I have less than a month to go before I return everything to my storage locker and hit the open skies again. Last time I departed I headed south and ended up in Argentina. This time I'm flying west and hitting a little island off the coast of Thailand called Ko Samui
One of the aspects discussed in the book Vagabonding that seemed was relavant to me this summer was the concept of reintegration. The author claims in the book that after an extended trip it becomes difficult to find a way to fit yourself back into your old life. That was definitely the case for me this time around, and lately I've ...
I've been working on revamping this website for about six weeks now. I've actually never really had a proper logo or header on any of my personal sites, and used to simply creatively use a few fonts to achieve some kind of clickable header.
It was a bit ghetto, but it worked.
Given that I enjoy travelling and writing about my experiences, I decided over a month ago that I needed to make this site a bit more professional and also focus the content a bit better. If you've been following along, you've noticed incremental updates over the past few weeks.
The logo was commissioned about six months ...
I've been striving hard to reduce the amount of online "noise" in my life lately. Without setting any quantitative goals, I've been working relentlessly on removing distractions and trying to minimize interruptions.
Normally when I wake up I have around 50 messages waiting for me in my inbox. Many of them are automated - comment notifications from WordPress, Google+ messages, Facebook, etc, but they are still things I need to deal with, even if it's just to identify that they belong in the trash.
Every email I receive and have to deal with probably notches my background stress level ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
This last weekend my friend Dave and I made a hasty escape from the city and headed towards Pemberton. I ad a pretty rough prior week, as did Dave, so we were both looking to get away for a few days and simply enjoy some time in the outdoors.
The place we ended up going to is called Owl Creek, and it's a small campground about 15 minutes past Pemberton, BC. Usually when I'm up in that neck of the woods I head on up to Birkenhead Lake, but Owl Creek is about 40 minutes closer from Vancouver, and offers a nice bit of seclusion.
Despite forecasts calling for heavy rain, most of the weekend was a ...
I've been alluding to it for a few weeks now, but I'm pretty close to buying my plane tickets for the fall. I was originally planning on going to New Zealand, but a few friends convinced me to add Thailand to my list as well.
New Zealand
As everyone knows, Lord of the Rings was filmed in New Zealand, and the geography shown in the movies is absolutely breathtaking. Since seeing Fellowship of the Ring in 2001, I've been dreaming of someday being able to visit the country and do some exploration. As an added bonus, filming for the The Hobbit movies is currently underway, and it's possible I may ...
I pulled about 6 GB worth of photos from my phone the other day, most of which were taken from my four month adventure in South America, New York City and Europe. The photos aren't as high quality as the ones from my SLR or my EPL-2, but they still represent a portion of my trip that brings back fond memories.
Here's the slideshow for your viewing pleasure. I recommended clicking the fullscreen button in the bottom right and then clicking "Show Info" in the top right to view the captions.
{EAV_BLOG_VER:4983f1ef5390f8c8} ...
It seems that no very long ago I was writing about some looting and rioting with regards to the winter olympics. By comparison to what happened here in Vancouver two nights ago, those acts were relatively minor and forgettable.
By this time everyone knows what happened after game 7. A few drunken idiots decided to cause trouble, and other idiots got on the bandwagon. The media has tried to label most of these people as individuals from out of town, but not all of them were. They have also tried to scapegoat the entire group, saying they were thugs or anarchists that were dressed like Canucks ...
A few weeks ago I made an impromptu decision to escape some of the rain here in BC and head down to California to visit a few friends for this upcoming weekend. Back when I used to work in the Voice Over IP field, I probably made at least 2 or 3 trips a year down to the Bay Area to work with some Yahoo! people and also to attend various functions at Google.
Now the weekend is approaching, I need to decide just what it is I want to do in San Francisco. My friends live near Palo Alto (home of Apple store #1), so I plan to spend an afternoon there. Outside of that I'm actually thinking I may rent ...
Yesterday I went up to Golden Ears park to scope out some campgrounds for the summer. I was actually surprised just how pretty it is up there, and am regretting that I only just discovered the area now. From the front door of where I live to the entrance of Golden Ears is only about a 30 minute drive, so it's quite conceivable I can be camping in about an hour after I decide to go camping.
It sounds weird, but I still get surprised when I realize that I can simply get in the car or on a plane and go somewhere new whenever I want. I spent the morning today getting some of my camping gear in order, ...
Rebecca is over in Victoria right now for Social Media Camp, and it sounds like it's a great event. WIthout a doubt, everyone is interested in social media right now, and learning how they can leverage it to build relationships and better run their business.
While it hasn't been officially announced yet, I'll be giving a talk about WordPress and social media on June the 23rd at the monthly WordPress meet-up in Vancouver. It'll be at the Network Hub, and should be a fun event. Hopefully whoever comes out will be up for hitting a pub afterwards and continuing on the WordPress discussions over a ...
As many people know, I spent the last four months bouncing between South America and Europe. It was a fun time, and I met a pile of great people over the course of my trip.
One such person is Stella Maris, who lives just outside of Sao Paulo, Brazil. I was at a random pub in Buenos Aires called "Sugar" when I ran into Stella and her cousin. I was a few sheets to the wind, so I honestly don't remember too much that night, other than meeting up with them. But thankfully I've kept in touch with Stella over the last few months, and it so happens that I can wish her a virtual birthday from ...
I've been following along with the Air France crash investigation with interest. I don't like flying: I get anxious on airplanes and would rather not be hurtling through the atmosphere. But I know that if you want to go anywhere fast, you need airplanes. So whenever I hear about a plane crash, it always unnerves me a bit.
Normally I put the crash out of my mind as simply a crappy plane used by a lesser-known airline, or the result of some route I'll probably never go on. But the crash of Air France 447 was neither: it was a one of the more well-known airlines in the world, and it was on a route ...
