“Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.”
Thomas Paine
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WWFFD? 2
Season 1 · Episode 2
Wednesday, May 7, 2025 • Duration 18:36
Apologies for sending this via email!
Unintentional.
I promise, I will only send a monthly email on 1st Tuesdays, henceforth!
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WWFFD?
Season 1 · Episode 1
Tuesday, May 6, 2025 • Duration 18:08
Episode 1 of WWFFD?
May 5th, 2025
Hoi An, Vietnam
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Join Me in India • April 11-26, 2026
Thursday, March 27, 2025 • Duration 00:11
India is a confronting contradiction. Spirituality and Capitalism co-mingle. The world’s largest privately owned residence overlooks the world’s largest slums. Temples are at capacity with devotees bringing food for gods, pouring milk on statues, while children starve in the streets. Women wear the same garment they’ve worn for thousands of years while taking customer service calls for tech companies. Food is medicine and antibiotics are over the counter. The sacred river that sustains millions of lives is poisoned by death by the time it reaches Varanasi, the holiest place in Hinduism.
Since my first visit in 2008, I’ve spent over two years traveling every inch of the Subcontinent. It can be intimidating to explore alone, but the reawrds, both tangible and ephemeral, are endless. The wealth of the culture is richer than the Ambanis. Over 40 languages are spoken in the giant, geographically diverse landmass, the country is a living Archeological museum and, of course, the food is fantastic. It’s my privilege to introduce others to the places that transformed me. You, too, will be changed by this experience, in ways you may expect and ways you never could. India invites the bravest travelers to follow in the footsteps of Shiva, The Buddha and countless teachers and students since.
I’m not promising you enlightenment. Though I owned 10 yoga studios in Brooklyn over a 16 year period, I’ve retired from teaching. That said, I’m thrilled to be a guide. You’ll learn about Hinduism from Hindus, Buddhism from Buddhists, Sikhism from Sikhs and so on. I’m just a well-meaning, woke, white woman who knows the etiquette of haggling in the market and how to eat with one’s hands while avoiding Delhi Belly.
I’ve streamlined this itinerary for almost two decades to strike the perfect balance between comfort and calculated risk and rest and activity. While leading my last group, a train got “lost” and we missed a flight because the internet was turned off by the government. For this reason, we’re traveling by luxury motorcoach. Though I prefer to stay in locally owned homestays when I travel solo, the size of our small group necessitates that we stay in larger, internationally recognized hotels. I’ve balanced this with a couple boutique hotels that served our standards, as well as my favorite tribally owned Himalayan Swiss tent Glamp…with slate floors and reliable Solar Heated water.
I’ve also left room for surprises. We’re not going to see EVERYTHING. It’s impossible and exhausting. I’m exploring after two years! You’ll have a lot space to wander on our own, when you want to. That’s when and where the magic happens, but you’ll also have the safety and stability of your group of new friends.
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…and now, your moment of zen.
Friday, March 21, 2025 • Duration
Floating down the Blue River in Raja Ampat, West Papua, Indonesia. 🇮🇩 River Man by Nick Drake
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So Far... SOLD OUT!
Season 2
Sunday, February 2, 2025 • Duration 05:44
To commemorate the halfway point in my mission to 330 countries, colonies, territories & exclaves I’ve decided to release an expanded 2nd edition in November, 2025, so I can include 30 more countries than the original.Read the preface below:
I was a traveler long before I was a photographer. I lived in West Germany on an American Army Base until I was 5. My mother traveled the Schengen states extensively with my sister and I. I returned to pre-Euro Europe after my freshman year in high school as an exchange student. Based in a Parisian suburb, I spent that summer traveling revisiting the Schengen zone with a retinue of routards. I’ve returned numerous times since, amounting to more than a year, maybe two.
Israel & Palestine in 1999 were my first adventure beyond Europe. A Red Sea road trip along the Egyptian Border with my Tel Avivian boyfriend included a chance encounter with soldiers from both sides of the chain link fence who, like all races, religions and creeds, shared a love of Bob Marley.
After 8 years, 3 trips to Europe, all of the lower 48 states, Mexico and a 24 hour flight to my Kiwi Boyfriend’s native islands, I finally made it to the other side of that chain link fence in the desert. Egypt, more than any prior experience, ignited my passion for travel, despite, or perhaps because of having been, briefly, kidnapped in Cairo.
18 months after my escape, I was off to Sri Lanka to teach Yoga in a recently tsunami’d southwest surf town while the 25 year Civil War raged in the northeast city of Jaffna. My students were journalists, NGO Contractors, Foreign Diplomats & British Cricket Fans. Following my 2 month contract, I traveled through India, Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand for 4 months, earning my Thai Massage Certification along the way.
Upon my return to NYC, I opened a 9 bed guest house in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, so I could write off travel expenses as Research & Development. Goodpoint incubated Goodyoga, which was, when I retired from brick and mortar in May of 2023, Brooklyn’s Oldest Studio with 10 total locations over 16 years.
