Travel Journal

Even now, when I close my eyes, flashes of that pilgrimage return like scenes from a movie. It wasn't the Himalayas that first took my breath away. It was the road leading there. Inspired by The Road to Dharma documentary series, I found myself making the same pilgrimage to Kedarnath—one of India's four sacred sites, where the ancient Temple of Lord Shiva stands high in the Himalayas. Reaching it required a two-day journey from Rishikesh to Guptkashi, followed by an eight-hou

Some of my most meaningful travel memories have nothing to do with famous landmarks. They begin with people. In 2018, our International Travel Lovers group traveled through Vietnam, from the misty mountains of Sapa in the north to the vibrant cities of central and southern Vietnam. We stayed at the breathtaking Topas Ecolodge in Lao Cai, where our room overlooked endless green valleys, rice terraces, and mountains disappearing into the morning mist. It felt like waking up ins

Travel doesn’t always change us through grand adventures. Sometimes it changes us in complete silence, with nothing more than a handful of rice and a heart willing to receive.

Before traveling to Bolivia, I thought I knew what I was looking forward to. Like many travelers, I had a list. The Uyuni Salt Flats. The Witches’ Market. The colorful lagoons. The flamingos. The endless mirror landscapes I had admired in photographs for years.

Some journeys test more than our legs. They test our trust. During our Kumano Kodo pilgrimage in Japan, our group of ten set out on the first day’s hike from Takijiri-oji to the small mountain village of Takahara.

As one of eight children, each of us probably carries a different memory of him. Perhaps each of us carries a different version of him as well. We called him A Ba.

High in the mountains of Nepal, we woke before dawn to make our way toward Poon Hill for sunrise.

A friend said something to me recently that made me smile. “You are a walking rainbow.” I laughed when I heard it. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized he might be right.

The morning air outside Potala Palace was cold and dry. Prayer flags moved gently in the wind while pilgrims circled the palace grounds in quiet devotion.

People often ask me which country has been my favorite. It’s a question I never quite know how to answer. Every country carries its own atmosphere, its own rhythm, and its own way of revealing beauty. How do you compare the silence of the Himalayas to the warmth of Italy, or the elegance of Japan to the vastness of Mongolia?

As I was clearing out old papers in my office, I came across something I almost didn’t keep. A simple card. It was from a trip to New Zealand many years ago. At the end of that journey, the group handed it to me — a card filled with handwritten notes from each traveler.

Some journeys don’t end when we leave. They quietly continue walking beside us. In the autumn of 2024, I walked the first 28 temples of the Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage in Japan.

Today I received a letter from Paul, one of the “original five” travelers who joined me many years ago and who has since become a very Out of all the countries in the world, somehow I find myself in one very specific place, at one very specific moment in time. Sometimes it happens while walking a pilgrimage path like the Camino, the Shikoku. Sometimes it happens during something very simple — sharing a meal, walking to dinner with someone, or pausing in a small street some

One feeling that often arises when I travel is a quiet sense of awe. Out of all the countries in the world, somehow I find myself in one very specific place, at one very specific moment in time. Sometimes it happens while walking a pilgrimage path like the Camino, the Shikoku. Sometimes it happens during something very simple — sharing a meal, walking to dinner with someone, or pausing in a small street somewhere far from home.

Years ago, I once saw a postcard of a beautiful temple in Japan — the elegant vermilion pagoda of Seiganto-Ji standing quietly before the mountains, with the soft white ribbon of Nachi Falls flowing gently in the background.

Over the years, we’ve traveled across continents together, walking ancient paths, exploring historic cities, sharing beautiful meals, and watching unforgettable sunrises and sunsets.

The Seed That Became a Journey began long before I understood what it truly meant. When I first started the International Travel Lovers meetup, I wrote that my dream was to travel the world and visit all the sacred sites. At the time, I didn’t really know what “sacred sites” meant to me, but there must have been a seed already planted, quietly waiting to grow.