American West Road Trip Itinerary: 10 days, 9 states & 6 national parks

American West Road Trip: 10 Days, 9 States & 6 National Parks

In August 2015, Ryan and set off on a 4500-mile road trip through some of America’s greatest national parks and the American West’s most beautiful natural areas. We affectionately called it our “Epic American Road Trip”. We traversed nine states and visited six national parks over the ten days of our trip. I wanted to share a brief itinerary of what we saw and did … Continue reading American West Road Trip: 10 Days, 9 States & 6 National Parks

9 Days in Bolivia with Engineers Without Borders

Bolivia with Engineers without Borders

In August of this year I traveled to Bolivia with my university’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders. We have a clean water project there, and our mission was to go down and install a chlorinator. The project is at the University Academica Campesina (UAC) in Carmen Pampa, which is near Coroico, Bolivia. The UAC educates the local people in subjects like agronomy, nursing, tourism, and … Continue reading Bolivia with Engineers without Borders

London: Harrods, Abbey Road & British Museum

Today, our last day in London, was definitely a fun day! Sarah, Tawny, Emily, the other Laura, and Chase joined us for the first part of the day (we split up at lunch time). We started out by visiting one of the oldest and largest department stores in the world, Harrods. It’s known as a very fancy department store, but many of the items there … Continue reading London: Harrods, Abbey Road & British Museum

London: Westminster Abbey & Piccadilly Circus

​Today we got up early to finish packing and catch our train to London. As we were walking to our subway station and saying goodbye and good riddance to Paris, we were greeted by a scene of two men fighting fairly violently right in front of our subway station. It was pretty scary. One of them was whacking the other one with who knows what … Continue reading London: Westminster Abbey & Piccadilly Circus

The Louvre

Paris: The Louvre & Montmartre

​I dislike Paris again. I think I must have a sort of love-hate, off-again on-again relationship with this city. Or maybe it gives a bad first impression, then you warm up to it, but then when you delve deeper you realize it really is a dirty, unfriendly city. ​But let’s start with something more pleasant. On our way to The Louvre this morning there were … Continue reading Paris: The Louvre & Montmartre

Notre Dame gargoyles

Paris: Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe & Notre Dame

Well I have to say, after today my opinion of Paris has improved quite a bit, though I still think people tend to overrate it and overlook other fascinating destinations. Breakfast this morning was orange juice and two croissants. It was pretty good, though it turns out it cost about $10 from the hotel, so for tomorrow’s breakfast we just bought something from the grocery … Continue reading Paris: Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe & Notre Dame