
Book review: London’s Hidden Rivers
London is one of our favorite destinations in the world to visit. One of the reasons is that there are so many hidden sights in London that we've never heard of before. But with each visit there's less and less new, or in London's case, old,…

So you want to chuck it all and travel the world?
Our friends tell us, “You’re living the dream.” Well . . . yes and no.
In 2011, when Larissa was 52 and Michael 51, we walked away from our jobs in, respectively, life sciences and commercial real estate. Heartbreaking personal circumstances…

Philadelphia Liberty Trail: Our first book is here!
When we departed Philadelphia in 2011 we thought we'd explore the world for a year and then figure out what we wanted to do when we grew up. We started writing stories about our journey on this blog and for a new series called "A Year in…

Your Independence Day: How to live a nomadic life
We’ve been on the road since 2011 with no home and no fixed address. Whenever we meet people they are surprised that we are true nomads. The first question we often get is, “How do you live a nomadic life?” Here are some tips for wandering…

How is America different from the rest of the world? (Part 2)
We've been traveling the world for almost three years now and recently wrote a story for Huffington Post that asked "how is America different from the rest of the world?" That story struck a chord among readers who suggested more areas…

Meet an intrepid traveler walking across America
We meet some incredible people on our travels who make Larissa and me seem like a couple of slackers. Such an encounter happened when we were visiting Death Valley National Park on a typical steamy summer day. With the temperature hovering around…

Travel reveals how America is different from the rest of the world (Part 1)
After traveling around the world for almost threee years we've noticed many ways how America is different from the rest of the world. From the proper way to eat pizza to how to tell time, here are a few of our favorites:
Metric system: As an…

TEDx: Larissa speaks about changing your life
Recently I had the privilege of giving a TEDx Talk in Philadelphia at Drexel University. The theme for the day was “The Next X.” Since TED Talks are designed to be “ideas worth sharing,” my message was about “The Next . . . Phase of…

Road Trip Book Review: Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure
Ahh what a simpler time. When a recently minted ex-President could hop in the car with his wife and take a road trip, unescorted by any security, halfway across the country to visit his daughter and some friends.
Even though Harry…

The bearable lightness of being . . . without stuff
Do you ever feel burdened by having too much "stuff?" Wondering what you are going to do with it all? One of the biggest tasks in preparing for our year-long journey was deciding what to do with all our stuff, the things we had spent a lifetime…

How to travel: 14 Travel Myths Debunked (Part 2)
This week we tackle travel myths and misconceptions related to destinations. In our many years of travel to 70 countries, we've learned to take what we read in guidebooks with a grain of salt and form our own opinions. Some places were…

There’s no place like Earth: The world as home
We were at the other end of the globe: literally. The opposite spot on the planet from Philadelphia (known by map geeks as the antipodal point) is Perth, Australia. We were 12,000 miles from home, as far away as we could possibly be. Going a…

Hurricane Sandy reveals how lucky we are
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy I headed to Long Island to check on damage to my mom’s house. She lives in a waterfront community that was in a mandatory evacuation zone but was out of town for the storm. Fortunately her neighborhood…

How to travel for a year: Picking destinations
The second most popular question we get about how to travel for a year has been: How do you decide where to go? (We’ll tell you the most common question later.) Trip planning is different for everybody but here’s how we did it.
We knew…

A sort of homecoming
October, 2012: We’re back in the USA. After 400+ days, 6 continents, 31 countries and 100,000 miles we’re home . . . sort of.
Our goal was to get away from a destructive family situation, using time and miles to help us heal. Our plan: travel…

Marking a year traveling the world
We recently marked the one-year anniversary of taking off to travel the world. The date had almost passed unnoticed. Dates take on a different perspective when traveling. Anyone who has ever been on vacation and remarked, “I don’t even…

Book review: Maphead by Ken Jennings, the Jeopardy champion
Do you love perusing maps? Can an atlas keep you occupied for hours? Do you pull the airline magazine out of the seat pocket so you can scan the route map and plan future trips? If so, then you may be a maphead. Ken Jennings, the record-setting…

Tips from the Afghan Girl cover photographer
The Afghan Girl cover on National Geographic
The most iconic National Geographic cover displays an image of a teenage Afghan girl with luminescent green eyes peering out at the reader. We recently attended a travel bloggers conference…