Category: Personal Stories
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19 Best Cafes in Phnom Penh, Cambodia (With Photos)
I never get tired of exploring cafes and matcha shops in a new city! I was in Cambodia for a short time, and part of what gave me that “I could live here” feeling about Phnom Penh was its cafe culture. There are so many new spots with an aesthetic…
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Why I Took a Solo Bachelorette Trip
It was not my intention to take a solo bachelorette trip. My fiancé and I got engaged in January, and we were married by May, so there just wasn’t much time to plan and actually pull off a proper bachelorette party. In my dream world, my friends and I would…
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Trying to Conceive While Living a Nomadic Lifestyle
On being a full-time traveler and trying to get pregnant at the same time: the loneliness, the logistics of healthcare across borders, and the uncertainty of it all.
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Warsaw Photo Gallery
A photo tour of Warsaw, organized by neighborhood: Old Town and Castle Square, historic churches, royal palaces and museums, and the modern skyline.
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5 Fun Facts About Me
Five quick facts about Jasmine, the writer behind Location Varies: from six universities to six languages to a seriously ambitious family reunion.
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Backpacking Europe: 12 Cities in 16 Days on My First Solo Trip
When I was 23, I went on my first big Euro backpacking trip, a total whirlwind. I hit 12 cities in just 16 days, hopping from trains to planes to buses, sleeping in hostels, and squeezing in every city I could. It was chaotic, exhausting, and unforgettable.
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Rio de Janeiro as an American: Feeling at Home & Feeling Foreign
What Rio de Janeiro felt like as a Black American: the comfort of blending in, the sting of being heard as a foreigner, and why Brazil isn’t the racial utopia social media promises.
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How I Ended Up in England for University
I didn’t have a particularly impressive high school record, but my mother had serious reservations about me moving to Atlanta for college. Here’s how a series of small choices, and a McDonald’s job, led me to study in England instead.
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A lot of Asia Is Missing From My Blog, Even Though It’s Where Everything Began
A summary of my years in Asia before this blog existed: studying Mandarin in Beijing, my first solo trip to South Korea, teaching English in Bangkok, an internship in Kuala Lumpur, hiking a volcano in Lombok, and a language program in Taiwan.
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My First Time in Africa: Nairobi, Kenya, a Maasai Village & My First Kill
My first visit to Africa was Nairobi, Kenya in 2013. Nearly 14 years later, I’ve returned to Kenya, where I’m writing this blog post. Aw. This first trip came months after the 2013 Westgate Mall terrorist attack in Nairobi, when the city was still carrying collective grief. Four Al-Shabab gunmen…