PLACES 25 Reasons to Visit Thailand During Any Season Posted on January 19, 2016June 9, 2024 Why I Fell in Love with Phuket, Bangkok, and Chiang Mai Thailand has captured my heart, and I am eagerly counting down the days until my return. I had a feeling I would love it, but I never anticipated just how deeply it would resonate with me. Despite all the… Read more
LIFESTYLE The Making of an American K-Pop Star Posted on January 17, 2016September 9, 2024 She dimmed the lights and the room took on the appearance of a night club. It was 9am and the neon lights flooded down from the ceiling in geometric shapes that danced on the wooden floor. Meghan Trainor’s All About That Bass filtered down from the speakers on the forever cemented that song as the first song I danced to in a “Korean nightclub”. Read more
PLACES Hotel B in Gwangju: Cherry Blossom Festival in South Korea Posted on January 16, 2016July 4, 2024 We stayed at the Hotel B in Gwangju when we traveled south the Boseong Tea Plantations and Light Festival just prior to Christmas. Each room includes a flat-screen TV with cable, a kettle, slippers & robes and free toiletries. You gotta have slippers, right? Read more
MILITARY RELATED A PCS Guide to Camp Walker South Korea Posted on January 11, 2016October 31, 2024 When you PCS to South Korea, you will have some struggles. And because a very good friend of mine is en route and these are some of the things we talked about. In short, you won’t find a lot of information BEFORE you PCS. I didn’t find much info before… Read more
CULINARY TRAVEL A Weekend Trip to Luca’s Agriturismo in Cinque Terra, Italy Posted on January 10, 2016July 5, 2024 We had lunch in town and everything we ate was absolutely delicious.There are no museums or tourist attractions per se along the Cinque Terra. Just restaurants, some family owned shops, B&Bs and the hiking trails and the ocean and I hope that never changes. The drive back to the station a few days later was far less adventurous. Read more
PLACES My Absolute Favorite Weekend Trips Around Asia Posted on January 5, 2016July 28, 2024 My life had been thrown in a tailspin. We were moving 7,000 miles across the world from Fort Lee Virginia to Camp Henry in Daegu South Korea. We had to hire a realtor, find an apartment which took 3 months and get to all the Asian traveling we had imagined when we accepted this assignment. The year took us all over South Korea, Japan, China, Malaysia and Thailand and we’re just getting started. 2016 is going to be even better. Read more
CULINARY TRAVEL Magic in the Jar: Opening the Healing Powers of Kimchi Posted on January 2, 2016April 22, 2024 Korea’s magical of kimchi: a flavorful fermented veggie that has countless medicinal properties, curing everything from broken legs to acne– stopping short of it being placed in IVs for cancer patients. Read more
PLACES Korea’s Tea Museum– More Than Tea in Boseong Posted on December 27, 2015May 21, 2024 We stumbled upon the Korea’s Tea Museum after seeing a sign at the turnoff to our intended destination–the Boseong Tea Plantation. Happy accidents like this make travel unpredictable and sometimes ends up being the highlight of the day. We walked into the museum not knowing what to expect. We didn’t know if the exhibits would have English translations or if we’d spend a few walking around looking at pretty pictures. Read more