Monday: We just finished up a fun weekend in Minnesota seeing family, so our itinerary ended up being slightly different this year, but basically the same thing: MSP – Chicago – Athens – Corfu. Even though we’ve done this travel day before, this one seemed to drag on forever. Get us to coastal Greece already!

Tuesday: Just as with the previous two years, we went directly to Angsana Resort for two days of relaxing by the pool, gorging ourselves on the best Mediterranean buffet on the planet, adjusting to our new time zone, and enjoying fresh seafood by the water every evening.

Wednesday: Sleeping, pool, and sleeping by the pool. That evening, for the first time in three years, we finally made it to Benitses, the little village down the road from the resort. All the restaurants and shops are on a single street, which gets quite lively in the evenings. We picked a restaurant at random and had a great dinner, with lots of seafood, feta, and white wine.

Thursday: Another Explorations, another ride on a slow ferry that we didn’t book. A few weeks before the trip, we got an email from the festival organizers saying that one of the ferry company’s boats had broken down recently, so a whole bunch of people (including us) were getting bumped to a slow ferry. We were refunded the difference in price, but it was a little deflating that we’d be stuck on slow boats. Again. Thankfully the weather cooperated – cloudy and even a brief rainstorm – so that we weren’t baking and sweating all afternoon. Somehow we got through passport control quickly and got on the first bus to Dhermi, though there was a lot of extra walking this year: a long walk just to get to the bus (due to road construction) and then a 20-minute death march over cobblestones to get to our hotel. This year we stayed at Nassau Hotel, which was in a different part of town than we’ve seen in years past: the beach southeast of the festival site, which has been built up in recent years to handle all the increased tourism. The aforementioned cobblestone path – which is much cuter when you’re not dragging 50-pound suitcases behind you – is lined with hotels, restaurants, bars, bodegas, beach chairs and umbrellas, and outdoor lounges with hookahs and bean bag chairs.

After checking in, cleaning up, changing, and getting dinner, it was time to kick off the week’s festivities. Thursday evening was a little bit of Braxton at Splendor, followed by a whole lot of James Grant (who played an excellent 4-hour set), and an M.O.S. nightcap at Yacht Club.

Friday: Gjipe for Romain Garcia, CRi, and Hana. There was a bit of a delay leaving since the waters were too rough for the boats to run, but once we got out of there, we treated ourselves to the requisite post-Gjipe dinner at Luciano’s.

It was at this point that my voice, which had been slowly dying since the previous night, basically gave out completely. I joked that I went too hard the first night and blew my voice out, but in retrospect I realized that I had caught something from my brother while we were in Minnesota, since he started losing his voice at the end of that trip (Sunday evening). I still stayed out all night to see Qrion and then Dosem at Empire (aka the Jereme Block), and our crew wore the squad shirts I had made for this year’s trip.

Saturday: The cold/flu hit hard and I spent most of the day in bed, forsaking what I’m sure was a wild James & Jody set on Gjipe. I rejiggered my whole schedule to go out only in the evening (and not stay out all night), so I ended up at a sunset set, which is usually pretty rare for us on these trips. I caught Chris Luno and then Cornelius SA at The Cove and then a wild Amy Wiles party at Yacht Club. She’s very deserving of some recognition, so I was really happy for her that she finally got a primetime slot and a rowdy audience to match. After that I was ready to go to bed. (Such a shame too, since I missed My Friend and Simon Doty at Empire.)

Sunday: Again, I spent most of the day resting, but by the evening I was starting to come around (a small miracle for me, since even the common cold will often have a long tail of a couple weeks). I pulled it together to see P.O.S. at Splendor, which I knew would be one of the highlights of the week, and Paavo did not disappoint. Though the plan was to head back afterwards, I ended up staying out a bit to see some Nox Vahn, CRi, Durante, and Hana.

Monday: This was the one day we did not have Gjipe tickets, so Jereme and I spent the afternoon at our hotel’s pool, which was actually a glorious way to spend the day. It was so good in fact, that it’s made me strongly consider not doing Gjipe ever again. Gjipe days can be pretty draining, but spending an afternoon at the hotel pool is such a great way to remind yourself that you’re on vacation, and you don’t need to be doing something all the time. That night we caught a little bit of Sinca and Jody at Splendor, then it was the 4-hour block I was most looking forward to all week: Guy J at Empire and then Luttrell at Splendor until sunrise. Both played exactly what they were supposed to: Guy J was the conductor of a non-stop train of dark minimal progressive house, and then Luttrell had a fun, emotional, melodic dance party under the soft yellow sunrise.

Tuesday: We skipped Gjipe again – since it was kind of a repeat of the night before – and instead went to Havana Beach Club, which was mere minutes from our hotel. Michael Cassette and anamē played a really fun pool party, which once again was so much more reenergizing and relaxing than going to Gjipe. The final night of the festival was pretty chill: we bounced around between Komytea (Michael Cassette without the 80s vibes), Nils Hoffmann, and Enamour, before turning in “early” (probably 2:00).

Wednesday: We had a very reasonable checkout time and boat departure time, but it was still a long and very hot travel day back to Corfu.

Lummi and I stayed on Corfu until Sunday, spending our downtime wandering old town (though very much limited by the 95+ degree temperatures), shopping for souvenirs, looking for bakeries, eating seafood by the water, and saying our goodbyes to the friends leaving before us.

