One of the hard parts of traveling around is deciding what to bring with you and what to leave behind. That's relevant before your adventures, and it's also relevant while you're traveling.
Despite Buenos Aires having a relatively high petty crime rate, I spent my first week and a half here walking around with my wallet in my back pocket and basically every piece of ID and financial card in there as well. It wasn't until I lost my bank card a few days later that I started to really think about the stupidity of carrying everything I have on my person at all times.
So, I've made a few changes, and ...
We're only about two month's away from the US hitting its debt ceiling of 14.3 trillion dollars. Congressionally the US isn't allowed to borrow any more than that amount (the entire wealth of the population of the planet is around 100 trillion dollars - so that means the US owes almost 15% of the entire wealth of the planet in debt).
The estimated date of this occurring is sometime in late April of this year I believe. When it does, the US has two options: default on some of their debt obligations, or raise the limit.
Raising the limit is financial suicide as the US has clearly demonstrated that ...
Well, I just did it - I booked a trip to Ushuaia, Argentina, the southern most city on the entire planet. I was originally going to go to Machu Picchu during that time slot, but once I learned that the southern most Irish pub in the world was in Ushuaia and that St. Patrick's Day would align with the day I arrived, the decision became easy.
As you can see from the above map, Ushuaia is about as far south as you can get on the planet, other than Antarctica of course. In fact, many of the ships that go to Antarctica leave from Ushuaia. If I had more time, I would consider making the journey there, ...
Hard to believe, but at this time about a month ago I was boarding a plane in Vancouver to start my big adventure. I was trying to remember my flight down here, and other than a few moments in the airport and on the plane, I don't really recall too much of it. Truthfully it seems like a very long time ago already.
I've been in Buenos Aires now for 30 days, and have seen quite a bit of it. A month ago I didn't know how to do laundry, didn't have a phone here, wasn't able to order food in a restaurant, and had no idea where the best places were to get money. Thirty days later I have most of those ...
It's no secret that most of the organized governments in the world are essentially broke. The current debt to GDP ratio in the United States is almost 100%, a fairly incredible number that continues to rise. That number alone indicates that the US is in poor financial shape, and it's not even that accurate a number. For example, the US has a number of off budget items that are technically debt as well - all the Freddy May and Fannie Mac purchases, Social Security (the US has been taking the money every year and basically putting an IOU in its place) and Medicare. If you factor in all of those ...
For whatever reason, people keep acting like the only way to do what I'm doing is to be filthy rich. That is the myth I mentioned in my other post about world travel only being attainable for millionaires. Tim Ferris has a great example in his book about some actor saying if he won a million dollars he would take a few months off and motorcycle around Thailand - Tim's point is that you can do that for probably a few thousand dollars, so no need to gamble that experience on the lottery, just save for six months and then go experience it.
I was just down at Starbucks in Palmero Soho, Buenos Aires, ...
Last night I casually asked on Twitter if people reading this website would like me to blog more about food. Surprisingly the response I receive was the most vocal and energetic of all the things I've asked or done so far, so apparently my followers like to eat. So, going forward I'm going to try and write about all the unique foods or food related experiences I have while on my trip.
A few weeks ago I had mentioned to my spanish teacher that I was heading to Uruguay. Upon hearing that, she immediately asked me if I was going to be eating a Chivito. I had no idea what it was at the time, but she ...
I don't know why, but I'm excited that it's a new month. Maybe because I'm fully booked for my trip to Igauza falls in 17 days, or possibly because it's a trip to Machu Picchu is probably on the horizon. Either way, I'm feeling fine, and today is a new day in a new month.
I left Vancouver on January 4th, so that means I've been here nearly a month now. Time flies. I have a little widget on my phone with my rough itinerary in it, and it says I have 57 days left in Buenos Aires. I fly out on March 30th for New York City, where I'll be meeting my business partner and his girlfriend for a few days ...
I tried purchasing an application tonight in iTunes, and received the following error:
For Google's benefit: "Please contact iTunes support to complete this transaction".
I tried again and again with the same results. Afterwards I tried from my computer and got the same cryptic error message.
I contacted Apple iTunes support tonight, and here was their response:
Welcome to iTunes Store Customer support. I am Chandan.
I understand that you are not able to make purchases from your Account. I will surely help you in resolving the issue.
Apple is currently working toward a resolution for ...
