Category: Travel Planning: What to Do

Travel Planning and Travel Stories; What to Do + Activities

  • We felt like we’ve had enough of Havana. So the next morning we woke up to our second omelette with sausages while Señor Paolo waited for us to finish eating. There’s bread and butter on the table. But there is no milk like yesterday. We didn’t ask and drank our coffee blacker than the sky…

  • We step out of our casa particular in Vedado, a suburb of Havana, and immediately see what will become the familiar silhouette of Ernesto Che Gueverra. As expected, there are frequent reminders of Cuba’s history wherever you turn–inspirational quotes from Cuba’s national hero, José Martí, and dates of historical importance that most, if not all,…

  • I’ve been manic the past few weeks–with the new job and all–and I’ve been feeling very blue and in need of alone time. There’s a whole lot of improvement to be made in order for me to go back to feeling like myself again, and a trip to Saugerties, New York, which took two years…

  • The constant rumbling coming from the #7 train above us was a sure sign that we were on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. From 69th Street, we saw people who looked and sounded like us, but only a few blocks away was a completely different enclave of Queens. The Tagalog signs changed to Spanish and the…

  • My greatest discovery the past couple of years is taking the Metro-North train to get out of the city from the 125th Street Harlem station. I’ve already picked cherries in Dutchess County this past summer and I just came back from a weekend hike in Beacon. During that hike, the leaves were already turning up…

  • The three of us met inside the Metro North train after a last-minute plan to get out of the city to welcome the first weekend that felt like autumn had finally arrived. We were in Beacon, New York after a 90-minute ride. A short cab ride brought us to Bob’s convenience store where Tracy picked…

  • To wrap up our two-week vacation in Tunisia, we just had to drive around the Cap Bon and end up in La Marsa so we could drop off our rental car and catch our flight out of Tunis. From Kairouian, our scenery changed from small town to suburbia. Nabeul is the country’s ceramic center and…

  • From Mahdia, English John, the Dr. and I jumped in the car to catch the sunset at El Jem, Tunisia’s most impressive Roman monument. It would have been more impressive, of course, if we actually made it inside. We arrived in El Jem just a little before 6pm after a 45-minute drive. When we walked…

  • We said good-bye to Houmt Souq, Jerba, and drove a long way up the east coast to Sfax. On our map, Sfax and Sousse were the two locations besides Tunis that looked like busy cities because of several roads connecting them with surrounding towns. We vowed to skip the tourist traps when we first looked…

  • We slept some more as Taha and Emin drove us the next morning to Matmata. The roads started to disappear and this is why only 4x4s are allowed in the desert. More camels and rosemary bushes dotted the side of the road. From the top of Matmata, we saw how Mother Nature carved stones and…

  • After pricing three companies while in Tozeur, we settled with Au Coeur du Desert which charged us 350 dinars for a two-day tour. Our English-speaking guide, Taha, and his brother, Emin, picked us up as soon as we returned our car to Europcar, the rental agency. Taha drove like a maniac, but he was very…

  • We had a long way to go to Tozeur via Gafsa, so we woke up early to start our drive to Kasserine. The rolling hills switched to empty lots of cacti. As our surroundings started to become flat, more and more locals started to hitch a ride to the nearby towns. We saw an older…