Hi, I’m Hilary.

I’ve spent most of my adult life discovering the art of getting lost. So far that’s taken me to 41 countries with the same battered orange backpack — through night markets and mountain passes, wrong buses and perfect meals, and one very unexpected morning in Tokyo.

The Orange Backpack is where I share those stories. Travel narratives, recipes from the road, and the kind of adventures that only happen when you stop trying to plan everything.

My first book — The Orange Backpack: Beijing — is coming to Amazon soon. It’s a collection of stories and recipes from the year I spent teaching English in China’s capital. Some of them are funny. Some involve yogurt soup. All of them are true.

This newsletter is where the stories live between books. Every week I’ll share a travel narrative, a recipe, or a moment from somewhere the backpack has taken me. Sometimes all three.

Glad you’re here. There’s a lot of road still ahead. 🎒

— Hilary