Our roommate, J, told me this was the coldest winter Tokyo had experienced in 48 years. He told this to Gemma, too. Information from Jonny is taken with a grain of rice, but there’s no denying that it has been exceptionally cold. Almost-50-year-storm cold? How would I know?
J had the propensity of cornering us…
The coffee is slightly too sweet, the windows hang heavy with legs of cured meat, the central streets are choked with sunburnt tourists, and I have to watch out for pickpockets on my way to work. Barcelona’s cobblestones bring back a childish imagining of European cities: there is a richness to every step, like my…
I am sobbing as surreptitiously as I can in a scungy Indonesian bathroom, clutching two strawberry daiquiris bigger than my head. My cleavage is blistering beneath someone else’s Bintang and outside, Rihanna is shrieking at some fleshy Western youths to “WOOOOORK!” as they jump frantically under orange strobes.
I want to stab myself in the…
The night air was thick and warm as the streets of Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City pulsated with energy. I slipped into a local supermarket to grab some last-minute snacks, something that had become a ritual when prepping for an overnight bus ride. The supermarket aisles were just as relentless as the motorbike filled streets.…
I recently booked a return flight to South America. I’m flying in and out of Peru, but the country I am most anticipating is Colombia - and no, not for the reasons you’re assuming. I want to trek through the Amazon jungle in the same country as I can lie on a sugary-white Caribbean beach.…
Are you a wannabe travel writer or an aspiring freelance journalist with itchy feet? Do you want to explore the Land of the Rising Sun whilst getting real-world writing experience and wrapping your tongue around a new language?
Sink your teeth into the best bits of Japan with Global Hobo, from the buzzing lights of…
“14-hour work week, why would I ever want to leave this glorious life? *crying laughing emoji*”
I met this guy on Tinder, and this is how he described his job as an English teacher in Shanghai. Because, spoiler alert: basically every white guy living in China is teaching English in some capacity.
Know why? The…
“Terima kasih. Terima kasih,” I repeat over and over, till my throat goes dry and the Indonesian words of gratitude become a meaningless, Australian-flavoured gibberish.
I wince. And fiddle with the label of the plastic water bottle that Ketut pressed gently into my hands. Made chucks me a toothy grin and tells me to breathe…
"You can’t be into surfing because you’re Asian."
Oh yes, you got me. Everything I do must actually fit your racist stereotype of what an Asian girl must do. It doesn’t matter that you don’t know me at all. That I am allowed to be, and am, into surfing. No, I’m just Asian.
Growing up…
You’ve just arrived back from the trip of a lifetime – your skin is bronzed, your legs are hairy and your head is whirling with new ideas (and maybe a bit of residual coke from your time in Central America).
Jetlagged but still buzzing, you arrive at a party back home and all your friends…
“Just relax. Spread your legs further.”
Above me, fluorescent lights flickered, an epileptic nightmare. I felt sick. The smell of disinfectant clouded my thoughts and I could feel a lump forming in the back of my throat. I was lying on my back. Tears made tracks sideways across my temples as I bled into the…
I squeeze my dad's hand in excitement.
"Look!" I exclaim.
There’s a splash in the water where the ocean meets the sand. A crab scurries along.
There are little crab holes all along this Fijian beach, where crustaceans hide from the eager three-year-olds trying to imprison them. With pail and spade in hand, we bundle…