" 10 PTS -Category 2, "Safety" 10 PTS -Category 3, "Activities / Things to do" 10 PTS -Category 4, "Cost" 10 PTS -Category 5, "Energy / Excitement / Good Vibes" 10 PTSd -Category 6, "My experience (I.e. How much fun did I have)" 50 PTS  Subjective ? Yes ! However, I am not ranking these cities by how comfortable I think they are or what would be the best city to live in. Rather, the main factor really just is: Did I have fun and make some life-long memories while here ? No. 11 MEXICO CITY - MEXICO // Total Score: 88 out of 100 Front row at Estadio Ciudad de los Deportes for a Club America match. -Food: 10 / 10: Similar to Cusco I could not find myself leaving Mexico City off this list, again thanks in large part to the spectacular food scene found here. To start, if you think you've had good tacos just wait until you visit Mexico City. As I frequently do, I started my visit by looking through the Michelin guide page for the city. It was no surprise that there were no less than twenty different taquerias around the city listed. This information in mind, on our final day in Mexico City, I mapped out a ten mile route to eleven of these michelin rated taco spots. All told, we spent hours walking through the city and trying tacos across a vast array of neighborhoods. A highlight for me were the famous 'Al pastor' tacos which are a staple of taquerias across Mexico City. I tried these tacos at establishments across the city. From no frills roadside food-stalls to full service sit down restaurants, the frequently pineapple garnished, shawarma style tacos hit the perfect balance of savory with a touch of sweetness no matter the setting. In addition to the staples, many of Mexico City's taquerias also have their own 'house specialties'. With some standouts being 'La 89's' extra large carne asada tacos topped with their own house guacamole. As well as 'Gonzalitos' barbacoa de res tacos; slow cooked and marinated to perfection, the tenderness and flavors found here blew me away. In addition to these two , I also enjoyed, 'Castacan' for their pibil tacos, 'Tacos El Paisa' for their spicy Al pastor tacos, 'Tacos Atarantados' for a classic Al pastor topped with pineapple, and 'Tacos del Valle' for expertly garnished bistec tacos. Massive carne asada tacos served at LA89. Absolutely bursting with filling and flavor Now if you don't like tacos (are you crazy ?) thats okay too. Being the largest city in North America with a population of over twenty-million people you can find just about anything you'd like. In fact, as someone who grew up in Asia, I had some of the best Chinese steamed dumplings of my life in the Centro neighborhood of Mexico City at 'Du Te Chinese Dumplings'. Moreover, the neighborhoods of Roma and Condesa have an insane array of upscale dining options. Here you can find some excellent quality Mexican dishes as well as Italian, French, Japanese, and Korean. All of this along with metropolitan staples such as burger joints and pizzerias. This is to say, the food scene here is amazing and very eclectic. For those who have visited New York City it hits in a very similar way. Hand crafted dumplings, steamed to perfection. -Safety: 4 / 10: Mexico City is a city of contrasts when it comes to safety. Roma and Condesa feel perfectly safe to walk around, as does Bosque de Chapultepec park and most of the western side of the city close to Ave de. La Reforma. However, I found the vibe can turn quickly from neighborhood to neighborhood and even street to street. For example, directly neighboring the eastern side of the Roma neighborhood is Doctores, which is known in part for its higher rates of violent crime. We actually made a wrong turn on the way home from dinner one night and accidentally wandered into this neighborhood. While we were totally fine and I assume most of the time you would be okay. The contrast between the two neighboring neighborhoods was clear. In Roma there were carefully manicured gardens, lively restaurants, bars, cafes, and night clubs. Whereas in Doctores, many of the streets were not well lit and there were many derelict buildings lining the streets. Much like what you see in LA, NYC, or other cities in North America, I thought there was a clear contrast in the economic investment of many of the neighborhoods across Mexico City. Yet despite this, you should want to leave the more touristy and gentrified neighborhoods of Mexico City. Yes Roma and Condesa are nice, but you're also missing out on much of what Mexico City has to offer. As many of the city's best restaurants, markets, and other notable sites are situated outside of the safest zones of the city; you should not skip out on these experiences out of fear. However, it is good to know to really experience Mexico City to the fullest you're a bit less insulated from the rougher areas as compared to some other cities. -Activities & Things to do: 10 / 10: Mexico City is a city of endless possibilities. If you want to stay within the city there are tons of different activities to choose from. While we were there we went to a Club America football match which was an amazing experience. Tickets were cheap and easy to buy. The stadium is easily accessible via the metro system with it also feeling safe in and around the stadium. That said, if football isn't your thing there are ton of other live events frequently happening around the city, one famous example being the live nacho liebre wrestling series. However, just strolling the city will present you with a bounty of things to do. We strolled the streets, ate at the markets, picnicked in Bosque de Chapultepec park and I went for a few runs around the city. All of which were excellent ways to spend the mornings and afternoons. Pre-game at Estadio Ciudad de los Deportes Moreover, just outside of the city are the pyramids of Teotihuacan. A highlight of my entire trip across Latin-America, I would highly recommend taking the trip out to see them. Located about fifty minutes outside of downtown Mexico City the pyramids can be easily accessed via a local bus from the North-Central bus station. However, as many people opt to see the pyramids via a hot air ballon ride, most ballon companies will offer hotel pick up from Mexico City directly to the pyramids. Just know that you will be paying a premium if you decide to get there this way. While we decided to save some money and took the bus, without a doubt the best way to see the pyramids was with a sunrise hot air balloon ride. Floating over the pyramids in a hot air balloon, surrounded by other balloons flying by as the sun rose is a morning I will never forget. Looking down at the pyramids of Teotihuacan from up above in a hot air ballon. -Cost: 8 / 10: Being a megacity Mexico City truly gives you a bounty of options at every price point for food, accommodation, transportation, and activities. I actually went for an air bnb during my stay so I spent a bit more than I normally do. However, if I had gone with a hostel the prices were pretty average for hostels across Latin America, roughly 10usd to 20usd per night. In other words cheap compared to Europe, but expensive compared to South-Asia. In terms of getting around the city, the metro system here is cheap and easy to use. If my memory doesn't fail me, it was roughly 50 cents per ride meaning you can have a very cost efficient way to move around the city. For longer journeys deeper into the city we did find ourselves frequently using uber, but that was still reasonably cheap and efficient as well. Moreover, food is where Mexico City really shines in the budget department as you can find endless street food and market food offerings. Many of these stalls were dishing out tacos for about 25 cents a piece and packed with locals. Truth be told Mexico City probably could score higher in this category if you commit to living like a local on your visit. However, most tourists - myself included won't be doing this. On one hand I ate street food, and rode local busses as well as the metro to get around. On the other hand, I also stayed in an air bnb in Roma, ate at a few fine dining restaurants, drank at trendy bars, and ubered when public transport was inconvenient. Again, Mexico City is a city of contrasts. It is a cheap city, but to properly experience everything it has to offer you shouldn't be surprised to pay a bit more in certain spots. -Energy, Excitement, and Vibes: 10 / 10: Man this city feels alive. What I really appreciated the most about Mexico City is that it feels like a city where people live and go about their business through and through. During many of my adventures around the city I felt like a fly on the wall watching a whirlwind of life in action around me. The city has that perfect blend of romance and grit that can only be found in a few other cities around the world. In fact this feeling of balance is something I hold in high regard when reflecting on which cities most resonate with me. If a city is too romantic or too perfect it can end up feeling artificial, akin to the feeling you get when you visit Disney World. On the other hand, if somewhere is too gritty it could end up entirely unenjoyable. Mexico City was just right, strolling through the streets of Roma and Condesa lush with gardens and lined with art deco style buildings took me back to the feeling of watching 'Before Sunrise' for the first time. On the other hand when visiting the Centro neighborhood and the many nearby markets you can get a slice of the grittier side of the city. -My Experience: 46 / 50:   Mexico City was my last stop of my Latin America trip this summer and it could not have worked out more perfectly ending on such a high note. A few moments really stand out to me. On our last day, during our taco hike around the city we stopped at a park in Condesa to watch a street musician perform. We were some the first to stop and listen right at the beginning of the set, but in a matter of minutes there was a crowd of 60 to 70 people listening along with us. Scanning the crowd of listeners people were dancing and singing along to each of the songs. Couples were dancing together, on-lookers were laughing and smiling, and the weather was perfect. In that moment there was such an atmosphere of happiness I found myself choked up for a second. Across Mexico City I found every corner of the city to have something of interest. Whether walking through a lively market, past street performers, or even by a group of protesters blocking a street the entire city feels utterly authentic and teeming with life.

