Author Archive: Melissa Kaplan

Paris (and London) in the Springtime

Usually, when I plan a trip, it’s to the most exotic, exciting, adventurous place I can think of—South Africa, Thailand, Israel, or at least somewhere in Europe I haven’t visited yet. But there’s something wonderful about re-visiting places you know well and love. And that’s why I’ve booked my first big trip of 2018 to Paris and London!

To say I’m excited is an understatement. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I haven’t been out of America since September 2016 (ah, Slovenia, what a great adventure you were!) and I am SO READY to venture out into the world again. I’ve missed traveling. I’ve missed the excitement of trip planning, the joy of arriving at a new destination, eating local food, attempting to speak a new language: all of it. Traveling is a fundamental part of what makes me who I am, and not being able to do it has been tough. But in six weeks, I’ll be back on the horse (or rather, the plane) once again!

Trafalgar Square, London

As you may remember, my original plan for my first big trip of the year was just a tad different…I was planning to go to South America. Chile and Brazil were at the top of my travel wish list, and while I still very much want to visit both, the timing didn’t work out this time around. So I’ll be going next February instead (yes, I’ve already planned most of my 2019 travels—I can’t help it, this is how I roll!) In the meantime, I figured my spring trip should be to a place where I could visit family, and also revisit places that I love while discovering new ones. So I picked London, where I have loads of family I don’t get to see very often, and added on a few days in Paris because, well, Paris is always a good idea, oui? (Bien sur!)

I’ll be leaving at the end of April and spending four days in London followed by three days in Paris. My plans are still tentative, but so far, here’s what I’ve got:

The Louvre in Paris

Melissa’s London and Paris Itinerary

London—I always hit the British Museum and the National Gallery when I’m in London, as well as my old haunts in Covent Garden and Soho (like Stanford’s travel bookstore!) This time, I am also thinking of tea at Harrod’s or somewhere similar (a London experience I haven’t had yet!); popping by Buckingham Palace (The Crown has exerted its influence on me); and possibly doing a tour of the WW2 underground bomb shelters, which a friend recently did and highly recommends. I want to have at least one Brick Lane curry. And of course, I’ll spend lots of time catching up with aunts, uncles, cousins, and cousins’ kids.

Paris—I’m lucky enough to have been to Paris several times already, but it’s a place I can never get enough of. I’m sure there’s still loads for me to discover there, which is one reason I decided to book an AirBnB (for the first time ever—thanks, friend-of-a-cousin, for having an amazing rental available!) in Montmartre, where I haven’t spent much time before. I’m excited to be able to live like a local there for a few days, wandering around the streets, discovering new restaurants and soon-to-be-favorite cafes, and just relaxing and taking in that magical Parisian feeling that’s so hard to put into words.

But, it wouldn’t be a trip to Paris without revisiting some old favorites! I’ll be hitting the Louvre (and as a corollary, Café Angelina across the street, which has arguably the world’s greatest hot chocolate!); the Musee D’Orsay; the cafes of St. Germain-de-Pres (if Fitzgerald and Hemingway wrote and/or drank there, I’m in); and one of my favorite restaurants on the planet, Le Relais De L’Entrecote, where they serve nothing but steak, frites, and salad…basically my culinary heaven on earth. And I plan to eat all the Parisian pastries I can handle (maybe I should start building up my tolerance now?)

Hot chocolate at Cafe Angelina in Paris

Versailles—One totally new place I’ll be visiting on this trip: the Palace of Versailles! I’ve never been, because I could never bear to tear myself away from Paris long enough to go there. But my mom has been raving about her trip to Versailles for as long as I can remember. She saw it when she was 21 on her first big trip to Paris, and she’s been urging me to go for years. Yes, Mom, it’s finally happening!

All in all, this should be a fantastic trip filled with reconnecting with people and places I love, while discovering just enough new ones to keep things interesting—a perfect itinerary for diving back into the world again after a long break.

And of course, eating All. The. Chocolate. All of it.

Have you been to Paris and London? What are your favorite places/things to do there? All suggestions welcome!

France, London, Paris

Mar

2018

Some Thoughts on Sh*thole Countries

Melissa Kaplan0

View of Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

By now, everyone has heard that last week the President of the United States wrote off an entire continent, plus a few other places around the globe, as “sh*tholes.” Forgive the clickbait-y title, because we really need to talk about this.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that a crass, ignorant man who prides himself on these qualities would make a statement like this. Nothing shocking there, really.

As distressing as the use of these words is, what concerns me even more is the fact that I can imagine many of POTUS’s supporters nodding along with his statement, thinking to themselves that all the criticism he’s receiving is unfair, because after all, “those places are sh*holes. He’s just telling the truth!” Umm-hmm.

I would venture to guess that approximately 95 percent of those same individuals have never traveled to Africa, Haiti, or any other such countries. In fact, a majority of them likely don’t possess passports and haven’t traveled outside of the U.S., or even their home states. And therein lies at least part of the problem.

