ESSAYS
Op-Eds / Narrative / First Person Stories
FALSTAFF: An Antarctic cruise is perfect for intergenerational travel — it’s inherently bonding and far more serene than one would imagine. (28 July 2023)
BUSINESS INSIDER: I've visited all 50 states in the US, and some that seem underrated are not to be overlooked. (27 March 2022)
HOTELS ABOVE PAR: Is the language of love truly universal? (17 July 2023)
GO LAST MINUTE: I landed in Sri Lanka in the dead of night — 3am, to be exact, though, approaching my third continent after twenty hours of travel, I was a timezone entirely unto myself. (30 May 2024)
MATADOR: “To post, or not to post, that is the question,” is probably what Hamlet would have said in 2023. (16 June 2023)
FORBES: I’ve discovered the cure for heartache (as elusive as the cure for the common cold) and its name is Music City. Nashville, Tennessee, for the uninitiated. (31 January 2020)
I'M A TRAVEL WRITER WHO'S BEEN TO ALL 50 STATES. HERE ARE THE 12 BEST ONES TO VISIT.
BUSINESS INSIDER: As a travel writer, I've visited every state in the US multiple times — and I have favorites. (14 December 2021)
BUSINESS INSIDER: Whether my trips have been for personal or professional reasons, I've gone out of my way to sample local cuisines across the US. (18 July 2022)
BUSINESS INSIDER: On December 1, I flew on the first US flight to Fiji since its borders closed in March 2020. (21 December 2021)
Discovering Gratitude in Hawaii
United States Travelers League: Despite not being a very religious person, I had a spiritual awakening along Hawaii’s Na Pali Coast. (2 June 2021)
GO LAST MINUTE: “What have you gained during this lockdown, and what has been irrevocably lost?” (5 November 2021)
Finding America On The Road
UNITED STATES TRAVELERS LEAGUE: I was 13 when I visited my 50th state — fittingly also the 50th state for the entire country — Hawaii. (2 June 2021)
The Maasai Mara Stole My Heart
TRIPCAST360: I’ve wanted to visit Kenya my entire life.(12 September 2021)
FORBES: . I’ve chased tornadoes in Kansas, baited gators in Louisiana, and flown hot air balloons in Nevada. Here’s what I’ve learned about America after traveling to all of its 50 states. (29 January 2020)
FORBES: I exhaled into my breathing tube and descended into the cobalt waters off the coast of Curaçao. I was 30 feet beneath the surface, and the silence was all-encompassing, save for the alien sounds of my breath. (27 May 2020)
POPSUGAR: Vaccine passports may be hailed as the future of post-pandemic travel, but these immunization IDs aren't unique to 2021. (4 May 2021)
FORBES: For would-be travelers daydreaming of escape, an Alaskan fishing trip is a perfect antidote to months spent indoors. (14 July 2020)
Is This The Best Way To Preserve Your Travel Memories (And Sanity)?