Over the last 8 years I have had the privilege to travel to over 80 cities, 30 countries, and 5 continents. I have made new friends, ate incredible foods, had some crazy nights out, navigated sketchy situations, and much much more ! With this in mind, I decided it would be a good idea to really sit down and put my thoughts to paper deciding what cities stand tall beyond the rest. First up, number 12: Cusco - Peru THE GRADING CRITERIA -Category 1, "Food" 10 PTS -Category 2, "Safety" 10 PTS -Category 3, "Activities / Things to do" 10 PTS -Category 4, "Cost" 10 PTS -Category 5, "Energy / Excitement / Good Vibes" 10 PTSd -Category 6, "My experience (I.e. How much fun did I have)" 50 PTS  Subjective ? Yes ! However, I am not ranking these cities by how comfortable I think they are or what would be the best city to live in. Rather, the main factor really just is: Did I have fun and make some life-long memories while here ? N0. 12 CUSCO - PERU // Total Score: 82 out of 100 City skyline of Cusco, taken from the wild rover hostel balcony. -Food: 10 / 10: Full disclaimer this was going to just be "my top 10* favorite cities *, however there were two cities I felt I just could not leave off... Cusco being one of them. The overwhelming reason for Cusco's inclusion on this list being thanks to its otherworldly food scene. Wandering the streets of Cusco you have everything from a litany of street food options prepared by a stall of hard working abuelas, to word-class Michelin rated fine dining. I had the pleasure of trying offerings on both ends of the spectrum and everything in between. The food here is unique, fresh, and most importantly immensely flavorful. From dishes such as lomo saltado, barbecue ribs, steaks cooked using volcanic stones, and alpaca meat burgers I left satisfied after every meal. However, the absolute highlight was the ceviche. Simple in ingredients and complex flavor, every ceviche dish I had in Cusco was masterfully prepared with only the freshest ingredients. In the same way that every person on the planet has a unique fingerprint, every restaurant in Cusco has a unique ceviche. With some being sweet, some being tangy, others being sour every ceviche I had in Cusco brought its own spin on the famous dish. The thing each had in common ? Every last ceviche I ate absolutely packed a punch in the flavor department. One in particular I would highlight was the ceviche I had at the 'Nuna Raymi' restaurant. Both myself and Jordan were brought to tears by how delicious it was. Other than Nuna Raymi, my other favorites were: "Yaku Restaurant" for Civiche and Alpaca meat dishes. "Uchu Peruvian Steak House" for volcanic cooked steaks and barbecue ribs. "Mercado San Blas" for lomo saltado (as well as just about any other Peruvian dish) . For coffee drinkers you should visit: Brew Brother Specialty Coffee (also located in Mercado 'San Blas) for an excellent iced coffee. As well as, Florencia y Fortunata for some high quality beans. Three Monkeys was also good and highly reviewed, but it was quite expensive and not substantially better than what I had elsewhere. -Safety: 8 / 10: Cusco certainly felt like the safest city i visited across Latin America. My endorsement of the safety here would even go so far as to say, Cusco feels safer than nearly every city I have visited in North America and many cities in Europe or Asia. What really stands out is how alive the streets are with pedestrians at all times of the day. In fact, I would say the best way to get around Cusco is by walking. There are parks that are lively at all times of the day, markets full of locals and visitors alike, and many bustling shops, cafes, and restaurants. Moreover, Cusco has to be one of the cleanest cities in the South America and maybe even the world. During my time there I saw hardly any litter and there was noticeably few derelict or abandoned buildings. Of all the cities I visited in South America, Cusco is the city where I felt the most comfortable walking around with my big DSLR camera. While I assume there are some pockets of the city that are a bit sketchy, the old-town area where most tourists would be seems to be quite insulated from any such neighborhoods. Personally, I wandered the city fairly extensively and never encountered any neighborhoods that had a bad feel. All in all, the city has a very relaxed and welcoming vibe to it. - Activities & Things to do: 7 / 10: In terms of day trips from Cusco, it has to be considered one of the top destinations in the world. Most notably are the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu, located about three hours from Cusco via the Peru rail train system. However, many people elect to trek from Cusco to Machu Picchu on the Salkantay trail or Inca trail routes. These treks are very popular and accessible to people from most fitness levels. If traveling to Cusco I would highly recommend not booking any treks online in advance as there are many tour agencies in town offering trekking guide services for a fraction of the price. Other than Machu Picchu you can also visit; Rainbow Mountain, and the Sacred Valley which are both a couple hours from Cusco. If you want to stay close to town there is also plenty to do as well, albeit in more of a laid back variety. What I found to be the best way to spend a day in Cusco was strolling through the cobble stone streets, people watching in plaza de armas, enjoying a specialty coffee in a quaint cafe, and ending the day by having a Michelin rated in dinner in one of the cities many amazing restaurants. Cusco does lose a couple points in this category as most of its famous day trips are over 2 hours away from the city. Machu Picchu - Located about 2.5 hours on the train from Cusco. -Cost: 7 / 10:   Yes, while compared to cities in Europe or North America it is undoubtedly cheap. However, of the cities I visited in Latin America it was one of the more expensive, if not the most expensive. There are cheap options in Cusco, but being one of the best culinary cities in the world you are missing out if you don't indulge a bit. I stayed in a hostel (as always) so my accommodation was cheap. However, I did spend quite a bit more than I normally do for meals on my trips. On average I was spending around 20usd to 30usd for a dinner. That said, it should be kept in mind that these were michelin rated meals for American applebees prices. I also normally went to a specialty coffee shop at least once a day where it was about 5usd per cup. -Energy, Excitement, and Vibes: 7 / 10: Cusco is a lively, but laid back town. While it doesn't have the same raucous energy of some of the cities I have ranked higher, it brings a more mature vibe. If you're looking for an insane party scene or a destination that will spike your adrenaline, Cusco probably should not be at the top of your list. However, if you're looking for a warm and welcoming city you can recharge for a bit in-between trekking through the mountains, this is your spot. Come here to stroll through amazingly preserved historic streets, eat some good food, and appreciate the Preuvian culture, both ancient and current. -My Experience 43 / 50:   This was a peaceful city that I felt welcome in right away. The food was amazing, the town itself was beautiful, and all of the locals were tremendously kind and friendly. We came here immediately after spending nine days in Huaraz prepping for the Huayhuash circuit, then another eight days on the Huayhuash circuit itself. Needless to say we were fairly spent after that leg of our trip. Coming to Cusco the timing could not have been better as we really got to stretch our legs and recharge for a few days. While I wouldn't say I have any truly insane memories from Cusco, (obviously, not counting our side-trip out to Machu Picchu) I have a deep appreciation for this historical city. I will fondly remember the days I spent here relaxing and trying some of the best foods and coffee in the world. On a final note, I should reiterate I was brought to tears by a dish of ceviche.

