Not a Tourist

Skiing in Below 0 Temps

Destination: Upstate NY

Travel was pretty light for us this month. Mostly because winter driving sucks in the Northeast. We did gamble with the weather over MLK day weekend to visit my parents in Upstate NY. My brother was also organizing a ski trip with my…

Hello World

Consider this the obligatory first post explaining what this blog is (and isn’t). My name is Hana and I’m a Pittsburgh-based computer science researcher. I live with my husband, and we’re on the road pretty often. We mainly travel during the weekends to visit family and friends, but try to work in at least…

How to always remember to pack your toothbrush

Destination: Upstate NY

I ended up making two trips to Upstate NY in February; once to visit my parents and another time to attend a friend’s bridal shower. The trips were back-to-back weekends, so it felt like I was in an…

The Best Way to Explore? Rental Car vs Tours

Destinations: Turkey and Upstate NY

In March we FINALLY made the trip to Turkey I had long been waiting for! Since our vacation was only a week long, we decided on two destinations within Turkey: Istanbul and Cappadocia. While…

The Trip That Wasn’t Meant To Be

Destinations: Washington, D.C., Upstate NY

Back in September my parents and sister started planning a trip to Turkey. Having always wanted to go there, I was eager to tag along. A week after I bought my ticket, the U.S. and Turkish governments…

Hajj Logistics

Destinations: Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia

So summer flew by without me remembering to write a post. Oops. I might write about my travels from earlier this summer later, but the purpose of this post is to write up my thoughts from my hajj experience this year. Rather than…