Piper Martz

Final summer days in Greece, a country I had fallen in love with but never really dreamed of living in (for almost 12 total months!) It’s been an emotional roller coaster indeed! We’ve moved back to New York this past month after years of pandemic-related obstacles. In the past 2 pandemic years, we’ve ended up “stuck” in 4 different countries, spoken to dozens of US embassies around the world, spent 50+ hours on flights, and cried many tears over the uncertainty of our future. As an international couple (with 4 citizenships between the two of us) the pandemic made life VERY challenging. With emergency lockdowns, brexit, closed borders & tight immigration laws, we struggled to find a country that would accept both of our passports! We have had to form SO MANY contingency plans, which included moving to Thailand, Morocco, Cyprus and more. Dare I say, we’ve become pandemic “travel” experts - learning precisely where to find accurate entry/exit restrictions (pro tip: do not rely on news articles- go straight to embassy & government websites!) As many of you know, I embarked on a digital nomad journey back in 2018 (pre-pandemic) where I lived and worked in a new country every month. After 14 months, I was ready to “settle down” in one country for at least a year or two… but COVID-19 had other plans for me! It forced me and my partner into another 2 years of nomadic living. I’m grateful for my experiences, my traumas, and my miracle moments over the past 3 years! It feels incredible to have lived abroad and seen the different ways people come together to support one another during the pandemic. Ultimately, I’m so happy to be safely back in my home country with my partner - with plans (and paperwork!) to stay for the next 2 years or so. We just put a deposit on an apartment in Brooklyn woohoo! But of course, we’ve got some trips oversees planned to visit friends and family 😉

✨🥂 My most popular tiktok from many months ago! I had NO idea I’d be “stuck” in Greece for more than 10 months throughout the pandemic. 🙏🏼 Truth be told, #Filopappou Hill is one of the most underrated tourist spots in all of Greece! It’s PACKED with locals every night at sunset because it has arguably the best view of the Acropolis and Parthenon. 🏛 🍷🍾 Grab some Greek wine and a blanket because this is the perfect picnic spot for sunset! But be cautious, my friends: 1️⃣ All forests and parks are officially closed until August 20th to prevent wildfires (so don’t sneak in and risk devastation!) 2️⃣ After the sunset, it’s wise not to linger in the park once after it gets dark as it can be a hot spot for pickpockets, drug dealers, and other folks you don’t want to “meet” on vacation. P.S. More than 85% of my tiktok audience are in Greece. So feel free to add some international love and give me a follow 💖

Today is 109° F (42°C) in Athens…. So here’s how to survive a Greek summer: ☕️ Order 1-5 #FreddoEspresso iced coffees every day (the official drink of Athenian youth). 🔥 Refer to the hours of 12pm-8pm as an “inferno”. 🥘 Wait until 9 or 10pm to eat dinner. because heating up food before then would be unthinkably hot. 🫑 Indulge yourself in air con with a nice lengthy grocery store shop. 💦 Make sure you occasionally fill up the communal tupperwares left for the street cats to drink from! 🏛 Laugh (and sympathize) at the poor fools that decided to visit #Parthenon mid-day! P.S. I can’t believe I’ve been living her for 7 months!!! Such a wild ride!

I’m late to the game buttttt here is my 💫 Best of June 2021: a photo collage of various foodie moments across Greece! 1. Enjoying vegetarian stuffed tomatoes (gemista) and local house wine on the beaches of Hydra island 🏖🍅🍷 2. We finally met the owner behind our absolute FAVORITE pasta spot in Athens: @aliolas_pastabar (the Hellenic herbed pesto is to die for!) 🍃😍 3. After nearly a year apart, we finally reunited with the amazing nourish bowls from @theyard.parga (and our dear friends, the owners of The Yard) 🥰 4. Tried a remarkably tasty appetizer from the renowned Cretan taverna in Athens, 🌼 Aster: fresh strawberries, cherry tomatoes, burrata, carob rusks, and a balsamic drizzle! 🍓💥 5. Four different sets of leftovers on one plate: Hellenic pesto pasta, fava bean purée, beetroot slaw with homemade chickpea sandwich spread on top, and bread with herb oil and balsamic glaze. 🙏🏼 6. Our balcony garden’s tomato harvest is LOVING the 100° F heatwave we’ve had for the past 2 weeks! Lots of cherry tomatoes! 🍅 7. Trying to learn more Greek cooking: slow baked okra (which is very much in season right now) with a rich herbed tomato sauce. 🥘 8. Sipping on true diner-style filter coffee for the first time in over a year at @villarossaarea, whose owner has some American ties! 🇺🇸☕️ 9. Drinking housemade sparkling lemonade with a fresh squeeze from a #lemonodasos, a legit lemon forest with over 10,000 lemon trees! 🍋 10. Repurposing the dried lavender flowers, sage leaves, and rosemary springs from our garden in a homemade incense aka smoke cleansing stick (which I learned how to make from @comptonhealthbar!) 🙈 Can’t believe I’ve been living in Greece for nearly 7 months already - I never would have imagined I’d end up heat during the pandemic!

