Latest Stories

Most recently published stories in Wander.

Wanderlust with William Whitecloud
The word Safari was first an Arabic word "safara," meaning "a journey," which was first used as a foreign word in the English language in 1858. Then Swahili: The Arabic word found its way to East Africa where it was adapted to the Swahili verb "kusafiri" which means "to travel" and the noun safari.
By Yo7 years ago in Wander
One Day in Krakow
First thing’s first. You’re in Poland; you will have vodka. The first and most important thing to see in Krakow is the main square. Here you have two of the most famous churches in Poland; the Polish people are known for their steadfast devotion, so I guess all that vodka is good for something.
By Rose Carlman7 years ago in Wander
Denver: New and Improved
After a recent visit to Denver, Colorado I learned that every city is evolving and can change in the blink of an eye. Denver is now a vibrant, fun, eclectic, and young town. But as every local I spoke to told me this hasn't always been the case. Denver used to be a dinky city just like any other in the United States. Yeah people would visit to see the surrounding mountains but there wasn't anything special about it. Denver didn't used to have an identity which was hurtful to the city's tourism aspect. In the last few years Denver has established itself and really transformed its image in a positive way.
By Rachel (Queen Wanderlust) 👑7 years ago in Wander
Soaking in the Awesome
Ah! School is almost starting, and I'm already having trouble keeping up with writing about my life. Well, we left off on Friday, so on Saturday, I woke up at roughly 5AM right when the sun began to rise. Noticing that I had absolutely no food and not feeling comfortable enough with my lack-of-Japanese to go to a restaurant, I decided to bike to the grocery store, which was roughly half a mile to one mile from my residence. The smaller streets here have barely enough width space for one car and one bike, yet they are still two-way streets. In addition, there are really any sidewalks on the smaller streets, so I took my time getting to the grocery store to be safe and to not accidentally hit any pedestrians, which apparently happens more often than you would think (probably close to the number of pedestrians getting hit by bikes at ASU or bikes getting hit by cars). At the grocery store, EVERYTHING is in Japanese. Unless you have seen the packaging or food before, it is a hard guess of what an item is. Also, fruits and vegetables are so expensive; it makes it difficult for me to justify buying healthy food. And when I say expensive, I mean a small one ounce box of blueberries costs three dollars. Yeah, I know right?! In Japan (like every other country aside from the United States), you have to purchase plastic bags if you do not bring your own reusable bag. I love that Japan does this, along with a few other environmental initiatives like So-Dai-Gomi.
By An Tran7 years ago in Wander
Broke Person’s Guide to Traveling Europe
“Traveling is SO expensive” is such a common misconception. So many of us use the excuse of “not having enough money” to justify not traveling. But I’m here to tell you just how cheap and easy international travel really can be. And in this article, we’re going to focus on traveling Europe on a tight budget.
By Grace Campbell7 years ago in Wander
How to Get the Most out of Your City Break
After travelling to a few cities and even living a train journey away from one, I have learnt the best ways to enjoy cities and finding the wonders deep inside them!
By Katie F7 years ago in Wander
Feeling Good
And just like that, my first week in Japan has past. This week was been nothing short of incredible. Backtracking, I don't remember too much of what had happened on Wednesday, my second full day in Himeji, but I attended my first community lesson at the Shirasagi residence on Thursday. The Shirasagi residence is where the other assistant teaching assistants (ALTs), JETs, and I live. It is currently summer holiday, but even on holiday or break season, teachers still go to school. In our case, instead of going to school, we teach community lessons at our place of residence. The lesson topics spans far and wide according to our individual interests. There is usually one primary teacher who teaches the lesson of their interest while the other teachers assist in facilitation of English language speaking at each table, and these lessons are taught twice a day during the weekdays. Going back to my first experience of a community lesson, I coincidentally sat in on a community lesson about product design (just when I thought I had gotten away from the torturous product design and development process engrained by the infamous ASU BME program). The teacher, Kevin, is an industrial engineering graduate from South Africa; he's a very nice fellow and has a twin brother, also an industrial engineering graduate, teaching in Sapporo, Japan. The lesson, context wise, was exactly as I remembered the product design process to be. The facilitation part of the lesson was interesting. While I have facilitated conversation on various topics in the past, facilitating conversation for the sole purpose of practicing a language was a bit different. The community members were very polite, and they spoke English well enough to communicate their thoughts. Most community members were a part of the older generation, but there are instances of younger students (possibly a daughter or son of a community member). Because my contract does not start until September 3, I do not need to attend these community lessons, but attending them beforehand made me less anxious to teach and facilitate future lessons and helped me get acquainted with the members themselves.
