Travel Bugg: Start your travels here
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Petrified Forest National Park
On our way home from the Grand Canyon, we stopped at the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. People complain the road from West Texas to Arizona is a whole lot of nothing, but we saw beauty in the barrenness. The gradient hills of wood and rock fringed by desert flora and scrub brush create…
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Best Sites for Backpacking Europe
In preparation for our six weeks in Europe, Lav and I have been writing, researching and pinning like crazy. Here are some helpful sites we’ve found for budget backpackers like us. Budget and Planning 1. The Savvy Backpacker The most comprehensive guide for travelling Europe on a budget Covers initial trip planning, packing, finding accommodation,…
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Short Term Saviors: more harm than good?
For the North American student, the short term mission trip has become a rite of passage. High school and college students on fire for Jesus travel to the farthest reaches of the world, usually on spring or summer break, to paint churches, teach Bible camps or play soccer. However, closer inspection of these “vacationaries” has…
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Mystery of the Hradová Ruins
On the outskirts of Košice, among the low mountains and surrounding forest are the ruins of Hradová Hill. Very little is known about these ruins although they belonged to one of the largest medieval castles in Slovakia. “It is definitely a castle established by a king,” said Matej Ruttkay, head researcher of the archaeological institute…
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Narrative Travel Writing Contest!
Pleased to announce I was selected a 3rd place winner of the 2015 TransitionsAbroad.com Narrative Travel Writing Essay Contest! I really admire the quality of content found at Transitions Abroad as they showcase authentic work, study, living, volunteering, and cultural immersion experiences. After two failed submissions, I’m so excited to finally be published! Find out more about…
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Top 8 Travel Quotes
Quotes that make me want to dust off my hiking boots, grab my passport and cast off into the life and current of travel. 8. “Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance, nothing is…
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Hunt for the American Bison
Tall Grass Prairie Preserve in Pawhuska, Oklahoma- Jan. 2015 American bison, often mistakenly called buffaloes, are symbolic of the Great Plains and weigh in as the heaviest land animals in North America. My cousin, an avid photographer and lover of all things indigenous, took me on a quest to find these gentle giants on Oklahoma’s…
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Grand Canyon: The Divine Abyss
Grand Canyon has one of the most extensive records of geologic history, representing over 2 billion years of sedimentation, mountain building and erosion. One writer described it as the Divine Abyss. March 2014: South Rim; Spring break camping trip
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Love Bridge in Košice, Slovakia
It’s become a trend in Europe for lovers to leave padlocks on bridges. To mark my last day in Slovakia, I went to Košice’s bridge downtown to say goodbye to the city and leave my own little tag of love.
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First Snow in Virginia
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What are you doing after graduation?
What are you doing after graduation? The question lurks behind every final exam and senior project. You’ve checked off every box. You’ve paid the piling fees. You’ve sat through classes, written essays and pretended to know the words to the school song. It’s all done. So how did I find myself 20 hours and 1,200…
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Journalism vs. Sensationalism
After completing my internship in Eastern Europe, I made a short video and an interactive presentation using my photographs. This will be used to educate people about the culture of the Roma people of Slovakia and raise funds so the Roma Press Agency can produce a documentary about human trafficking in Roma communities. When doing…
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