Thailand, a beloved destination for many travelers across the world. A land of beautiful nature, vibrant cities, and some of the friendliest and most welcoming people you will ever meet. However, despite all of these positives does the destination suffer from an at times seemingly inescapable wave of badly behaved tourists ? A hill top sunset in Koh Phi Phi, Thailand Back in 2018 I embarked on my first ever proper backpacking trip, a three week inter-railing jaunt across Europe and from the time stepped off the plane in Europe I could feel the travel-bug take hold of me to the point where in the seven years since, my life has revolved around travel and the idea of maximizing the amount of time I can spend on the road. The feelings of personal autonomy and unchained curiosity hit me like a drug and I became addicted to trying to plan when I could leave for my next journey and feel this rush again. While retrospectively, I wouldn't say that western and central Europe are the most "exotic" places in the world, at the time it was all brand new to me. The people, the food, the architecture, the geography, the cultures, the languages, and just about everything in-between were all things I had never experienced before. It may sound Naïve, but nineteen year old me felt like some version of Indiana Jones or Anthony Bourdain taking the train from city to city across Europe and I believe that this introduction of new and unfamiliar sensations is at the nexus of why these feelings driving my love for travel have stuck with me so strongly in the years since. When returning from Europe I immediately got to work on planning my next trips for the upcoming years and from the onset Thailand was one of the countries near the very top of my bucket-list. From the research that I did, Thailand checked all of the boxes for me. It was a land where the culture was vibrant and unique, the food on offer was delicious, the people were friendly, costs were low, and the geography was world-famous. This summer after years of planning to go, I finally made it to Thailand, and well, all of these things that made Thailand such an appealing destination turned out to be true. So why, after spending a month traveling across the country was I left with mixed emotions... Understanding the risk of coming off as "high & mighty and over-enlightened" travel in my eyes does not necessarily equate to vacation. In fact, I would say it would be more accurate to call it a form of education. The reason I fell in love with traveling on my inter-railing trip to Europe was not because I was eating out at fine dining and going out to get shit-faced drunk every night. Rather, instead of spending my days hungover and my nights off in a bar. Each day was mostly spent aimlessly strolling through city streets, going to museums, picnicking in public gardens, people watching, and finding any number of ways to make my own adventures day to day. Thailand in contrast felt like a vacationers paradise, but in someways lacked the sense of adventure and spontaneity that I had come to love. To rip the band-aid off, Thailand in many aspects feels like if you took a 19 year old ketamine addict's fantasy vacation and mashed it together with a generic travel agencies' package beach vacation they are trying to push on first-time vacation goers. Despite being such a far off destination, I frequently found Thailand to feel as though it was missing that sense of adventure and unfamiliarity which I so craved. This leads me to my first point. The demographic problem. I found there are two main groups of travelers you will encounter in Thailand. In first place and by far the overwhelming majority are young ( think 18, 19, 20 year old ) first time backpackers. I have certainly met plenty of young backpackers that I vibed well with. However, a lot of my fellow travelers in Thailand felt particularly immature and due to sheer volume, hard to escape. For every person I really got along with it felt there were about twenty others who appeared to have come to Thailand under the premise of huffing laughing gas, getting hammered drunk, going to ping pong shows ( google it ), and doing cheap drugs on a nightly basis. Now don't get me wrong I am not above having a night out, but if I wanted to go to dirty frat parties with a bunch of recent high school graduates I could have simply gone back to my old University rather than fly all the way to Thailand. The second demographic of traveler that I noticed a high proportion of were old sugar daddy types who came to Thailand for the purpose of sex tourism. At one point in my trip, I was staying in a fairly upscale hotel on the beach and ( no exaggeration ) at least 80% of the people I saw staying in the hotel were middle aged to advanced middle age Russian, German, or some other European men with Thai girls who were half their age. So, between the pervert old men and raucous teenagers, why is it this way ? While I don't think the blame falls on the Thai people, I believe in certain regards the country markets itself towards these demographics. This is not to say that the official Thai board of tourism is putting out messaging saying "come Thailand to get wasted and meet hookers". However, once you are actually in the country there are a lot of these shady businesses with some very frequent and in your face advertising. In this age of social media the word has quickly spread that Thailand is the place to go if you are into this sort of debauchery. Further compounding this issue, I found outside of Bangkok and Chiang Mai it was a bit difficult to make friends or have genuine interactions with the local Thai people. This was especially true in the south of the country. Don't get it twisted Thai people are very friendly and welcoming across the country. However, tourism is such an integral part of the economy and this region is so over-run by tourists, it is hard not to have exclusively transactional interactions with the local people . Which I mean, I get it . However, what that has resulted in is a clear divide in the foreign visitors and the locals which made it a bit difficult to just sit, chat, and make friends with people. Unlike my times in India, Nepal, and Cambodia where many of the people I hung out with and made friends with were locals, in Thailand I found it a bit more difficult to make genuine connections. This leads me to my next point, Thailand can feel too tourist centric. I appreciate Thai hospitality and am fully aware of the hypocrisy within this statement as I am part of the problem myself. However, I do feel like it must be said that some areas of Thailand are so taken over by tourists that they almost resemble somewhere closer to Disney-Land rather than a real place where people actually live. Take the picturesque island of Koh Phi Phi for example. Genuinely one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. Yet the serenity of this tiny island nestled in the Andaman sea has been severely hampered by the sheer amount of tourist infrastructure on the island. Despite geographically not being much more than a roughly two-kilometer long sandbar sandwiched between two rugged mountains jutting up from the sea, the island is absolutely packed full of restaurants, bars, hotels, and souvenir shops. During my stay on the island, the lack of a form of local culture and authenticity was felt. In an effort to do a bit of exploring on the island, I went for a couple runs were I looped the length of the main sandbar a few times. What I saw was that if there had been any local communities on the island they had all been pushed out to make way for new tourism developments. In fact, what I found quite sad was that instead of local communities with a vibrant and persevering culture, many of the Thai nationals actually living on the Island were hotel staff living in housing compounds hidden behind the resort they worked for. I forget where, but at one point during my stay I came across a business with pictures of the island in the 1970s. Despite never being there at this time it brought me a sense of somber nostalgia seeing what the island looked like then. What was now a strip of bars and restaurants, was then a lush forest of palm trees. There were pictures of what village life was like with fishermen preparing for a day out on the sea. I am not against economic development, but in Koh Phi Phi as well as some other destinations I visited in Thailand, this development appears to have come at the expense of the locals. What was once a quiet fishing community in Koh Phi Phi, now resembles something along