By An Tran7 years ago in Wander
A Trip to Japan: A Guide for the First Timer
I came to the conclusion that I wanted to make a guide for navigating the fast-paced, exuberant, and often times peculiar world of Japan after my visit in May of 2018. It was not my first time stepping foot in the country, but it was the first time I visited Honshu, the most populous island. I traveled to Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto with four of my friends, with only one of us being fluent in Japanese. For anyone who's thinking about visiting Japan, has previously been, or is just plain curious, here's my take on the trip.
By joanna liu7 years ago in Wander
Cursed Trees and Blessed Nature. Top Story - August 2018.
The Summer draws to a close but the biking season is still in full flow. Last week I took a quick jaunt south again. The Scottish borders truly have some wonderful sights, perfect for navigating your machine through in the hope of uncovering the natural beauty. What more could one want than quiet roads that traverse nature? I took the long way down, past the Harperrig Resevoir, it has suffered from the hot, dry days we experienced through June and July, but will no doubt recover with the help of the August deluges! Funny to note that whatever road you travel in Scotland you will most likely see the yellow plates of our continental neighbours, most notably the kindly Dutch. The NL seems to stand for "Never Lost," as it appears to me that they have an uncanny ability to unearth Scottish Beauty spots. Overlooking the tranquillity of the deep waters I spotted just such a couple tucking into their sandwiches, they gave a nod of approval at my passing 1200CCs. The roar of the engine echoing through the glen failed to distract them from their lunch. It's not just the advent of the Edinburgh International Festival that brings in our Euro-mates, I believe the Dutch have an inherent sense of adventure when it come to all things bonny.
By Caledonian Cogs7 years ago in Wander
Traveling with an Infant
For many people, life changes completely when you have a child. Some people become hermit-like, staying in their homes, no visiting others, and making their whole existence about their child. Others continue life the way they have always lived it.
By Samantha Reid7 years ago in Wander
Fresh Off the Plane
I still can't believe that I'm in Japan! Everything feels so surreal. Today is my first full day in Japan. I woke up at 4 o'clock, and having slept six hours, I was ready to start my day. The sun had yet to rise, but because I wanted a fresh start here in Japan, I decided to begin with a new sleep schedule. Thus, during the four hours I had before meeting Mr. Kamata (my supervisor) to got to the bank to do more paperwork, I unpacked all my belongings, exercised, showered, read parts of a couple books, and wrote this post. Being told that there were no affordable, decent weight lifting gyms in Japan, I brought Casey's pull-up bar that hangs on door frames. However, because Japan's doors are slightly wider and protrudes from the walls less, the pull-up bar is basically useless to me. Thus, I was forced to improvise. For today's exercise, I jump roped (yes, I FINALLY used the jump rope I bought three years ago) for cardio, and afterwards, I did sets of regular pushups and sit-ups until the total reps equaled 75 for each exercise. Afterwards, I proceeded to shower and do the laundry that I hadn't gotten a chance to do while I was in Arizona. Thankfully, most of the machines are either intuitive on how to use them or have English notes indicating what each buttons does. Thus, doing laundry was fairly straightforward; there is only a washing machine, so when the clothes were done washing, I took them to the outside patio and hung them on racks. Lucky for me, I had moved into an apartment that was fully furnished, buying all the furniture and household items from the past teacher who lived here.
By An Tran7 years ago in Wander
Zion
Happy Birthday Zion, and all of the other National Parks!! I've been so eager to talk about my trip to Zion although I restrained myself so I could publish it on the National Parks Service 102nd birthday! It seemed fitting.
By Keegan Gray7 years ago in Wander