FORBES: Aspiring Martha Stewarts can bake bread from scratch, and the patient among us can while away our afternoons lost in a puzzle. (22 May 2020)
FORBES: Is social distancing making you feel trapped in your own home? Read these books to go on a mental vacation to a faraway land without ever leaving your couch. (19 March 2020)
FORBES: “If trees can survive up here, we can survive too.” (14 September 2020)
FORBES: I was at a farm in St. Moritz, in Switzerland's beautiful Engadin Valley, standing on one foot and trying desperately not to lose my balance or be distracted by the goat below me, nibbling on my shoelaces. Focusing intently on my breath and concentrating on the stillness of the clouds as they threatened to rain overhead, I listened to the sound of the cowbells jingling in the near distance. (5 January 2020)
FORBES: No matter how rational we may be in our everyday lives—or how unimaginative we are when it comes to fashion-choices during the 9-to-5—there is something about packing for a trip that entices one to throw in a ballgown. (24 December 2019)
FORBES: It was two a.m. Western Sahara Time, the third night of my international yoga retreat. I was on the rooftop terrace of a riad in downtown Marrakech, watching a cat slink between the geometric turrets of the high walls overlooking the city, convinced I was suffering a panic attack. (20 December 2019)
FORBES: The Amazon comes alive at night. During the day, the rainforest appears deceptively still—save for the splash of papaya dropping from the trees in the flooded forest, or the exhale of a pink river dolphin surfacing (sight unseen) in the black waters of the Rio Negro. (26 November 2019)
THE TRAVEL HUB: I was sixteen years old, standing atop a hillside somewhere along the south coast of the island of Honshu, Japan. And I was about to jump off a cliff. At that moment in time, it was roughly 50/50 on whether I was leaping to my death. (30 September 2019)
BRIT + CO: The sky was a vibrant blue when I awoke in Beijing. It was the last day of my trip and, though I was still experiencing jetlag from my flight from New York City a week earlier, I awoke even earlier than usual. Too excited to sleep, I watched the sun rise over the Wangjing Soho, a Zaha Hadid building outside the window of my hotel room in the Chinese capital. (18 June 2019)
THE TRAVEL HUB: In the past 12 months, I’ve trekked the Great Wall of China and embarked on a husky safari above the Arctic Circle. I’ve ventured into the Amazon Rainforest on a tiny, motorized canoe after nightfall, the stars in the sky reflecting on the black waters of the Rio Negro. I’ve risen at dawn to catch the sun rising over the Caribbean Sea in the West Indies and been woken from sleep to the sound of hippos returning to their riverside enclave in the Masai Mara at dawn. (12 June 2019)
FORBES: The desert just got hotter. The Arabian desert, to be exact—spurred by the arrival of the latest haute hotel chain to make a splash in Dubai, also known as the nightlife authority in the Middle East; a land where Chanel is advertised on highway billboards and you can swim with sharks in the mall. (10 July 2019)
FORBES: “I was born and raised on a beach named after my family. It’s called Burke’s beach.” It was a Saturday in early February, the first of the month, and I was listening to the first professional surfer of Barbados tell me his life story. I was eager to learn more—not only because his upbringing sounded like a whimsical Caribbean fairytale (or, rather, Blue Crush for the turquoise-water set)… (7 June 2019)
BRIT + CO: “It’s only negative ten today, so it’s warm for the huskies. You’ll have to help them out a bit.” I pulled my (faux) fur scarf up above my nose while listening to my Lapland Safari guide, Olli, issue his instructions. I was above the Arctic Circle at Wild Motion Husky Farm in the wintry town of Ylläs in the Finnish Lapland, and the weather of the day was downright balmy for this Nordic part of the world. (22 April 2019)
THE TRAVEL HUB: The Dixie Chicks may have been onto something with their quest for wide open spaces, though we’d argue that in the 50,000 years since we’ve left the African grasslands, those untouched spaces are harder and harder to find, particularly in the U.S. (11 April 2019)
BRIT + CO: It was an early morning in late January, though the temperature didn’t feel like the Polar Vortex I was used to in New York City. I was in the island nation of Dominica and about to embark on one of the most challenging hikes in the Caribbean. Though the hike’s length was only 2.75 miles, it was known for being as difficult as it was exhilarating due to the terrain. But, in the words of Drake, it was worth it just for the #views alone. (2 May 2019)