During the best period, pre-pandemic, I was able to travel 18 months out of 24including:
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untouchable
Season 2
Saturday, January 25, 2025 • Duration 01:57
I had traveled by train to the nothing town of Agartala to cross the border into Bangladesh, but the border was closed for 3 days because of Gandhi’s birthday, so I made a swift exit 24 hours later. The little travelled Northeast States of India don’t have many amenities. My hotel was lit by a flickering fluorescent tube and smelled like the mold climbing the walls.
Death is public here. It’s everywhere. Open air cremation is the number one attraction in Varanasi, one of India’s most visited cities. I didn’t want to see this, let alone take a picture, but someone had to. I didn’t need a photo to remember this moment. Who’d WANT to remember this moment? I needed a photo to bear witness. I needed evidence. The blur reveals my discomfort. One shot.A Dalit woman, an “untouchable,” dead in the train station, her face covered with a shawl, her feet dusted with bright red abir…a little dignity afforded her by some unknown angel.
I boarded the westbound train. I couldn’t even consider a visit to Nagaland because I wasn’t traveling with a husband or male family member. I’m told that’s no longer the case, but I’m in no rush to find out. India’s no place for young women.
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Goya at The Prado
Season 2 · Episode 2
Friday, December 6, 2024 • Duration 08:52
December 6th, 2024. His arms are raised defiantly. It's almost... He's surrendering, but... He's surrendering to the forces. He's surrendering to death. Complete acceptance. But the look in his eyes tore me up and is still doing so. It's... impossible for me to not see the poignance of that portrait. When I look at his face, I see the Gazans. I was sitting there on the bench in front of the portrait, seated with tears in my eyes, visibly moved, trying not to be, trying to, you know, be discreet.
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still
For me, that’s the best part of hosting you: simply having your company. It’s so lonely on the road, traveling to a completely different destination every week. We’ll form friendships that will last far longer than our 15 days together. I can’t wait to share this time and these places with you.
Our Itinerary
* Friday, April 10
* Depart Your Origin in the Evening
* Saturday, April 11
* Arrive Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi
* Connect to Onward Flights at Indira Gandhi International Airport
Rates
Double Occupancy:$3999 Per Person / Single Occupancy:$5500 Per PersonLimited to 15 guestsTotal cost is divided over equal monthly payments. Payment in full will be completed 60 days prior to start date.See Terms and Conditions for more details.
Includes
* Accommodation for 15 Nights
* 15 breakfasts, 4 dinners
* Transport in Luxury 16 passenger Minibus with Bathroom
A minimum level of medical and emergency travel insurance is required in order to travel with me. Details are outlined in our Terms and Conditions and you will not be permitted to join the group until you have provided evidence of adequate travel insurance. Please read the trip details to learn more about recommended policy options.
* a 4 month overland itinerary from Argentina to Mexico
* 6 months traversing a counterclockwise sorta circle around Europe from Malta to Iceland
* a month in Castro's Cuba
* a 4 week overland round trip circumnavigation of Hispaniola from Port Au Prince
* a month teaching on the Big Island of Hawaii from which I traveled directly to
* Rwanda to meet the Gorillas then overland to Tanzania to host a Kilimanjaro summit hike and Zanzibar recovery.
It was during this period that I became a photographer in earnest. Having followed my Instagrammed iPhone Album, my dear friend and notable photographer, Merri Cyr, insisted that I buy her 2007 Canon 5D Mark 2. Most of the photos published in the 1st Edition were taken with that camera or the lighter 6D I quickly upgraded to.
There were a few from a 2001 early Olympus digital I carried in Egypt and my first trip to Asia. It produced great shots, but most of it's full size files have been misplaced. Archiving was a gargantuan task that produced hundreds of contenders from over 10,000 images. That said, the final selection are from only a handful of places because I simply didn't have the right tool for the job until 2015.
I've recently traded in my bulky Canon body, with her suite of 3 prime lenses and a Flash, for a petite, powerful used Fujifilm X100F. At 2 pounds lighter and 2” smaller all around with a 4.3 MP advantage, she’s a better daily street rig than the Canon. A rangefinder, I’m restricted to it’s built in 35mm lens, but I’m a traveling portraitist. That’s all I need. It took me 150 countries, but I finally found my aesthetic.
Armed with little else, as little as possible, in fact, I intend to visit every Country, Colony, Territory, Exclave and Enclave. I’ve made it to 150, so far…If I’m blessed with the health to visit the remaining 180, I’d love to return to many that I’ve already explored, to create a cohesive collection of 330 portraits to represent each. If I can accomplish that, why not continue? Can I collect every culture and ethnicity?
Of course, this entails a life of perpetual travel. I live out of my carry on and personal item, stuffed with more gear than clothing. I’ve sold, donated or gifted everything I own, except for my personal archive. It’s a monastic existence that I’ll share in detail at www.flanneryfoster.com, where you can purchase your own print of any image that might move you as you flip forward. Thank you for allowing me the time to introduce the people I’ve met on the road. I hope we’ll meet along the way, as well.