🌱 I was late to the whole pandemic-gardening obsession (because I didn’t have a garden space until a few months ago) but my plants are THRIVING in this hot Greek sun! 🌞 I got SO MUCH sass on TikTok from this video, explaining that I couldn’t find a simple watering can in my surrounding neighborhoods… so instead I bought this 1.7 liter olive oil pourer, which is an essential for many Greek households. 🫒🕊💦 P.S. Yup, I’m on @tiktok - let’s be friends! Currently 80% of the folks that interact with my content there are based in Greece! I wouldn’t mind some more international love 💕🙏🏼

👋🏼 Hi- it’s me, Piper! Yes, I’m still alive and miraculously abroad. I know I haven’t posted on my feed in AGES so I thought I’d share a proper update: 📍I’ve been living in Athens, Greece for the past 5 months with my half-Greek partner in crime, @travel_stoic. ⛓ 4.5 of those months have been spent in full lockdown! BUT coffee shops are an essential service here in Greece, so I’ve been well-caffeinated. ☕️ I’ve compiled a pretty sweet list of specialty coffee shops around Athens. Best vegan cappuccino is from Maria at @zampanoathens. Best cold brew is undoubtably from @the_underdog_project. Best artisan specialty roasts goes to @taresso.gr (pictured here!) ✈️ We are still trying to get back to the US but are struggling due to visa delays- hopefully we’ll back soon. When our visa ends here in Greece, we’re most likely heading to the UK (but maybe Thailand!) 🌱 Overall, I’m happy and healthy! Plus I finally settled in a place long enough to start a pandemic garden lol. Can’t wait to show you my array of Mediterranean herbs and tomato plants! Xoxo 😘

✨ My little mantra theme of the week is Building Roots. Where are you building new roots while quarantining? How is your sense of home different now than it was before? 🙆🏻‍♀️ . Life feels incredibly tumultuous right now, more so while quarantining than when I was living out of a backpack for over a year around the globe, essentially living paycheck to paycheck. Our uncertainties and pain points have completely shifted due to this bizarre pandemic! What we deem “normal” will forever be changed and so will our definitions of home. . Many moons ago, I read this brilliant travel memoir called “At Home in the World” by @tshoxenreider, which profoundly impacted my plan to live around the globe AND shifted my perceptions of how to build roots in new places. Home became defined by wherever I was and who I was eating with, even if my roots in that place were shallow. This sounds pretty dreamy and idealistic, but of course it was often VERY hard to practice. . While in Tanzania, I met an incredible man who was temporarily working in a northern city and had built such a rich community around his non-permanent home. Long story short, we started dating and traveling the world together, finding creative ways to build roots, stories, and personal connections in foreign places. Our ‘real’ homes were still thousands of miles away. . Driving across India in a three-wheeled tuk tuk was the ultimate challenge, as we only spent a few hours or one night in each community. We met SO many people who we consider dear friends and family, who shared with us a true sense of home in such short time. In this photo, I’m leaning on the Jeep of an incredibly outgoing mechanic in southern Rajasthan, who helped us repair a disconnected axel, shared chai with us, and encouraged us to relax around his home and play with his beloved “child” (a chocolate Labrador) named Julie. I’ve saved his geolocation to my phone in case we can ever visit them again! . Today, we are quarantining in New York City suburbs, in my childhood home. I have built brand new roots in the space, which I thought was impossible. And am preparing mentally and physically to build new roots wherever my feet take me.

