by Matthew Allison | Apr 27, 2025 | Europe
Completing Eastern Europe: A Final Journey to Estonia A Personal Milestone This trip marked a personal milestone — Estonia was the final country in Eastern Europe that I had yet to visit.It felt like the closing of a long, adventurous chapter of one of my favorite...
by Matthew Allison | Apr 14, 2025 | Asia
Why I Traveled to Northern Laos Seeking the Last Traditional Hill Tribes A Lifelong Fascination with Remote Cultures One of my biggest motivations for travel has always been the chance to encounter unique tribal communities, especially those still living in...
by Matthew Allison | Apr 11, 2025 | Asia
Last Stop Chiang Mai: A Reunion in Thailand’s Northern Heart Temples, Street Food, and a Final Night with an Old Friend Thailand is a country I’ve visited no less than six times over the past 30 years, and I’ve always enjoyed my time there. I’ve spent over a week in...
by Matthew Allison | Apr 11, 2025 | Asia
Saigon Stopover: A Night in Vietnam’s Wartime Capital Exploring a Legendary Journalist Hotel and the Cu Chi Vietcong Tunnels en Route to Laos As part of a longer 10-day journey to trek through remote hill tribe villages in northern Laos, my friend Sterling and I made...
by Matthew Allison | Jan 26, 2025 | Caribbean, North America, Default
New Year’s in Cuba: A Journey Back in Time December 2024: Cuba has long been one of my favorite countries in the Americas. Despite enduring over 60 years of communism and crushing sanctions, its people remain kind, resilient, and full of life. There’s a timeless...
by Matthew Allison | Jan 5, 2025 | Africa
December 2024: I recently visited The Gambia for the second time as part of a week-long trip to Mali, with the main goal of reaching Timbuktu. My first visit to The Gambia was entirely accidental—the result of a flat airplane tire that stranded me there...
by Matthew Allison | Dec 9, 2024 | Africa
Timbuktu: The Ultimate Quest for Adventure December 2024: The very name Timbuktu conjures images of legendary exploration, lost cities, and vast desert landscapes—a place once whispered about in European courts as a city of gold and unimaginable wealth, hidden deep...
by Matthew Allison | Nov 10, 2024 | Mexico, North America
October/November 2024: Halloween is one of my favorite times of year—a celebration of mischief and the macabre, filled with ghouls, vampires, witches, and all those creepy figures that have somehow transformed into charming characters for costumes and decorations. But...
by Matthew Allison | Nov 5, 2024 | Europe
November 2024: Iceland’s wild beauty and rich folklore make it a captivating destination. It’s a land of erupting volcanoes, vast lava fields, dramatic mountain ranges shaped by massive ice caps, and endless Arctic coastlines. The Viking legends of hidden people,...
by Matthew Allison | Sep 15, 2024 | Mexico, North America
August 2024:For my daughter Indie’s first birthday, my family and some friends rented a beach house on Playa Baja, south of Ensenada, Mexico, for the weekend. Despite living less than 20 miles away from Mexico, this was Indie’s first trip there and her...