the lines of bourbon street in New Orleans. Koh Phi Phi Pictured in 1987 Another observation was that there was a plain lack of respect for the land and local communities by many of the people visiting Thailand, and with the sheer amount of tourists in Thailand it felt unavoidable at times. It cannot be disputed that Thailand possesses some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. However, it was extremely disheartening to see trash littered in the sand and even floating in the water at many of these beaches. In addition, there were instances where the ambiance of these gorgeous beaches was shattered by people taking drugs out in the open, people who were so blackout drunk that they were puking in the sand, or the presence of a bar (or multiple bars) with booming loud music just feet away from the beach. For me, if I am going to the beach it is to unwind and relax and at times in Thailand I found this to be a bit difficult to achieve due to the atmosphere created by the people who I was sharing the space with. Many of the hostels I found also shared this unruly atmosphere. While I am someone who enjoys hostels with a good social atmosphere where you can meet new people. Many hostels in Thailand just felt too centered around drinking and partying. In some instances, this was so much so that there was a sense of negativity or pressure given to you if you were in the hostel and not participating in drinking. Many places I stayed would incessantly pester me to buy a drink or sign up for the nightly pub crawl, and on the topic of pub crawls, holy shit there are so many pub crawls in Thailand. In Bangkok this was less of an issue as there is a lot to do. However, down south there appears to be an endless loop of sitting on the beach doing nothing all day, followed by drinking all night in pub crawl. Many people I met seemed to have been caught up in this loop for days and sometimes weeks at a time. A particularly disheartening group I took notice of in Thailand were the 'hostel-volunteers' who's entire time traveling had been eroded down to, hanging out aimlessly in the hostel day after day and leading a pub crawl night after night. To call back to what I previously mentioned, I do understand why some people would prefer a chill holiday. For me, however, after a couple days spent like this I quickly began to feel as though I was wasting my time. So with all of this off my chest now, would I go back to Thailand ? Well, yes. I think in many regards I traveled Thailand wrong, or at the very least like a beginner and thats on me. The first mistake I made was not really deviating from the traditional Thailand backpacker trail much during my stay. This was particularly true during my trip down to the south of the country. During this leg of my trip I visited Phuket, Koh Phi Phi, Krabi, Railay, and Khao Sok. Each of these destinations are regarded as some of the most popular destinations in the country, so I am to blame for picking such a standard itinerary. Knowing what I know now, I think Thailand is absolutely a country where putting in a bit of extra leg work and finding/going to some of the lesser known spots would greatly elevate my enjoyment on any subsequent trips. On top of this, despite all of the bitching and moaning I've done in writing this, there is genuinely a lot to like about Thailand. The moments where my adrenaline was pumping and I could tap into my inner Indiana Jones really standout. Zooming through the busy city streets of Bangkok in one of the city's trademark supercharged tuk tuks was exhilarating, and road tripping up to a quiet village in the mountains to the North of the country are memories that will stick with me for a lifetime. Moreover, the local Thai people were always very welcoming and in the cities like Bangkok and Chiang Mai I had some great times hanging out with Thai people. On top of that Thailand is probably the second most affordable country I have traveled to behind only Nepal and what really elevates Thailand in this regard is the quality vs cost you can find. Somewhere like India for example, has cheaper options than Thailand. However, often times paying for the cheapest option in India would be either unbearable or unsafe. Whereas in Thailand, you could always find extremely cheap food to eat without too much worry of getting sick as well as plenty of cheap, but also well-kept accommodation and transportation options. Finally, there is a reason Thailand is such a highly frequented destination for tourist. It does have some of the most stunning nature I have ever seen and for those looking to unwind for a few days or weeks on the beach you can do just that here affordably and comfortably. However, for anyone who would like to get away from hoards of party going westerners and tourist trap restaurants and gift-shops, I would recommend you put in some research before setting off for the country.

The busy streets and bright lights of Tokyo and Osaka are mesmerizing, no doubt, but there is so much more to Japan. Come along with me on a journey to the Japanese countryside ! View of Snow Capped Peaks in Kamikochi Kamikochi and the Northern Alps Starting off with a heavy hitter, in recent years Kamikochi and the greater Northern Alps have become exceedingly popular with tourists. In the spring time, right around cherry blossom season the pristine hiking trails of Kamikochi begin to reopen as the snow and ice which have blanketed the ground for the winter melts away. Kamikochi serves as the gateway to the southern end of the Japanese Northern Alps mountain range and offers absolutely stunning views of Mt. Hotaka, which standing at a height of 3,190m is the 3rd highest mountain in Japan. For adventure seekers and adrenaline enthusiasts, base camp of Mt. Hotaka is a short 1hr hike from the entrance of Kamikochi. However, conquering Mt. Hotaka is just the beginning. For those chasing a true adventure, the Northern Alps Ridgeline extends north for 200 kilometers from the peak of Mt. Hotaka. This ridge-line offers some of the most spectacular hiking in the world. You can hike for days from mountain lodge to mountain lodge waking up and going to sleep above the clouds day after day. The most famous trek in this stretch being the Mt. Hotaka to Mt. Yarigatake route. This route sees you hike the ridge line from the summit of Mt. Hotaka to the summit of Mt. Yarigatake (3,180m, 5th tallest in Japan). The route typically requires four to five days to complete with the biggest challenge coming at about the half-way mark when hikers encounter the infamous Daikiretto pass; a vertigo inducing two kilometer stretch where the path becomes extremely narrow and drops away to reveal sheer cliffs on either side of the path. However, Kamikochi also caters for those who prefer a more relaxed brand of outdoor adventure as well. From the entrance of Kamikochi you can hike for hours along relatively flat terrain following the Azusa river valley. The views offered here also do not disappoint as hikers are treated to panoramic views of the surrounding alpine peaks. In addition, there is a newly constructed boardwalk that meanders through the marshy swamp land at the base of Mt. Hotaka, offering hikers stunning views of the mountain and the surrounding river valley. GETTING THERE: Getting to Kamikochi can be a bit tricky as there is no direct train or private vehicle access. However, do not let this dissuade you from going. - Traveling by car: Kamikochi is a roughly four hour drive from Tokyo. However, private vehicles are not allowed to access the final stretch of road once you reach the nature preserve entrance (You can technically hike from this point, but it is longgg) . Instead, what you need to do if driving is drive to either the Sawando parking area or Hirayu parking area and get a bus through the park to Kamikochi from there. Parking for the day at either parking area will run you 1000jpy. Additionally, for the bus from the parking area through the nature preserve you will need to pay 200jpy each way. - Traveling by bus/train There are no direct bus or train connections from either Tokyo or Osaka. Instead, you will first need to get a bus or a train to the nearby city of Matsumoto. From Tokyo to Matsumoto on the bus it will take about three and a half hours while the train will take about 2 and half hours. For both modes of transport you are looking at about thirty to fifty US dollars. Upon arriving in Mastumoto, you will need to change to another bus at the station to get to Kamikochi. There is a pre-bookable direct bus that runs a few times