Global Bites without the Flights | Burmese Food at Cafe Mingala

Before I left New York last month, it was important to me to have one final Global Bites without the Flights (for the time being). I’ve somehow been lucky and loved all my Global Bites so far, but this one was extra special. On my first adventure of this whole “quitting my job to travel” thing I’ve gotten myself into, I’ll be spending the most time in Myanmar. Many people asked, “where?!” when I told them about my plans. It’s a country I admittedly didn’t know much about until recently, in Southeast Asia, bordered by India, Thailand, China, Bangladesh, and Laos. Right now, I’m only an hour away from there in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and heading there tomorrow afternoon.

Global Bites without the Flights | Indonesian Cuisine at Bali Nusa Indah

Before I lived in this penthouse apartment in Gramercy (okay, well, it’s a 5th floor walkup in Kips Bay – but same thing, right?), I lived for two years in Hell’s Kitchen with my college bud, Nicole. Last month, we reunited in Hell’s Kitch for a Global Bites without the Flights to Indonesia, to Bali Nusa Indah (9th btw 45th & 46th). It wasn’t until we sat down that I realized we hadn’t had a one-on-one since maybe this time last year. We see each other frequently, but usually with many (and in some cases 200) other people involved. Because of this time apart, we focused a little more on each other than on the food, but I still have some thoughts.

Product Review | Trick or Treats? Treats.

One of the things I’ve learned over the years is that there’s a way to travel in between trips, and that’s through food! I often travel in my own zip code in between traveling outside of it by finding a great restaurant with cuisine from a place I’ve never been in my Global Bites without the Flights series. And now, I can also experience snacks from a different country each month with my Treats subscription box!

Top Travel Posts of 2013

In addition to my aforementioned incredible year with New York City, in 2013 I got to explore the world further. In recent years, I’ve only taken one small trip a year: St. Thomas a few times, London, Amsterdam. This year I took two bigger trips and I don’t want to stop anytime soon.

Global Bites without the Flights: Philippine Cuisine at Pig and Khao

I started practicing for Thanksgiving (by expanding the capacity of my stomach) weeks ago, meaning that I’ve had some pretty amazing (and expensive) dinners lately. My training started off at Pig and Khao, former Top Chef contestant Leah Cohen’s Asian (mostly Philippines-inspired) restaurant on the Lower East Side. Kater came with me for the sixth installment of “Global Bites without the Flights.”

Global Bites without the Flights: Laotian Food at Khe-Yo

One of the things I love about NYC is that it doesn’t feel like you’re in the same place the whole time. It’s a different feel whether you’re in the West Village or Upper East Side or hanging out by South Street Seaport. And beyond the neighborhood differentiator, I love that you can find little pockets of international influence everywhere. You can easily travel the world without a plane ticket.

Thailand | Two Perfect Days in Phuket – Day 2

As incredible as our first tour with Phuket Sail Tours was, I think the next day was even better. This is probably because it involved two of my new favorite things, 1) animal experiences, and 2) doing things I didn’t think I could do.

Thailand | Two Perfect Days in Phuket – Day 1

One of the main reasons to go to Thailand (aside from elephants and temples) is of course the beautiful beaches of the south. Katie and I are total beach babes so we wanted to take time to relax on the beaches of Thailand. We went to Karón in Phuket and spent two days basically just relaxing and reading and enjoying the sunsets. But we decided to be more active (or active in general), the next two days. We took two speedboat tours with Phuket Sails Tours in order to easily tour some of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

Thailand | Wat’s Love Got to Do, Got to Do with it?

One of the things I was looking forward to about Thailand was visiting lots and lots of wats, also known as temples. Buddhist temples are not something you get to see everyday, and that’s what this trip was about, seeing and experiencing new things. Now, some of the people we met while in Asia said “once you see one wat, you’ve seen them all,” but I have to disagree.

Hong Kong | HK Food Adventures

I went to a traditional Chinese New Year dinner last night hosted by two friends, one who just moved to NYC from Singapore. She cooked tons of amazing food, including many of the foods I had been obsessed with while I was in Hong Kong a few weeks ago, on the last leg of my Asia trip.

Thailand | Operation Dumbo Ride

It was 9:00 am, in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and I had “first date” jitters. You know what I’m talking about, where you’re nervous about if you’re even going to recognize the guy you’re supposed to meet up with, if you’re going to mess up and say something stupid, and what you’re going to do when the check comes. But I didn’t meet any guys in Chiang Mai (unless you count the old guy who thought I was my older sister’s mom) and that wasn’t on the agenda for the day. I was going to meet elephants.

Global Bites without the Flights | Korean BBQ at Bann

Normally I don’t have *any* friends from home in the city and I miss them all very dearly. This week, I was really lucky and had two friends from the homeland randomly in town. On Monday, I had a lovely dinner / catch-up sesh with Aubrey at Spring Street Natural. On Thursday, I had a similarly lovely dinner / catch-up sesh with Kristina at Bann. Bann is a Korean BBQ place near my apartment.