a home for wanderers, risk takers and trailblazers
No Maps or Foot Tracks is not your typical travel blog. On these pages, it’s all about embracing the destination-less journey, tuning inward as you go outward, and leaving room for chance encounters, unexpected detours, and adventure to find you. You know, the stuff of the best travel tales.
You’ll find curated travel guides and personal narratives from my own open-ended wanderings. Consider all of it a launchpad, a “start here” so to speak, for your own heart wide open, intuition-led trust fall of a journey through the places and spaces I’ve been wandering just a few steps ahead of you.
Here, we leave the maps at home and forge our own footsteps.
Latest from the Travelogue
Keep up with each and every one of the books I read cover to cover this year, the ones that are shaping, inspiring, and impacting me as I continue to travel and explore.
This time featuring destinations on the other side of the Atlantic, my year in review continues with the European-heavy final five of the 10 best places I traveled in 2023.
10 countries. 40+ cities. 1 year. Whittling it down to just 10 of the best places I traveled in 2023? Not easy.
It's been a beautiful ride, with ups and downs, and today, in perfect timing, I'm left with one big, bow tie lesson for the whole experience - a gift for the road.
Time to catch you up on the adventure that had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish, and without a second to spare to send you my usual travelogue updates.
Managua pleasantly surprised me, as have the locals. In my first 48 hours in Nicaragua, I've felt nothing but welcome, as my route through this entirely unfamiliar country seems to be materializing.
A quick, flight's-about-to-board recap of the final week and three days of my Costa Rica adventure, one that taught me through experience just what "pura vida" means.
Getting over my sinus infection, being a beach bum on sands all over the Nicoya Peninsula, and making friends with Capuchin monkeys that seem to make daily appearances in these parts of Costa Rica
Headaches and congestion weren't quite the start I had in mind for my Costa Rica adventure, but I'm learning to roll with it - and that I believe is the lesson.
Latest Posts
In the lead up to my Sri Lanka trip, I sat down with Béné Bicaba of Empathy Travels to ask for a few empathy-focused tips to enhance my experience in Sri Lanka and beyond.
Cusco wears its history on its sleeve. Here’s a five-stop walking route through the city that will introduce you to the history, gastronomy, and culture of this still-thriving city of the Incas.
Will it be Playa Guasacate or Playa Popoyo? Hostel or hotel? Find your perfect Popoyo perch with this roundup of the best places to stay in Popoyo - featuring spots for all budgets.
SUYO Cabañas just might be the best value beachfront hotel on Popoyo’s sands. For $35 a night, move into a private cabaña right on the beach, complete with a hammock, full kitchen, and ocean views.
The not-so-ancient (or technically original) Oaxacan craft tradition of alebrije-making is one to make room for in your itinerary and San Martín Tilcajete is the town to target.
Lisbon’s restaurant scene is the stuff of dreams - diverse, relatively cheap, and seemingly endless. This is my personal list of Lisbon’s best bites based my own hungry wanderings through the city of one too many hills.
In my year+ of living on and off in Oaxaca City, I lived all over town, in hostels in Centro, Airbnbs in Reforma, and apartments in Jalatlaco. All of this to say, it was quite easy to pull together this guide on where to stay in Oaxaca.
Food is (and should be) central to any trip to Oaxaca, and the options can be overwhelming without a bit of guidance. After nearly a full year of calling Oaxaca home, here are my picks for the 13 best Oaxacan cuisine-focused restaurants in Oaxaca.
With sierra in every direction, Oaxaca is home to some of the best hiking trails in all of Mexico. Some hide waterfalls, others the perfect sunset perch, here are the top 10 Oaxaca day hikes to add to your itinerary.
There’s plenty to do in Oaxaca City, but there’s also a world of ancient ruins, artisan towns, and even the world’s widest tree just beyond the city limits. Get out of town for a day on these day trips from Oaxaca City.
Travel Guides
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Oaxaca, Mexico
A crossroads of ancient culture, mouthwatering cuisine, the great outdoors, and deeply rooted spiritual undertones, Oaxaca will enchant you.
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Cartagena, Colombia
A feast for the senses under the sweltering Caribbean sun, Cartagena is an unforgettable destination if you but look past its made-for-tourism facade.
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Costa Rica
Known for its nature and pura vida lifestyle, Costa Rica’s people and places will reframe your lens on life and leave you appreciating even the little things.
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Nicaragua
With a tropical disposition and refreshing authenticity, Nicaragua’s the sort of place that makes you feel part of it just because you’re there.
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After nearly a decade of full-time travel, this is the gear at the top of my packing list each and every trip.