I’ve always been a lover of languages, and of Spanish especially. Though I didn’t know it at the time, the many years I spent studying Spanish in school would do very little to prepare me for actually living in a Spanish-speaking country.…
The Top Ways I Save Money on Travel
I’ll be the first to admit it…I suck at budgeting. I’ve never been very well-versed in anything relating to finances, and I can honestly say that the fact that I’ve developed any money-saving habits on the road at all is…
Back to the Caribbean: Revisiting Santa Marta More Than One Year Later
Returning to a place I’ve been before after a significant amount of time has passed is always a fun little game. I’ve changed, the place has changed, and I find it rather entertaining to try and guess which of the…
Why I Travel
“You lived in the Bay Area for how long and you never crossed the Golden Gate Bridge?” It’s a tale as old as time, really. You spend so long in one place that you begin to take for granted the…
Month in Review: January 2015
First thing’s first: Happy 2015, y’all! Is this the year Marty McFly really traveled to in Back to the Future? No one seems to know anymore. If so, their predictions of hover boards were a little off base, and I…
Surviving Long-Haul Overnight Bus Rides in South America
Backpacking through South America presents some interesting challenges. Unlike other popular backpacking destinations like Europe or Southeast Asia, each country is rather sizable; getting between cities by air isn’t always an option on a backpacking budget, leaving many travelers to move…
The 12 Best Things About Being an Expat in Medellín
Life has pulled me in some interesting directions over the past few years. In all honesty, I never could have predicted that I’d wind up living as an expat in Medellín, Colombia. I couldn’t have predicted, when I landed in this city…
A Taste of El Poblado
In this week’s edition of Leah Leaves the Apartment, I’m taking you on a little photo tour of my favorite haunts (read: restaurants and cafes) in El Poblado, an affluent neighborhood in Medellín that’s–surprise, surprise–popular among expats. Yes, yes, Medellin…
My Colombia Bucket List
I feel as though I just arrived in Colombia yesterday, yet I’m suddenly finding myself with limited time remaining in this beautiful country and feeling pressured to make the most of it. In case you haven’t heard, I’ve been doing all…
A Salty Sea Voyage on the Sailboat Victory: Panama to Colombia via the San Blas Islands
“It’s kind of a funny story…” is how I will surely begin every narrative of our five-day voyage at sea from Panama to Colombia. Ah, yes, Panama to Colombia via the San Blas Islands–sailing through an idyllic and remote archipelago few people…
