Berlin / Bushwick / Beacon.

I mentioned to a friend the other day that in some ways, my life in Berlin (all ten days of it) was the most normal version of an adult life that I've ever experienced. I was in the office each day by 9:30, home by 8, and back again in the morning. I socialized with my co-workers. I had an apartment to myself. I loved it. Work-wise, my life here in New York has taken on somewhat of a similar steadiness lately and I'm settling in to it, however unfamiliar much of it feels as a freelancer. It's a welcome change.

In every other way, however, things are decidedly – and happily – topsy-turvy. In two-and-a-half weeks, I've spent ten days in a light-filled apartment in Berlin, another five in a studio in graffiti-cloaked Bushwick, and now I'm one day in to short visit to Beacon, where I'm writing from an old stone house in the woods and spending some time with my brother's family.

All of this, coupled with a very heavy workload, is why I've been absent this week. I apologize. I'm currently working on building a new site, which I hope to have up and running by November – so the blog, much like many other things in my life at the moment, is in a state of transition. That's been a theme of this year, it seems, and I am so grateful that you've bore with me – thank you so much. In the meantime, I hope early fall has been treating you well, and that all its twists and turns, like mine, have been gateways to new adventures.

Sending my very best – and I'll see you next week.

Bottom photo by Robert Rieger, photo editor at FvF, who is the sole reason I have any photos of myself in Berlin. Thanks, Robert!

Mick Johan on FvF.

On my third morning in Amsterdam, I woke up early and took the ferry from the Central Station to Noord, a Northern borough of the city. It was a two minute ride, but when I emerged I felt like I'd landed in a different world, with houses painted pink and powder blue lining rain-soaked, near-silent streets. My tour guide for the day was Mick Johan, an artist who's lived in the area with his family for two years and who recently saw the completion of a skate park he designed under a raspberry-colored canopy at a former gas station. 

Over the course of our conversation — which I shared here on Freunde von Freunden — we discussed his career (which includes a stint as the Editor in Chief of VICE Netherlands), his love of skating, and his deep affection for Noord, a working-class borough that's rapidly evolving as more and more creatives are priced out of the city's trendier neighborhoods. It's a hard place to describe — and, now that I think of it, both Mick and Jordi, our photographer, often resorted to a knowing smile when asked about its eccentricities. "Why are the houses pink?" I asked Mick at one point. "Because this is Noord," was his answer.

Read more on Freunde von Freunden, and find the rest of my interviews, here. Beautiful photos by Jordi Huisman (whose Rear Window series I posted about last month).

Travelogue: Detroit.

One day in early spring, just as the frost of winter had begun to fade, a rainbow appeared in Bushwick. Of course, this being New York City — which is, in my experience, a land of many thunderstorms but very few rainbows — this one was drawn in paint, arcing across the surface of a billboard on Bogart Street. Its colors trailed in the wake of an airplane soaring above the black-and-white streets of Brooklyn, touching ground in some ostensibly more tantalizing city on the other side. DETROIT, the billboard read. Be Left Alone.

To a New York resident of what's soon to be eight years — a period of time that's left me and just about everyone I know wrestling with a love-hate relationship with the city's crowded streets — this caught my attention. But it wasn't until a couple months later, after reading this National Geographic feature on Detroit and watching Anthony Bourdain tour its culinary and cultural highlights, that my boyfriend and I indulged our curiosity and booked a trip. Today, one week later, I'm so glad that we did.

Tulum.

Touching down in New York City yesterday morning felt like a scene out of a movie. Just hours earlier, the airplane window shade had closed on a warm, breezy night in Mexico; when it opened, the world was engulfed in snow. Tulum — where I spent the weekend with two friends — seems very far away from where I sit now, but I'm so grateful to have had a brief escape from this very cold winter, and the opportunity to catch my breath in the midst of an increasingly busy month.

The three of us spent the majority of our time in Tulum on the beach, reading in the sun and swimming in some of the clearest water I've seen anywhere. When we weren't doing that, we were most often eating, or exploring the jungle strip and bits and pieces of town. A few stand-out memories from our four days:

-Hartwood. If you've read any travel guide to Tulum, chances are you've heard of Hartwood, a restaurant opened by a pair of former New Yorkers in 2010. Hartwood is firmly committed to sustainability and the use of fresh, local ingredients — it's also a beautiful place, with a smattering of candlelit tables under the stars. We were shocked to learn we'd have to wait in line hours before opening to put our names down for a table (and it took us two tries to get in), but it was completely worth it. Order anything and everything — it's all incredible. 

Other memorable eats: steak at the Argentinian gem Casa Banana; banana-coconut smoothies on the beach at Coqui Coqui; pasta (yes, pasta — homemade, to boot) at Posada Margherita; and fish tacos and the world's best mojito at El Tabano. We also had a late dinner one night at Casa Jaguar, which offered delicious cocktails and a stunning outdoor dining space filled with lush greenery.

-Mayan ruins. The ruins north of the beach are beautiful and easily accessible, but be sure to go early. We showed up on our last day around 11, and it was difficult to see anything beyond the crowds of people everywhere. (I've also never seen so many selfie sticks in my life.) Margaux, my sister-in-law, had warned me about arriving early and she was right. Next time, I'll go when it opens. 

-Wandering around town. We spent a couple of hours one afternoon in town, about a ten minute cab ride from the beach. We'd gone in search of interesting Mexican textiles, and though we didn't find quite what we were looking for, we had a great time poking through local grocery and drug stores (something I always like to do when I travel). We also had a memorable lunch at El Camello Jr, a roadside restaurant known for its ceviche. 