I am NOT saying that lack of world travel automatically makes a person ignorant, nor that all travelers are enlightened, wonderful specimens of humanity. Neither of these things are true. And often, people who would love to travel the world can’t realistically afford to do so, through no fault of their own.

But the thing is, you can’t fully absorb what you don’t experience. You can’t really understand what life is like for people you don’t meet. And you can’t make sweeping statements about the places they call home if you don’t spend some time trying to get to know them and understand the lives they live and the challenges they face.

View of a mist-covered mountain outside Nairobi

Most of my travels have been in Europe and other similar parts of the world, but I have visited, and loved, some of those same places that were so callously derided with an offhand piece of gutter language as being worthless. I’ve met wonderful people in Uganda, marveled at the natural beauty of the plains of Kenya, sweltered in 100 degree heat in a small town in Cambodia, shopped at a market in Nairobi, and been taken to the beach by precocious, charming children in Guatemala. I’ve stepped out of my zone of the familiar a bit each time, and while I still have so, so much to learn about the world, the one thing I can state unequivocally is that it is full of good people, willing to share kindness with strangers while trying to make the best life for themselves and their families that they can.

Travel matters because it connects people. It breaks down barriers and stereotypes. It makes people and places real to us in a way that we can’t get simply by watching sensationalist reports on the nightly news, whose subtext is nearly always that everything is terrible and no one is to be trusted. But despite all its challenges, that’s truly not the world I know.

So travel as far and as wide as you can. Go someplace you’ve never been; meet people whose lives are different than yours; try to understand their story and their struggle.

And for the love of God, let’s all, at the very least, vow not to insult places we’ve never been.

Africa, Central America, Travel Musings

Jan

2018

Travel Resolutions: 2018 Edition

Melissa Kaplan0

New year, new me, right? Well, I’m still working on that second part, but happily I am on my way. Within a few months, I hope to be back to full health and able to pick up on globetrotting around the world once again!

Last month I shared some of my tentative travel plans for the next year. In a similar spirit, I’d like to now offer my 2018 travel resolutions—things I want to do, or continue, or get better at, all somehow relating to my life as a traveler. Here goes:

Melissa’s 2018 Travel Resolutions

See more of South America. I have one of those scratch-off world maps hanging on my wall that shows how many parts of the globe you’ve visited. And I must admit, mine has a glaring empty corner so far: South America. I’ve only briefly been to Buenos Aires, which was fantastic but hardly representative of an entire vast, diverse continent. Luckily Argentina is big so my map doesn’t look quite as embarrassing as it might otherwise, but still. I’ve been longing to visit Chile and Brazil for ages, and this year I plan to make it happen and begin to fill in the gaps in my South American experience.
Finally make it to Russia! I was going to do this last year, but life intervened. Well, suck it, life, because this year I am going to Russia and nothing will stand in my way! (Fingers crossed, of course. Yes, I’m always paranoid when I make pronouncements like that…maybe “be more confident” and “worry less” need to go on my general resolution list. Anyway…) I sincerely hope that 2018 is finally the year I set eyes on St. Petersburg and absorb everything this magical-looking city has to offer.
Spend time in England with my family. My mom is from England, so I have a large extended family spread throughout the southern part of the country (and a few who’ve moved to Ireland, France, and Australia!) I love London and try to fit it into any trip to Europe; I was last there in 2016 just before visiting Slovenia and Croatia. But my London trips always last just a few days and I barely have time to reconnect with family and pop into the British Museum before it’s time to leave again. I’m hoping to carve out more time for England and visiting family this year, hopefully outside of London too. I’d love to spend a week in the country, with a few days in London and a few visiting family elsewhere (Bath is most likely, as my aunt, uncle, and cousin all reside there). Not exactly sure if I’ll do a stand-alone trip to the UK or add extra time to another trip, but “more time with family in England” is definitely high on my list this year.
Add on a destination to a work trip. I should be doing some more international work travel this year, so it may be feasible to tack on a quick trip to a nearby country/island. We shall see….but I have quite a few new countries I’d like to seize the opportunity to visit with a few extra vacation days!
Visit a new U.S. city. While my travels are largely international, for the past few years I’ve tried to visit at least one new U.S. city. Seattle in 2015, Portland in 2016, and I guess Philadelphia sort of counted in 2017 as I hadn’t been there in 12 years. This year, New Orleans is on my wish list, but a few other places are calling my name as well….
Look into carbon offsets. I meant to start doing this last year, but since I didn’t fly very much it didn’t end up happening (I guess one positive to my being mostly homebound is that it was a slight boon to our environment?) But this year I definitely plan to explore offsetting the environmental impacts of my long flights, as well as trying to combine trips together when possible to avoid lots of separate plane rides.
Take advantage of NYC work trips to eat all the food. I get to travel to NYC a few times a year for my job. While I like the work part of these trips, I’ve never been enamored of the Big Apple. However, not only do I enjoy seeing friends and family when I go, I must admit that I love the NYC food scene! I don’t believe I’ve ever had a bad meal there (credit goes to those same friends and family who bring me to awesome places to dine). Not only that, but NYC does desserts and sweets very well. I really want to check out City Bakery for its delicious-looking hot chocolate (I’m a connoisseur so my hot chocolate standards are high, but this place does seem amazing). And apparently there’s also a trendy new place that serves edible cookie dough?! Yep, I’m there.
Do a birthday yoga retreat. I’ve been toying with the idea of a yoga retreat in Costa Rica for a while, and I think my birthday next December will be a perfect time to do it. This will give me all year to save and plan, and provide a lovely way to end what will hopefully be a much better year for me than the last. See a new country AND do yoga, swim, and get massages all day long…sounds pretty much like heaven to me.
Figure out how to travel hack better. See number 6—I meant to do this last year but it ended up not mattering much since I traveled so little. Time to get on the ball now. Maybe a new credit card to earn miles and privileges is the way to go? In any case, I need to ensure I’m enrolled in all the appropriate airline miles programs (hangs head in shame…I am the worst-hacking traveler ever, and I know it). Here’s to doing better in 2018!
Keep planning and saving for new adventures in 2019. As much as I hope to travel this year, I want to do just as much, if not more, exploring in 2019! So I want to be sure to steadily save money and keep my eye on my 2019 travel goals, especially as my big 2018 trips should mostly wind down at the end of summer. New Zealand? Bali? Russia and Mongolia? It’s all on the table…stay tuned for more news this time next year. In the meantime, having new adventures on both the intermediate and more distant horizons is always a balm for my soul.

