South Africa 🇿🇦
February 2018
“what is your name?”
huts to the sun city resort
getting deep in a water park in the sand with alisa
fitz!
petro don’t @ us
girls, tears can solve all of your problems…
craig!
paint jobs and old clothes
the safari
willyyyyy
almost getting trapped in JoBurg because immigrations didn’t like my visa situation
Junior year interim to South Africa, the first time I had been to the continent, and, well, the first time I had done a lot of things: spot the big five on a safari, paint, scrape, build, entertain school children, and simply just drive around on a big greyhound observing the landscapes of AFRICA through the window.
Kenya 🇰🇪
February 2019
coppell, enough said
the dog is featured of course
touching the last white rhino on the planet
bucket showers and no phones for 7 days
shoveling rhino shit
an iconic layover in ethiopia
journaling and bonfire debriefs every night
sandwiches and watermelon
rock climbing
milo or tea every night and milo coffee every morning
rift valley adventures folks
Senior year interim. Nothing about Kenya was glam but everything about it was incredible.
Laos🇱🇦
October 2017
C GUNN!!!!!
convincing Hervé to rent motorbikes and proceeding to crash on the side of a mountain
sofitel’s insistence that I was a mistress not a niece
monks
I came to Laos directly after the completion of a soccer tournament in Bangkok. It was planned last minute, and only my uncle, Hervé, and I went because Lisa was busy with work. Coincidentally, the Gunns also decided to vacation there for a few days. I think I will always look back on this trip with the most laughs out of all my miniature adventures in the region. Not only did our hotel think that I was my uncle’s mistress, but I got food poisoning from a fruit shake, and crashed my motorbike after convincing my Hervé to rent it for me. The neighborhood streets in Luang Prabang were so quiet and picturesque that it felt like strolling across the set of a movie. The Mekong is a beautiful river, and in 2017, when I was able to get myself up before sunrise, you could wake up to watch all of the monks pass by in an alms procession. The architecture, food, scenery, and Laotian people made this trip an 11/10.
Sri Lanka🇱🇰
January 2018
“would you like a room with two beds or one?”
riding in a trunk: vehicle sizing in Asia is not comparable to the USA
didn’t eat any candy in Kandy but we did have lots of hoppers
traveling with a former partner o.O
I completely underestimated the magnitude of different geography, climates, dogs, Chinese construction, colonial buildings, and rudimentary architectural feats that I would encounter in Sri Lanka. From the airport in Colombo we drove along the coast to a beach resort in Hambantota. After a safari and enjoying the beach we piled into a tiny car and wound our way along the roads to higher elevations in the north to the villages and tea plantations near Kandy.
Cambodia 🇰🇭
September 2017
the most amazing sunsets that I still use as screensavers to date
first tuktuk ever
lisa & hervé deciding if they want to keep me or return me
some scarf I wore everyday with a brandy melville dress thinking it was the most amazing outfit ever
Cambodia was a first for me. Less than a month after moving to Singapore we had a long weekend and my aunt and uncle thought it was prudent to expose me to as much of South East Asia as possible while I was here – initially they only thought I would be around for a semester. I had never seen motorbike traffic, rode in a Tuktuk, gone to an wet market, or stayed in such nice boutique hotels and resorts. We did the classic tourist things: visited Angkor Watt and several different temples, and wandered streets at sunset. Cambodia was my first taste of the South East Asia that isn’t Singapore.
Vietnam🇻🇳
November 2017
the Vietnamese CASHEWS
losing my dad on a motorbike at one of the largest and busiest roundabouts I have ever seen
son tra peninsula and getting caught in the rain, luxury hotel workers welcomed us into their shack
soup and tea with the rats in the storm
Hoi An: the most beautiful city of canals and lights
flooded market
more vegan cafés of course
local man refuses my dad’s $1 payment for a bike repair??
BALI🇮🇩
February 2018 – February 2019 – March 2019
yogis in Ubud
in search of a gym and bartering with buff balinese men
even more vegan cafés
exploring the north in some eery tourist infested Disneyland looking waterpark
black sand beaches
amazing families and mums that take us to water temples, cook for us, and bring us into the green school (biggest expat/international school in Ubud)
warung after warung
how many Wayans, Mades, Kadeks, and Ketuts did we meet?
mirrors, bounty, or sky garden? What is your fav
also… WINDU ASRI
allll the beach clubs
sunday’s on a Sunday
WINDU
walk of shame at sunrise back to family breakfast with the girls + ben
ice ice more ice and too many ices
“get the f outta here” – Mr C to me every day of bali
COMO🇺🇸
“Co Mo” = “Columbia Missouri”
lee expressive arts elementary to smithton middle school to west junior high to hickman high home of the kewpies (a naked baby as a mascot yes)
a farm for vegans
2316 woodridge rd baby
kayaking, cycling, guns, stone sculptures, and lots and lots of features in the local newspaper
have you lived anywhere else before singapore? well kinda, I mean: diego, rock quary road, greenwood, spring valley, alexander rd, and then hirth
the bakery and lakota = mila’s quintessential childhood eateries
capen park and cosmo skatepark (wannabe skater girl)
cooper’s landing? always
MIZ
ZOU
gerbes or lucky’s? hmmm
a waitress! ciao welcome to midici!