Since we’ve done basically the same exact trip three years in a row, the current thinking is that we might skip Explorations next year. It requires a lot of time off from work to do this, so we end up missing out on other travel opportunities, and we already have some possibilities on the horizon for 2025. But who knows, we might change our tune next year when we start having dreams of the Albanian Riviera…

Monday: We knew that jet lag was going to be bad for this trip and that manifested immediately. Our 10-ish-hour flight from SFO left in the afternoon, so just as we were starting to feel sleepy, we landed in Amsterdam and it was time to start our day. Fred, our wonderfully quirky Airbnb host, thankfully let us check in early, which helped us make the most of the day. We spent that first day wandering the neighborhoods since it was some of the best weather on the trip. We accidentally stumbled upon the Almost Summer store, whose “Do Nothing Club” branding I had noticed recently in a Chris Luno video. In the late afternoon, we wandered to Mikkeller for beers and pub food for dinner. They had a surprising amount of veggie options, which I realized was typical for Amsterdam (signs everywhere advertise vegetarian food). After dinner we walked by Melkveg – a music venue housed in a former milk factory – on the way home and passed out early.

Tuesday: Up bright and early, we ate a little breakfast and then fast-walked to the Van Gogh Museum since we were late for our time slot, though no one seemed to mind. We opted for the audio tour and did the Pokémon scavenger hunt as well (the museum currently has a Pokémon tie-in). I think some of Van Gogh’s lesser known works are much better than his popular ones. (Really, we all think this sunflowers painting is actually good?) Afterwards we walked to Oeuf for lunch and had a pretty excellent brunch on their patio. Their menu informed me that (a) they had shakshuka (which I ordered) and that (b) a “porn star martini” is apparently a thing. I put in a few hours of work back at our Airbnb and then later in the afternoon we took the tram to Central Station for our wine-and-cheese canal boat tour.

Wednesday: I worked (or slept) most of the day, then in the evening we went to Melkveg with Ville and Kristiina to see Tinlicker play with Metropole Orkest, a Dutch orchestra specializing in jazz and pop and world music. The show was super cool and they recorded a very professional production of the event (available here and here). It was a great kickoff to the week.

Thursday: I worked for a bit in the morning and then we “adopted” Ville for the afternoon since Kristiina had to work as well. We tried to go to Chun Café for lunch, but the line literally went across the closest bridge, and we ended up having a much better time across the street at Pluk instead. We left Ville in the late afternoon to go to the Claptone live interview and Q&A session, which was hilarious. He was in character the whole time – voice modulator and all – and would say things like “Well since I’m several hundred years old…” in the middle of serious answers. We got some nice swag too (masks, comic books, and playing cards). That night was the Luminosity party, which wasn’t part of ADE, but Ville and Kristiina had tickets to see Nils Hoffman, so we bought tickets too. In retrospect, we could have skipped this – Nils was playing at our event on Saturday – and gone to one of the other events or venues.

Friday: Jet lag hit incredibly hard – plus I think I was fighting a mild cold – so I stayed in bed until 4:00. Going out in the rain to go to a steamy, crowded boat party did not sound appealing, so we skipped that and rested instead. In the early evening, we met Ville and Kristiina, who were coming in “scorching hot” (their words) from the boozy boat party. We met them at the Albert Heijn in Central Station, which was a bumping party with a DJ. We were on a tight schedule, so we all grabbed to-go food and drinks before getting an Uber to the Armada offices for a pop-up party that we (partially) had tickets to. Somehow we weaseled all of us inside and were rewarded with a hell of an evening: access to the Armada radio studio, an open bar at the small nightclub down the hall, being present for Joris Voorn and Eelke Kleijn receiving a gold record, and then a great party all evening with music from Joris, Eelke, and Yotto.

Saturday: We spent most of the day wandering the city, had a Dutch dinner (with mixed reviews) with Ville and Kristiina, and then set off for the big Anjunadeep party. It was a great lineup with a lot of the usuals (James and Jody, Yotto, Eli & Fur, Marsh, etc) but we left “early” at 4:00 since we wanted to enjoy our final full day.

Sunday: Well I guess it was a great week, because I woke up with no voice. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the nice weather, wandered the neighborhoods, did some shopping, got a massage, and had a fancy seafood dinner at Pesca, which I would highly recommend to anyone.

Our week in Amsterdam was somehow action-packed and too sparse at the same time. We barely made use of our conference passes because we were either too jet lagged to go out or synchronizing our schedules with our friends. We did really enjoy all the events we made it to though. I think if we went to ADE again we would approach it a bit differently and make more of an attempt to go to the daytime events and some of the iconic venues. Getting into Europe early, beating back jet lag, and not working remotely would help a lot with this.

All that said, I was really impressed with Amsterdam. In some ways, it feels a bit like the good parts of San Francisco: beautiful, walkable, green, bike-friendly (but to another level obviously), vegetarian-friendly, metropolitan, yet also kind of casual. Everyone speaks perfect English and the tram and Uber both work very well, so getting around is incredibly easy. I would absolutely go back, for ADE or anything else, though ADE is a pretty good motivator. I realize most of the non-party portions of this blog post were just us wandering around, but honestly, it’s a really great way to experience the city.

See you next year, Amsterdam?

Monday: Here we are again, on the same SFO – Newark – Athens – Corfu itinerary as last year. An uneventful but long day.

Tuesday: We meet up with Ville and Kristiina in the Athens airport and fly to Corfu. Once again, we head to Angsana Corfu for two nights to deal with jet lag, be pampered for a bit, and just generally kick-start the trip the right way. Our favorite taxi driver Giannis (from last year) ends up being our driver for the entire trip. Jereme also uses him when he arrives from Alaska, but he actually meets up with old friends who are (coincidentally!) living on a boat in Corfu for the summer. They come by the hotel in the afternoon and are a joy to have with us by the pool. Half-jokingly (but also half-seriously), we inquire if we can charter their boat next year and avoid the ferry entirely.

