The drive from Gangtey to Punakha was similar, scenery-wise, to the previous day and as it was only about 2 hours, we took a more leisurely pace, stopping for more waterfalls and macaque photos. We...
Blog posts from International Travel
Himalayas 2025: Bhutan – Bumthang to Gangtey
Day four featured a multiple hour drive with several stops along the way. From our overnight in Jakar, we started west, heading up in elevation until we eventually hit 3400m in the Yuto La Pass. The...
Himalayas 2025: Bhutan – Tang Valley and Ura Yakchoe Festival
We were hungry after arriving on our delayed flight, so after meeting our new driver, we headed directly to Sherab Dema Homestay for lunch, driving up increasingly narrow rural roads. On arrival we...
Himalayas 2025: Bhutan – Paro (first and last day)
We started and ended our trip in Paro, home to the international airport and the famous Tiger's Nest monastery. May 7 + arrival The Paro airport is beautiful, first due to its valley location with...
Himalayas 2025: where we stayed in Bhutan
As we wrote in the intro post, the Bhutan portion of our trip was organized and booked by Raven Tours Bhutan. The accommodations were generally good — we had checked reviews beforehand and our...
Himalayas 2025: Kathmandu cooking class
I choose the 2 Sisters Cooking School because they were a five minute walk from the hotel and they had tons of five star reviews. I did not regret my decision! I was collected on foot at the back...
Himalayas 2025: Kathmandu food & drink
On our first night we wanted to try momo dumplings, so we chose Thamel Momo Hut. We started with an order of ten chicken momos. This was our first time trying the Nepali red sauce, and it was spicy!...
Himalayas 2025: Kathmandu, where we stayed
While the majority of our time was spent in Bhutan, we bracketed our trip with two nights in Kathmandu before Bhutan, and one night after. For the first two nights we wanted to stay in Thamel, a...
Himalayas 2025: flights
On this adventure we took 8 flights during the first two weeks in May, visiting two new countries (Bhutan and Nepal) and re-visiting Doha. We also had time with Chicago family, plus our favorite...
Himalayas 2025: intro & insights
About 10 years ago I saw a trip report about Bhutan and I've been fascinated ever since. With remote monasteries, mountain vistas, and lots of wildlife, it ticked a lot of photogenic boxes. Visiting...
Iguazu Falls: Port Iguazú
Given our flight schedules we didn't have that much time in Port Iguazú, but there isn't that much to see or do besides the falls. On our arrival evening we trekked over to Supermercado Capicua for...
Iguazu Falls: Iguaçu National Park, Brazil
On this day we started with Patricia (our driver from the previous day) picking us at 10am. Getting across the border was very straightforward on the Argentina side and a bit more tedious on the...
Iguazu Falls: Iguazú National Park, Argentina
Instead of taking the the bus we decided to hire a driver, so we were picked at 7:30am in front of our apartment by Patricia and reached the falls just before 8am. I had bought tickets online...
Iguazu Falls: TaxiTour Iguazú
We wound up using TaxiTour Iguazú (Facebook link) for all of our trips in and around the Iguazú falls area during our two-night stay and they were fantastic! On time and friendly, we would...
Villa la Angostura: Route 64 + Lago Traful
Our plan was to work our way to Bariloche via the Circuito Grande (Rt 65 / 237), a 60k route that was mostly dirt/gravel with a few unexpected paved areas. Before setting off we wanted to fill our...
Villa la Angostura: Seven Lakes Route + San Martin de los Andes
One of the main reasons we traveled to this part of Argentina was to explore the famous Seven Lakes route. We visited the Lakes Region in Chile in 2019 and loved it, so we thought we would like the...
Villa la Angostura: in town + nearby sites
Best laid plans don’t always work out, even when you are a planner! We started the day thinking we would visit a few waterfalls along Rt 231, close to the Chilean border. Turns out that about 13km...
Buenos Aires: Microcentro, Recoleta, and San Telmo
From Palermo we grabbed a cheap Uber ride to the main cathedral to explore the Microcentro neighborhood. To get there we took a massive road with 8 lanes (in each direction) plus lights! Our first...
Our Itinerary
2026 Trips
Parrish, FL (Jan)
Medellin, Colombia (Feb)
Wilmington, NC (Apr)
Madrid, Spain (May)
Asturias, Spain (May)
Galicia, Spain (June)
London, UK (July)
Costswolds, UK (July)
Long Island, NY (July)
Ireland (Aug)
Vietnam (Nov)
Laos (Nov)
Cambodia (Dec)
Singapore (Dec)
2025 Trips
Tampa Bay, FL (Jan)
Buenos Aires, Argentina (Feb)
Villa la Angostura, Argentina (Feb)
Bariloche, Argentina (Feb)
Iguazu Falls (Feb)
Miami, FL (Feb)
Richmond, VA (Mar)
Boston, MA (Apr)
Kathmandu, Nepal (May)
Bhutan (May)
Doha, Qatar (May)
Bristol + London, UK (Jul)
Long Island, NY (Jul)
Slovenia (Sep)
Treviso, Italy (Sep)
Bologna, Italy (Sep)
day trips from Bologna (Oct)
Turin, Italy (Oct)
Greensboro, NC (Nov)