Blog

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It’s off to the Mountains we Go!

Archive India- SHANTI
Dear Family, Friends, and Fellow Readers, After seeing the other eight start their hike towards the massive mountains, Mariah and I began our journey with our contact, Arthur and driver, Snoop Dog towards Ghoom. Ghoom is a city about 8K away from Darjeeling. In Ghoom, we stayed with a man, who usually leads the India Carpe Diem treks, named Raju, his sister, mother, and two nieces. On the way to… Read More

Calcutta!

Archive India- SHIVA
Namaste! We are now in Calcutta! Much to our surprise, and Jessica and Coby’s surprise, our train didn’t leave till last night. Thankfully, before we headed out for the train station Monday night, Coby read the tickets again! So, yesterday we had another day in Bodhgaya! A day full of Bodhi tree adventures, volunteering at Root Institute, and more great food at Muhammad Restaurant! After our twelve our train ride,… Read More

Trick or Trecking

Archive South Pacific- WALKABOUT
We MADE IT!! Blair and Rita reporting to all of you folks at home that we actually made it through a 4-day treck on the South Island of NZ. We decided all last minute that we where gonna do the Kepler Treck and it all worked out wonderfully. We spent 4 days trecking up and down the big mountains and it was just about 7 hours of hiking a day.… Read More

It Was Intents

Archive India- SHANTI
“Did you hear about the circus?” … “It was in-tents” -Simone And now I present to you, devoted blog followers, a reading directly from my personal journal detailing more “intents” events, documented during the hike. disclaimer: please throw grammar to the wind, and enjoy the rugged charm of this raw, ranting journalism. 10/24/2011 4 mi hike. Who carries our belongings? A yak/cow hybrid that is nowhere to be seen. Who… Read More

¡Bienvenidos a Cusco!

Archive South America- INTI
¡Hola! It´s Megan blogging from Cusco, Peru. We are finally here and it´s going to be an awesome final stretch! I cannot believe how quickly this trip has gone by. So happy to hear everybody enjoyed the photos from Ecuador! It was not easy uploading them but definitely worth the effort 🙂 Entonces, last week was free travel and we spent it in Huaraz and Trujillo/Huanchao. The terrain here is… Read More

Hello from Bodhgaya!

Archive India- SHIVA
Namaste everyone! Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Varanasi yesterday. Our last few days in Varanasi flew by, and after our amazing Diwali celebration we truly embraced the beautiful city: afternoons full of sunset walks on the Ghats, visits to yummy cafes in town (indulging ourselves with Americanised sweets and drinks-so delicious!!!!), continuations of our many previous classes, talks about Hindu beliefs and history, body type tests at a… Read More

¡Hasta luego, Ecuador!

Archive South America- INTI
It´s Megan blogging from Trujillo, Peru! I hope all is well at home and I miss everybody so much. I wanted to give Ecuador a little shout out before I move on to Peru and have worked very hard to upload all these photos. Enjoy!! (Written on Saturday October 23, 2011) Tomorrow is our last day in Quito and Ecuador. I think I am sad to leave Ecuador. I´ve gotten… Read More

Huaraz

Archive South America- INTI
Finally! Free travel! After endless group meeting and discussions we are finally in the middle of our free travel week. We have choosen to go to Huaraz and Trujillo,  Peru. Right now we are in Huaraz staying at the lovely Caroline Lodging. Yesterday we broke up into three groups. My group consisted of Magen, Kelsey and Elta and we went horse back riding. Meghan, Chloe and Helen went to Lagoon… Read More

necklace

Archive South America- INTI
¨Look at that young group of gringos¨ He thought, ¨They have some nice looking things.¨ Cars, buses and taxi´s sped in both directions as a group of nine of us tried to cross the street. I could feel his eyes caress my body, I ignored it. Kids yelling, vendors viciously selling, cars honking and people everywhere trying to get somewhere. As Kelsey was getting help down the step on to… Read More

Update of Quito

Archive South America- INTI
Greetings its Maleea from the middle of the world! We have spent this week in the capital city of Ecuador, Quito. Every morning we have had one on one Spanish classes, such an amazing way to learn a language! Then in the afternoons we have activities lasting till around dinner, very busy. On Sunday our first day here we all threw our stuff in the Center and headed to a… Read More

SWATDEE KAA!

Archive Southeast Asia- SABAI
Greetings from the land of smiles! We just reached the city of Chiang Rai after our relaxing meditation retreat! The resort like “New Life Foundation” welcomed us into their facilities for an eye opening week. Right as our bus pulled up to the center, we had a quick orientation meeting with the manager and some of the residents of New Life and then jumped into our meditation practices. Matthew, a… Read More

Happy Duwali!!

Archive India- SHIVA
Hey Everyone! The group is having a great time here in Varanasi! Today is one of the biggest festivals in the Hindu culture, Duwali (the festival of lights). We will all be celebrating by going on a boat ride on the Ganga. Right now, most of the houses are covered in lights and several Duwali enthusiasts are setting off firecrackers. For the past few days, we have all been lucky… Read More

Photos Are INDIAtastic!

Archive India- SHIVA
Yumm! Delicious food in India. T and Stephanie enjoying a great meal on the street. Here we are at the Red Fort where we were bombarded by school children Nate and Coby striking their model poses at the Red Fort Hayley and Jessica at the Taj Mahal! Stephanie, Hayley, John,T, and Ellen at the Taj…we started to get artistic with our poses. Fire Dancing on the rooftop! Melting metal for… Read More

Reflections on Rwanda

Archive East Africa- KIFARU
So many lessons have been learned on this trip so far. There have been the basic travel lessons we can take with us through the rest of our traveling lives: be flexible, try not to act like a tourist, avoid bus stations at night, bargain, etc. But there have also been the deeper lessons that remind us of the significance of all life and the importance of “walking the circle”… Read More

Livin’ the Kiwi dream

Archive South Pacific- WALKABOUT
Sadie and Liz reporting to you from the land of Mordor. We come bearing news of ventures of all kinds. Since arriving at the Blue Mountain Adventure Center Saturday morning we have endured an array of team and self building exercises. Our adventures began with the high ropes courses where we were harnessed and encouraged to walk acoross a log which stood 30ft in the air as we met our… Read More

A week of Adventure

Archive South Pacific- HONGI
We arrived at Blue Mountain Adventure Centre on October 16, for a jam packed week of fun. Our week started off with spelunking into the deep depths of a not so spacious cave. We got to explore the cracks and crevices of the underground world and fell in love with the experience. The following day was spent trekking up to a one hundred foot waterfall, and as if that wasn’t… Read More