throughout the day as well as a more frequent indirect bus that will bring you to the Sawando parking area. If you take the indirect bus you will need to change busses again once you arrive at the Sawando parking area. As previously mentioned the Sawando parking area bus will take you the final stretch of the way through the nature preserve to Kamikochi. Autum at Matsumoto Castle Matsumoto While Matsumoto is technically a city, in reality it has more of a small town feel to it. Nestled in the picturesque Nagano prefecture, Matsumoto is the perfect place to spend a few relaxing days before heading off the explore the nearby mountains. Unlike the gleaming modern metropolises of Tokyo and Osaka, Matsumoto feels like a time-capsule where it's streets still capture the essence of Showa-era Japan. When visiting Matsumoto, you must visit the 400 year-old Matsumoto castle. The six-story wooden castle has been meticulously preserved and today you can explore the interior of the castle which has been converted to include a war museum. Here you can see various Sengoku-era weapons and armor on display. Beyond the castle, there are numerous temples and shrines scattered throughout the city you can visit. I also recommend going to spend an afternoon or evening at the quaint Nawate Shopping Street . Here you can find various independently owned homemade crafts for sale as well as numerous quiet cafes and restaurants to spend some time relaxing in. Here I recommend going to 'Kobayashi Soba', 'Story House Cafe & Bar', 'Portugal Alentejana', 'Tipsy Coffee Place' and 'Toritomi'. I would also recommend eating a fresh taiyaki from one of the street stalls. Additionally, you should go to the nearby Nakamichi Street for some dinner and a chilled-out nightcap afterwards. I recommend trying; 'Itoya', 'Sakaba Ikkoku', 'Matsumoto Brewery Tap Room', 'Sidecar', 'Quatre Gats', and Gusuku. GETTING THERE: - Traveling by car: Matsumoto is very easy to reach by car as there a numerous major motorways that pass-through or nearby Matsumoto. Taking the highway from Tokyo will amount to a roughly three hour drive. - Traveling by bus or train: Matsumoto is also quite accessible when traveling by public transport. From Tokyo to Matsumoto on the bus it will take about three and a half hours, while the train will take about 2 and half hours. For both modes of transport you are looking at about thirty to fifty US dollars. Mihama beach with the silhouette of Mt. Fuji in the background. The Izu Peninsula My pitch about why the Izu Peninsula is a must visit destination to those who plan to visit Japan is that I would liken it to the Amalfi coast of Japan. Much like the world renowned Amalfi coast, the Izu peninsula boasts a jagged coast line of dramatic cliffs and mountains that are abruptly punctuated by the ocean below. However, unlike the famous stretch of the Italian coast, most of Izu is fairly quiet and is not overrun by hoards of tourists even during peak season (this is particularly true on the west side of the peninsula). Despite being an island nation mainland Japan really is not known for it's beaches. The Izu Peninsula is an exception to this. Izu boasts some of the most stunning and secluded beaches and swimming holes not just in mainland Japan, but in all of Japan, including the islands to the south of the country. Some of these beaches you cannot miss are; Shirihama Beach , undoubtedly the most popular beach on the peninsula. Situated on the eastern side of the Izu Peninsula the 800m long beach boasts pristine white sand and stunning blue water. Based off photos you would think this beach was in Okinawa not mainland Japan. Moreover, Shirihama Beach is only a stones throw away from the popular tourist town of Shimoda. Here you can find many restaurants and bars that create for a lively, but laidback atmosphere. Moving to the western side of Izu, the Futo Coast is also an excellent destination to visit. In contrast to Shirihama beach, the Futo Coast is rocky and surrounded by rugged cliffs. However, what the two beaches do have in common is the pristine blue water. What further sets the Futo Coast apart are the many rocky islands jutting out from the sea just beyond the beach. With the largest of these islands being connected to the main beach by a narrow landbridge. This coupled with the surrounding cliffs creates for a spectacular destination to spend a day in the sun. Finally, tucked away up in the northwest corner of the Izu Peninsula is Mihama Beach. This secluded beach is perhaps my favorite on the entire peninsula. While the sand here more closely resembles a shade of grey rather than pristine white. What Mihama beach does offer is some of the most stunning views of Mt. Fuji you will find anywhere in Japan. Cradled in a bay that is surrounded by mountains in nearly every direction, you will not be disappointed by the scenery here. What further compounds my love for Mihama Beach is that it is still fairly undiscovered, there is a tori gate right on the water and a temple directly off the beach. Yet, due to this not being a massive tourist hot spot you can wander through and explore this area all to yourself. Other notable destination in Izu are: Yusuge Park, Senganmon Beach, Norihama Beach, Sehama Beach, Tsubasawa Beach, Tagosehama Beach, Cape Ose, Ito, Atami. GETTING THERE: The Izu peninsula is quite large and some of its key destinations are much easier to reach than others. Notably, the Eastern side of the peninsula is much more connected to public transit than the Western half of the Peninsula. Shirihama Beach and Shimoda are absolutely reachable via train. However, on the other hand if you wanted to go to Mihama Beach, or the Futo Coast renting a car would be the option for you. - Traveling by Car: Car travel is truly the best way to experience the Izu Peninsula. While some of Izu is indeed connected to the public transport system, there are other areas that are extremely rural and off the grid. However, this challenge adds to the charm of visiting the peninsula. My recommendation would be to take a few days and do a road trip around the entire peninsula. Some of the roads you will be driving on are up there with the most scenic in Japan. During this trip you will drive through winding mountain passes and high-up cliff top roads hanging over the ocean. In particular I would say you must drive the stretch of road from Tagosehama beach to Cape Ose, as you will also have stunning views of Mt. Fuji along the way. From Tokyo, it is about two and a half hours to the main tourist town of Shimoda. However, some of the more rural spots such as the Futo Coast and Mihama beach would be closer to four hours to reach directly from Tokyo. - Travel by Train/Bus: As mentioned before, public transport is either very limited or non existent to some areas of the Izu peninsula. However, if you want to stick to the main tourist hot-spot towns on the east coast of Izu, you will be able to do this fairly-easily on the train. From your hotel in central Tokyo you want to head to Shibuya station. Once you arrive at Shibuya station you should get on the Odoriko 55 limited express for Izukyu-Shimoda station. This is a direct train to Shimoda so you do not need to change trains. Once aboard it should take you about two hours and forty minutes to reach Shimoda. Other popular destinations such as Ito and Atami are also accessible on this line. Kegon Falls, which can be found just beside Lake Chuzenji Nikko & Lake Chuzenji If you are looking for somewhere that you can find both traditional Japanese culture and breathtaking nature, Nikko is the place for you to visit ! Part of the mountainous Tochigi prefecture there is no lack of roaring rivers, volcanic peaks, and picturesque lakes to be found here. For most, their visit to Nikko begins in the actual town of Nikko which is quite charming on its own right. In town you will find many arts and crafts shops, tea houses, cafes, and Japanese restaurants. You can also famously find the Nikko Toshogu shrine complex, which was created in the 17th century to honor Tokugawa Ieyasu, the shogun who established the Tokugawa shogunate. The complex is absolutely massive and is one of the most impressive you will find across the entire country. Once you finish exploring Nikko town or if you are just more of a nature person you must take the road up to lake Chuzenji. About an hour up the road (and the up should be emphasized here) you will reach lake Chuzenji. Just getting here is an adventure as the lake is situated atop a volcanic plateau, to reach the lake you will need to navigate a