Wednesday: Just as we did last year, this is a day for sleeping in, gorging ourselves at one of the finest brunch buffets on the planet, swimming, and laying out by the pool.

Thursday: Based on our experiences with the slow ferries last year, Lummi made a point of booking us a fast ferry this year. However, something was miscommunicated somewhere, because when we attempted to board, we were turned away by a very uncompromising captain who said the boat was already over the limit. The festival staff were also a bit confused and the best explanation we got is that some people basically stole our seats, either with their butts or their bags. We got bumped to the next departing slow ferry – sigh – but it ended up being a fun ride because we got seats inside, brought along some beers, and had a lot of great chats with all the people sitting around us. After the picturesque 1-hour bus ride through the mountains, we arrived in Dhermi and set off on a long, pebbly trek to Empire Beach Resort, the nicest hotel in town, and also the site of the main stage! As is common at Anjunadeep events, Jody Wisternoff materialized out of thin air in the lobby as we arrived. Classic Jody – literally everywhere all at once. We chatted with him and his wife briefly, inquiring about the current state of pranks that they play on each other. After checking in, getting some beers for the room, and sitting by the pool for a bit, we set out and bounced around all the stages, catching a bit of VONDA7 at Yacht Club and Jody and Simon Doty.

Friday: Gjipe (day one of four!) for Yotto and CRi during the afternoon and a little bit of M.O.S at Yacht Club on the way back to the hotel. This night ended up being a truly unique experience, as we basked in the synthy, hypnotic, 80s-inspired progressive house glow of Michael Cassette at the Cove. He’s a bit reclusive and rarely plays in public, and it’s actually kind of difficult to find any of his live sets online. Ville and Kristiina were unfamiliar with him, but they trusted me when I said we absolutely had to see him (plus they appreciated the Finnish connection). Within 15 minutes, they – along with everyone else in the crowd – were completely blown away. We pushed to the front for the remainder of the set and even got a photo with him after he was done. Buzzing from that, we hurried over to catch the rest of James Grant, who played at Splendor until sunrise. Those of us still upright finished off the night at Empire – as one does – with the last 30 minutes of Dusky.

Saturday: (Editor’s note: Because I can’t remember exactly, I’m just going to assume that every day started with sleeping in, going downstairs to the Empire restaurant, eating pizza for breakfast, and then barely making it to Yacht Club by 3:00.) Marsh and Simon Doty at Gjipe, dinner and a rest back at the hotel, and then back out all night again. Dosem played with HANA (a.k.a. Jereme’s match made in heaven) at the Cove for three hours and it was incredibly fun – the two of them seemed to be having a blast and their styles went together really well. I’ve never seen Dosem smile that much! At this point (3:00 am), there was a terrible choice to be made: P.O.S at Splendor or Yotto at Empire. Since we saw a Yotto sunrise set last year, a few of us went to see Paavo, telling ourselves that we’d stay for only 15 minutes and then leave to go see Yotto. But just like last year, Paavo played an incredible set with lots of new music, and there was a tangible feeling of I need to stay here a little bit longer because something special is happening. 15 minutes became 30 minutes, then became an hour, and then we just gave in to staying until the end. Though it won’t be quite the same, Paavo’s Finland set is probably the closest approximation to what he played that night. After he finished, we walked back to Empire to catch the rest of Yotto. The perfect end to the night was him finishing with the greatest Daft Punk mashup of all time.

Sunday: James and Jody at Gjipe (we actually made it this year!) and then our evening itinerary was Nils Hoffmann, Eli & Fur, Simon Doty, and finally Dosem (by himself) at 3:00, who played an absolute banger of a set. Jereme was in heaven, and once Dosem finished, he decided to end the night on that and go back to his room to sleep. And it’s a really, really good thing he did, because when I went back to Empire to catch the end of Marsh’s set, I walked into a scene of pure confusion: Marsh playing an entire hour of drum and bass. Talk about polarizing! Some folks were super into it, but most of the crowd had thousand-yard stares as they tried to comprehend what was happening. I listened for a few minutes, then went back to the safety (and ear plugs) of our hotel room.

Monday: Gjipe for Spencer Brown and Eli & Fur and then two really extraordinary sets that night: Jeremy Olander at Splendor and Tinlicker for a truly epic sunrise set at Empire. People were buzzing so much after Tinlicker, our entire hotel was awake for another hour after the music was finished. Everyone was hanging out by the pool or on their patios, trying to comprehend what they just witnessed. It was really special.

Tuesday: Paavo played on our final Gjipe day to a noticeably smaller crowd than usual, since people were probably still recovering from the night before. Still a great set, but his Splendor sunrise one is really the one to remember. Our final night in Dhermi took us to see a bit of Jody, a bit of Durante, and then a really wonderful b2b with Spencer and Paavo that perfectly capped off the festival, especially when they closed with their collaboration It’s Me.

Wednesday: Sad, a little tired, but glowing, we made our way back to Greece. Once again, we were able to get inside seats on the ferry, which made the trip a heck of a lot more tolerable (we were even able to nap a little bit). Upon returning to Corfu, Giannis took us to our beautiful seaview apartment in Corfu Town, where we’d be spending the next few days. Jereme’s itinerary to get back to Alaska required him to leave for Athens the next day, so he booked a hotel close to the airport and that evening we met up for one last delicious Greek dinner.

Thursday: We discovered a small, wonderful cafe (GABAO Bistro) in one of Corfu Town’s cutest alleys and had some excellent breakfast sandwiches with Jereme before saying our goodbyes. The rest of the day was spent wandering the town, shopping for gifts for friends, napping, and then spending the evening with Ville and Kristiina.

