to the eye-catching surprises along the way, we were constantly entertained.

Here is Kate making a local friend in Bangkok.

And Elias Vere Nicoll hamming it up with a Chinese tourist in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Travel takes you out of your world and wham bam lands you in another whether you like it or not. You meet people you’d normally never meet. See things you’d never see. And come home with a mind expanded that only firsthand experience can do.

My ideal: The stranger the better as long as there’s good coffee in the morning. Thailand delivers on the spicy food and gorgeous beaches,

but I warmed more to the less touristy Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam – especially southern Vietnam where the locals were incredibly warm. This happy Vietnamese couple have been together for about 60 years.

Vietnamese chef Tran Thanh Duc below with Cristina Vere Nicoll gave us a shopping and cooking lesson in Hoi An that I can only describe as utterly terrific and delicious. He’s going places.

Travel can also bring you closer to the people you’re with, shared experiences and all that. Melanie Vere Nicoll and me in Luang Prabang, Laos.

We traveled with Trufflepig, a Toronto-based travel group that I highly recommend. All you really need is good people, an open mind and the ability to laugh when things don’t go according to plan (which is a travel guaranty). 

I’ll be posting more on our life-altering trip in the coming weeks.

January, 2015

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“I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.” Buddha

The above is, unsurprisingly, one of Scott Neeson’s favorite quotes. Neeson gave up his top job in Hollywood,  moved to Cambodia and set up the Cambodian Children’s Fund. I interviewed him for Indagare .

February, 2012

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