Planning my Philippines trip was harder than planning any other trip I’ve been on. Part of it is because there are so many incredible options -- and part of it is because there’s no clear “good” or “best” or “right” set of places to go. Not to mention the long ferries, flights, and bus rides required to get anywhere. (Islands are complicated like that.)

To make your planning a little bit easier, I offer this advice:

I don’t think of myself as an especially good person (unlike White Savior Barbie, I’ve never traveled to help anyone but myself) -- but I try to do the right thing.

So imagine my surprise and disappointment when, over mango shakes in Malapascua, a fellow traveler told me, “I refuse to go to Oslob. It’s unethical."

I just returned from the most wonderful little weekend in Calistoga -- despite the October 2017 wildfires, I saw zero scorched earth. Instead, I saw.... mustard flowers!

I recently finished an amazing liveaboard dive trip to the Similan Islands in Thailand. It was epic, with zero crowds (scuba tourism was down about 30-50% that year) and lots of astounding wildlife.

​Including this incredible eel attack I witnessed during a night dive.

Last winter, during my annual epic multi-month trip, I ended up spending almost two weeks in Laos. It was totally never part of the plan, but ended up being one of the most meaningful and educational parts of my trip. But one thing I felt like I didn't quite learn... was the name of the country.

​To me, it seemed like all the locals were calling it "Laos," with an -s... but lots of white people during and since that trip have referred to it as "Lao," with no -s. 

Ping pong and Katy Perry in Mandalay, Myanmar. What could be better?

​You know some of my favorite places to visit? The ones where, when people hear you speaking English, they don't rush over to sell​ you something -- they rush over to ask you if you're from California, if you've ever met George Bush, or if you own guns.

Ballooning should be on EVERYONE'S bucket list! 

Growing up, I spent at least a week -- usually more! -- almost every summer in Upstate New York. And there are countless amazing things to do there: hiking Taughannock Falls; swimming at Buttermilk Falls; getting in (or on) the lake; and wine trails, to name a few.

But one of the best Ithaca adventures I’ve ever had, hands down, was my flight with Southern Tier Balloon Tours.
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I recently returned home from an epic Southeast Asia trip -- I went scuba diving in Thailand, slowboating and mountain biking in Laos, hiking and surfing in Malaysia, and five-star hotel-ing in Myanmar.

​But among the highlights of my trip was visiting Elsewhere Surf Camp in Weligama, Sri Lanka. When I checked in, one of the surf instructors asked how long I was staying. 

"A week," I told him.

"You'll end up staying longer," he smiled. 

Mindy Kaling once famously asked, "Is everyone hanging out without me?" This is a question I'd never asked myself -- until today. Because today they are. In the Bahamas. On a boat. Without me. Even though I went to ActionQuest and I'm an awesome sailor and a Master Scuba Diver.

But I digress. 

​The point is, there was a ton of traffic when I dropped my friend off at SFO. Like, a TON. But we spent exactly zero minutes stuck in it.

I recently returned from a trip to Southeast Asia -- and I learned and saw so many things. Some made me happy. Some made me sad. And some... were kind of amusing.

For example, the observation that about 1 in 7 white guys had his arm in a sling...