“You are alone?” The young woman’s raised left eyebrow gave away her surprise. It was Christmas Day during a pandemic and I had just driven 10 miles on a gravel road. The other woman behind the Hobatere Lodge reception didn’t bother hiding her alarm. Both eyebrows raised, she chimed in, “You don’t have children?” “No …
Mohammed is walking so fast in front of me I have a hard time concentrating on anything but keeping track of his black polo shirt and shiny hair. “It’s the wrong time of the day to come,” I think to myself. The sun is relentless. There is so much sand in the air it’s hurting …
At a 3-star lodge in the western hills of Eswatini, the receptionist pushed back my haphazardly filled out check-in form. She pointed at the boxes next to the titles all of which I had left unchecked. I’m a patient traveler except when it comes to hotel check-ins. After all, do they really need my zip …
It’s drizzling rain as my Lefa, a Namibian Uber, taxi pulls over in front of Sicilia, an Italian restaurant close to my Airbnb. Though I’m not a big fan of Italian food, I decide to have my last dinner in Windhoek here because it looks cosy and many restaurants are closed due to corona shutdowns. …
I had just spent two and a half weeks in Jordan, but nothing came out of my half-hearted efforts of taking Arabic classes there. One course I tried to sign up for ran too long for my travel dates. Then I just traveled (secretly happy that I had at least tried to take a class), and learned about Jordan …
One of my favorite things to do in a new city is to get naked with strange women and bathe. Well, that’s how some people have described it to me, but in my mind it’s the most normal thing. This probably has to do with me being from Finland, where nudity and going to sauna …
On my first night in Johannesburg, I’m in an Uber heading downtown. My driver is a tall, quiet 50-something local man. He picked me up at my guesthouse called Melvilla, in a leafy northern suburb, which I had heard was safe enough to walk around during the day. I was told nowhere in Joburg was …
“We smoke like Turks. And like similar sugary desserts,” says Ljiljana when we break for soya lattes midway a four-hour street art walking tour. We’re sitting on one of the numerous Belgrade terraces enjoying the mild early May weather. I’m surprised to hear the admission of similarities to Turks from a Serbian as the hundreds …
I’m on the back of a boda boda, Uganda’s ubiquitous motorcycle taxi, worried about being late for a meeting. In a traffic jam, my boda driver passes cars and other bodas in a way that should make anyone scared for their safety. The drivers have helmets but there are none for the passengers. I am …
If they’re worth it, like Lebanon, Turkey, or Georgia, I love returning to places I’ve already been to over and over, but still there’s nothing quite like going to a destination for the first time. Recently I got to experience this thrill in Guatemala. While I’ve been to neighboring Mexico many times, Guatemala was different enough …