Welcome to Caravanserai! Start Here.
People don’t take trips, trips take people. —John Steinbeck
Hello, wanderer!
I’m Sam Childress, and this is Caravanserai, a travel and culture newsletter for thinkers, adventurers, and daydreamers—anyone who craves deeply personal stories that are tender, funny, uncomfortable, and true, and who seeks a sense of kinship with different cultures. Caravanserai is a space for the inner journeys that happen in parallel with our real-world excursions.
If you’re curious about our big, beautiful world and want to understand what makes it tick; if you believe in the transformative power of new experiences; if you’ve ever lived as a stranger in a strange land, feeling the highest highs and the lowest lows; then this newsletter is for you. Caravanserai is not only about the places we go, but where those places take us as people, and the things we pick up along the way.
Come stoke your wanderlust, feed your soul, and leave feeling a kinship with new cultures.
Each month, free subscribers get a thoughtful personal essay (like this one on adopting a puppy and leaving Cairo amid escalating political tensions) and a “wanderlust salon,” where I interview a fellow rambler about a place they hold close to their heart (like this one on Zambia). I love engaging in the comments (far more than I enjoy being on Notes)—please jump into the conversation!
Paid subscribers get 1-2 extra-vulnerable essays each month. This is the stuff that I’m burning to say, yet is a little too personal for consumption by the online masses. Behind the paywall is where I experiment with lyrical forms and say the things I can’t talk about at cocktail parties.
I also send paid subscribers a handful of down-to-earth travel guides each season, where I spill my hard-won secrets for destinations around the globe. Each post includes my best spots to stay (digs!), eat (nosh!), and shop (retail therapy!). They’re a good mix of bargains and splurges, of hidden gems and well-loved local haunts, of the traditional and the offbeat. I have a thing for donuts and I pick up a magnet wherever I go, so I include tips on where to find both in all my guides! You can check out a sampling below:
a bit more about me
I’m an American expat living in Jordan with my husband, Nick, and rescue pup, Boo. Writing is my life’s work, but travel is my passion. I’ve lived in the Middle East for three years—first in Cairo, now in Amman—as the spouse of a diplomat after spending my early career in Washington, D.C. Being based outside the U.S. gives me plenty of opportunities to travel and explore new places; those experiences always make me think, and I love sharing them with you. Expat life also presents unique challenges, which I reflect on frequently in this newsletter.
When I’m not hustling through airports or willing words to appear on the page, you’ll find me knitting on the couch, squinting at the lemons in my garden to see if they’ve grown since yesterday, or (most likely) sipping an unreasonably large cappuccino in a local café.
…what the heck is a “caravanserai”??
A caravanserai (pronounced “care-uh-VAN-sur-eye”) is a type of roadside inn, historically found along the Silk Road in its heyday. Caravanserais served as respites where trade caravans and other travelers could stop to rest overnight, away from the dangers of the road. While the outer walls of caravanserais resembled fortresses, the insides were much cozier, with small guest rooms, stables, and sometimes even prayer rooms and bath houses. As travelers from all over Eurasia flocked to caravanserais, they became hubs for the exchange of culture, goods, food, religion, art, and, of course, stories. When you read this newsletter, I want you to feel as though you are stepping into a caravanserai—a haven where you can listen to fellow travelers’ stories from the road and sample bits of far away places.
thank you for coming to this Caravanserai—now let’s have an adventure together!
