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10 Favorite Destinations, Year 5

by Shannon on May 20, 2015 in Travel

Covered bridge in Hoi An, Vietnam.

For the first time, our annual list of favorites consists of all overseas destinations. Last spring, after four years touring the U.S., we traded our RV for backpacks and set out to explore the rest of the world. While circumnavigating the globe—a first for us—we found ourselves in some pretty amazing places. Here is a list of our favorite destinations from our fifth full year of fulltime travel. Where applicable, the destination header links to the original blog post on the topic.

Where to Eat in Hoi An, Vietnam

by Brian on January 19, 2015 in Asia, Food & Drink, Travel, Vietnam

Head to Hoi An’s Central Market for the town’s best Cau Lao

Hoi An, as I mentioned earlier, was somewhat unkind to us. But it wasn’t just the rain. In addition to dodging drops we also had a terrible time finding good places to eat, let alone great ones.

Partly, I think we just got spoiled in Hanoi. It was so easy to find delicious meals in Hanoi that almost anywhere else would seem a disappointment by comparison. And so it was initially with Hoi An.

Don’t get us wrong, Hoi An is a lovely city. But it really is a tourist town. Unfortunately, many of its eateries reflect that. Too many cater to what they think westerners want and serve up mediocre food at inflated prices as a result.

In the past we’ve been able to side-step tourist cuisine by avoiding the places where tourists eat. But in Hoi An, that strategy didn’t always work. We had bad experiences at upscale places as well as downscale ones and everywhere in between.

Through sheer persistence, and a week of trying, we did eventually uncover these handful of standouts.

Postcard Pretty Hoi An

by Brian on January 12, 2015 in Asia, Vietnam

Hoi An was unkind to us in a way. We knew we were visiting this central Vietnamese city near the end of its rainy season, but with a week to spend in the relatively small town we figured we had more than enough time to see and do everything. We were wrong. The rain was nearly relentless for seven straight days.