Of course, this very short list doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of what there is to do in Tulum — since we were only there for four days, this is an extremely abbreviated guide. Should I be lucky enough to visit again, I'd love to visit a cenote and try a mud meditation. (For more ideas, I found these links particularly helpful: 1 / 2.)

Additional tips:

-Arrive with cash. Most places don't take credit cards, and ATMs along the main strip are notoriously sketchy — quite a few of them don't work at all. There are banks in town, but the easiest option is to exchange your dollars at the airport.
-Stock up on bottled water. It's easy to find pretty much everywhere, and since drinking the tap isn't an option, be sure to keep some at your hotel at all times. (And don't forget to use it for teeth-brushing, too.)
-Get your work done ahead of time. I arrived with a couple of deadlines to meet over the course of the weekend, but wifi wasn't always easy to come by. I found a few places and made it work, but it would have been much easier to have done everything before I got there.

--

I'm looking forward to making 2015 a year of travel — to places both near and far. Jamie told me recently that her New Years resolution was to take a trip every month. Whether it was a day trip to a neighboring city or a farther journey to an exotic destination wasn't particularly important. The simple act of moving — seeing new places, trying new things — was. I find that incredibly inspiring.

To new adventures, always. See you tomorrow.

John & Wolf.

Illustrator John Stortz has been wandering the country for the past two years in the company of his faithful rescue dog, Wolfgang. His photos, which appear on the website John & Wolf, are beautifully shot — those skies, those stars, those burning colors! — and very endearing. A quick scroll through is all you'll need to start planning your own cross-country tour (and the adoption of your own big white Wolf). See for yourself, here.

 Visit John Stortz's website, here. Thanks, Ignant.

Go, Gunther.

Gunther Holtorf is 77-years-old and has only just returned from a road trip that spanned more than two decades — 24 years to be exact. Over that period of time, he's visited 215 countries, traveled more than half a million miles, and contracted malaria five times — and he's done it all in the same car, which has been outfitted to include a mattress and storage space for everyday necessities. 

Initially, the trip was only supposed to last 18 months, but, as Gunther tells DW, "The more you [travel], the more you realize how little you have seen."

More, in the spirit of non-traditional travel: urban camping, life swaps, paying homage to fiction.

Visit Gunther's Facebook, here. Photographs: Gunther Holtorf/SWNS.com via Daily Mail.

Canines & Couches.

This week in unconventional travel: road trip adventures shared between three friends, two dogs, and one very worn-in couch. Details on how exactly the couch (and the friends, and the dogs) are traveling are unclear, but they certainly seem to have covered a lot of ground, smiles intact. See more, here. 

See also: invisible horses; Animals That I Did Not Meet; licensed llama therapists.

Travel by Trade.

Photographer Shantanu Starick has been traveling the world for the past two years as part of a project he calls The Pixel Trade. In exchange for food, a place to sleep, and a ride to his next destination, Shantanu snaps photos of his hosts and their creative projects. 

"I have been living this nomadic life for over two years and have met some incredible people and had some amazing experiences, all without spending any money," he says. "Hopefully through The Pixel Trade, I will be able to inspire others to start thinking about the world and people around them in terms of their attributes, not their wallets." 

I have to say, in all my years of Internet trawling, this is one the coolest ideas I've come across yet. Follow Shantanu's journey at The Pixel Trade, here. 

All images by Shantanu Starick.

Bikes of Burden.

Novice cyclist that I am, I can barely carry my bag in a basket in front of me much less, say, a stack of hula hoops, or a dead sea creature, or a collection of goldfish in plastic bags, or several hundred roses. In his book Bikes of Burden, Hans Kemp showcases the riding - and balancing - talents of Vietnamese motorcyclists. 

"Eventually, bikes will disappear as the favorite mode of transport [in Vietnam]," says Hans. "People will rely on fridges and freezers as they will be too busy to make the daily trip to the market. Roads will be widened, cars will be more available, and the world will appear through a window." Below, a few shots of a fading phenomenon.

Bikes of Burden is available for purchase, here.

Tunnel of Love.

Believe it or not, this lush, living "tunnel of love" actually exists. Grown over a private railway in the Ukrainian forest, the tunnel is just under two miles long, a popular site for romantic wish-making, and the perfect material for almost-weekend wanderlusting. Enjoy.

Via Inhabitat. First two photos by Amos Chapple/Rex Features; second two by Oleg Gordienko. 

8 Days in Sri Lanka.

Until about a month ago, I had no plans to travel this spring. Then, one freezing cold March morning, I received an email from Yair, who's been journeying through India for the past twelve weeks. He was in Sri Lanka, he said, and it was beautiful. It was warm. He'd met incredible people; eaten unforgettable food; traveled through forests and across beaches, over mountains and through crowded, cacophonous cities. He said I'd love it. He said to come. So I did. 

Gone Adventuring.

Big news today: in a few hours, I'll be boarding a plane to Sri Lanka. In a very last-minute move, I booked an eight-day trip and I'm looking forward to spending the next week or so riding trains, climbing mountains, swimming in the ocean, and eating everything in sight. I have to admit, I hesitated before buying the ticket - this has been a chaotic few weeks for a variety of reasons and I wasn't sure it was a good time to leave. Then I remembered: it's easier to stay upright if you just keep moving.

I'll be posting a POV entry as usual this Friday. I'll be back to my regular schedule starting March 31st, and can't wait to share stories and photos then. (Also, if anyone has been to Sri Lanka and has any recommendations or travel advice, please share!) In the meantime, a few travel-related links:

-Twelve hours in...
-The most beautiful street in the world.
-My afternoon in a Tokyo cat cafe.
-On being a nomad.
-Time-traveling glasses.
-"Live, travel, adventure, bless, and don't be sorry."

Have a wonderful rest of the week, and I'll see you back here soon!

Photos by Max Wanger.