Travel Stories
World Cups and Olympics, rivers and ridgelines, wine country, and what I learned running hotels.
Historic events
Featured · Historic events
I spent nine months volunteering for the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Kansas City, from training days to quarterfinal night at Arrowhead. Here's what it was like, and what I'd tell anyone planning a trip to a mega-event.
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Adventure
In August 2012 I hiked the Italian and Swiss half of the Tour du Mont Blanc, from Courmayeur to Chamonix, in a week with a friend. Here's the route, the huts and how I'd plan it now.
Adventure
In April 2013 I spent a month traveling from Bariloche to Ushuaia and back, mostly by hitchhiking, with Torres del Paine, Perito Moreno and the Carretera Austral along the way.
Hotel insider
Before I planned trips, I ran hotels. Here's what actually decides which room you get, and the requests that front desks notice.
Wine tourism
America's first official wine region isn't in California. It's a small river town in Missouri, and it's worth a weekend.
Historic events
I spent nine months volunteering for the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Kansas City, from training days to quarterfinal night at Arrowhead. Here's what it was like, and what I'd tell anyone planning a trip to a mega-event.
Historic events
I planned my Paris 2024 trip around football: a semifinal in Lyon and both gold medal matches at the Parc des Princes. In between, I rode a rented bike through Beaujolais.
Adventure
I didn't hike the whole Great Wall. Nobody does. I hiked the quiet, crumbling Badaling Ancient Great Wall on a snowy day in 2012. Here's why the wall is longer than you think, and how to choose your stretch.
Adventure
I bolted a short granite climb on Cerro San Martín, high above Lago Gutiérrez outside Bariloche, and named it Pilar de Sal, the pillar of salt. It's still in the local guides.