Friday: Today was more of the same, capped by an amazing waterfront dinner at Corfu Sailing Club, which had come highly recommended by our new friends Tim and Wally. More wandering the town, more shopping, and more thoughts of I could really spend an entire summer here.

Saturday: Sadness. Time to go home again, with full hearts, new friends, and a million more wonderful memories. Time to start planning 2024!

Monday: Started off the week right by getting on a plane to Europe. It only took me 40 years to get there!

Tuesday: Pretty uneventful travel, other than the hassle to get a taxi from the airport to Angsana since there aren’t enough taxis to go around. Angsana is a beautiful property on the coast, with amazing views from the infinity pool and rooftop. Corfu beer is excellent. We split a bottle of white wine (seemed appropriate) and lots of small plates on the rooftop for dinner while listening to the hotel’s DJ spin deep house, accessorized nicely by the live saxophone.

Wednesday: Holy shitballs, this is the most amazing and complete hotel breakfast I’ve ever seen! What a treat to have bright, delicious Mediterranean food alongside eggs and potatoes and coffee. We ate so much that we skipped lunch entirely and didn’t eat again until dinner. Spent the whole afternoon at the pool, but also used the gym since it was mostly empty and very well apportioned. Really nice dinner by the pool and then a relatively early bedtime to rest for the next day’s travel to Albania.

Thursday: The ferry to Albania had a great vibe, with everyone excited and chittering and drinking and sweating and meeting new friends. We started chatting with a Finnish couple across from us and they became our BFFs for the week (Ville and Kristiina). The weather was thankfully overcast for the last hour of the boat ride, which probably saved a lot of people from sunburn and/or heat exhaustion. Passport control in Albania was slow and we all had to stand on the dilapidated concrete dock with only two officers checking passports. Most people passed out on the bus and we had a quiet, pretty ride through the mountains to Dhermi. Once there, we had to lug all our stuff up the huge hill and arrived at Elysium Hotel soaked in sweat. The 200 euro room deposit mostly wiped out our euros, but it was life-saving to finally have A/C and a shower and a bed to flop in. After unpacking, showering, and having a bit of a rest, we set out for the evening to catch Jody at Empire, a bit of Franky Wah (who was evidently staying at our hotel), a bit of VONDA7 (who we saw the next day at the hotel next door), and a bit of Richie Blacker before calling it a night after a very long day. However, even this abbreviated nighttime itinerary had one of the best moments of the trip: Paavo was at Splendor for VONDA7 and Lummi got to talk to him for a little bit and give him a hug. Achievement unlocked!

Friday: I honestly don’t remember much of this day, so my guess is that we slept in and took it easy during most of the day, though I do remember that we had our first Luciano dinner. In the evening, we saw a bit of Amonita at the Cove, James Grant at Splendor, all of Eli & Fur at Empire, and just a tiny bit of Luttrell before heading home a bit after 3:00. Eliza was staying at our hotel, and we saw her (and her girlfriend) multiple times on Friday, but evidently she left Albania the next morning for her next tour stop.

Saturday: This was our big Gjipe day and it did not disappoint. Yotto and Simon Doty were super fun the whole time and it was such a luxury that we could walk to the beach and take a cold dip in the ocean to cool off. The boat ride was really fun both ways and we had our first meal at Vasilika for dinner (still following the tried-and-true formula of one pizza, one Greek salad, and one seafood dish). After the customary late evening rest at the hotel, our evening itinerary took us to Yacht Club to catch Gareth From The Office (who was on fire, until he impaled himself later that night), then 16BL at Splendor, then Marsh at Empire for a bit, then back to 16BL on the way home.

Sunday: Another late start, another great Gjipe day, this time for Tony. He played a great set, ending with an emotional deep remix of Gratitude, and Lummi got to talk to James Grant for a bit and tell him about our upcoming wedding. There was a great moment of all of us (Ville, Kristiina, Daniel, and Nick) going to the beach for a refreshing dip in the water. We went to Luciano’s for dinner and coincidentally, there was a huge Anjuna “company dinner” at the same time and we saw lots of artists and employees at some of the long tables. We had a very good rest and then geared up for the biggest night of the festival for us: David Hohme at the Cove, Ben Bohmer at Empire, and then Yotto at Empire until sunrise.

Monday: Getting up at a reasonable hour was a bit difficult and we quickly ruled out Gjipe, even though it was James and Jody, since we would miss Yotto’s Yacht Rock set, which turned out to be the best sneak attack set of the week. After he finished, we made sure to get in line to get a photo of all of us with him. Amy Wiles was a bit too energetic for 6:00 – she never gets the time slot she really needs – so we left and went to dinner at an Italian restaurant close to Ville and Kristiina’s hotel. After our last evening nap of the trip, we had another great night: Cubicolor at the Cove (which was packed, so we got overlook spots instead), Paavo at Empire for one of the best sets of the week (all the music was new and unreleased), Sunny Lax at Yacht Club, then finally Dosem for the last Empire sunrise set of the festival.

Tuesday: On literally no sleep (there’s no time!) we showered, packed, and caught the early morning bus back to the docks. This travel day was much more brutal: no clouds, intense sun, no shade, the ferry was 90 minutes late, no shade on the boat, then our pre-arranged taxi never showed up at the port. We hailed another taxi at the port and our driver Giannis is now my favorite taxi driver in Greece: we used him again to go to the airport and I still have his card. We arrived at Eleals Hotel, had a nice snack, then a really good dinner, and then slept for about 18 – 20 hours.