winding and extraordinarily scenic road to the top of the plateau. From there your initial views will be dominated by Mt. Nantai, which stands directly over the entrance to the lake and straddling the far side of the lake is yet another volcano, Mt. Nikko-Shirane, both of which can be climbed to the summit. I would recommend spending a few days around the area hiking and soaking in the many volcanic vistas that can be found here. You will also find a small town at the entrance of the lake as well. While the town itself is quite sleepy, just at the edge of town is where you can find the famous Kegon Falls. Standing at a height of 97 meters, Kegon Falls is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Japan and should not be missed. GETTING THERE: Not too far from central Tokyo, Nikko town is quite easy to reach via train. However, getting to Lake Chuzenji and its surrounding volcanos can prove to be more difficult if you do not have a car. - Travel by car: Nikko and its surrounding sights are quite easily reachable if you are traveling via a private car, with reaching Nikko town from central Tokyo taking about two hours. From there Lake Chuzenji is another hour further north and if you would like to hike Mt. Nikko-Shirane you are looking an additional twenty to thirty minutes on top of that. - Travel by train: Nikko town is connected via high-speed rail to Tokyo and thus an easy destination to reach for those looking for a weekend trip from the city. Getting to the Lake Chuzenji is a touch more tricky. To reach the lake from Nikko town there is a bus service available, which will cost about 2000 jpy and take about seventy minutes. However, operating times for this bus is a bit limited. Therefore it is recommended that if you are traveling via public transport and would like to visit Lake Chuzenji you should arrange accommodations next to the lake before heading there. Mountain top temple at Mt. Takao Mt. Takao Technically still within the Tokyo prefecture Mt. Takao makes for the perfect low-stress Saturday escape from the hustle of the city. Situated just an hour and some change out of central Tokyo, Mt. Takao has long been a popular destination for Tokyo-ites looking to catch a breath of fresh air. This is a perfect place to visit for visitors of all ages and fitness abilities. If you would like to get a nice hike in there is a mostly paved and meticulously maintained path you can take to reach the top of Mt. Takao. Conversely, if you are someone who prefers to sightsee without breaking a sweat there is a cable car that will take you to the top of the mountain for 700 jpy. Moreover, once you reach the summit of the mountain there is so much more you can do from there. Here you will find many street vendors selling delicious traditional Japanese snacks such as dango and taiyaki. On the topic of food, you absolutely cannot miss the beer garden just beside the summit cable car station. Here, for an hour and a half you can have all you can eat and drink buffet for just 5,000 jpy. You will find that the food on offer here is delicious and the all you can drink portion of your dinner bill does not just include beer, but also all you can drink wine and liquor as well. Aside from the eating and drinking there are also many temples and shrines as well as a monastery at the top of the mountain. These range from ornately decorated large complexes to small shrines that are hidden in the forest off the main path. Despite being a popular tourist destination for Tokyo residents, Mt. Takao still maintains a spiritual feel. This is especially true if you are able to take some time to wander off of the main paths. GETTING THERE Located within the greater Tokyo prefecture, Mt. Takao is extremely accessible for anybody visiting Tokyo. If you have the time it is a worthy addition to your Tokyo itinerary and serves as a good break from the city. - Travel by Car: If you are driving from central Tokyo, you can typically reach Mt. Takao in about 45 minutes to 1 hour. From Shinjuku you want to take the Chuo-Expressway to Hachioji. Once exiting the highway in Hachioji it is about 15 minutes further to the town at the base of Mt. Takao. - Travel by Train: Traveling to Mt. Takao by train from central Tokyo is easy and convenient. From Shinjuku station you want to look for the Keio Line Takaosanguchi Limited Express. Once aboard you can sit back and relax as this line does not require any changes. From Shinjuku simply take the train to the last stop of the line (Takaosonguchi Station) and you will have arrived at the base of Mt. Takao.

Leaving your bubble to pack up a select few of your belongings to travel to the far reaches of the world can seem intimidating both financially and psychologically. However, the world has never been more accessible than it is today. Allay your fears and learn how to travel the world on budget, welcome to budget travel 101. After a jeep ride and camel trek we arrived at our accommodation in the Thar Desert, India. While speaking with friends and family, I am frequently asked "how do you afford to travel so much ?". Conversely, it is quite normal to hear someone tell me something along the lines of "I would love to go to {insert destination} one day. " The key phrase in this sentence is " one day ". The insinuation being, " I would go now, however, I do not have either the time or the money to go in the immediate future. Therefore, I will wait until I have both of said resources in abundance." The problem with this is that the perceived 'perfect time to go' may never come or by the time it does come you no longer posses the energy or desire. If you truly do aspire to travel the world, you need prioritize taking advantage of every chance you have to do so and also understand how to do it without breaking the bank. Trying not to be overly philosophical, nothing in life is guaranteed beyond the present moment we are living in. Therefore I always strongly endorse living in the moment and giving yourself the time to do what you want to do as much as possible. Again, the two main hurdles people face that prevent them from traveling are often money and time. While I would say I am far from a 'professional' traveler (if there is such a thing). Pulling from the experiences I have accumulated over the last few years of frequent travel I am going try my hand at offering some advice on how to navigate these hurdles. First up, I will discuss how I minimize the financial hurdles associated with travel, before moving on to discussing how I optimize my time to maximize the amount of traveling I am able to do in a year. Money As an example, I spent three months this past summer traveling non-stop. During this 3 month trip I spent a total of just about 3,500 usd. This includes flights, accommodations, ground transportation, food, drinks, etc. On average I spent about 30 dollars a day for everything. These are some of the methods I used to have made this possible: Be flexible on the airport you fly in / out of. This is especially true when flying to a destination in Europe or South Asia. Let's say I am based in New York City and really want to go to Rome for vacation. Do not limit your flight search options to only flights from New York to Rome. Reason being, maybe the best deal you can find for flights on New York to Rome routes (including a layover) is $ 1000. However, you are able to find flights to London for $ 500. In this hypothetical, even though I still plan on ending up in Rome, I would take option 2 in heart beat. Between budget airlines and cheap ground transport, based on past experience I would estimate getting from London to Rome would cost you an additional $20 to $100. Don't believe me ? Here are the flight and ground transport prices for routes from London to Rome if you were booking for a month from now. Traveling 30 hours by ground from London may seem crazy, but if you have the time you could make this a whole trip in of itself ! Flight prices for service from London to Rome a month from now. Ground transport prices from London to Rome a month from now. Look at one way options before booking round trip flights. Booking round trip can often limit your options in finding the most financially friendly itinerary. For many of the same reasons previously described, flying out of the same city you flew into might not be the cheapest option. For example, on a trip to Europe I took this winter the cheapest option I could find on flights from Japan to Europe was a Tokyo to Istanbul route. This route came in at a price of about $600. However, flights from Istanbul back to Tokyo all came in around $1000. After searching around for a bit I was able to find a flight from Budapest to Tokyo for about $350. After finding these itineraries, I planned my trip itinerary around these two destinations to make it possible for me to fly into Istanbul and out from Budapest. Search for regional hub airports and low-cost carrier hub airports. Large hub airports that handle a high volume of flights each day tend to offer the cheapest fares to fly to (especially for international long-haul flights). When looking for flights to a specific region I always start my search by looking through flights to various hub airports. 