This year has been surreal so far in terms of amazing experiences – from Finland, Greenland and Jordan to Iceland and most recently, the Faroe Islands.

Now I’m off to Nepal as an official Lonely Planet Assignment Pathfinder – a brand I respect and have been contributing to as a writer and photographer since 2012.

In partnership with G Adventures (who I trekked the Inca Trail with in Peru), I will be exploring its Local Living in Nepal tour, taking over G Adventures’ Instagram feed, and creating a ton of rich content for social media as well as articles once back for both.

As part of this exciting assignment, I will be exploring unique customs surrounding food traditions in Nepal, profiling some key community members I meet along the way – from cooks to farmers to local wine producers and seeing the world through their eyes and passions. There will also be some local community outreach as well as Nepal off the beaten trail including local insights into various villages and communities along the way.

On local living in Nepal

For me, traveling means listening to and experiencing the cultural stories of a place through its local food, traditions, and everyday lifestyles of its people. That’s why I’m a huge advocate of slow travel.

Slow travel has nothing to do with the duration one spends in a place but rather, everything to do with the pace and how quickly one moves through a place.

Slow travel to me means spending a lot of time in local markets with butchers, fruit and vegetable vendors, and fishmongers at markets. It means waking up at dawn to watch local fishermen pull in and auction off their morning catch before opening up the market.

It means staying with a local family, learning and respecting what is important to them, preparing meals together, and sharing in the work that brings them deep joy and satisfaction day in, day out.

It means following farm-to-table stories and deep-seated traditions that bring places and communities to life.

People who passionately craft and cook and create with their hands continue to fuel my work.

So, I am super excited about this assignment because stories like these are truly the ones I crave and pursue as I explore the world, and the theme of local living is already one I’m deeply passionate about.

How you can follow along:

Next week, you can follow along on my social media channels on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram as well as G Adventures’ official Instagram account including behind-the-scenes Instagram Stories using the following hashtags – #gadv and #lpPathfinders

Hope you follow along on this exciting adventure with me!