Author: Sonya
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Vietnam: Hội An, Ninh Binh/Tràng An, and Hanoi
After our adventurous two week family “snorkelfest” through the islands of West Papua in Indonesia, we headed back north to Vietnam. Our time spent here was coordinated with the Lunar Lantern Festival in Hội An (January 13th) and the Vietnamese New Year (Tết, the week-long period around January 29th)! We…
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Indonesia: West Papua and the islands of Raja Ampat
Our self-induced family hostage crisis in Laos, aka the weeks spent waiting for our replacement passport, came to a chaotic end on the afternoon of December 23rd. On the morning of Christmas Eve we began our journey to Indonesia. Due to the limited last-minute flight options, we found ourselves traveling…
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Laos: Luang Prabang, Nong Khiaw, and Vang Vieng
Our time in Laos was a very (very!) loosely planned portion of our year. Honestly, neither of us knew much about this tiny, landlocked country in Southeast Asia before arriving. What we discovered here was stunning beauty, diversity, and a complex history that has limited the country’s past and future…
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Losing a passport in Laos
Everyone’s worst traveling nightmare – losing a passport! Here are all the details on the sad mess I created by losing a passport while traveling through remote central Laos (of note, one of the last remaining communist countries on earth). A step-by-step account outlining how it happened and how we…
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Northern Thailand: Chiang Mai and Pai
After six weeks of intense trekking in Nepal we planned a few weeks of relative downtime and family relaxation in northern Thailand! Not by coincidence, our downtime was coordinated with the ancient Yi Peng and Loy Krathong festivals – also commonly known as northern Thailand’s “Lantern Festival.” When we started…
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Nepal: More Kathmandu and Everest Base Camp
From Pokhara (our previous Nepal post) we headed back to Kathmandu by bus for a couple more rest days and to make final preparations for our planned 23-day journey to Everest Base Camp (as well as the 18,375′ summit of Kalapathar, Cho La Pass at 17,800′, and Goyko Lake)! We…
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Nepal: Kathmandu, Pokhara, and Mardi Himal Base Camp
Our flight from Istanbul to Kathmandu (via Mumbai, India) was on September 28th. Little did we know that ongoing tensions in the Middle East were about to escalate – we were on one of the very last flights to safely cross this incredibly tenuous airspace. In fact, within hours, the…
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Türkiye: Istanbul and Cappadocia
Istanbul, Türkiye! This MASSIVE, beautiful, historic mega-city is where the West (Europe) officially meets East (Asia) – we explored the city center, attended a European women’s soccer game, and consumed impressive amounts of Turkish delight, baklava, and kebabs! We stayed in central Istanbul, the Golden Horn/Sultanahmet neighborhood – in the…
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Greece: Meteora and Athens
Leaving Italy was surprisingly emotional. We had been overland traveling by train, bus, and car for more than 10 weeks, so boarding our flight out of Rome felt like we were starting a new chapter in our big adventure! We landed in Athens and drove 4 hours north to a…
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Central Italy: Cinque Terre, Firenze, Montepulciano, and Rome
We actually started our final two weeks in Italy with a quick stop in Bavaria (Germany) to spend time with another one of our previous au pairs and her family. Sara was our very first au pair and joined our family just a few weeks after we became parents! She’s…
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Croatia: Istrian Peninsula
After our month of full-on hiking and climbing through the Dolomites, we headed to the Istrian Peninsula (Croatia) for a few days of fantastic, relaxing beach time! We camped on the Adriatic coast near Rovinj, spending our days swimming, snorkeling, and relaxing. Howie and I took evening walks into the…
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Italy: The Dolomites
A month of hiking and climbing through our favorite place on earth, meeting up with friends and family from around the world – what an absolute dream come true! Our four weeks in the Dolomites were spent in 4 different regions – we began in the Tre Cime/Sexten region along…
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Switzerland: Zermatt and Bernese Oberland
Our travel day from Paris to Zermatt included 1 subway ride, 6 separate train transfers, and a bus (portions of the journey re-routed due to recent flooding and landslides in Switzerland). It set our new record for most consecutive transfers, and was definitely a challenge with all of our gear.…
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Prague and Paris
Cities are not our family’s natural habitat… but there are some cities in the world so stunningly beautiful and culturally rich that they deserve exploration. So we hung up our hiking boots for a bit and spent some time discovering the 2 European icons of Prague and Paris. We landed…
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The Balkans: Montenegro, Albania, and Bosnia Herzegovina
How did the Balkan region end up on our radar as a family travel destination? After the breakup of Yugoslavia, from 1991 until 2001 (a significant portion of our young, formative years) the entire region was involved in ongoing ethnic/cultural conflicts and all-out war. If you had asked me to…
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Morocco: Fes, Sahara Desert, High Atlas Mountains, and Marrakech
While geographically close, the transition from Madeira to Morocco was fairly dramatic for our family. We woke at 3am to catch our flight, and by 11am we found ourselves fully immersed in the chaos of the Casablanca airport. We located our luggage, navigated our way through customs, attempted to use…
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Portugal: The island of Madeira
Madeira, Portugal. What a sweet little gem to begin our adventure abroad – a small island off the coast of North Africa, known as the “Hawaii of Europe.” The topography is incredibly steep, with every road, trail, and town clinging to a terraced hillside. Though it was often more crowded…
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A Quick layover in NYC
Adventure appetizer! 48 amusingly busy hours in NYC. We stayed in Manhattan and did the touristy things: walks through Central Park, the American Museum of Natural History to visit a multitude of dinosaurs, and MoMA (specifically to see H’s favorite painting – Stary Night). The family got thoroughly saturated running…
Eight Boots Abroad 