We arrived in Rio de Janeiro at four o’clock in the morning. It was dark. We took the shuttle to the rental car agency, so we could start our four-hour drive to Itamambuca Beach as soon as possible. “Wait until…

I paid my way through college as a journalist, writing for “De Delftse Courant”, a local newspaper, and the university paper “Delta”. What I liked most about these jobs was the excuse to interview others about their lives. Similarly, when…
Packing and leaving are not our favorite activities. We travel with four carry-on suitcases and one medium-sized suitcase. On departure day, we push and shove, curse, sit or stand on the suitcases, and sigh in relief when all are closed.…
A little out of order; but for my writing class, I had to write a travel guide in 700 words or less. I chose to share some information about our weekend trips to the Israeli Negev desert: The Negev desert…
We found Greeks very friendly and the country is much more diverse than we had expected. We visited Santorini, and then took a road trip on the mainland, taking us from Athens, to Delphi, Meteora, Ionnina, Vitsa (Zagori), Parga and…
Greece is handling a large influx of refugees from Syria, while also dealing with a bankrupt economy. Twenty-five percent of Greek are unemployed, and those who have jobs, have seen their salary reduced by about a third in the past…
We stopped at the natural, hot springs of Thermopylae, which means “The Hot Gates”, on our way from Delphi to Meteora in Greece. It should have been the perfect end, to a perfect day. We had experienced unusual homeschooling success…
I had hoped we could weave in homeschooling lessons while sightseeing. Usually, the kids don’t agree. In the morning, they finish their work, and then they want to focus on having fun. Sometimes, more like “often”, they complain about our…
This is part 2 of my writing assignment. In Part 1, I interviewed Bart about how he looks back on his transformative gap years now, thirty years later. In this profile, I am in conversation with another inspiring traveler, Maria,…
We arrived in Athens after four months in Israel on May 1. It was just after midnight, the start of the Greek Orthodox Easter. Fortunately, the taxi driver didn’t mind piling five people and five carry-ons into a Skoda for…