Tag Archives: travel

No one told me there would be cats in the Hagia Sofia

The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul is overwhelmingly grand, which I expected.  What I didn’t expect were the cats.  The cats of Istanbul are apparently unimpressed by this famous Byzantine church-turned mosque-turned museum, and they’re just hanging out or snoozing just as nonchalantly as can be. Actually all of Istanbul was full of stray cats and […]

The origin story, or how I became a raging travel-craving maniac

I was sixteen, living in a tiny Midwestern town and determined to go to Europe.  I didn’t have money and in that rural environment, received no encouragement from my friends or teachers.  Nonetheless, I researched relentlessly until I learned about the Rotary Club International’s Rotary Youth Exchange program, which funds and facilitates international student travel. […]