TRAVEL – LN Lurie:

“Cute glasses, LN! Are those real diamonds?” “hahahahahahahahahahaha. No…. But the story of them is epic.” (She didn’t want to hear the story. She just […]

April Fools!

Posted on 2018-04-01

Back in 2010 I sent my parents (and BCC’d my friends) an email. Subject: Well…. Body: (picture of a positive pregnancy test). ——- My […]

Call Home

Posted on 2017-11-14

I’m standing at debrief listening to our incident commander urging us to call home.“Call your loved ones. They are worried.” Today is day 43 of […]

Wildebeest Killing

Posted on 2017-02-19

This is my second time to the “dark continent” of Africa. (It’s called that, I’m convinced, because of its lack of cell towers/internet speeds). Favorite […]

ep34. Packing – Part 3 – Apps and Homesickness

Posted on 2016-07-17

I’ve done a blog before about apps that I love. But this is the podcast version. Also- some other advice from Victor about what to bring […]

China Observations – buying stuff abroad

Posted on 2016-03-20

If my podcast hasn’t gone out already about packing- it should soon! And it’s a good one- BECAUSE! It talks about the awesomeness of buying […]

ep28. (remix) Local Bar Story – Impalila Island, Namibia

Posted on 2016-01-31

Hey guys! few things: Anyway- here’s the original. And (the link above) is where you can listen to it remixed. (Recommended) Enjoy!

Ep26. Turkish Bath House

Posted on 2016-01-03

A lot of people LOVE their bath/spa experience…. So I went to the oldest bathhouse in Istanbul. My experience was…… interesting….. Definitely memorable. (I don’t […]

Ep24. Xmas Quilt

Posted on 2015-12-06

Happy Holidays, guys. Yea. it’s THAT season. I’m living in Minneapolis and was involved in a holiday-story-reading thing called Xmas Quilt. Xmas Quilt is a […]

China – observations #1

Posted on 2015-09-20

This is something different… These aren’t MY posts– but my aunt’s. See, my aunt is living/teaching in China. She was born in Philadelphia and […]

Pictures!!!

Posted on 2015-08-23

PHEW! I know you missed me. (CLICK) Here are some pictures of my adventures around the Balkans. Here are the things I learned: 1) DO […]

Perfect roadtrip

Posted on 2015-06-14

According to Science— they have figured out the “perfect road trip” I disagree with it, of course, because an American Roadtrip is about finding something […]

Yosemite Campsite Land Rush

Posted on 2015-05-24

“Hey! Wanna go to a wedding with me in October in Yosemite?” “Sure….?” “Great! We need to wake up early on May 15th and book a […]

Ep16. Hospitals

Posted on 2015-05-17

Hospitals are scary…. But why? I’m scared of the cost- but what are OTHER people scared of? We investigate other countries (Australia, Canada, South Africa, […]

Question/Answer (part 2)

Posted on 2015-05-10

Because I’m busier than a 1-armed coat-hanger this week…. No time to do a podcast- so this is another Question/answer post for you! Sarah asked: […]

Questions/Answers!

Posted on 2015-05-03

I have a friend, Bonnie, who sent me a message saying: “Hey LN, I can’t sleep, so I decided to read your blog/listen to your […]

Ep15. Machu Picchu – “It’s about the journey, not the destination”

Posted on 2015-04-26

I was in Peru and everyone is all “OMG! Are you gonna go on the Machu Pichu trek?” …sure! Why not? So I did. But […]

Quicky!

Posted on 2015-04-19

There’s a new podcast in the works! (It’s about Machu Picchu!) So stay tuned for that. In the meantime, I want to draw attention to […]

Ep14. Worries

Posted on 2015-04-05

Whenever I travel, I always hear heaps of worries/warnings. “YOU COULD GET MUGGED!”“THE WORLD IS DANGEROUS!”“Just stay home, already!” These things aren’t just local to […]

Colombia CouchSurfing!

Posted on 2015-03-29

“You never went home with strangers, did you?” Couchsurfing.org is like online dating, but for a place to stay. You fill out an online profile […]

ep13. American Road Trip across I-10

Posted on 2015-03-01

Road trips across America are a national past time. I’ve taken one at least every year for over the past decade. But this story isn’t […]

Working While Traveling

Posted on 2015-02-22

I’ve worked in several places while I travel. Sometimes because I had to, sometimes because I want to feel useful/have an excuse to get out […]

Ep12. Ln and Peter Moore go to Italy! (not together)

Posted on 2015-02-15

I interviewed Peter Moore- travel writer and author of Vroom With A View along with several other (awesome!) books about his travels. While interviewing him, […]

Screw you, TSA!

