A few hours in Dubai on a layover between Edinburgh and Chennai, spent out in the city instead of at the gate: the Burj Khalifa, a souk, the old Al Fahidi quarter, a lot of heat, and one Uber conversation I keep thinking about. One more country on the list.

A short, windy, rainy and completely charming stop in Edinburgh on my way out of the UK. I took a ghost bus tour I regretted and a walking tour I loved, and I came away with a lot of history.

Ten days in London in October 2026, mostly for work. I spent the evenings and weekends exploring the city, from Westminster and the Tower to rooftop views and a Sunday in Norwich, and left with London as my clear second favourite city after New York.

A fall day trip from New York City to Bear Mountain in the Hudson Valley with two friends: a train up the Hudson, stone stairs to a tower above a sea of orange and red trees, a fall festival, a walk across the Bear Mountain Bridge, and pizza in Cold Spring.

Yosemite over Labor Day weekend with my friend Chris, all by bus: the Mist Trail up Vernal Fall, Glacier Point and the giant sequoias, a day up on Tioga Road at the bluest lake I've ever seen, and a lot about glaciers, fire and trees.

Three days alone in New Orleans — the French Quarter and its tangled French-Spanish-American history, a swamp full of alligators, Preservation Hall jazz, a streetcar to the Garden District, and the National WWII Museum, which turned out to be the best thing I did all weekend. Plus all the food.

A solo Memorial Day weekend in Las Vegas — an 'adult Disneyland' in the desert that I'm glad I saw and wouldn't want to live in — anchored by an overnight tour to the Grand Canyon at sunrise, plus Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, the Strip, the Sphere, and Fremont Street. The canyon was the whole point, and it didn't disappoint.

A weekend in California's capital: walking the city in 89-degree sun, the State Railroad Museum, a Latin Mass, and a day judging student projects at HackDavis, UC Davis's hackathon.

Five days of theme parks in Orlando: Magic Kingdom by boat and fireworks over the castle, Hagrid's motorbike and my first Butterbeer at Universal, nine countries in an afternoon at EPCOT, and a quiet hour watching dolphins at SeaWorld.

Martin Luther King Jr. weekend in the capital: an early train down from New York, the Library of Congress, Air and Space, the monuments at dusk, and a public piano at the airport on the way home.