There are about 200 countries in the world, but it recently occurred to me that visiting about 40 of them might be more than enough—I’m...

2023 was a fine year overall. It felt like a year of progress professionally, and generally life was good in India. I celebrated ten...

I love fashion. And to create a good “look” I feel like I also have to do something about my hair and face, because that’s part it. But I...

Home is where the heart is, of course. Home is where my own little family is. This is something I rarely question. Not that I don’t think...

Packing all the right things can be hard. When I travel I want to be comfortable, prepared for any type of weather, look good… and pack...

So I just flew from Mumbai to Chennai for a one-week work exchange. It’s the kind of thing the State Department offers (when finances...

Retired diplomats and diplomats on their way out of the Foreign Service have mentioned to me that the State Department doesn’t really...

At my current Post, new colleagues have to share “one interesting fact” about themselves when they introduce themselves. I noticed most...

Who doesn’t worry about the environment these days? It’s been an emerging issue for so long and I very much grew up with it. My mother...

It’s our one year anniversary living in Mumbai. The city really grew on me. There’s so much to do here, time flies! We decided early on...

India is one of those places where healthcare costs are a tiny fraction of US prices—even if you go to the really good (Harvard educated,...

Spring is always busy at my place. My husband, daughter and I have birthdays within one month of each other, and our wedding anniversary...

When I ask my kids if they like living in Mumbai they find it hard to answer. They still miss their neighborhood friends in Germany and...

What diplomats do? Well,  there are two types of diplomats... Never DC'ers Those who try to avoid serving a tour in Washington at all...

I ponder that question sometimes, for different reasons. Sometimes because I wonder what else I would be doing if I weren’t a diplomat....

There’s a new Netflix show that will almost certainly be watched by all diplomats; the one where Keri Russell is Ambassador to London and...

Dharavi is one of the biggest ‘slums’ (now a politically incorrect word) in Asia, population one million. Orangi Town in Karachi has more...

Increasingly, I’m doubling down on a travel strategy that involves staying in a single place for at least five days, or a week if...

I just returned from a week in tropical island paradise: Havelock, which is part of the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, which is part of...

For the past month, I’ve been part of coordinating a massive visa surge in Mumbai. The demand for visas here is enormous, and because of...