Day one in our nation’s capital and less than 24-hours in I’ve noticed some things. First off, someone needs to turn the heat off. I don’t know who left it on, but it’s starting to melt my skin. Stepping out of the metro for the first time into the thick, sticky air was like immersing … Continue reading
Author Archives: Rachel
Boiled Over
“Ralph, come back in here!” my Nonna yelled into the kitchen. “We’ll stop talking about this, just come back in here.” My dad stayed put. Quietly washing dishes and carefully avoiding the nuclear warhead that was our family dinner conversation, he had removed himself from the equation entirely. I wished I had thought of it … Continue reading
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Dress
Sitting on the couch, eyes transfixed on the flat-screen television in front of us, my younger sister repeatedly clicked the right arrow on her laptop keyboard–a HDMI cable connecting the laptop to the television screen so we could all see the image. She took us through her school trip to Italy and Croatia: down narrow … Continue reading
My passport, my pal: missing my travel buddy
This afternoon I said a silent goodbye to my passport as a FedEx employee unceremoniously slid it into an envelope along with a stack of papers needed to apply for my Indian student visa for this fall. I never thought I’d be sad to be without that little blue book. It’s silly really, I’ll only … Continue reading
My Mental Mountain Soundtrack: advice for future trekkers
Besides the whole breathing-through-your-nose thing, I found there was one other strategy for pacing myself along our trek through the Himalayas. One of the best tips I can give to fellow unprepared, out-of-shape trekkers is to let your mind create a playlist each day for your hike. Some days the song will be the same, … Continue reading
Nepal: A Photo Essay
I have hundreds if not thousands of words written out in curly cursive in my diary–filled cover to cover from this twp-week trip to Nepal–and even more words still waiting to find an escape from the confines of my brain through my fingers on the keyboard. But so much of Nepal is visual and you … Continue reading
Tea Tasting: Tea Houses of the Helambu Trek
The Helambu Trek we ultimately ended up climbing would take us one week to complete. Each night after a difficult day of hiking, we were overjoyed when the colorful paint of local mountain villages came into view and we finally came to a halt in front of new lodging. Each tea house was cozy and … Continue reading
Mentally Prepared, Physically Inept (or how I spent one week on the couch before hiking the Himalayas)
After spending two weeks in Nepal, I’ve finally returned to the land of western toilets and electricity–where wifi is everywhere and planned, power, and outages are not words that go together. Before I left, I posted about my what-I-believed-to-be thorough preparations for this school funded trip to Nepal. I wrote about my reading list, my … Continue reading
Body-Loving, Full-Length Photo Challenge!
For those of you who don’t keep up with Unbrave Girl’s fabulously witty, wonderfully adventurous blog posts, I’ll fill you in on her most recent diet challenge. You can read the whole post here, but here’s the spark notes version: we don’t always love our bodies as much as we should we often put up … Continue reading
Everyday Adventure Anxieties: two days to trek
Here I sit, 2-days until I depart for the adventure of a lifetime in the Himalayas. My outdoor gear is purchased, my hiking shoes broken in, and my paperwork sorted and filed into a plastic folder to withstand the upcoming monsoons in Nepal. I’ve read the books, the articles, and watched videos about altitude sickness, … Continue reading
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