Erika Bisbocci
Erika is an avid traveler and explorer of over ninety countries on six different continents. Since 2011, she has spent time studying Arabic in the Middle East, teaching English in Namibia and working as a flight attendant for a major US airline. When not traveling overseas, she loves exploring her own backyard in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
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Visiting the Cliffs of Moher
According to Celtic lore, the 700ft tall Cliffs of Moher along the western coast of Ireland’s County Clare are home to mermaids, corpse-eating eels, hags, witches and the gold-domed city of Kilstaffen—a city that allegedly sunk under the waters of the Atlantic and is known to resurface once every seven years. When I visited the cliffs, however, I did not see the sunken city peak out amidst the churning waves below. Nor did I see leprechauns, faeries or mythical creatures. Yet it wasn’t difficult for me to imagine them lurking…
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Behind Sao Paulo’s Grungy Exterior
“Well there aren’t many things to see in Sao Paulo,” I would hear over and over again when when I asked my fellow flight attendants what to do and see in Brazil’s largest city, “but you can go to the Havaiana’s store and do some shopping. Or you can hang out by the hotel pool.” So for someone who has a particularly strong aversion to shopping and cannot imagine hanging around the hotel when visiting a brand new city, Sao Paulo didn’t seem—at least on the surface—to be a particularly full of things to…
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Discovering Paris in 24 Hours
Deemed by many as the greatest city in the world, Paris inspires romance and art like no other place on Earth. The timeless City of Light has it all–delectable cuisine, world-class art and architecture and a palpable joie-de-vivre that permeates every aspect of French living. I’d visited Paris in elementary school with my family, as one of my first trips abroad outside of Italy. We spent a few weeks exploring the nooks and crannies of France and taking in the history, art and architecture of the country. As years passed, however, my recollection of Paris…
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Day Trip to Murano, Burano and Torcello
“This was Venice, the flattering and suspect beauty – this city, half fairy tale and half tourist trap, in whose insalubrious air the arts once rankly and voluptuously blossomed”~Thomas Mann Venice has always had a way of capturing the imagination. For centuries, the maze-like city of gondolas and canals has captivated artists, poets, writers and tourists with its uniqueness, its romance and its unparalleled charm. It’s no wonder that nearly every country in the world claims to have a Venice of its own. I first visited Venice in elementary school,…
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Tetiaroa Atoll: An Unforgettable Day Trip from Tahiti
While Moorea is famous for its crystal clear waters and Tahiti for its jet-black sands, Tetiaroa Atoll is the type of place that is most synonymous with my imaginings of the Pacific. Paradisiacal and remote, it is an isolated ring of white sand lined with palm trees and surrounded by coral gardens. Tetiaroa’s isolation gave me the feeling that I was journeying to the end of the Earth. Aside from Arno Atoll in the Marshall Islands and And Atoll in Micronesia, I’m not sure if I’ve ever been anywhere so…
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Driving around Tahiti: Top Things to Do and See
Tahiti conjures images of a far-flung tropical paradise. The largest island in French Polynesia, it has long been associated with crystal clear waters, soft white sands and luxurious overwater bungalows. Yet, in Tahiti, the sands are not white and the waters are not clear. And stepping foot on the island might make you wonder about the images you’ve seen in holiday brochures. It is a paradoxical place—one whose very name draws people to French Polynesia, and then ultimately becomes overlooked by travelers opting to visit other islands instead. Tahiti may…