Wednesday: Lummi had another bad reaction to shellfish, so she ended up staying in bed for almost two full days and ate only some fruit and toast. I managed to wake up and shower just in time for dinner: bread and olive oil, baked feta (my new favorite food), fresh fish, and quinoa. Then right back to bed.

Thursday: I managed to get up for actual breakfast and spent some time on the hotel’s private beach in the afternoon, before we met up with Ville and Kristiina in the evening in Corfu Town. We walked around a lot, had wine and tapas at a wine bar, did some shopping, had Corfu beers, ate a full Greek dinner in one of the many random alleys, and probably all secretly wished we had stayed in the town.

Friday: Our flight situation was touch and go for a while, since I had changed our flights through United, but we were flying with partner airlines. We said our goodbyes to Ville and Kristiina in Munich, had a long transfer between airlines and terminals, had a great German sandwich for lunch, and were thankfully rewarded with premium economy seats on our long flight back home.

Can’t wait to do it all again next year!

Since that 2019 trip, Lummi and I had been threatening to visit Jereme in Alaska and the pandemic made this much more possible, given that it didn’t feel safe to travel to most other places. The relative remoteness, the limited contact with strangers, and the fact that we’d be outside a lot was a great selling point, so we bought flights, packed our bags, and brought Nari, our 7-month-old Shih Tzu to Alaska.

We landed in Anchorage on a Thursday after a harrowing and stressful flight with Nari, who apparently hates flying and really does not like being confined in her carrier. We were barely able to keep her calm, even with Benadryl, so finally landing on the ground was a major relief. Jereme picked us up in his jeep and took us to his beautiful home, and we caught up with him in his kitchen until his girlfriend Lynn was finished with work. We walked to the weekly jazz fest for surprisingly good Thai street food. Rain was sporadic but never heavy, and we learned that day that using umbrellas is a sign of weakness in Alaska.

Friday morning, Lynn noticed that the weather in Whittier was surprisingly good – which is rare, hence the expression “it’s shittier in Whittier” – so she proposed that we do the Portage Glacier hike. The drive to Turnagain was pretty, but the views from the hike were incredible. Nari – who was in heat and wearing diapers! – was a great little hiker and kept motoring the entire time, much to the amusement of all the other hikers we passed.

Upon reaching the glacier lake, we sat down and had convenience store sandwiches and glacier water ice cubes for lunch, listening to the periodic rumbling of the glacier calving.

After heading back and finishing the hike, we had beers at the Whittier Inn, then drove to Girdwood Brewing for more beer and food trucks.

On Saturday morning we went to South for a really good brunch, walked around the farmers market, and then drove around town for some sightseeing, including a long walk to “what Alaskans call the beach” in Kincaid Park. That evening, Jereme and Lynn hosted a small party at their place, so we enjoyed food and drinks, music by Dave Dresden on Twitch, multiple dogs, and lots of Codenames.

Sunday was a DIY “biking brewery tour” and our hosts were able to wrangle some extra bikes for us. Lummi and I had brought a backpack for Nari, so I put her on my back, we hopped on our bikes, and set off for the breweries: Turnagain Brewing (excellent chili lager), Anchorage Brewing (all IPAs and really heavy beers), and finally King Street Brewing (great rooftop). Nari seemed to really enjoy being in the backpack initially, then almost seemed to doze off after a bit.

After biking, we spent the early evening at Lynn’s place and they cooked up a really good seafood dinner: salmon and halibut cheek. We went back to Jereme’s for some TV and whiskey and ended up chatting until 2:00 in the morning. It didn’t even seem that late because the days are so long in Alaska during the summer. The sun was still out at 11:00 at night, so it really feels like you can do a lot with your days there.

All in all, it was a really great trip to a place that had been on my bucket list for a long time. I realize we’ve seen only a tiny, tiny fraction of the entire state, but that was enough to see that Alaska is a pretty fascinating and really beautiful place, especially during the summer. I have a feeling we’ll be back again!

The next morning, we stopped at Fong Da Coffee – a coffee institution since the 1950s – for strong brews and a little breakfast, then hopped on MRT to go to Taipei 101. The plan was to go up to the observation deck, until we realized that the line stretched down two flights of stairs and then across the floor of the entire mall. We decided to skip the observation deck and wander through high-end luxury stores instead, trying on clothes and jewelry until we felt hungry again. We went downstairs to the food court and put in our name for Din Tai Fung, the insanely popular Taiwanese restaurant known for its soup dumplings. We sipped coffees at the Starbucks Reserve until our table was ready, then proceeded to have a really tasty lunch. On the way out, we stopped at the designated “photo spot”, where you can watch the kitchen staff make dumplings.

When we stepped outside Taipei 101, we stumbled upon a pop-up for Omar, one of the more popular Taiwanese whiskey distilleries. In exchange for taking a photo and posting it on social media – clearly Lummi’s responsibility – we were gifted a tasty Christmas cocktail.

Not one to stop the whiskey train once it gets going, I dragged Lummi to the Kavalan shop in Da’an. Kavalan is currently my favorite whiskey, so I was already planning on buying two liters in the airport before our flight out, but the shop has smaller sizes and more variety, which is better for gifts.

After some much-needed foot massages, we walked to nearby Linjiang Street to get our first taste of a Taiwanese night market. We bought dumplings while standing in line behind some Santa Clauses, gawked at all the vendors and street food, recoiled at the poop-like smell of stinky tofu, and I even won a stuffed Pikachu from a claw machine.

