Looking for reasons to visit South Africa? How about seven reasons? I wrote about seven excellent reasons to get here ASAP, to take advantage of the country’s depreciating currency. Read…
Recent Work

It’s that time of year again — so many lists! For Robb Report‘s take on the top travel spots for 2016, I reported on the Cape Winelands near Cape Town…

Wondering which destinations are trending in 2016? For Condé Nast Traveller’s Middle East edition, I reported on new happenings in Botswana, as the country celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Craving your own private island? Check out these brand-new resorts across the globe I rounded up for Condé Nast Traveller UK.

I contributed to this Travel + Leisure roundup of the hottest destinations of 2016, writing about the Andaman Islands in India and Zanzibar in Tanzania.

I’ve been to Morocco twice, and both times I was less enamored with Marrakech, which I assumed would be my favorite part of the country, but utterly mesmerized by Fez.

I was recently named a contributing editor for super-slick design magazine Surface, and for this month’s issue I did a piece on the hip new Old Clare Hotel in Sydney’s…

The Cape Town CBD is booming well after dark. I take you on an inner-city bar crawl for the December issue of Travel + Leisure.

Heading to the oft-overlooked Australian city of Adelaide? Here’s a guide I did for the New York Times on how to spend 36 hours there.
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.