BRIT + CO: The sky was a vibrant blue when I awoke in Beijing. It was the last day of my trip and, though I was still experiencing jetlag from my flight from New York City a week earlier, I awoke even earlier than usual. Too excited to sleep, I watched the sun rise over the Wangjing Soho, a Zaha Hadid building outside the window of my hotel room in the Chinese capital. (4 April 2019)
THE BERNARDSVILLE NEWS: It’s chic to complain about airports. It suggests so much about the sophistication of the speaker: I travel so often, I practically live in an airport and it’s horrible. I’m so important that each delay or minor inconvenience will have ripple effects on the rest of my life. (11 March 2019)
BRIT + CO: I’ve wanted to visit Kenya my entire life. And yes, there are other nations just as known for their wildlife or their endless plains. Yet, for reasons I can’t quite identify, I knew Kenya was the one place I needed to visit before I died. It was my ultimate bucket list adventure — one I (wrongfully) assumed required a honeymoon to experience. (21 January 2019)
BRIT + CO: As a travel writer who spent most of her 20s in a state of aimless exploration (though now I call it “research”), I like to think I’ve seen much of what the country has to offer — regarding nightlife, at the very least. (24 December 2018)
BRIT + CO: It was just after sunrise on the morning of the Great Reno Balloon Race. The largest free hot air balloon festival in the world draws a crowd of 120,000 to northern Nevada every year at the beginning of September. (6 November 2018)
THE BERNARDSVILLE NEWS:: Wherever you go, there you are. Whoever authored this statement (widely believed to be Confucius, though the internet routinely disagrees) I’ve no doubt that they spent an infinite amount of time in airports—emotionally, if not physically. (11 September 2018)
THE BERNARDSVILLE NEWS: It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman, in possession of a large (and engaged) friend group, must be in want of a weekend off. (5 September 2018)
THE TRAVEL HUB: I was covered in mud in the driver’s seat of a bright red ATV, steering my way down a winding, rocky path along the side of a grassy hill. (22 August 2018)
THE BERNARDSVILLE NEWS: For someone so ardently vocal about how uncool he was, David Foster Wallace has become the epitome of cool for my generation's angst-ridden English majors and counter-culture, would-be poets. Isn't it ironic? (7 August 2018)
THE BOD EDIT: Deep in the waters of Southeast Asia, the Bajau swimmers dive to depths of 70 meters on a single breath. While the rest of mankind exists on land, this ethnic Malaysian tribe has evolved to life at sea. (2 August 2018)
THE BERNARDSVILLE NEWS: My New Year's resolution was to revisit the classics, which is how I found myself rereading "Mrs. Dalloway" during the endless days of early July. I report back with all confidence that Virginia Woolf's novel should be required reading in 2018. (31 July 2018)
BRIT + CO: I inhaled into my snorkel and adjusted my mask to get a clearer look at the six-foot reef shark swimming straight toward me below the surface of the water. (28 July 2018)
ELECTRIFY: I’m not a very religious person, but I had a spiritual awakening along the Na Pali Coast this spring. (22 July 2018)
THE TRAVEL HUB: When I first visited the grove of giant Sequoias named after my family—dedicated to my great-great-grandfather for preserving the park nearly 100 years ago—I was astonished by these living giants, and there’s never been a more important time to support our country’s wild places than now. (22 May 2018)
THE FLAGSHIP: As part of an Outward Bound expedition, I lived on a rock jetty off the coast of Hurricane Island, Maine, for three days alone with minimal provisions—tarp, a bagel, an apple, and trail mix. (30 April 2018)
THE TRAVEL HUB: A desert safari beneath the stars in Wadi Rum fostered immediate understanding between two strangers, opening the writer’s eyes to a fascinating culture—a very different way of life that’s both transient and beautiful. (16 April 2018)
POPSUGAR: On those days when I struggled to feel like the best version of myself, I channeled the spirit of my grandmothers. Their humor and elegance were infectious; it was simply impossible to be bored or uninspired in their presence. (6 MARCH 2018)
POPSUGAR: Women change the world every day, and I'd like to think you'll be the owner of a very large hammer to use on any and all glass ceilings you encounter. (6 March 2018)
