If the word ‘pizza’ comes from the word ‘pita,’ then the ‘pide’ must be the missing link. 
Our first taste of the Turkish pizza was when we lived in Washington, DC. Our favorite neighborhood restaurant, once it opened, was the Turkish place on 8th street, about two blocks from our home. We took tons of people there, many of them couchsurfers, where we almost always ordered a pide, or two or three…
If you can imagine a canoe shaped pizza, (New York style, not that nasty, greasy stuff from Chicago) then you can imagine a pide. (Editor’s Note: Ahem, what Danny?) The toppings are usually a bit different bit different than we’d have at home however. The most common pide is the …

Picture this: two volcanoes. One explodes and spews soft rock. The second explodes and covers that soft rock with hard rock. Over time water eats away at both rocks, but the hard protects the soft below it. People arrive, want to hide from various empires and dig themselves into the soft rock. That is a short history of Cappadocia.
Arriving in Cappadocia before 6am we were practically still dreaming when we walked off the bus and saw a sky filled with hot air balloons floating over buildings built into cave walls and mountainsides. Taking advantage of the cool air of the morning, we set out for a hike through one of the nearby canyons and found ourselves alone surrounded by cave …

A long time ago Jillian and I discussed the idea of posting about some of the people we meet that have different, special or compelling stories. We’ve met plenty of these people, but have never written about any of them specifically. Martin, we feel, makes a good person to start with.
We met Martin at our hostel in Istanbul when we first arrived in Turkey. He had been there for about 10 days because, as he said, he had hurt his foot while walking. He seemed a nice enough guy but I found it odd that a grown man would be able to bear such an injury while enjoying museums and such and so I decided he just liked Istanbul and …

This was probably one of our favorite days of the entire trip.  We spent all of 24 hrs in La Paz, Bolivia, but we made sure to make the most of it.  Our first priority was to mountain bike the “death road.” It was steep, the scenery was amazing and it was plain to see why the road is so dangerous.  Fortunately no cars are allowed on it anymore, just bikes.  In these outfits we ruled the road and survived.

Above the cliffs of Olympos flames of volcanic methane gas burn throughout the day and night. “Like eternal flames,” a Canadian backpacker told me. “You can’t put them out.”
We walked nearly 8km from our hotel to the Chimera thanks to some mis-information. Finally arriving at the site after about an hour and a half walking in the thick humidity, we were drenched and not exactly happy to see more heat. That was until I remembered that the flames supposedly couldn’t be put out and for research purposes only of course, I decided to try my hand. My first attempt, splashing a little water on a small flame, put the flame out momentarily, but it quickly …

Call the dentist! Baklava is probably the only dessert in the world that I can have just one piece and walk away. It’s seriously sweet. A combination of phyllo dough, honey and nuts, baklava is a national dessert here in Turkey. But don’t tell that to the Syrians, Lebanese, Greeks or pretty much anyone else between here and Mongolia who also claim baklava as their own.
Made in enormous trays, cut and sprinkled with pistachios, baklava is decadently sweet. Ramadan’s evening meal, Iftar, seems to always include dessert. It’s no wonder given how delicious they are here in Turkey, and I swear since Ramadan started I’ve seen more and more Baklava sold on the streets. It is advertised in nearly every …

Cruising the Mediterranean should conjure up imagines of deep turquoise and blue waters, yachts, drinks at sunset and fresh grilled fish. Add in a few Italians, a cadre of Australians, some itsy bitsy man bikini’s and lots and lots of ice cream and you’ve got our cruise along the Med.
Needless to say the four days on the cruise weren’t exactly the hardest days on the “road.” Joined by our friend Baris, we sailed from Fethiye to Olympos, stopping at nearly ever beautiful blue, turquoise lagoon along the way. Our boat was crowded, the temperature was hot and no matter how many times we swam in a single day, usually around four, we couldn’t get enough. We lingered …

Danny’s experience in Ethiopia underscores the need to stay healthy on the road.  In case you missed it, take a second to read it before you continue.  Although we’re pretty well prepared to handle basic first aid and stomach illnesses on our own, we were caught out in Harar and frankly that was our own stupid fault. We carry everything with us that we needed, we just didn’t bring it with us for the short weekend. Mistake #1.

Here are some travel health tips to avoid “the worst day ever”:
Basic First Aid. Both of us are certified in basic and wilderness first aid. We chose to take a wilderness first aid course because of its emphasis on improvised …

We went on safari several times in Africa.  A budding wildlife photographer, Danny kept trying to get a photo that would describe why a zebra has stripes.  Everytime we saw them clumped together in a group he would try from various angles, repositioning the car, leaning around me, etc.. to get the perfect picture.  Needless to say we have hundreds of zebra photos!

A fellow traveler once told us a story of wetting herself on an Indian train for fear of losing her seat and all her belongings. Another traveler recounted a tale of two horrendous days on a bus, stopping the driver ever hour to relieve himself. He was later diagnosed with cholera.
This is that type of story, the type that takes time to be able to tell; to see the humor in what was both extremely dangerous and embarrassing all at the same time. This is the kind of thing that happens to all of us on the road, the memories we loathe and relish at the same time, but can almost never ever talk about. It has …