💖 Hello beautiful people! While I’ve been quarantining for the past few months in my childhood home in the suburbs of New York City, I’ve been taking a break from content creation and editing to delve further into gardening! 👩🏻‍🌾🌱 As you know, I’ve always been fascinated by zero waste practices, including sprouting vegetable scraps (or turning them into broth!) So far, I have successfully sprouted about 26 butternut squash plants, 15 tomato plants, 21 potatoes, and two lettuce plants! 🍅🥬🍆🥔 Many other experiments have not gone so well and were binned because they stunk up the house (RIP moldy ginger, sweet potato, and Romain hearts.) 🙊 I have less than a week left to finish sprouting my little victory garden before my partner and I have to relocate to a new country because of visa challenges (I’ll share on that later in another post.) I‘m hoping to build to raised gardening beds and a trellis for the squash as a parting gift to my parents.🙏🏼🥕 Also, I’ve discovered SO MANY inspiring gardening accounts and YouTube channels that simply warm my heart! @urbanfarmstead @roots_and_refuge @californiagardentv @ambertamm @ronfinleyhq Because of their brilliant work, I’ve decided to add a new challenge to my bucket list: to grow a year’s worth of fruit and veg at my future home. It’s crazy but doable! 😍 P.S. Yes, this is a tiktok video I made! Add me as a friend @vegaroundtheworld 💖😘

✨ Introduce yourself in the comments below- your name, where you’re quarantining, and what project/activity/job is keeping you busy these days! 🙏🏼 Let’s make friends and find shared connections. 💖 Just over one year ago, I was in the back of a three-wheeled Rickshaw in northern India hot spotting my computer to finish up a remote social media marketing job! 🛺 It was by far the most “digital nomad” moment of my full-time traveling. It was exhilarating! 💃🏻 👩🏻‍💻 Today, millions of us have suddenly become remote workers, crafting makeshift desks at home during this crazy quarantine while dreaming of vacations and even carefree trips to the grocery store. 💪🏼 Plenty of folks, like myself, are now hustling to job hunt in the face of record high unemployment and forced remote working. It’s a wild, challenging time for us all. I’ve been procrastinating (and pro-craft-inating 🎨) quite a lot lately, letting my creativity wander freely into a new resume/CV design (aka productive procrastination) and also into veggie scrap gardening, doodling, cooking and reorganizing. Some days I feel incredibly unproductive while other days I feel on top of the world, finally getting to fun projects I’ve always wanted to work on. It’s honestly a mixed bag of emotions! 🎭 Lastly, I feel weirdly comforted by being forced to stay in one place and rebuild a home after years of full-time travel. 🗺 The quarantine has become a whole new adventure for me, navigating concepts of home and ways to experience new cultures without traveling. 🥘 Anyways, I’m trying to make a stronger effort to share more insta content, not self-edit excessively, and capture my quarantine musings regardless of whether they’re “on-brand” with my foreign foodies travels. 💁🏻‍♀️ 💖 I love you all... even those I’ve never met before! 📲 Slip into my DMs if you want to talk about cool productive procrastination-y projects like making homemade baby clothes despite not having kids, creating candy from scratch, starting a YouTube channel, re-reading books from your childhood and making a veggies scrap garden! 😜

🗣How are you adding more adventure into your everyday life?⠀ .⠀ 🦠 With the COVID-19 quarantine alive and well for us all, I'm using this time to dip into all the wild, wondrous travel photos that have been hiding on my memory cards! 📸Nothing like nostalgia to chase away the quarantine blues!⠀ .⠀ ✈️ One year ago this week, I was literally racing about 3,000km from north to south India in a three-wheeled rickshaw to raise money to fight deforestation (via @coolearthaction) in less than two weeks. 😱🛺 Yes, I was driving it myself with my amazing partner. And yes, it's the craziest travel experience i've ever had... in fact, I list it on my resume as an accomplishment! 😂⠀ .⠀ 🌏 The beauty of the Rickshaw Run is that you're given a start point, an endpoint and a deadline. 📍 It 100% epitomizes the whole "it's about the journey, not the destination" cliché! It's dangerous, frustrating, dirty and immensely challenging. It's definitely not for the faint of heart. 😅⠀ .⠀ 🛺 We drove nearly 8-10 hours every day, forced to navigate across the rural heartlands of an enormous, complex nation with dramatically different regional cultures and dialects. 🇮🇳 We relied heavily on the kindness, guidance, hospitality, directions, laughter and chai that locals shared with us. 💖 It was also a privilege to explore hyper-localized foods and eating experiences that I'll likely never encounter at urban Indian restaurants. 🥘⠀ .⠀ 💃🏻 The experience was life-changing (but not necessarily in an eat-pray-love way. 😂) It redefined slow, conscious travel in my eyes. 🗺It opened me up to embracing risk and realizing how important a strong sense of adventure is (especially when it comes to food!)⠀ .⠀ 🏡 For now, I'm cozying up at my childhood home in New York, wondering what ways I can add more adventure to my everyday life (without necessarily driving a rickshaw!) 🤔⠀ .⠀ 👇🏼 Please share your daily adventure ideas below in the comments!

