We’ve all been there. Your sister is sunning herself in Hawaii, your bestie is exploring Europe, your Facebook friends are checking in to luxury hotels in faraway lands, your Instagram feed is full of high-contrast pictures of airplane wings, and you’re … sitting at home watching an episode of “Chopped” you’ve already seen three times, […]
If you asked me what I thought about Ohio when I was a boy-band-loving, glitter-coated 13-year-old, I would have proclaimed my hatred for my hometown, gloating that I had bigger things in store. Now, seven years after I left, I feel the need to apologize. I recently returned to the Midwest with my boyfriend, Mack, […]
My brother and his girlfriend are visiting me in Nashville this week, and I’m so excited (and honestly, a little nervous) to host my first real live house guests. I mean, I’ve had friends crash on my couch for a night or two at various apartments, but I’ve never really had people fly to a […]
Think about your 10 favorite friends. Now think about going on vacation with them. Sounds great, right? It can be! It can also be a roving, screaming, roiling nightmare. A friend who’s perfectly self-sufficient at home turns into a big cry baby. A guy who’s the life of the party turns into a raging 30-beer […]
I’ve always been a big fan of spontaneous day trips. When I lived in Portland, I loved driving up to Seattle or escaping to the Oregon coast for the day, and now that I live in Nashville, I can hop in the car and explore Chattanooga or Atlanta or just drive until I hit a little […]
And now, let’s discuss the city I visited a couple weeks ago that inspired this whole idea: Chattanooga, Tennessee. I don’t really know what I was expecting when my boyfriend Nick and I set off on a quick one-day road trip to Chattanooga. My main goal was a change of scenery and a distraction from […]
Here’s the thing about Hilo. If you’re looking for a Waikiki-postcard-style Hawaiian vacation, don’t go to Hilo. I know this firsthand because I moved to Hilo in 2006 to spend a semester at the University of Hawaii campus there, and I did no research beforehand. I was just like, “Woohooo Hawaii! Surfing and sunbathing on […]
I’m a travel writer. I’ve visited Seoul, Santiago, and Vancouver in the past few months alone. My job sounds pretty glamorous on paper: I get to sample exotic foods, visit locations that others own dream about, and meet people from all over the world. But there is a less glamorous side, too. I usually either travel […]
As if a gorgeous boutique hotel tucked into the rainforest of a Caribbean island could get any more perfect, what if that hotel was chocolate themed? Such a wonderland exists, and it’s called Hotel Chocolat, a luxurious lodging option on the island of St. Lucia, operated by a gourmet chocolate company of the same name. In […]