I could probably keep going, but ten resolutions seems like plenty, wouldn’t you say? I like to be ambitious, but best to keep all of these resolves at least somewhat grounded in reality. If I achieve even a fraction of what I’ve put on this list, I think I’ll have a pretty fantastic travel year!

(Oh, and also, I’m going to read more—I finished 18 books last year, which is okay, but I’m hoping to hit 25 this year. Not strictly travel related, but I wanted to toss that in there to help hold myself accountable.)

Here’s to a year of adventures, exploration, and happiness ahead! With as many beaches and European cafes tossed into the mix as possible….

Do you make travel resolutions? What are you hoping to achieve in 2018?

Central America, London, Russia, South America, Travel Musings

Jan

2018

My 2018 Travel Goals

Melissa Kaplan0

It’s December, which means it’s time for all those ubiquitous “where I’ve been this year/where I’m going next year” posts to appear on myriad travel blogs. I don’t have much to contribute to the former category this year; It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a proper overseas adventure, due to circumstances beyond my control. And as a traveler, not to mention a travel blogger, this has been pretty tough: not the biggest problem I’ve faced this year by any means (good riddance 2017, and don’t let the door hit you on the way out), but still, it’s been hard watching so many of my friends and family effortlessly globetrotting while I’ve been forced to remain in one place for way too long.

So, I don’t have much to say about my 2017 travels since they were more or less non-existent (sorry, Philadelphia, you were fun!). And honestly, I’ve been hesitant to write in much detail about my travel plans for 2018 either, since this past year has taught me that the best-planned adventures can fall by the wayside when life blows up in your face unexpectedly. I’ve been afraid if I share too much about my travel hopes and dreams for next year before they actually happen, I’ll be jinxing them.

However, this is no way to live. I have every expectation of returning to a life of travel in 2018, and while I don’t want to get into too much detail yet as nothing is confirmed, it can’t hurt to share a few tidbits about some places I’m hoping to explore in the new year, so here goes!

Melissa’s 2018 Travel Goals (At Least the Highlights!)

Chile: I’ve been longing to explore Chile for years, and the more I read about this South American country the more overwhelmed I get because it just looks too amazing: I want to see everything and go everywhere! While this won’t be possible in a single trip, I always think it’s a good sign if a destination gives you mad wanderlust and makes you want to explore it top to bottom before you even arrive. I hope to spend at least a few days this year discovering the urban charms of Santiago, walking the hilly streets of Valparaiso, and visiting the beautiful wine country. Vineyards, mountains, oceans, and of course a city full of restaurants, museums and cafes: sounds like a perfect trip to me!
Finland: I feel like Finland was the “it” travel destination for many people in 2016/2017, so I’m a bit late to the party, but nothing will dampen my excitement over exploring Helsinki–which looks like the most magical, cafe- and museum-filled European city imaginable–and hopefully getting out into the countryside a bit to see more of the country. And saunas: there will definitely have to be saunas!
Russia: As readers who’ve been following my blog for a while know, Russia has long been the ultimate dream destination for me. My plans to finally visit this majestic country were thwarted this year, but I believe 2018 will be the year I finally make it happen. Looks like I need to fulfill my promise to my dad to finish slogging through Crime and Punishment before I set foot in St. Petersburg….

This is just a sampling of places I hope to visit in 2018, but it’s definitely a start! Here’s to a happy, healthy year filled with travel adventures, if we so choose, for all of us. Happy new year everyone!

How was your 2017 for travel? Where do you hope to visit in 2018?

Russia, Scandinavia, South America, Travel Musings

Dec

2017

Some Thoughts on Branding

Melissa Kaplan0

View of Soca river in Slovenia.

