Siem Reap, Cambodia, is the gateway city to Angkor Wat, with exotic appeal, as well as the ease provided by being set up for the tourist trade. If you are looking for adventure, with all of the comforts of any major tourist destination, and a much cheaper price tag than most, you might want to consider a trip to Cambodia. I’d booked a guesthouse ahead, based on a recommendation from a traveler I met in a hostel in New Zealand (hostels are...

Angkor Wat. If it brings up visions of a long-ago faraway place, something you might have seen in a dream, this is an accurate picture. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Cambodia, built in the 12th century, and the complex covers miles of ground. It is the largest religious monument in the world! A wat is a temple, and the famous Angkor that you see in a lot of the photos is but one of many temples here, the best preserved of them...

Following are 12 items that you might not think to pack, but that I find indispensable: 1) Pack towel – They’re a little bit of an investment, but well worth the price as they’re super absorbent, anti-microbial, and take up a fraction of the space of a regular towel. Most hostels don’t provide towels, or charge extra, and camping you need to bring your own as well. Staying in hotels? These pack towels still come in...

Heading to Hua Hin, in Southern Thailand… After traveling in English speaking countries, it can be a bit of culture shock to find yourself in a huge airport in Bangkok, where you don’t understand most of the conversations around you! But never fear, Thailand is exotic but also very tourist friendly, and many people speak at least some English, especially those in tourist-related jobs. The kind young clerk at the money exchange wrote...

One of my favorite parts of New Zealand was the scenery in between the “big” destinations. The South Island, where I took a 22 day journey in a loop, covering about 3000 km, or 1864 miles, is one of the most scenic places I’ve ever been. The colors of the water are unreal, varying from bright, clear aquamarine to sea green to turquoise to powder blue to ultramarine and cobalt, with too many shades in between for even an artist...