It was almost four years ago that Kelly and I met. We were two awkward, fresh-faced eighteen year olds, bumbling through Frosh activities, desperately trying to mask our discomfort amidst the early morning tequila slams and various genitalia spilling out of clothing. Luckily, Frosh ended. But our friendship began. It’s been four years of uncontrollable…
Tag: inspiration
Goals for 2017
I will strive for openness and authenticity whenever possible. When Sam and I first started this blog, it was something we clung tightly to ourselves and hid from the world – well, obviously not the entire world, because we put it online, but our world. Our home world. We hid ourselves away if we were working on posts…
A Last Look at 2016
Its 9:30 am on Sunday, January 1st. Today I woke up to the sound of my mother screaming and my father swearing and frantic footsteps dashing down the stairs outside my bedroom. Startled, I opened my door to a truly revolting odour: it smelled like a combination of pungent incense and burning rubber. I grabbed my phone,…
Healthier Holiday Baking: Chocolate Loaf Cake!
It’s been way too long since either of us were able to use a proper kitchen. Almost seven months, by my count. Seven months of relying on cafeteria food, pre-made meals, Starbucks breakfasts, and instant coffee. It was the price we had to pay to live out our adventures- moving from place to place every few months, racing…
Disneyland, Hong Kong Style
We were Disney Dynamite, dashing from ride to ride, whipping past the poor, bewildered fellow park-goers (who were just not on our level). We blew through each land and managed to hit every single ride and show that Hong Kong Disney had to offer, plus a few repeats along the way. Is there an award for a Disney Dream Team? Because if so, we definitely earned it.
Journeys in Japan: Osaka and Kyoto
It’s 10:23 am. I’m sitting slumped on a concrete train platform in Kyoto, toasty under the mild sun and surrounded by a slapdash assortment of buildings and blue mountains. Trains glide smoothly to and from the platform, and their passengers stare at me from clean, tinted windows with mild concern. Because someone sitting on the ground tends to draw…
Pineapple Mountain – The Only Arid Place in Hong Kong
Hong Kong is undeniably beautifully tropical and lush – this we have discussed ad nauseam. Everywhere you look you will see brilliant green palm trees, dangling vines, and bright cerulean sea. You don’t come here looking for red rock formations and scrubby trees, and yet when we ventured out to the New Territories on a…
One Year Later (Our New YouTube Channel!)
On October 19, 2015, Kelly and I posted our first blog post. It was a light and cheery post describing a weekend jaunt to Quebec City. We snuck into the Château Frontenac, we gorged ourselves with sickeningly sweet Beaver Tails, and we explored the magnificent Montmorency Falls. It was a great weekend: six friends basking in the final…
BANGKOK!
Bangkok is a wild place – a place where energy runs high, happenstance and coincidence rule, and truly anything, anything can happen. Because it was Sam’s 21st birthday and the flights were cheap, we hopped on a plane to Thailand late Thursday evening with nothing more than a hostel reservation to count as our “plans” This free-form style…
Hike Hong Kong: Scaling the Dragon’s Back
Dragon’s Back, a portion of the much-celebrated Hong Kong Trail, has been on our radar for months. I’m pretty sure I had this hike written on my “To Do in HK” list back in January, back when the idea of us living in Asia was just a far-off fantasy. We had planned to do this hike…
Big Buddhas and Bigger Spiders on Lantau Island
The Tian Tan Buddha (colloquially known as the Big Buddha) is “the world’s largest outdoor seated bronze Buddha” – and yes, that is indeed a lot of qualifiers. It is not the world’s largest Buddha. Not by a long shot. Yet, looming 112 feet above the misty mountains of Lantau Island, the Big Buddha is inarguably…
Hong Kong Haircut: A Hair-Raising Journey
You really do learn things about yourself when you travel. I, for instance, after two weeks of turning half-hour errands into five-hour odysseys with beginnings, middles, and ends, rising and falling action sequences, motifs, themes, and symbols, am learning that I need to seriously hone my planning skills. Take my experience of trying to get…
Coffee&Twigs 