More than two years ago, I got the idea to create a travel blog. My motivations were pretty simple: I love to travel and I love to write, so why not combine both interests in one place where I can share a record of my travels, and hopefully inspire other people to get out and see the world as well?

Since I created it, I’ve always viewed Perpetual Voyager primarily as a place to share my travel stories and musings, and I’ve written dozens of posts which aim to do exactly that in a hopefully interesting fashion. But as I think about taking things up a notch—expanding my audience, dedicating more time and resources to what’s always been a hobby blog—I find myself thinking more seriously about what it is I want this blog to be. What am I bringing to the table: what is my brand, so to speak, in the travel blogger universe?

It’s a good question and one I’m not certain how to answer yet. My travels don’t follow a clear linear pattern: basically, I go any place that interests me. I’ve traveled on five continents, mostly in Europe, but I don’t consider myself a Europe expert. I lived for a year in Prague and a year in London and loved both experiences, but I wouldn’t call myself an expert on those cities either (I haven’t even been back to Prague in the decade since I left!)

I love travel writ large. On a smaller scale, what do I enjoy? I like museums, beaches, bookstores, cafes with good hot chocolate and pastries. I love food, but I’m certainly not equipped to become a foodie blogger. I enjoy wine tastings but don’t particularly like wine, and I like the occasional adventure but consider myself far from an adrenaline junkie. Hmm.

I have a job in the development/foreign policy field that involves occasional international travel, and ensures that much of my mental energy is expended trying to learn about and understand the world around me even when I’m not traveling. Travel isn’t just something I do for fun, though it is that; it’s something that allows me to make deeper connections and gain deeper understanding of cultures and people very different from myself, in hopes of making some sense out of this crazy planet we’re all spinning around on. Is that a brand? I kind of doubt it, and even if it were, I fear that trying to commodify this way of experiencing the world would just end up cheapening the experiences themselves.

So, what am I left with? Or to put the question another way: should I change the way I approach blogging, or find something in my current approach to travel—where I go, what I do, why it’s meaningful to me—that I can pull out as a thread to tie my perpetual adventures together?

I’m not quite sure of the answer yet.

A few things I do know: I want to change my approach to travel a bit, and make it more about having certain experiences than simply going certain places. At 35 countries and counting, I’ve already seen a lot of my bucket list (though it keeps getting longer!). I’m past the days where I felt the need to visit Istanbul or Buenos Aires solely to see these cities and cross them off my list. I had a wonderful time in both places, don’t get me wrong, but I was so anxious to see these cultural and historical capitals that I basically didn’t venture beyond them, took quick long-weekend trips to each, and gave short shrift to the rest of Turkey and Argentina. I don’t want to make that mistake again.

From now on, when I travel, I want to dig in a bit more, spend time more cohesively in a single country or region per trip, add on small towns and countryside excursions to give myself a fuller picture of a place without feeling my trips are too rushed or jam-packed. I want to travel a bit slower and deeper.

I also want to focus not just on where I want to go, but what I want to do while I’m there. I dream of doing yoga in Bali, scuba diving in Thailand, skiing in New Zealand. Of course I still want to see sights and museums when I travel, but I also want to combine my other interests and passions and make them part of my trips, so that one country doesn’t become indistinguishable from another when I look back on them afterwards.

So I think I can confidently say that going forward, I want to have a travel life that prioritizes personally meaningful experiences over box-checking, and to have a blog that reflects that. I want to tell deeper stories about my adventures. I want to write about the history of the places I visit and how the past informs the present—always a central interest of mine anywhere I go. I want to write about food and cafes and museums and bookstores and anyplace else I discover in the course of my wandering that brings me joy.

I’ve always considered myself a bit too random to have a real brand: there are too many often disparate passions swirling around in my head to make into one coherent message. And I can’t promise this blog will always succeed in doing that. But hopefully I’ll tell some fun, meaningful stories that make at least one person reading them decide to book their next plane ticket. And in the end, isn’t that—encouraging people to pursue their own dreams of discovering this amazing, majestic planet—kind of the point of telling all these tales in the first place?

For me, I guess it is.

Stay tuned for more stories and adventures down the road—and I hope that maybe some of them will inspire you to pursue a passion or dream of your own, whatever it may be.

Thanks for reading!

Travel Musings

Nov

2017

Buying Guidebooks, Planning Adventures….

Melissa Kaplan0

Plitvice waterfalls, Croatia

As you may recall, I haven’t been traveling this year due to circumstances beyond my control. As a result, it’s been a rather boring few months on the blogging end of things (not to mention the boredom I’ve suffered due to lack of travel itself). I’ve struggled to think of things to write—sure, there’s my recent lovely getaway to Philadelphia, and I’ll write in more detail about that soon. But I want to really be able to delve deep into new stories I create on a new, exotic adventure—or at the very least, be able to announce with certainty that I’m about to do so. But alas, that day is not (quite) here yet.