While walking out of the night market and trying to plan our next move, we happened to walk by Zoca Pizzeria, an Italian restaurant that was strangely buzzing with lots of activity. A quick search on my phone revealed that it was apparently one of the best pizza places in the entire city. Further inspection of the situation reminded me that a lot of places in Asia celebrate Christmas on the 24th – not the 25th like in America – so all the activity we accidentally stumbled upon was actually Christmas dinner! We decided to take advantage of our good fortune, claimed the last open table on the patio, and drank red wine and ate a legitimately excellent pizza for dinner. Pikachu was shocked at the turn of events.

For “actual” Christmas Day, we decided to take the Maokong gondola and head up into the mountains for some nature and tea tasting. It was a gorgeous day and the long gondola ride offered stunning views of the rolling hills and the city below.

Once we reached the top, we treated ourselves to a cat-themed green tea ice cream – as you do – before ambling along the road, admiring the scenery and taking in the cool, fresh air.

Our walking destination was Yao Yue Teahouse, a well-known teahouse that apparently operates 24 hours a day. You know, for those… late-night tea binges? Jokes aside, it was definitely worth the long walk. The tea and snacks were excellent and the view was all the lush greenness you could ask for. We made sure to buy some extra tea before leaving.

After retracing our steps, taking the gondola back down, and jumping on MRT to get back to the city, we had some snacks and drinks at WOOBAR, the rooftop restaurant and lounge at the W Hotel. Though we had been promised views of Taipei 101 by our guidebook, something was clearly lost in translation, as the iconic bamboo-looking skyscraper was nowhere to be seen. That said, the views of the surrounding skyline were still pretty great.

The next morning was a bit rainy, so I hit the Internet, trying to find a breakfast place in our neighborhood that would require the bare minimum of walking. And that’s when I realized there was a cafe half a block away that was also polar bear themed. What.

The restaurant is called Polar Cafe. Every table has a stuffed polar bear, there’s a polar bear on the menu, they sell polar bear gifts, and, most importantly, they float a sculpted, detailed marshmallow polar bear in your coffee drink. Lummi and I ended up going again before we left Taiwan. The food was alright, but honestly, who cares about the food? A polar bear in your coffee, people!

Fueled by coffee, eggs, and polar bear whimsy, we set off to visit Confucius Temple and Bao’an Temple, two popular temples that I had visited on my previous trip and was eager to show to Lummi. The weather had cleared, blue skies were out, and we spent a couple hours slowly wandering the temple grounds.

After a coffee to recharge, we got an Uber to Huashan 1914 Creative Park, a former sake factory that has been turned into a large multi-purpose space for artists, non-profits, and live productions. On the weekend, the crowds are there to browse all the various goods for sale in the wide variety of shops. Everything is unique and there are quite a few weird, wacky, and fun items among the tables and displays of more traditional gifts.

After getting back to our neighborhood, the highlights of the evening included brown sugar milk tea and a foot massage; the former seems to be all the rage in Taipei right now and the latter is a timeless classic.

Friday was our big field trip day, first to Beitou in the morning and afternoon and then Jiufen in the evening. Beitou is mostly known for its hot springs, so that was our big motivation for going. It’s readily accessible via a relatively short MRT ride, but once you’re there, you feel far from the city. As something of an orientation for Lummi, we first walked to Thermal Valley, a small tourist sight where you can get right up next to the steaming, sulfuric water that flows throughout the town.

We called an Uber to take us to Kawayu Spa, which had been recommended by TripAdvisor and a random blog post I had found. It was a little bit of a drive from the center of town, but definitely worth it. We had a very nice soak for about an hour in a private room, then had an excellent lunch at the restaurant. The grounds are really nice – they look especially magical in nighttime photos – and there was a large koi pond too.

We made our way back to the city and set our sights on our evening destination: Jiufen, an old mining town that has become a major tourist destination due to its narrow, winding streets, hillside location, countless shops, and thousands of lanterns. Its popularity increased a lot after people noticed that it looked like the town in Spirited Away, though I don’t know if there’s indisputable proof that there’s actually a connection between the town and the movie. Nevertheless, the town has run with it, and now Jiufen is teeming with tourists all day, every day.

The crowded alleys were super annoying to navigate and there were way too many people, so I think it’s safe to say that the tourism has been oversaturated here. However, our stop at Jiufen Teahouse made the trip worthwhile. It was beautiful and quiet and calm, so we stayed a while, drinking pot after pot of delicious Taiwanese green tea and eating some small snacks, including green tea cheesecake and some interesting-looking eggs.

The walk back out of the maze of alleys and shops was much more serene than the walk in since all the shops had closed and most everyone had left. We snapped a few photos, then called an Uber to take us back to the city.

Back in Ximen, we went to the local branch of Monga, a very popular chain of take-away Taiwanese fried chicken. I’m not quite sure how they do it, but the cutlets are about $2 and some of the best fried chicken I’ve ever had. We tried original flavor, spicy, and seaweed flavor and they’re all amazing. The sweet potato fries have extra sugar and salt and are also phenomenal. The whole meal is a crazy calorie bomb but absolutely worth it.

Energized by Monga, we set out for more bubble tea and claw machines, then took our winnings to the hookah lounge next to our hotel. With lanterns overhead, Bruce Lee movies playing on the projector, a full bar, and a huge selection of shisha, it was a great place to finish off the day.

Our last full day in Taiwan was much calmer by comparison, mostly spent purchasing pineapple cake and other sweets at a few shops, wandering some new neighborhoods, walking through 2/28 Peace Park, and visiting Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, a massive national monument in the “civic center” part of the city.

We spent a large portion of our last day trying to figure out how to pack everything we bought into our luggage and we even had to buy a cheap bag to make everything fit. And of course there was one more visit to Polar Cafe, one more trip to Monga, and just a tiny bit more bubble tea and claw machines. Seriously though, Monga is crazy good and brings out some kind of devil in me.

