If you turn on the news or login to Twitter, you may be overwhelmed by the crushing sense that our country is more divided than ever...

So let's celebrate the one thing we can ALL agree on: the driver always picks the music.

According to some of my Instagram followers, I "travel all the time."​​ Which is somewhat true. I travel a few months per year -- and that is enough for me. During these adventures, I sometimes meet full-time travelers...

And I don't understand them. To me, traveling full-time seems like it would be miserable. 

After two months of surfing, hiking, scuba diving, and cultural experiences in Southeast Asia, I've officially returned home with a new vice:

I'm a water hoarder. 

The secret’s out -- at least a little: Batukaras, a small fishing village in Indonesia, features one of the best longboarding waves in the world. I’d had my sights set on it ever since Omar, my surf buddy from Malaysia, showed me the photos and videos from his trip last year.

I spent the last two months in Indonesia and the Philippines -- which means I've had more than my share of opportunities to get seasick. From day trips to see the dugongs in Coron to island hopping in El Nido to liveaboards in the Komodo Islands, I definitely earned my sea legs.

And! I learned a really cool and potent way to fight seasickness, using only my mind.

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.