So, what is there to report from my travel-loving soul in the meantime? Well…I bought a guidebook. Several, actually. This is not unusual for me—I regularly buy guidebooks for places I have no plans to visit in the near future—as I always tell myself, it’s cheaper than an actual trip, right? But these are guidebooks to places I actually hope to visit in the next few months, and that’s got me excited. I love a lazy afternoon reading a guidebook in my living room, but it’s all the more thrilling if I have actual travel plans to make based on Lonely Planet’s recommendations.

Where will these books be guiding me, you might ask? I don’t want to give away too many details, but I’ll drop a few hints:

1) Two of them cover two completely new-to-me countries, in a region of the world where I’ve done little traveling so far;

2) The other is a regional guide, to a region of the world I know very well, but am always eager to explore more every time I return;

3) Two of the books are to warm weather destinations, perfect for a winter trip (February perhaps?) while the other is more suited for summer adventures.

4) One is to a country that’s quite hot right now in travel circles, and features astonishing landscapes from top to bottom;

5) And finally, one has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

That’s about all the hints I can offer right now, but I hope within the next month or so to have at least the first trip (the warm weather one) booked. Stay tuned for more details soon!

Are you a guidebook addict too? What do you do to keep yourself excited about traveling when you can’t actually travel?

Travel Musings

Nov

2017

My Favorite Things In Philadelphia

Melissa Kaplan0

I just returned from a quick trip to Philadelphia—two days to take in some of the sights, sounds, and flavors of a city that, despite living only two hours away, I’d never really spent much time exploring. And it was definitely worth experiencing!

Of course, after an entire summer of being stuck in one place (even if that place is a city I love), I was so anxious for a little getaway that almost any place would have been a balm to my wandering soul after having been cooped up for so long. But I really did enjoy Philadelphia—it’s not DC, of course, but it has a charm of its own, and is an especially rewarding destination for foodies, art lovers, and history buffs (all of which I am, to a greater or lesser extent). So it’s hardly a surprise that I connected quite well with Philadelphia, even on a brief visit.

I’ll be publishing some posts in the near future describing my trip in more detail, but I wanted to share some of the highlights with you now. So, without further ado, here’s a list:

My Favorite Things in Philadelphia

Reading Terminal Market: This was my first stop after checking into my hotel, and it was a good choice as my train got in just before lunchtime. By the time I arrived, the market was bumpin’, but despite the crowds I enjoyed myself and had a great time walking around looking at the different baked goods, ethnic foods, and sandwiches being offered at the dizzying variety of food stalls. I ended up choosing an egg and cheese sandwich (reasonably priced and good—also easy enough to eat given that I couldn’t find anywhere to sit down. Be advised the market doesn’t have much if any seating space for those not buying food from a sit-down restaurant). I also grabbed a to-go chocolate chip walnut cookie from one of the many bakeries, which was even better!

Rittenhouse Square: I deliberately chose a hotel near Rittenhouse Square, a central green leafy park area, so that I’d be in a nice neighborhood close to many of the attractions and restaurants I wanted to check out during my visit. The square itself made for a nice, relaxing walk on my first day, and I sat down for a bit to enjoy some live music as well. It’s always nice to find a pretty park to rest in for a while after you’ve been walking all over town—and I tend to walk quite a lot when I visit new cities.

The Museums: I visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of the American Revolution. I did one each afternoon, spending a few hours in each, which felt like a good way to space things out and allow myself plenty of time to absorb their exhibits and displays. The Philadelphia Museum of Art had a great collection of Impressionists (my favorite) and lots of quality European art in general. Of course, as a DC resident I’m fortunate to get to visit the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, and many other Smithsonians for free whenever I want, so the $20 entrance fee gave me a bit of sticker shock—but hey, I like art and I was on vacation, so I’d definitely say it was well worth it. The next day I spent several hours in the Museum of the American Revolution, which I REALLY enjoyed. As a history buff, I tend to focus my attention more on the twentieth century than the eighteenth, so this was a great opportunity to brush up on some of my high-school history and learn lots of new things as well. It also helped me to put some of our nation’s current struggles in perspective, and did a good job of looking back at the eighteenth century from today with a clear eye and presenting lots of thought-provoking content on issues like the role of women and African-Americans in the revolution, and how the country was divided between those loyal to the British King and those seeking independence. I’ll be doing another post just on the museum soon (that’s how much I enjoyed it) but in the meantime I’ll just close by pointing out that you get to see the actual tent George Washington used during the war. I mean, do you need any further inducement than that to check this place out?!

The Food: Ah, yes, now we’re getting to it—the food! One of the main things I wanted to do in Philadelphia was eat (see above: I was on vacation!) and I did so quite well. My big dinner was at The Prime Rib steakhouse (hello, vacation splurge), and while it did feel like a rather steep price tag for a filet mignon, steak fries, and dessert, I can’t deny the food was excellent. I also had a wonderful chocolate croissant at the Miel Patisserie, as well as a nice lunch at the Bluestone Lane coffee shop in my hotel (I went for the chicken sandwich, which was tasty, though I kind of wish I’d tried the avocado smash as that seems to be their thing…) My breakfast at Federal Donuts was good too—I had an apple-peanut butter drizzle flavor combo—though I think I’m beginning to come to the conclusion that when it’s about donuts, I prefer to keep things a bit simpler (hello, chocolate glazed). I’m only sad I didn’t get to squeeze in Capogiro gelato—but I guess that gives me an excuse to return! Well, that and a few more restaurants I had to pass on as they were closed on Mondays…note to self for the future.