ELITE DAILY: In this age of digital romance, where breadcrumbing, ghosting and benching are enabled by our iPhones, it’s only natural that the text message break-up is a popular phenomenon. (30 January 2018)
GO OVERSEAS: When I set out to visit my sister, Biff, in the Jordanian capital of Amman, I’d already visited several countries in the Muslim world: Tunisia, Turkey, and Bosnia. (23 January 2018)
ROAR JOURNAL: I found myself in the unlikely position earlier a week ago of calling up a hundred residents of my hometown of Harding, New Jersey, to advocate for two pro-choice Democratic female candidates for the township committee (28 December 2017)
ROAR LITERARY JOURNAL: Hillary Clinton had to be preternaturally calm in the election, or else she would be labelled as an angry woman. (19 December 2017)
ROAR LITERARY JOURNAL: St. Basil’s Romanian Catholic Church on Adeline Street in Trenton, New Jersey is a sandstone building built by immigrants, including two of my great-great-grandfathers. (12 December 2017)
ROAR LITERARY JOURNAL: When I tuned to E! to watch the 14th season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, I was expecting mindless entertainment. (7 December 2017)
ELITE DAILY: 'Tis the season to cuff — or so we're told every year when the temperatures drop and the pressure to bring a date to one of your thousands of holiday parties rises. (27 November 2017)
THE FLAGSHIP: Who says you can’t go home again? Most writers and artists and all of popular culture do, but never mind those naysayers. (21 November 2017)
ELITE DAILY: When did dating become so repetitive? Dinner and drinks? How novel. Drinks, but not dinner? Someone's hedging their bets, or — just as likely — their wallets. (20 November 2017)
ROAR LITERARY JOURNAL: November 6th, 2016 will go down in history as the night that many women lost faith in American politics, when a man who unabashedly disrespects women. (13 November 2017)
Not That Kind of Girl: The Hypocrisy of Changing Your Stance on Planned Parenthood When You Are No Longer Personally at Risk
ROAR LITERARY JOURNAL: We were sophomores in college, and best friends. It was a Friday night and we were at a house party. (6 November 2017)
ROAR JOURNAL: “There are three genders in the Arabic world: Men, Arabic women, and foreign women.” It was the night before I was set to depart for Palestine and Jordan, and I was having drinks with a friend of mine who had just returned to New York City from Lebanon. (4 November 2017)
THE WEEK: Is the devil you know better than the devil you don't? That was the question I asked myself after downloading a budgeting app to mercilessly track my spending habits. (20 September 2017)
THE WEEK: It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman, in possession of a minimal fortune, must be in want of an alternative to the dreaded group dinner in a fancy restaurant. (12 June 2017)
RECORDER NEWSPAPERS:It was on a wintry evening last March that my faith in humanity was restored. (10 April 2017)
RECORDER NEWSPAPERS: It’s a balmy February morning. I’m pacing in front of the U.S. Embassy in Jamaica when an armed guard chastises me for wandering the premises, pointing to a sliver of sidewalk where I’m allowed to exist. (5 April 2017)
RECORDER NEWSPAPERS: steemed as one of the oldest arts, poetry seems to be undergoing an identity crisis these days. (24 February 2012)
ECHOES SENTINEL: It is alarmingly easy to occasionally feel trapped in the day-to-day banalities of your routine. (9 November 2011)
20 & Counting: Living the Quarter-Life Crisis
BERNARDSVILLE NEWS: A side effect of loving parenting and the ever-prevalent reinforcement of positive thinking is that all of your young life you are led to believe that you will make something of yourself. (30 March 2011)
HUNTERDON REVIEW:There are few significant landmarks on the proverbial road to adulthood and key amongst these would be moving out. (29 March 2011)
THE CITIZEN: Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton. Besides being unparalleled celebrities for teen girls nationwide, these three women have something else in common: they are all getting in trouble with the law. (29 August 2007)
RANDOLPH REPORTER: Harry Potter has, essentially, grown up with me, although I would not call myself a fanatic waiting in lines outside of book stores to buy "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," J.K. Rowling's final book in the series about the boy wizard. (15 August 2007)
RANDOLPH REPORT: High school graduation: a subject of endless long-winded speeches and cliché teen movies and the main cause for grief - or elation -in parents nationwide.