December 10, 2017 Hostel The last 2 and a half days have been tres excitee à Paris! Mostly, I feel like I’ve been recovering from the last few days of work and doing so by moving moving moving, and really walking walking walking. My phone app tells me I’ve walked about as many steps each … More Paris, part 2

December 7, 2017 JFK Airport The end of the calendar year means it’s time to use up some of my remaining comp time, and what better way to do that than a pseudo-impromptu and loosely-planned solo trip to Paris, France?! I’m currently awaiting my delayed red eye flight, which I purchased just over a month … More Paris, part 1

When you travel, especially when you are outdoors, you are very dependent on the weather and natural elements. I was right to bring lots of light layers, as there were many days where I started out with 4-5 layers in the morning and wishing I had gloves then stripping down to a tank top and … More Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton Part 7: Weather, Scenery, and Reflections

I started out less excited about seeing wildlife than many of my fellow travelers, but I saw so many interesting animals and it ended up being very exciting. All three parks are in grizzly bear territory, and people are very bear-conscious – like the same way we have been trained to be terrorist-aware in NYC. … More Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton Part 6: Wildlife

I did much more than just hiking on my trip! One night in Glacier, after eating dinner out at a Mexican restaurant (it was located on an Indian Reservation and observing a dry-day, so no alcohol) we drove out a bit to look at the stars. They really popped in the dark and we could … More Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton Part 5: Not Hiking

Over 10 days, I walked 65 miles and 174,000 steps, at least according to the app on my phone. Hiking was the primary activity on this trip. I started out strong on the first day with by far the longest hike of my life, covering about 13 miles to Grinnell Glacier in the “Many Glacier” … More Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton Part 4: Hiking

Everyone has their own travel style. I like to mix mine up, but I tend to default to non-car transportation options, hostels, and cheap food. While I didn’t get to ride any trains on this trip, a train is what metaphorically brought me to Montana. In 2014, I took Amtrak trains across the country. I … More Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton Part 3: Transportation, Lodging, and Food

I started blogging to document time I spent traveling alone and filling down time, so it wasn’t on my mind to start writing until I left my travel buddies after Glacier. By that point, I was so in the zone of waking up early and trying to maximize my time in the parks that I … More Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton Part 2: The People

As I travel home from my National Parks adventure of 2017, I can’t stop thinking about memories. I had such an amazing trip, but how can I possibly remember everything I did, saw, felt? I’m running through the days in my head, as I often do at the end of a trip, in efforts to … More Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Teton Part 1: Overview and logistics

Winter drags in New York, and I found myself spending free time searching cheap flights to warm places. I ended up visiting grad school friend Alison in Tucson, Arizona for a few days in mid April. It was a great dry heat and we did a lot of fun activities. There were some travel issues … More Tucson