Overall, Philadelphia was a great weekend getaway and I look forward to coming back in the future!

Have you been to Philadelphia? Any recommendations for my future trips?

Philadelphia, US travel

Oct

2017

A Note to People Who Don’t Travel

Melissa Kaplan0

As you may recall, 2017 was going to be a year of travel for me, and I started off my blogging year urging others to make it the same for them. All the reasons I gave back then about why I believe travel is so worthwhile still stand, so maybe writing another post on the topic now seems a bit repetitive.

Except that–as you will also know if you’ve read my recent posts–none of my long-anticipated travel plans for 2017 panned out, due to circumstances beyond my control. Instead, 2017 has been my year of staying still.

View of Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

This was definitely not the situation I’d planned or hoped to be in this year, but it has given me lots of time to think. As I’ve been forced into the role of non-traveler for a while, I’ve realized there are certain things to be said for it. Routine can be nice. You have additional time to spend in your own (awesome) city, and hang out with friends and family. You can also save money (I’m typing this atop a brand new desk I just bought myself which could easily have covered the cost of a domestic plane ticket.)

And yet….I miss travel. I miss the excitement of planning trips, the giddy anticipation of new adventures on the horizon. I miss the thrill of being in a new country where I don’t speak the language or know how most things work and having to figure it out (often assisted mightily by the kindness of strangers).

To anyone reading this who isn’t a traveler, or doesn’t feel the need to be, I’m sure you have your reasons. But speaking as one who’s had to walk (or stay put) in your shoes for the past six months or so, I can assure you that there is a lot to be gained by seeing the world.

Here are just a few of the things I’m missing from travel right now:

Plitvice waterfalls, Croatia

Beach in Phuket, Thailand

I miss sitting in a café in Paris, starting off the day with a flaky chocolate croissant or sipping a chocolate chaud, all the while marveling that great writers like Fitzgerald and Hemingway may have sat in the very seat I’m currently occupying nearly a century ago as they worked on their masterpieces.
I miss trying to speak a new language, making an effort to blend into a new country, even when I spectacularly fail.
I miss walking inside cathedrals, mosques, and other religious sites built over the centuries that dazzle the eye and lift the spirit, like Aya Sofia, St. Peter’s, and St. Paul’s. These buildings aren’t just spectacular visual treats or religious touchstones (though they are that); they’re also tributes to the brilliance of mankind and what people can accomplish when they work together and utilize their talents for the glory of something greater than themselves.
I miss wandering through museums that hold beautiful artwork and historical artifacts that teach us more about the world, and about each civilization’s past and ongoing story. The Louvre, the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Vatican Museum, and so many others I’ve been privileged to see over the years still speak to me and call me back for return visits, over and over again.
I miss the feeling of walking on the Serengeti at sunrise, looking around in hopes of spotting giraffes and zebras, while marveling at the peaceful serenity around me. I remember wondering what my grandmother—who was born in Ireland and never traveled beyond the British Isles throughout her long life—would have thought if she had been able to see her daughter’s daughter taking a morning walk on the Kenyan plains, spotting wildlife and reflecting on the majestic beauty of the world.
I miss the natural wonders that can be found around the globe—waterfalls in Croatia; geysers, hot springs, and more waterfalls in Iceland; stunning beaches in Thailand; gorgeous Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. There are so many corners of the world where nature has created beauty well worth traveling for.
I miss meeting people who were born and raised in cultures vastly different from mine, from Cambodia to Uganda to South Africa to the Czech Republic. I miss talking with them, hearing their stories, learning from them, and sharing my own life with them. Hopefully, at the end of the day, these exchanges between individuals from different countries adds bit by bit to a greater understanding of how much we have in common, and how it benefits all of us to seek out knowledge of worlds very different from our own.
I miss gelato and pizza in Italy. Enough said.

Gulfoss waterfall, Iceland

If you haven’t traveled overseas, it may be due to factors beyond your control—money, medical issues, responsibility for children or aging parents. I get it—believe me, after this year I really do get it. But the very fact of how much I’m missing travel right now reminds me of how important it is to me, and I wanted to share a few of the reasons why in hopes that it might give someone out there the inspiration they need to take the first step towards their own adventures exploring the world. There is so much to see, and as I’ve learned this year, no time to waste in seeing it all.

So, let’s all vow to make 2018 our year of travel. I know I certainly am.