Taipei was such a great time, as expected, and I was really happy that Lummi could experience it with me. Because Taiwan is relatively cheap, has great weather, flies under the radar (in terms of tourism), and is a direct flight from San Francisco, I think it’s safe to say that we’ll be back before too long. Ideally, we’ll both be at 100% health for the next trip so we can get out of the city and have some adventures in the rest of the country. Taiwan is certainly much more than just Taipei and I’d love to go explore it.

We landed at Incheon on a Thursday evening, took a clean and well-run bus into the city, and checked into our Airbnb. It was cold! It seemed like it would be reasonable to tolerate with enough layers, and there was a festiveness in the air that kind of reminded me of New York in December.

Lummi had a salon appointment the next morning, so we woke up early and hopped on the train. The salon employees were very sweet and gave us free coffees and snacks and even steamed my hair. And there were TVs in the mirrors! How luxurious.

After her appointment was finished, we walked up the street and stopped in the Chaum Life Center for bread, lunch, and shopping. Both of our meals were very wintery. We walked around the neighborhood, did some window-shopping at various luxury stores, and bought some sweets at a tiny shop that we could barely find. That evening, we met two of Lummi’s cousins for Japanese food in a mall, then had drinks at an Italian place close by.

Saturday morning we discovered Picky Eater, a cafe a few doors down with great pastries, then took a taxi to the Banyan Tree Hotel for lunch, coffee, and cake with Lummi’s uncle. The hotel is perched on a hill with great views of the city below and as if on cue, it started snowing while we were there. Without thinking too much about it, I mentioned that the poundcake in the display case looked good and Lummi’s uncle bought us the entire cake!

We got an Uber to Lummi’s grandfather’s museum and her cousin, who works in the attached cafe, was surprised and delighted when we arrived. The cafe was really inviting and we had black sesame lattes and chatted with Lummi’s cousin all afternoon while the sunlight slowly faded and the snow quietly fell outside.

After the museum closed, her cousin graciously gave us a ride to Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), which was hosting a short K-pop show out front before a big light show. We wandered around inside for a bit, then did some shopping at the attached Kakao Friends store. For dinner, we picked a restaurant at random in D Tower and it turned out to be the best meal in Seoul (for me, at least). I ate until my stomach hurt and then spent the rest of the evening in the Kyobo Book Centre, which was really pleasant and made me wish we still had bookstore culture in America. It was so buzzy and cultural and felt like an important place to be; lots of locals also seemed to be spending their entire evenings there.

On Sunday we walked around a popular pedestrian street for a while, popping in and out of stores and food stands. We bought a poop emoji pastry, a nice wooden rice paddle, paint brushes for Lummi’s mom, and an accordion-style notebook as a birthday present for my friend Clayton.

Lunch was a reunion with lots of Lummi’s cousins in a private room of a nearby restaurant; afterwards we all walked to a nearby cafe for coffee and spent the rest of the afternoon there. Lummi and I got a ride back to her grandfather’s museum so we could meet her cousin and aunt for dinner at a nearby restaurant. We had lots of yummy fried food and soup before getting an Uber back to our Airbnb so we could pack for the next day’s travel to Taiwan.

This trip to Korea was pretty short, so we could only see some of the highlights of Seoul (and nothing outside of the city), but it was still really nice to meet a lot of Lummi’s extended family and bounce around the city. The cold weather, snow, heavy coats and scarves, early sunsets, and city lights really did make it feel like the holiday season and reminded me of the east coast holiday seasons of my younger years. I know we’ll be back again, hopefully with more time to explore.

After we dropped off our stuff and cleaned up a bit, we set out around sunset to wander the town, spending some time at the local monastery close to our place before the first of many meals at Illiterati, a bookshop-themed cafe perched on the edge of the hill, immensely popular with foreigners seeking Western food and coffee.

After a big brunch at Illiterati the following morning, we continued hiking up the hill to the Dalai Lama’s temple, then spent some time wandering the grounds with the other pilgrims. It was a much bigger version of the local monastery we had discovered the night before, complete with Buddhist monks painstakingly creating a mandala.

After the temple, we educated ourselves at the nearby museum of Tibetan history, did some shopping at the many vendors branching out from the temple grounds, stopped at a cafe for snacks and coffee and – for some of us – yak milk, and then set off on another hike to a nearby waterfall. The hike was beautiful and we got to see a lot more of the town. There was even a newlywed couple taking photos at the waterfall, much to the delight of everyone who happened to be there that day.

That evening, we went to Tibet Kitchen for dinner, an excellent recommendation from several people. Given how tasty all the food was, it wasn’t surprising to see a mix of locals and tourists, including several monks. The rest of the evening was spent back at the Airbnb, playing “Dirty Scrabble” while candles and incense burned all around in the opium den living room.

Our last full day in the mountains was a choose-your-own-adventure day for everyone, after our requisite meal at Illiterati, of course. “Pizza brunch”, as it affectionately came to be known later, was a culinary experience that included the ordering and consumption of an entire pizza after everyone had already eaten a full breakfast, as you do.

Clayton was craving some more physical activity, so he set off on a one-man hike to the temple of flags. Mo was craving some solitary reading and writing time, so he stayed at Illuminati for the afternoon. Erik and I were both dealing with an annoying cold, so we went back to the house for the afternoon. I hung out in the opium den with my journal, candles, and incense while Erik slept away the afternoon upstairs.

Mo came back to the house in the late afternoon and he and I left Erik to rest while we walked up the hill at sunset to our local monastery again. The views down the mountain were especially beautiful on this day and Clayton met us at the monastery after returning from his hike. As if meeting at a mountain monastery wasn’t already cool enough, the monks started ringing the large gong on the roof as we sat there in quiet contemplation under the stars. It was quite easily the spiritual (or at least atmospheric) culmination of the trip.

