What to Do in Santorini, Part 2: Get Out to Sea

Everywhere Once

Exploring volcanic landscapes has become a fairly frequent pastime during our travels, from Idaho’s Craters of the Moon to the Big Island’s Mauna Kea.

All of these places have their own starkly desolate beauty, and Greece’s Nea Kameni is no exception. Visible from Santorini, the uninhabited volcanic island looks like a black mass. Up close, its nuances come into focus.

View original post 379 more words

What to Do in Santorini, Part 1

Everywhere Once

Santorini just might make for the perfect holiday. Not only is it easy on the eyes, a stay on the Greek island can be as active or as leisurely as you’d like. Go sailing, take a hike, explore ancient ruins, or do nothing but sip wine and gaze at the sea. Even after spending six days there, it was one of the few places I didn’t feel ready to leave when the time came to pack up and move on. The bulk of Santorini’s visitors dock for a day, barely scratching the island’s surface. But linger if you can. You certainly won’t regret it.

View original post 950 more words

Yes, you should still travel to Greece

Everywhere Once

With negotiations between the Greek government and its European creditors apparently breaking down the prospects for a financial collapse within Greece rose significantly yesterday. Stories of long lines and empty cash machines filled the news, suggesting that a full-scale run on Greek banks may already be underway. It’s uncertain at this point whether leaders can step back from this brink even if they want to.

With so much confusion and negative press it’s completely normal for naturally skittish travelers to shy away from such situations. Before leaving on our month long trip to the country in May several people expressed various levels of non-specific concern. People told us they were afraid to go to Greece but, when pressed, didn’t know exactly why. With the country’s financial crises potentially accelerating and news-streams filling up with even more bad headlines such generalized fears are likely to grow. But should that keep you…

View original post 595 more words

Our Introduction to Greece: Stunning Santorini

Everywhere Once

With hundreds of inhabited islands scattered in the seas off the coast of Greece, how do you choose which ones to visit?

For us, Santorini was a given.

Not only is the island’s beauty legendary, everyone we know who has been to Santorini has high praise for it. Good friends of ours honeymooned there, while one half of another, well-traveled couple we met recently told us it’s her all-time favorite place.

Santorini is popular for a reason. During our six-day stay on the island, we found that it lived up to the hype…and then some.

View original post 343 more words

You Know it’s 2015 When

Everywhere Once

View original post

Great Products For Long-Term Travelers

Our intrepid Shannon and Brian are unlikely to retire on the proceeds of these endorsements, and, as the products and services mentioned may be useful to people planning trips, I thought I’d share with anyone interested…

Everywhere Once

We get asked so frequently about the things we use to make traveling full-time easier that we figured our readers would find a post dedicated to the subject useful. 

Most of the time everyday clothing and products are perfectly adequate for the kind of traveling we do. We don’t, for example, wear convertible cargo pants or Columbia travel clothes that so many other travelers favor. Blue jeans and t-shirts work as well for us on the road as they do at home.

Occasionally, though, full-time travelers encounter special problems. And special problems call for special solutions. These are the products and services we’ve come to rely on to help solve some of those challenges.

View original post 1,428 more words

The Visual Feast that is George Town

Everywhere Once

We may not have done nearly as well eating in Malaysia’s “Foodie Capitol” as we had hoped but that didn’t stop us from feasting on an impressive smorgasbord of a different variety. And while we would never claim George Town is an obviously beautiful city in the way that, say Hoi An in Vietnam is, there are enough pockets of visual attractions scattered about town to make it a worthwhile place to explore. Just be prepared. As with its culinary treasures, George Town plays a bit coy by hiding some of its best bits in out of the way places.

View original post 208 more words

Cool Cats of Koh Lanta, Thailand

Everywhere Once

Two nearly-identical white cats circled each other, hissing and growling. Facing off, until one conceded defeat and dashed around the corner of the bungalow. The victor jumped up to join Brian on a hammock swinging on the porch—or rather, to cuddle up with the human currently in residence at her abode.

View original post 363 more words

Why We Love Much-Maligned Siem Reap

Everywhere Once

1$ Tapas night at Ivy Guesthouse is hard to beat

Siem Reap gets no respect. It’s true, it’s a western enclave. There isn’t much to see in town, and it exists mostly as a basecamp for Angkor Wat. And if you’re looking for immersion in Cambodian culture, this isn’t where you want to be. But having said all of that, it’s wrong to conclude, as so many people do, that Siem Reap isn’t “real” or is somehow inauthentic. Siem Reap is very much a real city, albeit a heavily westernized one. I say that because there are plenty of places in the world where people live and work that are very much like Siem Reap. We know, because we used to live in, and still love, one such place.

To us Siem Reap felt like the Hoboken of South East Asia. Now that probably doesn’t mean anything to anyone…

View original post 650 more words

Lessons Learned: Tips for Touring Angkor Wat Like a Pro

Everywhere Once

We spent seven days in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and three days exploring the temples of Angkor Wat. Here are some of the things we wish we knew before arriving at the largest religious monument in the world.

View original post 1,510 more words