Posted on 2015-01-25

“TSA stands for ‘taking scissors away’” – Leib Lurie When all of your belongings are in a backpack and you NEVER EVER (WHY WOULD YOU […]

My budget- 30 months worth (34$ a day)

Posted on 2015-01-18

“How did you afford all this travel?” It’s not really that expensive. About 1000$ a month-give or take. Since not a lot of people post their […]

Car accident + hospital stay – US health insurance = no fun

Posted on 2015-01-11

Jan 3rd, 2015- Outside of Kimball, Nebraska. Note: I do NOT recommend rolling your car. Not even for the “thrill” or “adventure”. There’s no real […]

Ep10. Volcano Sledding

Posted on 2015-01-04

I’m trying something new with this format. Do you like it? Please give me feedback! LN.Lurie (at) yahoo (dot) com @hydrix13 (twitter) Location: Leon, Nicaragua […]

How I save money

Posted on 2014-12-28

“How’d you save all that money to travel?” (To be honest- it costs less than you’d think to travel for 30 months. I’ll release a budget […]

The birth of a bucket list (“Hello, I’m Susan”)

Posted on 2014-12-20

Last night I went swing dancing with a friend- a hobby that I used to enjoy quite often. As Leeds spun me around, he asked the […]

How I Find Cheap Airfare

Posted on 2014-12-14

“Yea, sure, housesitting and working for accommodation is one way of traveling for the cheap, but plane tickets cost a fortune!” -Tracy S. Sup Tracy, […]

Ep9. Did you Always Wear a Money Belt?

Posted on 2014-12-07

(view out the window during the really long bus ride) I’m trying something new with this format. Do you like it? Please give me feedback! “You […]

10kg

Posted on 2014-11-30

I booked my holiday flight (London Gatwick-JFK) with Norwegian for 280$usd. A bargain, right? Even though it’s bare minimum service, I’ll take it. When they […]

I would do anything for love…

Posted on 2014-11-23

I decided to go back to Cape Town for a boy. This is something I haven’t done since… uh…. Highschool? I guess you could say […]

Marcus

Posted on 2014-11-16

As I said before, I work in a backpackers in Cape Town. One morning I got a weird call from a woman named Shamise. She said “I’m […]

Hostel (Hostile?) Living

Posted on 2014-11-09

I’ve been working in a hostel for 3 weeks. Most backpackers/travelers go to hostels, stay a night, party, sometimes sleep, and leave the next day… […]

iMiss

Posted on 2014-11-02

Every 90 days or so I get homesick. Today marks the 90th day I’ve been away from home- so I wasn’t really THAT surprised when […]

I love you, man!

Posted on 2014-10-26

I’m recently met a German girl named Chris who overheard me praising our cook: “I loooooove collard-greens, Peter! Thank you!” She called me out: “You’re […]

Epiphany

Posted on 2014-10-19

When I first started traveling, I set out seeking for something. Hoping that some country, some person, some place would give me this epiphany and […]

Creamy or Crunchy nut-butter?

Posted on 2014-10-12

This is a question that I ask on first dates. It’s probably the most important question- because it will shape the rest of the relationship […]

“Occupation”

Posted on 2014-10-05

On every custom form they ask for your occupation. I never know what to answer on this because A) I’ve been freelancing for over 2 […]

Playing Cards

Posted on 2014-09-28

I (stupidly) decided to be cheap and forgo the 25$ checked bag fee from Darwin to Singapore- because, hello! I’ll be in the tropics and […]

100 passport stamps

Posted on 2014-09-21

I love looking through my passport. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine- seeing the stamps and visas that I’ve collected, remembering all the boarder crossings […]

“Trust me! I’m an Engineer!”

Posted on 2014-09-14

Location: Jo’burg, South Africa I had a few hours to kill before dinner and my brother was taking a nap, so I decided to […]

That was unexpected!

