Few hotels have captured the global imagination the way Atlantis the Royal did when it opened with a splash last year, with a star-studded opening weekend headlined by a private…
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Recent Work
Eid mubarak! I spoke with Citizen Femme about how I celebrate Eid when I’m in New York City. You can read it here, alongside anecdotes from a diverse group of…
I’ve been fortunate enough to see Syrian-American rapper/poet Omar Offendum perform twice, including his beautifully mounted Little Syria production, which returns to New York this summer. For Arab American Heritage…
On International Women’s Day, Condé Nast Traveler reveals its annual Women Who Travel Power List. This year, I had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, a wildlife ecologist and…
I’m thrilled to have had two of my stories recognized by the North American Travel Journalists Association’s annual awards this week. I won Gold in Culinary Travel for my Food…
My feature on Islamic Portugal appears in the March/April issue of Condé Nast Traveller Middle East—you can read it here.
For the Wall Street Journal, I interviewed four prominent locals—fashion designer Manish Malhotra, pastry chef Pooja Dhingra, art consultant Farah Khan Siddiqui, and architect Ashiesh Shah—about their favorite places in…
I love writing about Dubai’s food scene, so I had a blast reporting this one for Tripadvisor—juxtaposing some of the city’s most thrilling high-end experiences with some more low-key, but…
For my latest story for Afar, I interviewed a wide range of hotel concierges around the world to learn more about how they are the secret weapon to a seamless…
Awards & Books
Awards
- Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, 2021: Honorable mention for the Grand Award, Travel Journalist of the Year
- South Asian Journalists Association, 2021: Outstanding Arts and Culture Reporting for “Zanzibar in the Rain,” New York Times
- Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, 2020: Bronze in Short Work on Travel for “Raise the Roof,” Condé Nast Traveler
- South Asian Journalists Association, 2019: Outstanding Arts, Culture, and Lifestyle Reporting about South Asia for “Force of Nature,” Surface magazine
- Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, 2018: Gold award in US/Canada Travel for “A Muslim American’s Homecoming: Cowboys, Country Music, Chapatis,” New York Times
- Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, 2018: Bronze in Service-Oriented Consumer Work for “My Town,” Virtuoso Life
- Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, 2017: Gold in Culinary-Related Travel for “Eating Bunny Chow in Durban,” Saveur
- South Asian Journalists Association, 2017: Outstanding Arts and Culture Reporting for “Eating Bunny Chow in Durban,” Saveur
- North American Travel Journalists Association Awards, 2016: Two Silver awards in Destination Travel and Adventure Travel for “7 Days, 1500 Miles in Namibia,” New York Times
- Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, 2016: Gold in Foreign Travel for “7 Days, 1500 Miles in Namibia,” New York Times
- Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, 2015: Gold in Personal Comment for “Returning to Hyderabad, Once a Land of Princes and Palaces,” New York Times
- Solas Awards for Best Travel Writing, 2013: Silver in Most Unforgettable Character for “Spitting Distance in Jodhpur,” Wall Street Journal
Books
- New York Times Cultured Traveler: Contributed a feature on Bosnia & Herzegovina to this upcoming anthology
- Best American Travel Writing 2021: “City of Saints” from Travel + Leisure was selected for the 2021 edition of this anthology, edited by Padma Lakshmi and Jason Wilson
- New York Times 36 Hours World: 150 Cities from Abu Dhabi to Zurich: Contributed 36 Hours guides to Johannesburg and Mumbai for this anthology
- My Life Abroad: A Selection of Expat Stories: Contributed to this compilation of expat stories from around the globe, recounting my experience as an American in South Africa, in the chapter “From New York City to Cape Town.”
- The Places We’ve Been: Field Reports from Travelers Under 35: Contributed my essay “When Coconuts Attack” to this travel anthology.