The following day was our last full day in India. We took an early morning taxi back down the mountain, flew back to Delhi, wandered a large mall in the afternoon to kill time and do some last-minute shopping, and had our last masala chais and home-cooked meal before heading off to the airport in the middle of the night.

And before we knew it, our incredible 12-day trip to India was somehow at an end. Sure, I suppose it felt like almost two weeks, but the time had flown by, partially because we all traveled so easily together, but also because we were so occupied most of the time. India is a fascinating place and we all loved the fact that we spent equal amounts of time in a big metropolis, at the beach, and in the mountains. It hardly scratched the surface of such a huge and complex and culturally rich country, but for the four of us, it was undoubtedly the trip of a lifetime, with photos and memories that we’ll all cherish forever.

After a great sunset walk on the beach, we walked a bit past our resort to Chia Lounge, one of the best dining options on the beach. After a fantastic dinner and some beers at a bar down the beach, we called it a night.

The next day was more of the same, until the evening, when we hired a driver for the night to meet up with Mo’s aunt and uncle and family friends, who have a permanent place in Goa. And by “place” I really mean “compound”, where multiple families live, complete with security guards, private pools, art installations, and some really beautiful, colorful homes.

Our hosts treated us to drinks and snacks at their place before we set out for Gunpowder, an amazing restaurant in their neighborhood. We had a phenomenal meal there, with definitely the spiciest food on the trip, but also some of the best Indian food I’ve ever had. 100% recommended should you ever find yourself in the area.

After dinner, we (sneakily) treated everyone to gelato at an ice cream shop not too far away, before we all split up for the rest of the evening. The boys set their course for a house/techno party at Cafe Lilliput, an institution on Anjuna Beach, so we could have a taste of that Goa party life. Once we arrived, I realized it was the same club I had been to on my previous trip! It was complete dumb luck that I ended up here again, as this was the only big event happening that night, since the peak season hadn’t really started yet.

The music was great and we had a blast going back and forth between the dance floor and the beach below, where we could dance in the small waves, watch the fireworks over the water, sip our beers, and still hear the music perfectly. While it was something of a pilgrimage for me – Anjuna is the spiritual home of Above & Beyond and trance – it was, more importantly, a fun, memorable evening with great friends, and a chance for all of them to experience a little bit of the Goa nightlife scene too.

Saturday was a great lazy beach day – our last full day in Goa – culminating in a really nice dinner at Jardin d’Ulysse, the best restaurant on the beach. We treated ourselves to lots of wonderful fusion food, cocktails, wine, and hours of live music.

Sunday was a deceptively long travel day back to Delhi, basically a long layover before our flight to the north. We didn’t get back to Delhi until after sunset, at which point we made our final trip to the tailor to get our finished suits and settle the bill. Mo’s dad came to the rescue again with a ride home, followed by another amazing home-cooked meal.

We bought our flights well in advance, Mo invited the three of us to stay at his family’s home in Delhi, and we planned on filling out the rest of our 12-day itinerary with stops at the beach (Goa) and the mountains (Dharamshala).

We landed in Delhi before sunrise on a smoky Monday morning, bleary-eyed and tired from an extremely long travel day. Mo’s father graciously picked us up and drove us an hour to the family home while all of us tried to acclimate to the sights, sounds, and smells of India. The air pollution in Delhi is notoriously awful – some of the worst in the world – and it was particularly bad this morning. Within half an hour of being on the ground, my lungs were already feeling kind of tight.

We arrived at the house, met more of the family and the staff, picked rooms and unpacked, and ate the first of many rejuvenating home-cooked meals. As we ate, we tried to get our bearings and come up with a plan for the day, beyond the immediate goal of seeking out a caffeine fix every few hours. After breakfast, we decided to go to the tailor that Mo likes to use, since it was a joking-not-joking mission to have bespoke suits made on this trip. (Insert obligatory Anchorman gif here.) We spent some time at the shop with Mo’s mom, browsing fabrics and patterns, taking photos, and having our measurements taken.

After picking our fabrics and placing our orders, we spent the rest of the day hopping around parts of the city, hunting for coffee and food and wandering through parks and old temple ruins. Just before sunset, we found ourselves in Lodhi Garden, walking around with hundreds of other city dwellers also enjoying the evening, admiring the huge variety of birds, including peacocks!

Tuesday was our day trip to the Taj Mahal, so we climbed into our driver’s car for the multi-hour road trip to Agra. I don’t think there’s much I can say about the Taj Mahal that hasn’t been said already, so I’ll let the photos do the talking. It’s absolutely a spectacle and at times it’s difficult to comprehend how something could be so massive and so detailed and built in a time well before modern technology. It’s one of the man-made wonders of the world for very good reason.

Wednesday was our last full day in Delhi, so again we set out for the Metro – a well-run, modern, and inexpensive way to get around the city – to take us to various ruins, parks, cafes, and markets. We spent a good chunk of the day in Hauz Khas, a more well-to-do neighborhood with cute shopping, but also ancient buildings and architecture. We browsed art galleries and men’s shops, hopped among coffee shops and restaurants, and climbed over the ruins a bit before heading back to the tailor for our follow-up fitting.

That evening was Mo’s mom’s birthday party, a really fun event at the house with many dozens of friends and family members, a cover band playing “retro British” rock and Indian and Arabic music, and a phenomenal amount of food and drinks. We had all filled up on starters before realizing that a full dinner was being served around midnight, but we made it work. There were sentimental toasts and drinks and dancing well into the night.