We had been driving for about an hour, and that’s when he finally asked me what he wanted to know. “Cherry, I want to ask you question – private question.  Is ok?” I knew exactly where this private question was going; I would have bet what little I have on what was going to come [...]

Yup – that’s right…this is crass…I’m telling all of you it’s my birthday and I want presents…lots and lots of presents.  I’m totally serious about this. It’s my birthday this week – February 12th – and I will be 41 years old. Since 2006, I haven’t had a big birthday party …which is a bit [...]

Sometimes I feel so fragile. Ready to break at any moment and last night was one of those nights. A night where I was confronted with my own solo culture, family culture, my religious culture, and my country culture. As I walked the streets of NYC on Christmas Eve my mind swam in confusion. Solo [...]

Pantheon in a Glass – Rome, Italy    |   Purchase For all of you wine lovers out there, this one’s for you.  This week I purchased my ticket to Italy for New Years, so in honor of my upcoming trip, I thought I’d pull out one of my favorite Italy photos. This picture came about when [...]

“Is this a good idea?” This is what I kept asking myself as I went through the online signup for the Mongol Rally. What started out as sounding like a really fun, crazy adventure was now sounding like a death march with every additional legal paragraph I read. When I first heard of the rally [...]

I arrived in Paris in 2002 – it was the first time I set foot in Europe and only the 3rd country I had visited overall with my first passport. Paris was new, exciting, and scary to a novice traveler like myself. I traveled with two girlfriends, Angie and Veronique, before the term ‘girlfriend getaway’ [...]

I often get asked what my favorite country is, or what my least favorite country is. I get asked where the best food is in the world and which country has the hottest men. However occasionally I received a more unique thought –provoking question. Recently I was asked, “What is the most important thing your [...]

It took one simple question 10 years ago to change my life… “Do you want to come with me?” My co-worker and friend asked me that simple question referring to visiting his home country of Turkey. I thought about it for a little while knowing virtually nothing about the country of Turkey or where it [...]