Traveling off-season has many rewards. Cheaper accommodation, less crowds, more opportunities to really get to know the locals. I was having a lot of luck in Croatia and after meeting some people who swore Bosnia-Herzegovina was the best place ever, I decided to go see it for myself. Originally I was going to go to Sarajevo, but decided to skip it because it was snowing. Mostar seemed like a better bet. I will admit that while I thought Bosnia-Herzegovina would be less touristy and restored than the Croatian cities I visited, I wasn’t expecting it to be as unchanged as it was. Unchanged since the war, I mean. Unlike Sarajevo…

Running down the street on the most freezing Shanghai morning in 40 years without a coat, because I’m out of wonton wrappers and fresh noodles. Sifting through crowded streets on foot and on motorbikes during the Vietnamese new year. Lying on a tiny cot aboard a sleeper train when my boyfriend tells me he wants to marry me. Absorbing the rays and enjoying 70-degree weather in February as my tiny boat, operated by a grandma wearing a giant straw hat, rows us through a river surrounded by jagged karst mountains. Carrying my pet turtle on the bullet train as I move from Shanghai to a third-tier city in Zhejiang province where…

“So you just graduated from college, right?” That’s what my ex-boyfriend said to me, at age 31, when I told him I decided to teach English abroad. No, I wasn’t a recent post-graduate, as he well knew, but I was someone who was never really satisfied with the idea of only working and living in my own country. I spent my twenties assuming this desire would just wither away one day, but funny enough, it didn’t. Which is why I finally decided to teach abroad in my 30s.  Here are some reasons I finally decided to do it: 1. None of My Previous Jobs Were a Good Fit. I worked…