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How an Investment Banker Quit Her Job to Travel the World Solo

Kristin Addis seemingly had it all: lucrative banking job in sunny Southern California, and all the things that go with that life. Yet something was missing. The money and apparent professional success weren’t as fulfilling as they were supposed to be. So she saved up some money, quit her job, and bought a one-way ticket out of the country.

I was by myself on the side of the road, in the snow, in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of China with my thumb up. I was there because I wanted to trek the surrounding mountains. They were rumored to be beautiful and didn't disappoint. I'd had a continuous run of luck prior to that getting around the country by taking rides, and decided to try hitchhiking from there back to Chengdu.

After about 20 bone-chilling minutes, a couple of guys picked me up and drove like mad men through the mountain passes. When we stopped for lunch, they ordered a feast that even six people couldn't finish, let alone three. One item was a famous steamed fish in the area—a fish with a strange bone in its head.

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Where Airplanes Go to Die: High-Res Photos Show An Airline Graveyard in the Mohave Desert

Photographers Andreana Scanderbeg and Alexander Sauer went to a desert in the American Southwest and found an airline graveyard.

They call their project Decommissioned, and it features images of many of the planes long after their useful life.

How do these images make you feel?

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The Amazing Marriage Adventure: Liz and Ryan Bower’s Quest

Liz and Ryan Bower are wedding photographers who believe in the marriages they document—and not just that first special day. They noticed that champions who might share the realities of life-long partnerships seemed to be few and far between.

They decided to hop in an RV and find true stories of loving marriages to share from every state of America.

We are millennials, story-tellers, wedding photographers, and dream believers. Most of all, we believe in helping to create amazing marriages that stand the test of time.

Our love of love dates back to our teenage years. We were high school sweethearts with an entrepreneurial spirit and a passion to live a more meaningful life. So we started a photography business, Liz and Ryan. Six years later, and after 100 weddings captured, we realized there is a lot of hype surrounding weddings, but not a lot of hype surrounding marriages.

This eventually led to our quest: The Amazing Marriage Adventure. For 2015, we are living in an RV and traveling the U.S. to document at least one married couple’s story in all 50 states. Along the way, we’ll host couples' coffee-shop meetups to encourage community and truly open the lines of communication in celebration of marriage.
Katie and Andrew.

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Urban Yoga Project Takes Flight in New York, Madrid, and Paris

I like yoga, which means I tell people I practice all the time, but in reality only go to class a couple times a month. When I saw these photos of Slovenian architect Anja Humljan, I was amazed.

Anja has taken her passion for yoga and movement into urban environments—a global experiment in how we connect with cities. Take a look for yourself.

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“Adventure Is Anything that Puts Us Outside our Comfort Zone”: Notes from the Himalayas

Adventure photographer Cory Richards almost died in an avalanche while descending from a mountain in Pakistan, but he lived and the experience changed his life.

In a short (and amazing) video, he shares on “the richness that comes through struggle.”

“I’ve never been comfortable in the place that I’m in. I can’t stop and sit. It’s a constant engine that’s driving me to the things that are unknown to me."
Cory Polar

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Watch This Pan Am 747 Take to the Skies (Or At Least the Ground) in the Ultimate 1970s Recreation

static.squarespace.com Air travel has changed a bit over the past few decades—and mostly for the better. Back in the day, an average transcontinental airfare would run you at least $1,500 in today's dollars, compared to $400 or so now. Yikes.

There were no budget airlines, and—shocking—there were no Frequent Flyer programs where average people could earn large amounts of miles and effectively travel for free. Still, a little nostalgia never hurt anyone (or does it?).

In another example of people who devote an incredible attention to detail, I loved seeing how a collector and a photographer recreated an entire Pan Am flight experience, down to the tiniest experiences like the precise menu, baggage tags, and even the dress code of passengers who were recruited to join in for the unconventional journey.

Take a look for yourself:

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The Quest for 1 Million Photos: Interview with Thomas Hawk

A quest combines a passion for something meaningful with a measurable goal. For example—visiting every country in the world. Running a marathon in all 50 states. And so on. Once in a while I discover someone else on a quest that deserves broad attention, and I'm always fascinated by the back story. Enter Thomas Hawk, the San Francisco photographer on track to producing 1,000,000 finished, processed photos. He does this while working a full-time job and raising four young kids.

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