In July of last year, my boyfriend and I set out on a slow travel adventure around the world. We had one rule – no flying. Overland, we had many options – walking, cycling, riding buses, taking a train – but what about crossing the oceans? Many people are simply not aware that numerous cargo ships offer passenger cabins.

The voiceover for this video lends a fairytale quality to the piece. It makes us think of journeys that we’ve undertaken in the past with fondness, but it also inspires the familiar feeling of wanderlust. The thrill of adventure and imagining having our own narrator to catalogue our travels are both appealing prospects.

Yes, we did use spirits while making small delicious cheese pies, called ‘kalitsounia,’ in a traditional hillside village of western Crete, Greece. Koula Barydakis, our ebullient chef instructor, began our local cooking lessons by pouring a shot of raki for herself and her students as we toasted the traditional Cretan diet, one of the healthiest in the world.

An elderly woman wearing traditional dress accosts me as I focus my camera on the exterior of the church. She wags her bony finger at me and ominously hisses “No…no…no….” She unnerves me so much I quickly hide my camera. We are near San Cristóbal de las Casas in Chiapas, Mexico, in a town called Chamula, where the indigenous Tzotzil people earnestly protect their society and way of life.

My chance encounter with Sadriddin occurred in a local coffee shop in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. What started as an inquisitive chat between tables ended with an invitation to join him and a musician friend for a jam session in his living room. After three or four songs, he suggested that, later that night, I attend a local wedding reception at which he was performing.