Posted on 2014-09-07

Location: Cairo, Egypt On my family’s tour of the Great Pyramids of Giza, our tour guide took us to the “papyrus institute”- a place […]

The mugging incident

Posted on 2014-08-30

I feel like enough time has gone by for me to finally talk about this. People always seem to ask “what’s the worst thing that […]

Slow-drip of Fear

Posted on 2014-07-14

I posted another post about fear a while back ago– but this is different. I recently went to Alaska to visit my friend Kit. While […]

Raccoon City Experience (Japan)

Posted on 2014-02-28

Raccoon City Experience (Japan) I have 3 favorite things: 1) Zombies 2) Traveling 3) exercise/crossfit. This combines 2 of them! (And it is also being […]

Typhoon Haiyan (part 3)

Posted on 2013-12-16

In my game days- here are the best and worst days: Worst days: Fable 3 crunch-being in some big machine that x-rays you every 2 […]

Typhoon Haiyan (part 1)

Posted on 2013-11-17

Update: I was in the Philippines when the typhoon hit. I was in a safe place called MoalBoal which is in south Cebu (Cebu is […]

Everybody Dance Now

Posted on 2013-08-07

I’ve been making playlists like crazy lately in prep for my trip to S.E. Asia. One of them is a “top thirty(coughcoughsomething)” list of top […]

Acquiring an Indian Visa

Posted on 2013-08-07

Getting an Indian visa was a little more than sketchy. Because I couldn’t find any other blog posts about it, I thought I would post […]

Imagine a world…. (Australia- first thoughts)

Posted on 2013-04-30

Imagine a world where: Minimum wage is 15$ an hour. The government pays you to have children. (baby bonus) The government also pays you to […]

Peru (zombie survival)

Posted on 2013-04-25

I went to a few areas in Peru: Lima, Cusco (Machu Picchu) and Arequipa (Colca Canyon). All are lovely as are the people and the […]

Free(ish) flights (hack)

Posted on 2013-04-10

Lifehack/Protip time: I calculated my trip so far: 9897$ for everything. This includes 4500$ for flights/travel expenses. The rest was living/tours/food/etc. Not too Shabby considering […]

Colombia-Zombie Survival

Posted on 2013-03-09

I haven’t really felt inspired to write a Zombie-survival page for every country/place that I’ve been in. Panama was difficult because I was mostly in […]

Spidey-sense

Posted on 2013-03-06

Normally I don’t listen to people when they try to warn me about areas. Normally people feed off fear and regurgitate it for no real […]

Pronounciation

Posted on 2013-02-27

I’ve been sick for the past few days (my first cold since I’ve been traveling! not bad for third world countries!) but I decide to […]

Useless and Useful things

Posted on 2013-01-26

I was at a hostel-in-progress and met an amazing Norwegian named Sabine who is biking around Central America. She asked me what things I have […]

Herbie Hancock

Posted on 2013-01-26

Last night I saw Herbie Hancock perform. It was actually kind of amazing. I should note that I felt pretty amazing before the concert even […]

Laugh @ LN time!

Posted on 2013-01-24

My parents decided to come to Panama to a) take a Caravan Tour of the Panama Canal and b) See me! I’ve missed them, so […]

Dear Cristi

Posted on 2013-01-23

A brilliant guy told me to write TO people if I wanted to improve my writing- so this is my attempt. Dear Cristi, You wrote […]

Getting fired from a volunteer position

Posted on 2013-01-09

Back story: I’ve been finding volunteer work through a wonderful website called Workaway.info. My whole goal, while traveling, was to try all kinds of work/deal […]

Christmas, Volcano Sledding and Bull-fighting, oh my!

Posted on 2012-12-29

Dec 23rd, Leon, Nicaragua Dear Mom, I went volcano sledding. Hold on, let me repeat that for you. I SLEDDED DOWN A VOLCANO! Yep. new […]

The kindness of strangers

Posted on 2012-12-23

I think I’m in love with Nicaragua. The people, the atmosphere, the climate, the culture…. The sheer niceness of people just blows me away. Things […]

Nicaragua! (so far)

Posted on 2012-12-15

I have been on 2 farms in the past 2 weeks and here is what I have done: 1) I am a fan of hitchhiking […]

Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) Tour- Belize

Posted on 2012-12-03

I meant to write this a long time ago, but time slipped away from me. THE ATM TOUR!!!! SOOOO COOL!!! A caving adventure where a […]

Guatemala

Posted on 2012-11-30

Guatemala has been an experience. Here are some things I have learned: 1) People here are dirt-poor. But happy. The only thing I miss is […]

Tortillas

Posted on 2012-11-18

In Belize, I was told that once you know how to make tortillas, you are ready to marry. (Fun fact, most couples don’t marry in […]

Dinosaurs

Posted on 2012-11-18

2 quick things: 1) Howler monkeys in Belize sound like dinosaurs…. it’s a crazy thing. They also make that sound ALL. EFFIN. DAY. You get […]

Grub (Hollywood, CA)

Posted on 2012-11-03

Before I went to Grub I was at the beach where I got my very first Bee sting! (I’m excited because I, somehow, managed to […]

Hurricane prep!

