Most people plan trips months in advance. I booked Doha because a dot on a screen looked interesting. I was somewhere between countries — I think India, maybe Egypt, possibly the UAE — and I couldn’t sleep. So I did what I always do when…
A Japanese-fusion restaurant in Doha, Qatar just made my permanent rotation. I need to talk about Reberu. Not in the “here’s a listicle of ten restaurants you should try in Doha” way. In the “I’ve eaten my way across sixty-plus countries and this place stopped…
The first airport took my bags and kept them for hours. So I decided I was done with Turkey. Not done with that airport specifically. Done with the whole country. The city. The region. The entire idea of going back. One bad experience at one…
I know you. You’ve been thinking about it. Maybe someone mentioned it. Maybe it came up on a map and you let your eyes sit on it for a second longer than usual. Maybe you’ve been carrying a version of this trip in the back…
Pictures below. The first time I went to Istanbul, I went with my sister. The second time, I brought family. Same city. Same accommodation — right in the center of everything, the spot we’d found the first time and couldn’t justify leaving. Different people around…
Pictures below. I didn’t expect to believe any of it. That’s the honest starting point. I sat down, drank the coffee — which is strong in a way that makes you question every cup you’ve had before it, the kind of strong you’d rather smell…
Istanbul, Türkiye The bags were gone for hours. New country. New airport. Staff that were not particularly invested in solving our problem. And nothing to do but wait, track, and stay functional. That was my welcome to Türkiye. I’ve thought about that moment a lot…
Istanbul, Türkiye I am a germophobe. Not severely (I for some reason am completely OKAY with public gyms), but enough. So walking barefoot into a mosque for the first time — shoes off at the door, no exceptions — was not something I was mentally prepared for. Turkey was my…
The bags were gone. Not delayed. Not misplaced somewhere. Gone — the way things disappear when you’re in a country you’ve never been to, in an airport the size of a small city, surrounded by signs you can’t fully read and people who may not…
How Fear Nearly Cost Me My Favorite Region on Earth I almost didn’t go. Let me be honest about that. When Turkey first came up — when the idea of actually getting on a plane and flying to a country I had categorized in my…
I landed in Cairo and someone immediately tried to take me somewhere. Not aggressively. Smoothly. The kind of smooth that makes you feel rude for saying no — like they’re doing you a favor and you’re the problem for not accepting it. I said no…
Eat Out. Stay Lean. Keep Your Physique Intact. — If you’re not staying in airbnbs or accommodations where you can cook your own food (or have someone else do it for you), you’ll likely be eating out for much of your travels, which actually isn’t the…