1) Europe tends to be where this is strategy is the most effective as everything is so well connected from country to county so I will start there. The largest hub airports in Europe are Frankfurt (FRA), Amsterdam (AMS), Paris (CDG), Istanbul (IST), London (All airports), Madrid (MAD). 2) You should also look for smaller airports that are hubs for low-cost carriers. While the initial long-haul fares to these airports could possibly be a bit higher than to the larger hubs airports, you will likely be able to find dirt cheap airfare to regional destinations across the continent. Some airports that come to mind are Ryan Air's hub Dublin Airport (DUB), Wizz Air's hub Budapest Liszt Ferenc Airport (BUD), and Pegasus Air's Sabiha Gokcen Airport- Istanbul (SAW). 3) Finally, especially for those in North America who are looking to travel to Europe there are a few airlines/airports that fall into a bit of an in-between category. This is a category of airlines that are offering low-cost transatlantic services between Europe and North America (basically giving you the same no-frills service you get on a low-cost regional airline, but on a long haul flight). Some airlines that come to mind are TAP Air Portugal who are headquartered at Lisbon Airport (LIS), and Norse Atlantic Airway who are headquartered at Oslo Airport (OSL). As an example, taking a quick look on Norse Atlantic Airways' site it appears they are offering fares from New York to London for as low as $175 on certain dates. 4) Asia is a bit more complicated as everything is much more spread-out, typically resulting in higher fares on regional airlines compared to Europe. However, for the most part the same principles apply. For example, on a trip I took this summer I wanted to start my trip in Siem Reap Cambodia. However, flights from Tokyo directly to Siem Reap were quite expensive. Rather than booking these flights I booked cheaper flights to the nearest hub airport; Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport and got a budget friendly regional flight from there to Siem Reap. (I was in a bit of time crunch otherwise I would have taken a $10 overnight bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap). 5) The main regional airports I would search for in Asia are as follows. East Asia: Tokyo Narita International (NRT), Tokyo Haneda International (HND), Kansai International (KIX), Seoul Incheon International (ICN), Shanghai Pudong International (PVG), Guangzhou Baiyun International (CAN), Beijing-Capital Airport (PEK), and Beijing-Daxing Airport (PKX). 6) South East Asia: Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (BKK), Kuala Lumpur International (KUL), Singapore Changi Airport (SIN), Noi Bai International (HAN), and Ton Son Nhat International (SGN). 7) Middle/South Asia: Delhi Indira Gandhi International (DEL), Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International (BOM), Dubai International (DBX), and Sharjah International (SHJ). 8) If your looking to travel to Asia on a budget I would HIGHLY recommend looking for flights with Chinese carriers as they all seem to be offering extremely cheap fares at the moment. When looking at flights between Europe and Asia or the Americas and Asia, fares on Chinese airlines are frequently 50% or 60% cheaper than all of the other competition. Embrace layovers (and the journey as a whole). Obviously when traveling you pay a bit of a premium for comfort and convenience. Which is why learning to appreciate layovers rather than dreading them is an important part of being a budget traveler. Many people fear layovers and do all they can to avoid lengthy stops in the middle of the journeys. Yet, from my experience the cheapest fares also come with the craziest itineraries. While seeing a 40hr trip itinerary with a 15+ hour stop over in a random city can seem like insanity at first, try to see this as an opportunity rather than a burden. In fact, some of my favorite travel days have been on long layovers. A few years ago when flying between Tokyo and New York, my itinerary included a 24 hour stopover in Seoul and another 10 hour stop in Taipei. Despite the trip itinerary being over 50 hours long, by spending the two stop over days exploring Seoul and Taipei I was able to turn this into an amazing experience. Even on long layovers where I was not able leave the airport, I have often been able to make them pleasant enough. Just last month I had an overnight layover in Beijing and despite having to sleep on a random sofa somewhere in the airport, I was able to get about 5 hours of sleep. This was followed by dim sum and Chinese noodles for breakfast. All in all, not bad. Track Your Spending (Especially if you're going on a long trip) Whenever I set off on a new trip I always have a good idea of what my finances are looking like and an even better idea of what my budget for a particular trip may be. However, what is difficult is holding yourself accountable to not go over the budget you have set. Backpacking hot spots tend to be affordable especially when viewed in comparison to the United States or many European countries. While low prices are certainly a perk of traveling to many places around the world, this can create an illusion where it feels as though you're not spending money at all. Herein lies the danger as the little purchases absolutely add up. This is particularly true when you're going out to eat multiple times a day and having drinks after dinner nearly every night. I for one have definitely been guilty of getting to the end of a week traveling only to realize that I am hundreds of dollars over budget for the week (and subsequently going into extreme budget mode the next week) . Thus, I highly recommend people to track their spending down to the smallest purchases while traveling. There are various apps you can download which will help organize and track your spending, I have used and would recommend TravelSpend . However, I have actually found the easiest and most effective way for me to track my spending is by simply transcribing my daily spending into the built-in 'notes' app on my phone at the end of each day. This is as simple as it sounds, as seen in the photo below, my method is not very complicated. An example of my expense tracking during my trip to Thailand. It is okay to have some chill days Budget traveling is an exercise in getting over fomo (otherwise known as 'fear of missing out' ). Whether you're traveling for a week or 6 months. Typically, the amount of time we spend traveling is finite. This creates a sense of pressure to do as much and see as much as we can everyday we're on the road. In an ideal world we would be able to see and do everything. Yet, aside from this style of lightning pace travel being exhausting. The fact is fun activities and excursions are expensive. My advice would be to research some interesting activities you would like to do while traveling, but don't make yourself beholden to do every single thing you saved from instagram. Take some days to just hangout at the hostel. It's free to sit around the common area shooting the shit and making friends with people. In fact, some of the most fun I have had traveling and best friends I have made are from what most would consider unremarkable days. However, a word of caution: hanging out in hostels usually involves drinking and frequently a lot of it. Whether I was in Nepal, Guatemala, Thailand, or India drinking is always one expense that quickly adds up. Along with activities, accepting its okay not to go out every night is essential for travelers on a budget. Save on food when possible A few years ago when I was living in Europe as a broke post-grad student. I decided to take a three-week trip to Greece over winter vacation. Truth be told I would estimate that I only had about 1000 euros in my bank account at the time. Not a ton to be leaving for a three week trip on. What this meant was that I really had to account for