“Travel far, travel often, and travel without regrets“
From the Atlas
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Four Days in Kyoto Is Not Enough
Search for a Kyoto itinerary and you’ll find two- and three-day versions without trying. The more honest ones stretch to five and add a day trip to Nara. I’m not sure five is enough. I’m fairly sure four, with Nara, isn’t. You can do it, of course. Photograph the gate, tick off the temple, catch…
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What Conserving the Tomb of Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan Taught Me About Life
Most visitors spend an hour at Rahim’s Tomb. I spent more than six years there. During that time the monument stopped being a heritage site and became something closer to a person I was in a long relationship with. It was a classroom some days, a puzzle on others, occasionally a source of real frustration.…
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The Love Hotel, Lodhi Colony
There is a particular kind of dare in naming a bar after Japan’s rabu hoteru , those discreet, hourly-rate rooms built for privacy in cities where privacy is otherwise scarce. A name like that promises something. A closed door and the sense of being somewhere you shouldn’t quite mention to your mother. Tucked into Guppy’s…
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Phuket in the Monsoons: An Unplanned Trip Through Old Town & Karon Beach
What happens when you’re bitten by the travel bug in the middle of the monsoon season while living in South Asia? It’s your birthday, and you, the obsessive planner, decide to take an impulsive trip. You search for destinations one direct flight away, book a hotel for the first leg, and land with absolutely no…
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Roundup of My Best Culinary Experiences in Sri Lanka
Food often gets linked with the way I remember a place. Not always the grand meals or the celebrated reservations, but the breakfasts eaten slowly, the dinners found by chance, the cafés where time stretched longer than expected, and the bars where one drink became two because no one was in a hurry to leave.…
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Along the Southern Edge: Days on Sri Lanka’s Coastline
After days spent inland, wrapped in mist and rain, I was ready for a shift. Sun, salt, and the promise of long, unhurried hours by the sea. The plan was simple. A few days along Sri Lanka’s south coast, based out of Ahangama, with day trips to Mirissa and Galle.December, after all, is meant to…
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Kandy, Madulkelle and Colombo: A Reflective Sri Lanka Itinerary through Sacred Cities and Tea Estates
It has taken me longer than I expected to write this. After my previous post on Sigiriya and Dambulla, there was a pause. Partly writer’s block, partly the difficulty of articulating a leg of the journey that felt far more layered. If you are reading this after the earlier piece, you can catch up on…
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Sigiriya & Dambulla: Ancient Cities, Cave Temples & Forest Landscapes
When I start planning any trip, the first thing I do is create a wishlist of places I want to visit, and then slowly pare it down to what is actually feasible within the time I have. Sri Lanka was no different. But from the very beginning, I knew I could not leave out Sigiriya.…
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How I Spent 10 Days in Sri Lanka: A Snapshot Slow Travel Itinerary
Sri Lanka has been on my bucket list for years. An island country so close to India, easy to access, and yet somehow always postponed. When the opportunity came up to plan a short trip from Delhi, just one flight away and offering a balance of nature, heritage, and architecture, Sri Lanka felt like the…
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