Given that I'm about to head out on my second round of travel this year, I thought it might be fun to tally a few metric from my travels so far. First, some quantitative metrics: Flight Segments: 15 Flight Distance: 51,908 (kilometers) Total Flight Costs: $4,240 Total Cost / 100 km: $8.17 Countries Visited: Six Next, some qualitative ones from this segment: Favourite Experience: Visiting a penguin rookery in Ushuaia, Argentina Favourite Restaurant: Lupita, Las Cañitas, Buenos Aires, La Cabrera is a close second Best Photography: Iguazu Falls, on the border of Brazil and Argentina Notable Drinking ...

I'm scheduling this post for when I'm out tomorrow for a while, so it's possible the US may find some common ground on the current US debt negotiations. I don't it though. Right now things aren't looking very good for the United States, and the time is almost out where a solution can be reached and implemented before the debt ceiling expires. Negotiations continue to stall, and both sides seem unwilling to deal with some of the harder issues, like coming up with a long term financial strategy that will reduce the deficit and the debt. I actually thought there was only about a 10% chance that the ...

Prior to leaving on my first travel adventure, there were a few key people that helped inspire me to leave my North American life behind. One such person is a good Vancouver friend of mine, Robert Scales. Here's Robert's latest BIO: PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer with a passion for management, teaching, underwater photography, and digital media. I’m currently working in Bali, I am the General Manager and a Master Scuba Diver Trainer at Dive Concepts. I’m a former digital media executive. As founder & CEO of Raincity Studios, I spent the last decade working with emerging media and web ...

I recently returned from a one week impromptu trip to Oahu, Hawaii, and wanted to share my final thoughts. The flight time from Vancouver was around six hours, so it was still a relatively short jaunt. Not as short as flying to the west coast of Mexico mind you, but about the same amount of time as flying to Cancun or the Dominican Republic. The Island During the Lost Legends tour we drove over the entire island in the course of a day. I'd say it takes less than an hour to criss cross the island in any direction, so Oahu is fairly tiny. The eastern side is called the Windward side of the island, ...

I don't like to fly. In fact, I would say that I pretty much hate it. First, airports involve delays. You generally have to wait in line to check-in or check bags. Then you have to wait to go through security. Then you have to wait in the waiting area to board you plane. Then you board, and have to wait inside. Ideally your plane will leave on time, but often it doesn't, and you're stuck waiting on the plane. Next, you're cramped into a small space, usually sitting next to one or two other people who probably don't really want to be on a plane either. If you're lucky, they smell nice. If you're ...

Like most people in North America over the previous six or so years, I was a pretty big fan of the TV Show, Lost. While the ending caused a lot of controversy, I watched the show pretty religiously over the last few years, and still even occasionally fire up an episode or so on my iPad. One of the reasons I was drawn to Oahu, Hawaii, was because I was a fan of the beautiful geography that was featured in Lost. In case you weren't aware, almost 100% of the show was filmed here. Hawaiian Escapades Tour I did a quick Google search for Lost tours on Oahu, and found a few different operators that offered ...

This is the first post in an ongoing series where I'll be featuring a few of the travellers I've encountered on the road or whose web sites I've frequented during my travels. First up is Alexandra Kovacova, also known as the CrazySexyFunTraveler. I've chatted with Alex a few times on Twitter about travel, and asked her a few questions which she graciously answered for this post: First, what's your name and where are you originally from? My name is Alexandra Kov·Ëov· and I was born in a small Slovak town Snina. People at home call me Saöka, but abroad I'm known just as Alex. Where are you ...

Alaska Airlines recent announced that they were starting service from Bellingham International Airport to Honolulu, Hawaii. Last week I managed to find a cheap $400 return flight on that same route, so I decided to book it and finally get around to seeing Hawaii. I've looked at going to Hawaii before, but the costs have always been rather high when compared to Mexico. Hawaii is an American state, so not only does it have American prices which are in line with the rest of North America, but it also has a hefty surcharge for being somewhere warm and beautiful. That said, at $400 return my flight ...

When many people think of traveling, their thoughts often gravitate towards all inclusive trips, usually containing a beach, a buffet, and a week escape from the daily grind. In North America especially, those pre-packaged vacations are generally the only options for people to take, since their vacations are often only a week or two long in duration. But world travel isn't just about the places you go; it's also about the physical and personal journeys that it takes to get there and the growth that often occurs along the way. It involves mishaps, missteps, and a natural learning process that ...

We live in interesting times. The United States is only a few weeks away from what potentially could be one of the largest defaults in world history. Given how the Republicans do not want to increase taxes and that the Democrats do not want to decrease spending, the only machinery that can prevent this default is currently seized up. Obama was so upset the other day during negotiations that he just up and left. Moodys once again threatened to lower the outlook on US treasuries. Given that the US is on the verge of a default, they are a little late to the game, but even so it's also a rather historic ...

