Edinburgh
With a castle that sits atop a dormant volcano, countless historic places and spaces, Gothic cathedrals, amazing architecture, modern museums and galleries, and ghostly underground vaults, Edinburgh has a lot to offer! The Royal Mile The Royal Mile, which runs between the Castle at the top down to Holyrood Abbey, is geared toward tourists, and […]
Glorious Gourmet Grub
Photo essay on the surprising variety of delicious food we found in Scotland!
Scottish Highlands Roadtrip
A dream come true: a trip through the Scottish Highlands, land of several of my ancestors, on both sides of the family. The journey began from Toward, on the Cowal Peninsula. The area is peaceful and windswept, with beautiful views of passing boats over the Firth of Forth to Ayrshire, and across to Rothesay on […]
How Now, Glasgow
Welcome to Glasgow Maybe it’s the city’s edgy, somewhat radical reputation, maybe it’s the friendly people we met, the history, or maybe all the free museums, but Glasgow was a very welcoming first stop in Scotland was Glasgow. While Edinburgh has a flashier reputation, we found once-notorious Glasgow to be just our style. Glasgow is a true, international […]
Family Meeting
“Hello, cousin. It’s lovely to meet you.” The goal of this last leg of our journey is to get an introduction to the UK, connecting with family and friends along the way. A few years ago, I embarked on a family history project that included tracing my roots back as far as I could. My […]
London Calling
After 10 months in Asia we’ve come nearly full circle and landed in the UK. With just one night allotted for London initially, we wanted to make the most of it. So… $cha-ching$ we cashed in a bunch of Marriott points and stayed at the Grosvenor House by JW Marriott on Park Lane. Located across […]
Camel Safari
Twenty miles or so out of Bikaner, in a small, dusty village on the edge of the Thar Desert, we met our two camels. A third was hitched up to a cart pulling some provisions for our journey. Each camel had his master/owner, who knows him best and responds to his commands (more or less). […]
Don’t Skip: Bikaner, India
Desert Outpost Bikaner Firmly planted in western Rajasthan Bikaner has a distinctly different feel from the other Rajasthani cities we’ve visited thus far. It’s a big city, but one that seems more like a desert outpost than a modern urban center. Camels are everywhere, used here mostly for pulling carts and work in agriculture. Hauling […]
Jodhpur Blues
Jodhpur has long been known as the “Blue City,” and the views from the top of its imposing fort prove this still to be true. Historically, it was only the high class, priestly Brahmins who painted their homes this color, and the old Brahmin neighborhoods are still the bluest, but as many other residents started to follow suit over […]
Udaipur, City of Lakes
Udaipur is known as the romantic City of Lakes. Throughout Rajasthan, people kept asking when we would visit this quaint, yet well-touristed spot. The city is as picturesque as promised, oriented around Lake Pichola. Bathing and clothes washing ghats are always in use, while a major temple, the City Palace, hotels and restaurants enjoy lovely […]