As most people on Twitter now know, a dogsledding company in Whistler has recently admitted that it killed 100 of its dogs after demand was less than anticipated after the winter olympics. Instead of euthanizing these animals, allegedly some employee was given the task of killing these animals one by one and then burying them, some apparently while still alive.
Obviously this act is causing a lot of people to be upset. I personally think it's an extreme form of cruelty, and that the company and people involved should be punished. These animals should have been offered up to others, or at the very ...
I've spent the last month taking in the sites in Buenos Aires, and am now starting to make plans for viewing a few sites outside of the city. The first location I'm probably going to visit is Iguazu Falls. If you are planning a trip to Iguazu Falls, then this post is for you.
Iguazu Falls
Iguazu Falls is a massive set of cascading waterfalls right on the border between Argentina and Brazil. People who have seen them say it's one of the most impressive natural wonders in the world, and it's something I've been anxiously awaiting for since I found out about them approximately six months ago.
Iguazu ...
I'm one month into what could very well be a one year travel adventure, potentially longer, depending on how things go (don't worry mom, I'll come home for a visit). My plan has always been to give monthly updates on costs to help those people budgeting for trips such as these.
I've been told that one of the greatest myths about world travel is the belief that it's only within reach of those who are very rich. My goal over the next year is to help dispel some of those myths. While I'm not expecting to always save a pile of money while traveling (although I expect in some destinations I probably ...
I've gone through various mutual fund companies and financial planners over the years, but ultimately decided last year to take my finances into my own hands and manage my own portfolio.
My main issue with the financial planning/advice market is that there is an inherent conflict of interest in most of the advice given out. Yes, a par-life plan may in fact be a great investment vehicle, but when your purchase of one results in a $1,000 bonus for the financial planner, how can anyone ever be sure that the advice was given solely because it was in your best interest? Also, most mutual funds have ...
I've been here three weeks now, and have most of the basics figured out. But definitely one of the hardest problems I've had to solve in Argentina so far was how to get a SIM card in Buenos Aires and ultimately top it up with funds.
Why Movistar?
There are two large GSM cell carriers in Buenos Aires: Claro and Movistar. Having investigated them both prior to moving to Buenos Aires, I came to the conclusion that Movistar offered the best deal for pay as you go plans.
First, why Pay As You Go? Unfortunately unless you're a local and have a DNI card (a local resident card) you can't get a phone on ...
So, I've been in Buenos Aires a little over three weeks now. This last week was pretty uneventful, as I've been working quite a bit and also spending six hours a week in Spanish lessons.
Truthfully, I'm probably going to scale the lessons back here shortly, as I'm finding it pretty hard to fit them in and still have time to get out and enjoy the city. So I may scale back to two nights a week, or possibly even one. I also hadn't explicitly budgeted for Spanish lessons, so I don't want to use up all my travel money with lessons, especially since I have quite a few books around here as well as events ...
This was one of the things I was afraid of. About six months ago I decided to sell off most of my camera gear. Part of that decision was due to the fact that if I was going to go on this trip I would need more money, and my camera gear represented a significant investment ($5,000+) that I could tap into. I could always buy another camera, but I may not always be able to do a trip like this. The second was that I was originally planning on traveling with just a backpack, and there really wouldn't be any room for a big SLR or lenses.
About a month before I left for Buenos Aires, I decided it would ...
One of the things I've come to realize over the last year is that in most cases, debt is horrible thing. Granted, many businesses look towards debt as a way to fund capital purchases in their beginning stages, and I have no problem with small business loans. But all the other debt that people are addicted to is ultimately bad for the economy in general.
There are many people who believe that the reason housing prices are skyrocketing in North America, as well as education costs, is due to the availability of cheap credit. I'm one of those people. Stated another way, housing and education costs ...
About a week ago, Gus, Russ and I were talking about how we would all like to visit Uruguay at some point on our adventure. There are two options that most people consider: a trip to Colonia, or a trip to Montevideo.
Due to time constraints, most people end up taking the trip to Colonia, since it's not very far from Buenos Aires. Getting to Montevideo takes more time, and is generally more expensive, so most people choose not to do it. Since it is the capital of Uruguay, we decided that it was the place that we wanted to visit the most.
The ferry company that handles transportation from Buenos ...
I have a lot to write about this week, but was in front of the computer so I recorded another quick and dirty video regarding the weekend. Enjoy.
Video Update 2: Thoughts on Montevideo from Duane Storey on Vimeo. ...