the good old prius
I can’t really sum up the place I grew up for 16 years in a small paragraph. I will say that for as much as I joke about Missouri and tease my own origins, I wouldn’t have wanted to be raised anywhere else! Seriously. I also think you should come visit. CoMo can be just as much fun as anywhere else, and what better tour guide for the middle west than yours truly? If you’re going to do it, you have to do it right. If people are overwhelmingly intrigued by the Missouri days, let me know and I will prioritize some content :P
India🇮🇳
October 2018
air india business class upgrade?
jaipur DNE most people’s first experience with india
father daughter bonding: happy 18 years!
tea at the palace or goats feasting on muddy roti in the market?
our tuktuk driver took us to his house
our tour guide gave us free chai and spilled the tea about Modi
pink palaces
singing at the top of our lungs in our taxi down the mountain
daru badnaam obsession begins
sahil’s first present (from me to him of course)
My aunt is in love with India. She spent time there with my dad when they were kids, and goes back every year without fail. She has done the routine tours of Delhi, Mumbai, Kerala in the south, and also developed a love for a city in Rajasthan: Jaipur. So, when my dad and I were planning a trip together we decided on India. Most of my friends were pretty surprised and some even advised me against it; however, unpopular opinion once again, I would go back in a heartbeat. My dad hadn’t been in ages, and I had never been before, so neither of us really knew where to even begin with our trip. We had quite a time regardless.
NYC🚕
Summer 2019
bedstuy
dog ate the panties
sweetgreen$$
dear midtown I hate you
bawling at VFS
amalia again!!
dino on night one in brooklyn and he really thought he was going to die at the shawarma shop
wine night and movies
playing the music too loudly & now the neighbors hate us
prospect park and morning walks for coffee with lulu!!
cooking? what is that
train to boston and ALL the college tours
vinnie boy!
whole foods honey roasted pb with tanvi
taking lulu on the metro with juju & grace
I am not as enamored with New York City as some, but adventuring around any city with some of your best friends is always a good time. Unpopular opinion: Brooklyn is better. I have been going to the city nearly every summer for the past few years but this last one was the most memorable. As I look at these photos now, I can’t believe the same streets I was walking around a few months ago are completely deserted, and instead of cabs, refrigerated semis are now mobile morgues – the only vehicles on the road.
Euro Trip 🇬🇧🇳🇱🇩🇪🇷🇺
Summer 2019
7 July = London
mansion in putney can
first sighting of bedford square
hyde park summer festival
first time with Christian at Royal Garden <3
tennis in a pub of course
9 July = Amsterdam
stayokay? hostel
the infamous pubcrawl
our own little starbucks
tanvi & tears: registering for classes at duke university!
13 July = Berlin
the generator!
maddy’s elbow grease
hello amalia?!
good food & harry potter
berghain? nah but making friends in the rain at 3am
16 July = Moscou
nicole!
okay alisa who knew you were actually a queen
more food more cappuccinos and vodka
vasilisa <3
commutes from the dacha, the most amazing grandma, & getting lost in st basil’s cathedral
We did not club or get absolutely smashed each night like it seems most do on a classic euro trip, but we had a damn good time. 10/10 would recommend a small tour with your friends BUT PLEASE avoid pub crawls in Amsterdam and make sure you are quick when alighting the train in Russia. You must also watch at least all of the Harry Potter movies, stay in hostels, and you’re only allotted one taxi ride the whole trip. Don’t waste money on a tram pass in Amsterdam or buy shrooms without a commitment from the rest of your friends that it will be a group experiment. Also, make sure there is a pub with good seats in every country you travel to so you can keep up with the Tennis Open tournament.
Israel 🇮🇱
Summer 2018 – Summer 2019 – November 2019
the beach, the vegan cafés, the gelato in neve tzedek, the look-out at Jaffa, and the commute from Ben Gurion to the beachfront hostel in Tel Aviv
the rooftop hostel, shisha bar, being harassed at the lights show on the Old City walls, the bagel place, the salad place, and Mahane Yehuda in Jerusalem
hitchhiking in the desert, the dead sea, underground bars in Arad, the tent, the rv, and sneaking onto rooftop hotels for free coffee in the South, shabbat dinners with Arie and Leah
crossing the country by bus: from photoshoots at Mosh beach in Eilat to tanning on the mountains in Tzfat and all of the cockroach infested bathrooms in between
Israeli Robins diet: dates, cashews, hummus, the occasional salad, and coffee
the grocery store in Nahariya
cutting your foot open on the rocks in tel aviv at 4am because you haven’t slept in 36 hours and you’re high as a kite
the EGGED the BUS and the lil russian speaker that saved the day in Beer Sheva
the broken window
Israel pants or marquee dresses. no other options.
the abandoned spa near the border with Lebanon
border patrols at the grottos
Israel is easily one of my favorite places in the world. I can’t write briefly about the country and do it justice; there are too many people and different places that are a part of the adventures I have been able to have there. Israel is full of good food, beautiful men and women, coasts, mountains, deserts, love, parties, war, hate, religion, ancient ruins… need I go on? I will dedicate time in the future to more writing on Israel. It is a country which shouldn’t be taken lightly and is so misrepresented. When I first traveled there, I had no idea what to expect – even though international media really tries to convince you what the country is like before you’ve had a chance to go. All I can say is try to see for yourself. I can guarantee that you will have the time of your life, whether you’re looking for memorable nights out or spiritual reckoning. I never feel safer, happier, and more loved and connected with than when I am in Israel.