Alone with the Divine in Pakistan No one in the world but God knows where I am. Four o’clock in the morning: Karachi, Pakistan. It was the season of the Hajj, and the above thought struck me as I sat in the small airport café. My plane had been late arriving from Bangkok, I had … Continued
TRAVEL DREAMS I know the fluorescent lights are making my pale skin look green. “I want to run away,” I thought as I pulled my laptop out while grasping the bar on the right side of the recliner allowing me to move effortlessly from a seated position to a supine one. Feet up, sequined pink flip-flops framing my … Continued
After 6 hours of uphill driving, passing by one of the highest roads in the world, Chang La, Lina and I feel the air around Pangong Lake. A fortress of mountains around us acts like a bowl which seems to hold us gently and lay us softly on the mildly meandering lake. This is the … Continued
There is a freedom to the road rushing past the window, a joy in those inbetween places. Ragged towns cling desperately to roads between more lauded cities, throwing out a tendril of stalls to draw decadent travellers in. Hidden valleys sneak behind the other sides of mountains, where the road hurries round to the prettier, … Continued
“Santa Fe is a special place,” informed one of my travel companions, as we made our way from Albuquerque to Santa Fe one late spring afternoon. As a native Texan, my new friend had been traveling to the city for years, and she had recently spent her honeymoon there, so I figured she might be … Continued
I break through one of the many crowded entryways to the world famous Grand Bazaar and let out an audible, astonished gasp. Never in my life have I seen so much activity in one place and it’s happening all around me; 360 degrees. It’s crowded, noisy, stiflingly hot and smelly-in ways both pleasant and not. … Continued
Sugar-packed mint tea coursed through my blood, and the light, quick pounding of Berber drums resounded throughout the tent. Travelers brushed aside the weariness setting upon them from a long day of camel riding through the Moroccan Saharan, and filled the colorful tent from edge to edge with their multi-language babbling. A hand callused by … Continued
There is something about being on the open road that connotes freedom for me. It’s the same liberating feeling that I get when I go bike riding along the shore- that indescribable sensation of sailing through the air effortlessly, that feeling of having the weight of the world lifted off my back, that feeling of … Continued
Sitting on a beach is perhaps the most stereotypical place to ‘find yourself’ but my experience was a little different. Yes it was a ‘tropical’ beach with white sand and clear warm waters in Mexico but it represented to me everything I didn’t want and everything I wanted to be free from. Hundreds of burnt … Continued
I could not believe my eyes. There i was, amongst dignitaries from all works of life. I must have been the youngest in the bus. I was not sure how how i found myself there, but i knew that was where i belonged. Omotola Jalade had sat behind me, and Chimamanda Adichie, in front of … Continued