I have to admit, this weather has been getting me down. Other than a few days of sun on Vancouver Island last week, I haven't really seen much in the way of warmth or sunshine since returning from South America. When I looked at the forecast this morning and saw 7 days of rain in the long term forecast, I decided to do something about it. I spent about 15 minutes bouncing around Expedia and Travelocity, and eventually honed in on a flight to Hawaii for a little over $400 out of Bellingham. Given that it's not amazingly far away and that I've always wanted to see Hawaii, I decided to simply go ...

While the weather in Vancouver hasn't exactly been stellar lately, I've still managed to get out for a bike ride from time to time. Given that I envisioned myself wanting to take my bike to Stanley Park from time to time or out to Chilliwack, I decided a while ago that I would need some type of bike rack. The easiest option for my Mazda 3 was a roof rack. The Mazda 3 already has a built in header that allows a rack to easily be mounted onto it. But truth be told, the idea of having a bike floating way above my car has never really sat easy with me. First, it means I would really have to be careful ...

Inside my suitcase upstairs is a huge manilla envelope that has the majority of receipts in it for my trip to South America. Since some of them represent expenses that I can write-off on the business side, it was important to keep them for Revenue Canada in the odd event of an audit down the road. Unfortunately for me though, it meant that I had to collect all my receipts while traveling around the world. It's one thing when you have an apartment in Canada and everything can be sorted into file folders once a week or so, but when you're traveling with a backpack and trying not to accumulate anything ...

When I left my apartment back in November of 2010, I put the majority of items into a 8x9x10 storage locker. I spent about a week selling off most of the big furniture (which would have been harder to store), and basically just ended up with a pile of boxes. I didn't hesitate at the time to put all my belongings into storage. I knew I would be gone at least four months, and likely more. But it's now July, which means my belongings have been in storage for seven months. At a price of roughly $100 per month for the storage locker, that means I'm up to $700 to store a bunch of boxes. At some point ...

I was downtown a few weeks ago and parked my car in a parking garage. Somehow over the course of the day though I accidentally misplaced my key chain, which has of course my car keys, my house keys, and several other keys. While I've misplaced my keys for a few hours before, I've never outright lost a set in my life. Prior to going traveling I always had a spare set around, usually over at my sister's house, so it wouldn't have been a big deal. But my current set of spare keys is actually either in my storage locker back or over at my dad's house. Given that the storage locker key was on the ring, ...

Prior to setting out on my last adventure, I went down to Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) here in Vancouver and tried to find a backpack to take with me on my trip. I was looking for a backpack with the following qualities: Should fit as carry-on for most airlines Should have room for a laptop and my iPad Should be large enough to carry basic necessities like a few changes of clothes and toiletries With these criteria in mind, I eventually settled on purchasing the MEC Pangea 40, which is a 40 litre travel backpack that's constructed so it will fit as carry-on for most airlines. How It Stood ...

One of the main reasons I came back from my last trip was to take a bit of a breather in BC for a few months, and also to enjoy a bit of time camping in the outdoors. I've managed to do both since arriving back at the end of April, and so it's time to start thinking about moving on again. I quite liked escaping some of Vancouver's dreary rainy/cold season last year in Argentina, and I thought I would head to the southern hemisphere again this year. With that in mind, I've been thinking about New Zealand for almost a year as a place I'd like to visit during North American fall/winter. Around the ...

I'm sure most of us have some story about a friend of ours who got dinged several hundred dollars or more in roaming charges while out of the country. My friend Chris has a $6,000 bill in Australia, something that unfortunately still happens quite often due to amazingly high roaming rates in some countries. I've been fortunate in that I haven't been exposed to any high fees, and have in fact often spent less in other countries than back in Canada. I spent some time speaking to Gillian Shaw on the phone yesterday regarding some of my experiences with my cell-phone abroad, and the article is now ...

I'm currently out on Vancouver Island, enjoying some R & R with my dad and step-mom. I was looking for a book to read yesterday, and had the idea to re-read The Hobbit, a book I haven't read in about 20 years. It's the predecessor of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and a lot of the mythology that appears in that series was started in The Hobbit. As many people know, Peter Jackson (the director of the three Lord of the Rings movies) is currently making a two-movie version of The Hobbit. It's not due to be out for over a year, but already the anticipation of growing for it. That said, having ...

One thing I'm getting consistently more and more frustrated with is how supporters of the HST keep telling me, via blog posts and interviews, that the HST results in me paying less money as a consumer. The problem is it hasn't so far, nor do I think that it will for me personally. Other than rebates for low-income families, the HST results in a tax increase on about 20% of purchases, most notably for me in restaurants and pubs. It's a substantial increase of 7%, and I notice how much more expensive it is to eat out each and every time I go out to eat. I also don't really buy the argument that ...