🗣What cuisines have you eaten with your hands? 👋🏼 .⠀ The first time I ever ate only with my hands at a restaurant was at a white-table-clothed Ethiopian restaurant in Washington DC 🇪🇹 (fun fact- this US capital has the largest populations of Ethiopians outside of Ethiopia!) It went against all the table manners I was taught as a kid- how wild! 🍽 It felt "festive," new and exciting and I told everyone about it.⠀ .⠀ 🌍 Fast forward to eight years later, and I'm living in a new country each month, noticing how absurd the idea of table manners are. 🧐 No two people on this earth could possibly agree on all the appropriate practices for eating, feasting and drinking. It is confusing and sometimes even discouraging, as I tend to worry about my stomach's frustratingly sensitive biome. 🦠 .⠀ 🇮🇳 On one of my final days in Southern India, I went on a touristy trip to float down the famed backwaters of Alleppey and visit a family-owned spice farm. Halfway through the tour, we were seated at a table, served large banana leafs, glass cups filled from bottled water, and large spoonfuls of fluffy rice, fragrant chutneys, and a spicy coconut-based curry- it was local vegan heaven as you can see yourself. 😍 .⠀ We all oohed and ahhed at our "authentic" jungle lunch, a meal crafted for us foreigners to showcase local flavors and serve culture on a platter, or quite literally a banana leaf. Our guide squatted on the floor and methodologically picked at his food with all his finger tips as if he were on auto-pilot. 🥘 .⠀ The entire experience aroused quite complex feelings: this meal was partially demonstrating an everyday meal for locals but had been tweaked to accommodate western tastes, comforts and cultural curiosities. Was this meal "authentic"? There is no real answer here- this is part of the complexity of how culture is shared, experienced and taken. 🤔 .⠀ My main takeaway is to challenge ourselves to explore different ways of eating WHILE also questioning how identity will impact the way we experience it. Eat with your hands, learn about the symbolism and traditions, and question everything. 🙏🏼

🗣 Real talk- who here eats fast food?! 🍔🍟🍕⠀ .⠀ In the precise moment that @dimitris_world_portraits snapped this photo of me in Udaipur, India, 🇮🇳 I was about to experience the spiciest bite of Indian food I had ever had: Vada Pao, a deep-fried potato chili dumpling served with TONS of chilis in a bread bun. 🌶🔥 This famous fast food, native to the state of Maharashtra, is by no means healthy but it was delicious...that is, until my mouth went numb! 😂⠀ .⠀ 🌏 All around the world, fast food has developed not only because McDonalds is striving for world domination, but because we're a society on-the-go, needing quick, cheap and hand-held eats on the way to and from work. 🍟⠀ .⠀ 🌯 Sometimes referred to as "Street Food," this notoriously unhealthy food powers billions of us. 💪🏼 And while we may turn our noses up at those that rely on it, it's important to consider that these dishes were created by working class resourcefulness, a resilience that sprouted from financial conflict. 🤔⠀ .⠀ Experiencing a nation's cuisine goes beyond restaurants and cafes. 🗺 As we explore the complexities of flavor, we must take the risk and taste test even the seemingly "dodgy" street food. 🌮 Honestly, this can be a hard philosophy to live by, especially when you're trying to avoid food poisoning (because our tummies don't necessarily have the capacity to break down local bacteria.) 🦠⠀ .⠀ ✈️ A good traveler friend of mine once told me, in reference to street food, that he always tries something twice before he decides whether or not he likes it... because you never know if the first experience was tainted by unusual circumstance! 🤢⠀ .⠀ P.S. Here's a fun fact: I go to a McDonalds in every country I visit to test out their apple pie OR awesome veg food (the Indian McAloo Burger was bomb!) 🍔🙌🏼 . 👇🏼 Drop a comment below and tell me your secret fast food guy secret!

👋🏼 Hi, insta friends and family! I've been totally MIA lately and have kinda lost my mojo and flow for sharing foodie travel stories on instagram. 🤷🏻‍♀️ As I'm sure all of you have experienced, I became deeply immersed in the wonders (and woes) of life and started finding it an overwhelming challenge to translate those experiences into daily posts. 😅⠀ .⠀ 🦘 I moved to Australia and, quite honestly, had a very hard time adjusting over the past 8 weeks. Who would have thought that after nearly 15 months of full-time travel, i'd struggle to settle down again?! 🌍 At last, i'm feeling more grounded, especially since landing an incredible new job managing all things marketing and communications for the brilliant bars and restaurants of an arty hotel group. 🎉 I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to be immersed professionally in the wonderful world of food storytelling. 🍽⠀ .⠀ 📸 While i'm busy preparing new content, events and strategies for renowned restaurants, like @Mister.Percy pictured here, I have quite a bit of colorful content lined up from the last few months of my travels. 🗺 While my energy is still a bit scattered all over the place, I'm really eager to fall in love all over again with food. 🥘⠀ .⠀ 😍 Speaking of which, I absolutely ADORE @Mister.Percy and the incredible kitchen led by @chef_luca_guiotto. 👨🏻‍🍳Not only will you swoon over the stylish decor, plush couches and marble-topped tables, but you'll also find love at first bite. Chef Luca prepared a remarkable vegetarian gnocchi for me and told me all about his vegan tasting menus! 🌱 Definitely add this underrated gem to your Sydney Hit List! 🏆

