Say Hello to the Caravaner's Companion

introducing new travel guides!

Friends! I’m so excited to introduce you to something my travel-addicted heart has always dreamed of doing. Say hello to the Caravaner’s Companion, a new series of travel guides, brimming with tales & recs from your chronically-traveling, donut-obsessed, slightly over-caffeinated sherpa.

Each season, I will publish a handful of Caravaner’s Companions, in which I’ll reveal all my travel stories and secrets from around the world, including the places you’ve read so much about in my essays. Over nearly twenty years of globetrotting, I’ve visited so many excellent eateries, crash pads, boutiques, and watering holes that I think it would be downright selfish not to share them with you. Each post will include my best spots to stay (digs!), eat (nosh!), and shop (retail therapy!). They’ll be a good mix of bargains and splurges, of hidden gems and well-loved local haunts, of the traditional and the offbeat.

I’ll paint you a picture of the overall vibe, tell you about the most interesting people I’ve met there, and address my personal top concerns about any destination: 1) whether there are decent donuts and 2) where to find excellent fridge magnets.

The point of these guides is not to tell you which major tourist attractions to visit or how to arrange your itinerary; any Google search will tell you that. The goal is to give you insight into what it’s really like to inhabit a place.

This season, I’m taking you to…

Portugal…

Lisbon and the Algarve

Guatemala…

Antigua Guatemala, Lake Atitlán, and Petén

and Egypt!

The Best Afternoon Stroll in Cairo

Free to all for one week, these and future guides will be a permanent fixture for my paid subscribers. They’ll live under the “Caravaner’s Companion” tab in the top navigation bar on the Caravanserai homepage, so you can revisit them any time. Of course, as your sherpa, I’ll answer any travel questions in the comment section of each post.

»Upgrade here for forever access to all future travel guides.

(To earn complimentary access to these paid guides, refer a friend and get a free month’s subscription.)

Lastly, a critical point: when there are so many excellent travel resources out there, why listen to me? I’ve been to 30 countries (and counting) across five continents—and four of those countries I’ve lived in!—but I don’t think my resume is the real value proposition. You’ve likely come to Caravanserai because you enjoy the stories I tell, or because you see flashes of yourself and your experiences in them. That tells me that we share a common worldview, a likeness of spirit—that we seek out similar adventures and delights. I think the places in these guides will speak to you just as much as they did to me. 

I hope you love this fun new feature. Away we go!