every euro I spent. I did this by spending virtually no money on food for the entire trip. For breakfast and lunch I would go to the local supermarket in the morning to buy a couple tangerines, fresh bread, and feta cheese. For two meals this would cost me about 5 euros. When dinner time came around I nearly exclusively ate gyros from street vendors which typically would come in between 3 to 5 euros for a wrap (at least back in 2021). While this might seem a little crazy to some people and I understand there are people who travel to certain destinations specifically for the cuisine. Back then I really just wanted to visit Greece and see the beautiful nature the country had to offer. Going to local grocery stores for the majority of my food rather than restaurants was simply one of the necessary measures it took for me to make the trip possible. Get of the Instagram path Places become famous on Instagram for a reason and I will not dispute that just because somewhere is a tourist hotspot means that it cannot be cool. The issue is, usually the most famous locations in a country also tend to be the most expensive. This is why I am a firm believer in A) doing your research and finding some lesser-known destinations and B) being willing to throw out your plans and go with the flow if a local or someone knowledgable on the area gives you a recommendation on a place to visit. On my three week trip to Greece, I had broken my trip up to where the first half of my trip would be in the mountains in the north of the country. After which I traveled down to the island of Santorini in the south of the country for the second half of the trip. While both destinations were certainly incredible and worth visiting, the lesser known and visited north was cheaper with the local economy being far less centered around all things tourism. Mountain views in Northern Greece Travel in the off-season (especially if you do insist on hitting up the insta-famous spots) Piggybacking off of my last point, there are some damn cool Instagram famous spots that are absolutely worth seeing. However, again as previously mentioned, these spots can be pricey, even in counties with reputations of being cheap. One example would be the temples of Angkor Wat located in Cambodia which levy a 40 usd entry ticket to most foreign visitors. With that in mind traveling in the off-season has many benefits and one of those benefits is that it is much easier to find budget friendly deals during the off-season months when compared to peak tourist season. On my visit to Santorini, an extremely popular summer destination. I decided to pay the small Mediterranean island a visit in December. What this resulted in was that I was able to book an air bnb which typically would go for 220usd per night during the summer, for 80 dollars a night instead. Another positive was that Santorini, despite being a notoriously over-crowded destination was absolutely deserted in the winter. During my stay on the island I completed the famous 10-kilometer Fira to Oia hike. While this hiking trail would have normally been chalk-full of tourists also completing the famous walk, on the day I did the hike I saw a grand total of three other tourists the entire day. Off-season 80 dollar a night air bnb Hostels, hostels, hostels For the uninitiated hostels can have a bad rep, and there certainly are some sketchy hostels around the world. That does not mean they are all bad. The the contrary is quite true. If you do a bit of research hostels can provide you excellent value for money. Personally, in terms of booking hostels I do 99% of my bookings through the 'Hostel World' app. Hostel World is an excellent resource to use as it easily organizes all potential stays and allows you to look through reviews from other travelers that include criteria such as cleanliness, safety, comfort, social atmosphere, location. Through Hostel World you are also able to see how many people have stayed in every listed hostel, which helps in giving you an idea of how popular a hostel is. Understandably, staying in a shared dorm with strangers can be an uncomfortable proposition to some. However, choosing your accommodations is really where you can save a ton of money. For example, on my trip to Nepal two years ago, on average I paid about 2usd (yes two dollars) a night for accommodation. I was in the country for six weeks and during that six week stay I would estimate I spent about 250 dollars TOTAL on accommodations. You just can't beat that. If you are someone that absolutely cannot fathom the idea of staying in a shared room with other strangers, hostels also usually offer private rooms that are often ( but not always ) cheaper than any hotels in town. Ditch your clunky suitcase and downsize as much as possible Get over the fact that you might not always have your nicest outfit on for every travel photo. While I like to have cool photos to post as much as anybody, one thing I will not do is do so at the expense of having to pay extra baggage fees. After completing numerous backpacking trips I have gotten to the point where I have devised a bit of a system. My goal when packing is now four to five t-shirts and four to five pairs of shorts, one pair of pants, one hoodie/sweater, and one pair of casual shoes as well as a pair of hiking shoes. In addition, something that I have started doing when hiking in places with cold weather is buying bulky jackets once I arrive in the destination right before I start hiking. In places like India or Nepal you can buy a decent quality winter jacket for about twenty bucks. On the other hand over-weight luggage could run you one-hundred and fifty dollars. If you are going to be taking multiple flights throughout your trip this can add up quickly. I've found the magic weight you want your bag to be before leaving on a trip is right around 7 kilograms or 15 pounds. Bag packed for a 3 month trip to Cambodia, Thailand, and India Time It's okay to prioritize yourself Money is valuable. The one commodity I would argue that is more valuable than even money would be time. Unlike money, you can never get time back. This is where the value in time lies, in relation to our lives time is utterly finite. Thus, we need take advantage of the time we have to do the things we want to do. So much of our lives is already spent working, every measure to prevent wasting the free time we do have should be taken. I say all of this to say there will rarely ever be the 'perfect' time to go on your dream trip. I am lucky in the sense that I do not work during the summers. Most people do not have this luxury. I would guess that the average working age adult has two to three weeks of time off from work each year. That would add up to roughly 25 weeks or six months of time off per decade. Frankly, this is not a ton of time, which means you should treat every second of your time off as a precious resource and use it to do the things you want to do. There is always going to be a birthday, wedding, family/friend gathering, or something else going on that conflicts with your travel schedule. My advice is, as hard as it may be it is okay to tell your friends and family you won't be able to see them or be in attendance with them at an event or occasion from time to time. If you have the time to go off on an adventure, then do it ! Don't be afraid to go alone To continue off the previous point, waiting for the perfect time to travel just for yourself is already hard enough. Finding the perfect time for you AND your friends can be nearly impossible. If you have a trip or adventure you've been wanting to go on, don't let the fact your friends are busy stop you from going. I love my friends, but solo travel has given me some of the most fun and rewarding days of my life. While traveling across the world alone can certainly be nerve inducing, particularly if you have never done it before, it is full of opportunity. For one, there is no discussion on what the itinerary for the trip will look like or what the day to day activities are going to be. If you're solo traveling you get to chose what you want to do everyday. On top of that it is so easy to make new friends solo traveling. While staying in hostels or out on tours, or pub crawls, there are many opportunities to meet new and like-minded people. In fact, as I said before, some of the best friends I have made in my twenties were made while out solo-traveling. All this to say, traveling with your friends is fun, but don't let their schedules and lives hold you back from going on the trips you want to go on. Just go for it !