When we were living in Saudi Arabia in the 80’s and 90’s, we felt like a fax machine was the best invention ever made because we could communicate almost instantaneously with family back home in the US. And back then we’d have to buy boxes and boxes of stuff when… Read more
While it may seem on the outside like Nick and I are traveling constantly, in all actuality, we are home in Portland and working more often than not. And while we do both travel fairly consistently for work (me to Hawaii and Nick to Seattle), 85% of our time is… Read more
I’ve wanted to see the ever-increasingly famous Antelope Canyon for a long time. It’s been at the top of our travel list for years, so when we finally booked our trip to Sedona and Northern Arizona, we knew it would be our top destination for the trip to see the… Read more
Last week, one day I drove Nick to work. On the way, the sunrise was lovely, pastel colors spilling across the sky with Mt. Hood on the horizon, the sun rising behind it. After dropping him off, I took the back way home, through North Portland, instead of the freeway… Read more
It seems these days every day we hear on the news about terrible crimes around the world. In the very recent past attacks like in Paris and Beirut, followed by those in Mala, Istanbul and Indonesia have very unfortunately been happening all too often. We live in a world currently… Read more
We traveled a lot last year, both because we wanted to and because certain things came up for work and life that we had to travel for. And in all that travel and time on planes and in cars, we got burnt out. There came a point after our trip in… Read more
We’ve all had those trips where major things go wrong: flights are canceled, hurricanes detract our travel plans or we’re sick or have an emergency and can’t go, etc. And those are horrible and can ruin a travel experience. But on the other hand, there are also some trips when… Read more
Oftentimes the blog world goes on and on about how incredible travel is and I am no different, I do to. I do that here on Land of Marvels because I truly believe that, because my life has changed because of it, I have changed because of travel. But one… Read more
Our trip a couple weeks ago to Amsterdam was a very spontaneous one for us, booking only a few weeks prior to our travel dates, which we hardly ever do. But to give you a sense of why we booked it, it had everything to do with needing some… Read more
There I was high above the Pacific, nearing midnight Portland time when suddenly I woke from my in-flight sleep to the most spectacular sunset high above the world. I don’t know if it was that my iTunes top 25 playlist was playing which features mostly songs that mean a… Read more
When we had Lisbon scheduled on our itinerary for this trip, I got a ton of suggestions to take the day trip from Lisbon to Sintra. I did the research, checked it out and truly had every intention of going, but in the end, we didn’t end going and… Read more
I find that with each trip and each adventure that Nick and I take, my idea of travel in general changes bit by bit. As a kid, I saw travel as fun, as a way to spend time with my family and to see different places without any true emotional… Read more
Do you ever get on a flight and immediately know your neighbor crammed into the seat next to you is just going to be a problem the whole flight? Yea, I think we’ve all been there a time or two and really, more than not, the question is why are… Read more
I’ve talked a lot on this blog about the places that I’ve learned incredibly valuable lessons while traveling, the moments I’ve had in places around the world that have changed me, but I’ve never actually mentioned all the ways that travel changes you in your daily life when you come… Read more
We had an amazing weekend in the San Juan’s of Washington State and I’ll be posting all about our time there in the days to come, but one thing that sort of put a damper on our weekend was me getting sick. I started not feeling great on Thursday of… Read more