Posted on 2012-10-29

As Hurricane Sandy approaches I thought I would repost this useful tidbit for all my east-coast friends. Be prepared for lots of water, wind and […]

Hurricane prep!

Posted on 2012-10-29

As Hurricane Sandy approaches I thought I would repost this useful tidbit for all my east-coast friends. Be prepared for lots of water, wind and […]

Why I love Houston, Tx

Posted on 2012-10-22

I used to live in Houston back in 2008-2009. This was the year that 1) I moved back to the states from a terrible/miserable experience […]

Packing……

Posted on 2012-10-11

Here is a short-list of everything that is in my backpack. CLOTHING: 2 –Under Armor quick-dry shirt 1 Columbia Short Sleeve Shirt (quick-dry) 2 pairs […]

Italy -random stories

Posted on 2012-09-26

My friend Suzanne and I went to Italy recently. This isn’t part of my RTW trip– more of a recon mission to a) see if […]

Hope, fear, love

Posted on 2012-09-26

I have 38 days until I leave. I’m excited and nervous at the same time. (nervited? exitous?) I spoke with my grandparents a while back. […]

Gifs of knots!

Posted on 2012-07-30

Gifs of knots!

Wanna know how to tie a bunch of different kinds of knots? (A useful skill for the zombie apocalypse, let me tell ya!)

Bucket List

Posted on 2012-07-27

In no particular order…… Go to a night club in Moscow Go to a karaoke bar in cambodia Tour to Jordan (where they filmed Indy […]

Juneau, Alaska (zombie survival place)

Posted on 2012-07-15

Juneau is an old Indian phrase for “amazingly beautiful” (ok, I made that up). But it is! Probably all of Alaska is, but I only […]

Getty’s museum (zombie survival place)

Posted on 2012-05-29

I went to the Getty’s museum yesterday. The whole place was up on a mountain and seemed to float above the city on a cloud. […]

A man named Velvet

Posted on 2012-03-28

Today I took the 704 bus back from Santa Monica to Hollywood (where I’m staying). I just got done working out so I’m sweaty, gross, […]

Date a girl who travels

Posted on 2012-03-09

Inspired by “date a girl who reads” — I present you this. You’re welcome.

“That Bear Ate My Pants”

Posted on 2012-02-27

Kindle book link I’ve been reading this book for about a week. I never ever want it to end. It’s not a good “going to […]

New bag

Posted on 2012-02-25

I got a new bag from Amazon. Before (when I backpacked across Europe) I had the Rick Steve’s convertible bag. I loved that bag, but […]

Steinbeck’s intro from “Travels with Charley”

Posted on 2012-02-23

“When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure […]

First Aid kit

Posted on 2012-02-17

This is copied/pasted from rei’s website, but I couldn’t pin-it on pinterest, so I’m copying the list here 😛 (lazy award goes to me!) First […]

Good places for zombie survival

Posted on 2012-02-14

Every time I walk into a room I scan and think of an exit strategy. A lot of times “jumping over this thing and smashing […]

50K miles

Posted on 2012-02-13

My car is quickly approaching the 100K mark and I began to think “what is 100,000 miles? How far is that?” I’ve driven across the […]

RTW trip

Posted on 2012-02-08

I’m planning a “Round the world” trip. 35 countries (possibly more?) 6 continents, 13 months. phew! Things that I didn’t think I would have to […]

Opera

Posted on 2010-09-08

Went to a Wagner opera. Here is what I think happened: 2nd act… Fat guy comes back from something traumatic. Girl in white = Elizabeth […]

London, Paris, Amsterdam and Vienna

Posted on 2010-09-03

Ok…. It’s been a while, so here is my trip update so far— its random, so bare with me. London: -holy fuck— must live here! […]

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