In crossing oceans for our 40-day honeymoon trip through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, my wife and I had put ourselves back in the closet for a constellation of reasons. Public displays of affection were frowned upon in these countries, so we were careful not to kiss or cuddle in restaurants the way we would’ve back home in Boston.
Read MoreI can’t feel my right foot and my legs aren’t even in the lotus position. Cici, my husband’s former grad student, and Shifu, as we call the Buddhist master, have folded their lower bodies into tight packets — knees down, soles and palms turned heavenward. Shifu’s posture mirrors the row of buddhas and bodhisattvas, radiating stillness on the shelf behind her close-cropped head.
Read MoreFeatures Editor Yi Shun Lai provides an inside look at disaster relief over her decade-plus of volunteering for ShelterBox.
Read MoreMemoirist Janice MacLeod brings Paris alive with a new collection of her painted letters spanning almost a decade.
Read MoreTegan Aileen Wylie is an international plus-size model and the mastermind behind The Travel Curve, a website that focuses on travel and fashion tips for “full-figured” women. We loved Wylie’s tone and her message, and wanted to get to know her and her mission a little more. Undomesticated talked to her about getting into modeling, being an influencer, and more.
Read MorePam Logan, author of Compassion Mandala and founder of the Kham Aid Foundation, an NGO bringing resources to Tibet, talks about everything from starting an NGO to international relationships to the opportunities and challenges facing today’s non-profit organizations.
Read MoreTo access world literature beyond what was translated and censored in the Islamic Republic, I had to improve my English and enter the world of banned books which were smuggled in alongside alcohol, Western film, and music. Limited and expensive, but accessible through the right contacts. Reading books from across the world was a turning point in my life.
Read MoreFour years ago, I moved to Brazil from my home in Chicago. And when people asked me what my calling as a Black American journalist in Brazil was, I said: To save Afro-Brazilians. I wanted to help Black Brazilians confront racism, rise out of poverty, and achieve their full potential in life. Two years passed before the first person challenged my aspirations.
Read MoreWhether it’s called the farmers’ market, the wet market, or the central market, it’s one of the first destinations on my itinerary, no matter where I land in the world. The reasons can be practical—simply buying some fresh fruit to eat—but they can also extend far beyond that as a means of entry into a culture.
Read MoreBy designing clothing and accessories that tell the story of their personal experiences, minority and immigrant designers are not only using design to stay connected to their roots, but to also share their cultural pride with others. I’m a fashion anthropologist, and I’m working to highlight these designers’ efforts.
Read MoreNeed a gift for the traveler in your life? The Undomesticated staff put together a list of gifts ideas that can bring us to all corners of the world, even if it’s just in spirit.
Read MoreKennesha Bell lived her entire life in Philadelphia until at the age of 39, she packed up her family and moved to Doha, Qatar to teach first grade, satisfying a longtime yearning for travel and international experience. Four years later, she has no plans to leave.
Read MorePam Mandel, travel writer and author of The Same River Twice shares her thoughts on the joys of getting lost, how travel helps us become ourselves, and her ongoing quest for the strange, beautiful, and unknown.
Read MoreOne easy trick to see and remember more of your travels. That trip was the first on which I’d told myself that I’d try and do a watercolor drawing each day. And so, when I looked through my photos, I had an added touchpoint: I could remember trying to draw this waterfall; that platter of kleina pastry; those sorry approximations of the woolly willow and the mountain avens.
Read MoreWhen Sara and her husband David were both laid off within a week of each other, they picked up and moved from New York to Spain where they opened an intimate bar in Altea’s picturesque old town, high above the Mediterranean.
Read MoreSometimes I feel like Miss Havisham in a flight attendant uniform. I may inhabit the 43-year-old body of a Tucson mom—complete with unfashionable bob and part-time work-from-home business—but I’m still haunted by the 24-year-old London-based flygirl I used to be.
Read MoreMaggie Downs spent a year backpacking solo through seventeen countries―completing the bucket list her dying mother could not. We spoke about outlasting fear, seeing the world on a person level, and what to do when the thing that makes you who you are is suddenly off-limits.
Read MoreIt was exhilarating to do something just for me, so far off-script for the obedient daughter and people pleaser I had always been. New job, new country, new boyfriend—I managed to make it all happen in a whirlwind three months, so fast that I had no time to sort through the wreckage of my previous life.
Read MoreI see you, walking to bore holes, or wells. You carry aid buckets full of soap and water purifier. You are re-building your homes, or hanging up mosquito nets around your children.
Read MoreLisa Niver, now a prolific travel writer, blogger and television commentator, writes about reinventing herself after divorce and the books that helped her succeed.
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