Bucket List Ideas
One Day in Jerusalem, Without Pretending It Is Simple
Jerusalem is one of those places people describe with superlatives because ordinary language feels inadequate. The problem is that the grand words…
Topic
Perspective
Africa
Ten Days in Egypt Is a Route, Not a Checklist
Ten days is enough to understand the scale of Egypt and nowhere near enough to absorb it. The old itinerary tried to…
Explore
Ten Days in Jordan, With Time to Notice It
Jordan looks compact on a map, which makes it easy to design an itinerary that behaves as if every transfer is effortless.…
Europe
Five Italian Dishes, Five Different Regions
Italian food makes more sense when you stop treating it as one cuisine. The cooking changes with the landscape: butter and rice…
Asia
Karachi Is a City, Not a String of Superlatives
The old version of this article called Karachi vivacious, eclectic, mesmerizing, breathtaking, and unforgettable before it said anything useful. That kind of…
Asia
Five Dishes That Show India’s Range
No list of five dishes can explain Indian food. The country is too large, the regional traditions too distinct, and the differences…
Asia
Varanasi Does Not Need to Be Explained Away
Varanasi is often described with the kind of language travel writing reaches for when the writer has run out of nerve: mystical,…
Asia
The Taj Mahal Is Better Without the Sales Pitch
You do not need help understanding that the Taj Mahal is beautiful. The building has had centuries of practice, millions of photographs…
Bucket List Ideas
How to Arrive at Machu Picchu With Some Context
Machu Picchu does not need help being dramatic. It sits at 2,430 meters in the Peruvian Andes, stone terraces folding into green…
Asia
Rajasthan in Pink and Blue
Jaipur and Jodhpur are regularly reduced to colors. Jaipur is pink. Jodhpur is blue. The labels are useful on a map and…