Travel
Places I’ve been
Six countries so far. This page isn’t a checklist. It’s where I write down what I actually thought about and took away from each one.
The map so far
MexicoJapanThailandVietnamCambodiaSweden
Layovers that don’t quite count: Taiwan · Denmark
What each place left me
SwedenSweden
Waiting in the airport on the way to Stockholm was the first time I’d had more than a twenty-second conversation with any of my classmates, which is unusual, but it didn’t stop the trip from being amazing. I did my best to embrace the Swedish experience: dozens of kanelbulle (cinnamon-roll-ish) and kaffe, the ABBA museum, and even my first-ever club (fully sober, by the way).
JapanJapan
Two weeks in Japan with seven of my best friends from high school, and it was exactly as fun as it sounds. The food alone was worth the trip, especially Neapolitan pizza at a place called Regalo in Osaka. The Tokyo skyline still gets me thinking about it.
Southeast Asia Summer 2024 · one trip, three countries
Ho Chi Minh City, Hua Hin, and Angkor Wat, all in one stretch. The trip that made the world feel genuinely large.
VietnamVietnam
Ho Chi Minh City was my first stop on this Southeast Asia trip, and it was a great place to land. It’s where I actually started enjoying running: one of our teachers would take us on morning runs to explore the city, and I’ve kept the habit everywhere new I go since. Phở and the Viet Cong’s tunnels were both incredible, somehow in the same trip.
Thailand
I spent most of my time in Hua Hin, on a somewhat beautiful beach during somewhat stormy and unpleasant weather. Still got my mango sticky rice and Thai milk tea, though.
CambodiaCambodia
Angkor Wat was the most incredible thing I’d seen at that point in my life, and it’s held that spot ever since. The scale of it is hard to describe, and some corners of the temple complex were completely serene. The locals were genuinely kind, too.
MexicoMexico
I was quite young when I went to Mexico, so what I remember is mostly sensory: very large bottles of orange juice, a pool floaty modeled after a killer whale, and fried ice cream.