Africa, Central America, Croatia, Guatemala, Iceland, Kenya, Thailand, Travel Musings

Oct

2017

Where I’m Going This Fall

Melissa Kaplan0

I’ll be honest; I’ve never really been a fall person. Sure, I acknowledge that the season has its charms: pumpkin bread (I can’t stand the lattes, though, sorry); autumn foliage (though my current home in the mid-Atlantic can’t compete with my New England upbringing for that); and yes, it’s nice to be able to break out my sweater collection again. But ultimately, fall has always signaled to me that summer, my favorite season, was coming to an end. I just couldn’t get too excited about shorter days and colder nights. Add to that the fact that most of my travels often happen in spring and summer, and fall never really felt that exciting to me.

This year, however, things feel different. As I alluded to in my last post, I’ve spend the past few months (ie all of my beloved spring and summer seasons) dealing with health issues that have consumed a lot of my time and attention and kept me grounded at home with no travel to distract me. That’s why this year, I’m doubly excited to welcome October: it means I’m almost done with the main part of my medical treatments (I can see the end on the horizon!), and I’m finally ready to do some traveling again (and just in time to head north for peak-ish foliage!)

My trips this month won’t be all that exotic, but that’s okay. At this point, I’ll embrace pretty much any opportunity to hit the road, and I’m looking forward to several mini-adventures this month:

Melissa’s October Travels

The first stop, next weekend, is Philadelphia! After reading about several bloggers’ fun experiences in the city, I’ve decided it’s high time to explore its restaurant, café, and museum scenes. And as it’s only two hours from DC by train, it’s a perfect escape for the Columbus Day weekend break.

I’ve been to Philadelphia before, but that was over a decade ago and I’m sure a lot has changed since then, not the least of which is me. I’m a very different traveler now than I was in 2005, having lived overseas and traveled to five continents since then! I know more about what I like and want to focus on in a city, and for me, that means soaking up Philadelphia’s rich history as a pivotal part of the country’s founding days (already got my tickets for the Museum of the American Revolution!), checking out some cool cafes, gelaterias, and donut shops (Federal Donuts, I’m coming for you!), and of course, trying some fantastic new restaurants. I have a dinner reservation at Talula’s Garden, a reputedly amazing foodie mecca, for my one night in town, and I can’t wait to check it out and see how it lives up to expectations. Stay tuned for more on my Philadelphia adventures in the next few weeks!

Next up is my annual work conference in New York City. Normally, I don’t think of this as a vacation because a) it’s a work trip, obviously, and b) I don’t like NYC very much (sorry not sorry). But, I will admit the city has grown on me over the past few years of traveling there for my job—by which I basically mean I appreciate the indisputably excellent restaurant scene, which hasn’t let me down yet. Plus, I look forward to getting to visit friends and family in the city whom I don’t often get to see. Oh, and I’ve already started recruiting coworkers to visit Black Tap with me to enjoy burgers and, more importantly, these milkshakes. For this decadent candy-covered experience, I’ll happily ride a train three hours north (and hopefully see some decent foliage as part of the bargain!)

Black Tap milkshakes are worth a trip to NYC!

I’ll be in DC the rest of the month, but looking forward to a few fun local adventures too. These include visiting the Kennedy Center in a few weeks to see the Mariinsky ballet, and attending a book signing by legendary newscaster Dan Rather to celebrate the release of his new book (as one who’s been following his eloquent Facebook posts for the past year, I’m really anxious to see how his musings on politics, America, and national unity that have captivated so many on social media will translate into book form).

Time for a culture fix at the Kennedy Center!

So, it will be a busy month of small but delightful adventures and escapes. Just the prospect of a change, a break from the routine of the last few months of my tethered life, is exciting to me; I want to get back out into the world and re-engage the part of me that thrives on travel and exploration. Hopefully this time in a few months I’ll have lots more adventures planned and in the pipeline, but for now, I think I’m off to a pretty solid start as I re-emerge onto the travel scene.

For once I’ll join the chorus: bring on fall!

Have you been to Philadelphia or NYC recently? Any recommendations for my visits? What do your fall travel plans look like so far?

DC, US travel, Washington

Oct

2017

When A Perpetual Voyager Has to Stop Traveling

Melissa Kaplan0

I still remember the moment two years ago when I came up with the name for my travel blog. I was sitting in yoga class, letting my mind drift a bit in hopes of gaining some inspiration, and thinking about how for me, the whole point of travel and adventure was that it wasn’t a one-off experience but a continuous trend, a state of being. I wasn’t just a traveler, I was a voyager, if you will. An eternal voyager!

I thought the name was perfect. It acknowledged the permanence of my quest to explore as much of the world as I could. But as I reconsidered, “eternal” sounded a bit too serious, or flaky, depending on how you approached it. So instead, I went with “perpetual.” Perpetual voyager. Perpetual motion. Always moving forward, onto the next country, the next adventure, the next dream. That was me.

Until this year.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you may have noticed that I haven’t posted anything here in months. If you know me well, you can probably guess why. This past spring I got hit by a powerful jolt of news I wasn’t expecting, regarding that most precious and important aspect of life that we all too often take for granted: my health. Having always been a robustly healthy person who worked out three times a week, walked 10,000 steps a day just to get to work, squeezed myself into coach seats for twenty-hour flights without a second thought and visited the doctor’s office once a year, it has definitely been a challenging transition and has turned my life upside down in a lot of ways.

