We arrived five hours later than we thought we would in Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal.  Those five hours spent waiting on the train, with no update from anyone except the Indian tour guide leading a giggling group of enthusiastic Japanese tourists, were painful.  I knew that the carrot on the end of the stick was well worth it, but I could not help feeling frustrated.
The day before, we met a slightly crazed American film artist traveling in Sarnath for a ten day religious retreat.  I have never …

Fellow Go Girl Erica and I made it through Valentines Day 2010 with not a boyfriend in sight. With hers in Germany and mine in Afghanistan, we were about to let ourselves look like two sick puppies on Christmas Day.
Or were we??
Like hell we were!
Erica and I spent weeks planning our very own Valentines Day, dreaming up, with greedy fingers, all of the
wonderful things that we always wished our men would do for us…that we could now do together. It was to be a dream come true; the best Valentines …

By Lillie
Catch more of her travels at http://www.aroundtheworldl.com
Five hours out of Ho Chi Minh City, our bus trundled into Mui Ne: a beautiful coastal town in South-Central Vietnam. What followed nicely illustrates my current hotel selection process whilst solo, budget backpacking in new and far-off places. Perhaps this strategy may work for you in the future!
1. Pre-research the location through a guidebook, but acknowledge the guidebook’s out-of-date-ness. Ahh Lonely Planet Guidebook– it’s been good for basic background info and maps, but its hotel selections have proven musty, dusty, and unfriendly, at …

4 March 2010
I don’t even know where to begin. This week was supposed to be a wonderful ball of stress and excitement culminating in an 8-hour flight to Germany and a week-long vacation with my partner, who I haven’t seen in almost six months. I was supposed to spend it packing, making last-minute purchases, and cramming homework in so that I didn’t have to bring anything with me.
A few days ago, I got a call that changed everything. A friend of mine from undergrad, who’s been coping with a brain …

One of the biggest parts of Moroccan culture is their food, and as far as I’m concerned, there is definitely no better way to experience this food than becoming part of a Moroccan family. A lot of Moroccan social interaction involves food, and this is understandable because there are not just three mealtimes during the day, but four; breakfast, lunch, what I call teatime, and dinner. Why the teatime you ask? Because Moroccans generally don’t eat dinner till between 9 pm and midnight, and so need something …