🗣 How do you spark conversation with strangers?! 🙋🏻‍♀️ . 🌵 I had the pleasure of meeting this Moroccan fruit vendor and chatting away with him. He was incredibly charismatic, playful and eager to indulge my curiosities in a special fruit he was offering that day (surprise- it dyes your mouth pink!) But how on earth did this joyful interaction begin? 🤷🏻‍♀️ . 🚕 We’ve all had an experience with a super chatty uber driver. You leave the car smiling after the unexpected conversation and poignant stories. Instead of hoping for more of these serendipitous moments, how can WE catalyze them in our daily life? 💃🏻 . ✈️ After years of solo-travel across 30+ countries, I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeves to spark these dinner-party-worthy stories. 😍 Please comment below if you have any more ideas to add! 🙏🏼 . 1️⃣ Disrupt the transactional relationship between you and a food service workers with a silly hypothetical. 🤔 My go-to phase to slow down the conversation and invite some playfulness is to ask “If this was your last day on earth, what would your last meal here be?!” EVERY time I ask this, everybody starts giggling! You'll get a great recommendation AND start friendly banter. 💁🏻‍♀️🍝 . 2️⃣ Ask a thousand questions! I have no shame in admitting ignorance, especially about an unusual fruit/vegetable/dish. 🍠 This is a great opportunity to ask where it is grown, how it is cooked, if they have a good recipe, do kids like to eat it, does the king/president eat it, etc... That’s precisely how I started chatting up this friendly cactus fruit vendor in Fez. 🇲🇦 . 3️⃣ Don’t shy away from the touristy souvenir shops! Shop owners often speak your language and will be comfortable chatting with you! Ask for a recommendation for their favorite restaurant in the area (and maybe even ask a hypothetical 😉.) Asking for advice is a great way to get the conversation flowing. Doing this has led to SO MANY of my special stories, like getting my fortune told by a Kashmiri jewelry vendor and drinking homemade reiki with a bunch of Greek old men. 🍻 . My challenge to you this week is to take a chance and start up a silly conversation with a stranger! 💕

🗣 What environment makes you feel your best?! 🌲🏔🏝🏙⠀ .⠀ 😍 Here’s my happy little body in all its glory, galavanting into the ocean waters of Morocco! 🇲🇦 I’ve realized over the years that I feel happiest by the sea. I technically grew up in a small seaside village outside of New York City, so this makes perfect sense. All of this leads me to announce that I’ve moved to Australia! 🦘⠀ .⠀ 📍 I'm starting in Sydney but will hopefully end up in Melbourne soon. ☕️ Nonetheless, there are PLENTY of killer coffee shops, hip health food joints, and hidden bars for me to explore all over. I would love your restaurant and cafe recommendations, so please drop a comment below with your wisdom! 🙌🏼⠀ .⠀ ✈️ After nearly 14 months of country-hopping and studying veg food cultures, i've finally settled in Aus with a one-year working holiday visa (comment below or DM me if you want more details on this super simple, cheap & magical work visa). ✈ My game plan is to hand on to some of my remote freelance marketing jobs, settle into an awesome full-time gig, and start write a book (about how immigrant cuisines shape national identity around the world!) 🤓📚⠀ .⠀ ⏰ Yes, jet lag is a little crazy for me right now (it's a 15 hour difference from home in New York!) and so is this huge life transition. 🌪 My mind, body and soul are slowly but surely embracing the wonders that Australia has to offer me, like gorgeous sun, sand, and surf. 🌞🏖🏄🏻‍♀️⠀ .⠀ 😲 P.S. I have SO MANY beautiful, tasty, silly travel stories to share since my month in Morocco! 🗺 I've got a few pretty lil' Moroccan posts for you, followed by content from Kenya/Tanzania, South Africa, England, India, Thailand and Indonesia woohoo! 💃🏻