Still, in many respects, I am fortunate. Early diagnosis caught my affliction before it went too far, and my long-term prognosis is excellent. I have amazing doctors, a supportive employer, and wonderful family and friends. Even without meaning to, this year of mostly unmitigated awfulness has shown me how fortunate I really am. Despite all that I’ve gone through over the past few months, I’m very, very grateful for that.

If all goes well, I’m hopeful that soon 2017 and all its awfulness will just be a blip on my radar screen. I’ll leave these difficult days in the past, recover physically and mentally, and get back to my real life, the one I’m supposed to be living right now—the one that involves traveling to far-flung places and having magical experiences in new cities and cultures, then coming home to write blog posts and relive the greatest hits on Instagram with a selection of my favorite photos.

But in the meantime, I’m sort of stuck. It’s the way it has to be, for now—weekly medical treatments have kept me pretty tethered to my hometown for the past few months. I haven’t been out of the country since I came home from Slovenia and Croatia a year ago. (In fact, Facebook memories helpfully reminded me today that exactly one year ago I was chasing waterfalls in Plitvice national park in Croatia…how quickly life can turn around!)

Plitvice waterfalls, Croatia

My other travel plans this year all fell by the wayside once I got my diagnosis back in May. (And if I may say so myself, these were some excellent plans). No safari in Kenya with my coworkers after our annual meeting in Nairobi in June. No dream trip to cruise Scandinavia and Russia (the one I’d been longing to make happen for close to a decade). Instead this summer was filled with doctor’s appointments, hospital visits, and a lot of time on my hands to think about the endless list of places I’d rather be.

But, there’s hope on the horizon! By the end of this year I’ll be mostly done with my course of treatment, and by winter I should be able to travel again pretty much without restriction. I already have big, big plans for the first trip I want to take in 2018…but having learned the hard way that life doesn’t always work out the way we expect it to, I want to hold off on sharing details until I actually have plane tickets in hand. Stay tuned….

And in the meantime, I want to get back to blogging. I didn’t post anything for the past few months mostly because it didn’t seem worth it—what was I going to write about? I wasn’t going anywhere interesting or doing anything beyond my work-and-medical appointment routine. But I also think that maybe, my lack of presence on my blog was also a form of denial. I didn’t want to put down in words what I was experiencing any more often than I had to. And while I still don’t want to write about the things that have kept me grounded in reality this year, I do want to begin anticipating the day when I’ll be able to take flight again. Because it’s never too early to get excited about the next adventure on the horizon—in fact, sometimes that’s all that keeps you going.

I also want to use this pause in my travels for another purpose—to reboot my blog a bit. I’ve always seen Perpetual Voyager as a hobby blog, and never wanted to make it into a full-time gig as many travel bloggers aspire to. I love travel blogs, but I already have a job and a career, and I wanted this site to remain something I do just for fun, and for myself—though of course, anyone else who chooses to is welcome to come along for the ride!

But now, I think my unplanned break from blogging has inspired me to re-dedicate myself to my blogging efforts. I want to post more frequently, write about travel in more in-depth and imaginative ways. I want to grow my audience, expand my community of readers. And you know, actually figure out the nuts and bolts of how to make a site look nice. (Looks do count, after all!)

And I do have a few small but exciting adventures coming up over the next few months close to home. I’m thrilled to have booked tickets for a Columbus Day weekend getaway to Philadelphia, a city I’ve visited before but really only scratched the surface of. I want to explore the museums, dig into the history of America’s founding days, and of course, check out the food and café scene in Philly. Only another month to go! And I’ll be sharing my impressions of the city here when I get back.

In late October I’ll be going to New York City for a work trip, which hopefully will include some time to catch up with NYC-based friends and family and try out some new restaurants (as well as make it back to the home of the world’s most magical milkshakes, obviously!)

Then in December I’ll be visiting my family in Florida for Christmas. It’s been months since I’ve seen them, though we talk every day, and I can’t wait to spend some quality in-person time with Mom and Dad, ending a difficult year on a high note.

And then, on to 2018…which, if I have my way, will be filled with nothing short of epic travel adventures.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

When my doctor and I first met to discuss my course of treatment a few months ago, I had many questions, both big and small. But one of the most pressing for me was when I’d be able to travel again. I mentioned my now-cancelled safari in Kenya, and asked if, in a year’s time, I’d be able to travel to such distant places again. I’ll never forget her words: “A year from now, you’ll go back to Kenya…and you can take me with you!”

Those words were such a relief to hear at the time, and even today, they still make me smile and give me hope. Hope that my life as a perpetual voyager will continue, and that I’ll soon be back out in the world I love so fiercely, conquering mountains and chasing waterfalls and living this glorious life to its fullest.

And until then, I’ll keep writing. Thanks for reading.

Africa, Croatia, Kenya, Russia, Slovenia

Sep

2017

Author Archive: Melissa Kaplan

Post navigation