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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

A friend of mine on Twitter posted a question today asking if anyone had done any world travel, and if so, what they thought of taking a laptop with them. Since I just got back from four months of world travel, I thought I would write an entry detailing my experiences with backpacking with a laptop. I spent the majority of my time in the city of Buenos Aires in Argentina. I brought along my 13" Macbook Pro, which is valued at around $1,500 in Canada. There is actually a lot of petty theft in Buenos Aires, so I avoided taking my laptop out for the first six weeks or so. But eventually that ...

A friend of mine on Twitter posted a question today asking if anyone had done any world travel, and if so, what they thought of taking a laptop with them. Since I just got back from four months of world travel, I thought I would write an entry detailing my experiences with backpacking with a laptop. I spent the majority of my time in the city of Buenos Aires in Argentina. I brought along my 13" Macbook Pro, which is valued at around $1,500 in Canada. There is actually a lot of petty theft in Buenos Aires, so I avoided taking my laptop out for the first six weeks or so. But eventually that ...

About two months ago I was packing up my items in Buenos Aires, getting ready to fly to New York City and then to Europe. I've been out in Port Coquitlam now for almost a month and am pretty much back into the swing of my normal routine here. I've been thinking quite a bit about the summer, and of course what my plans are after that. Everything is still up in the air, but here's how I think things will shape out. I've been planning for quite some time to take most of July and August off. I have a few little personal side projects to work on as well as some house keeping items over at BNC, but ...

While I technically am leaving for Ushuaia in two days, for all intents and purposes (due to the early nature of my flight), I basically leave tomorrow evening. I'm excited about Ushuaia for lots of reasons. First, the weather is a lot colder down there compared to Buenos Aires. The high on Thursday is 9C, and the low is 6C. That's almost what the weather is like back home in Vancouver as well. While a lot of people like really hot climates, I'm not really one of them. I would rather be too cold than too hot - you can always put another shirt on, but if you're already sweating and not wearing ...

Next weekend I'm off to visit the southern most city in the entire world, Ushuaia, Argentina. From there, many people hop on a cruise ship and head down to Antarctica. It's an expensive trip to Antarctica, starting at around $5,000 a person, but spending a day or two visiting one of the most remote parts of the world is apparently well worth the price. I will not be visiting Antarctica, but I will be visiting the Antarctica Hostel, located close to the Beagle Channel and in the shadow of the tail end of the Andes mountain range. Ushuaia will obviously be the most south I've ever been in the world, ...

Yes sports fans, it's time for another update. Today is day 65 in Buenos Aires. About an hour ago I had my last hair-cut in the city, and going forward there are a bunch of "lasts" about to happen. In fact, it seems like most of the expats I've met in the city are already gone or on their way out. A guy named Emerick from Montreal left two weeks ago, and another guy from New York is leaving this weekend. I suspect many people came to experience a summer in Buenos Aires, and now that summer is trailing off, it's time to leave. Everyone I've talked to had enjoyed their time here, but like ...

This last week was a weird week. I met up with a few friends and had some great times, but it was also the first real time I've been homesick in any capacity. There was nothing really that happened to make me feel that way, I was just sitting around and realized I was a long way from home. So I spent a day or so of being a bit melancholy. Thankfully the feeling has past, and it's business as usual again. Weekends always get me excited, mostly because I have more opportunities to get out and explore on Saturday and Sunday than during the week. My Mac widget says I have 26 days left in Buenos Aires, ...

Observe this photo from the KatKam: If you look closely, you can see some kind of flying object in the sky. I can only assume it's an airplane, but it looks like it's flying from the top of the photo down to the bottom. As a kid, I used to think every time I saw an object like that that it was the Space Shuttle. As an adult, I now know that the Space Shuttle doesn't fly every day like I thought it did as a kid. But I guess that has to be a normal commercial plane and the fact it looks like it's flying strangely is just due to the curvature of the earth. But then I have to ask, why doesn't the ...

I'm currently at around 35,000 feet, somewhere between Buenos Aires and Puerto Iguazu. No, I'm not blogging from the plane, but rather I've set this post to publish while I'm up in the air. I wasn't going to do another post before leaving for Iguazu Falls, but then I remembered my weekly Friday updates and wanted to get another in. So I thought that for this week's Friday update it would be fun to create a few lists about what I enjoy here so far, and what I miss the most. Things I Love About Buenos Aires The People - Everyone I have met here has been super nice, especially when they find out ...

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 ...

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, ...

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 ...

Today is the day where more than four months of planning finally comes to fruition and the journey finally begins. First, about 20 friends came out for a little going away dinner last night. I had promised myself to only have a few drinks such that I wouldn't be hung over in the morning. Unfortunately, one drink often leads to another, and before I knew it I had a nice little chorus line of empty glasses on the table. I still felt fine, but I knew I was probably going to have a rough sleep and wake up feeling like garbage. I randomly ran into one of my co-workers from my previous job who just ...

I'm down to the 15 hour mark right now, and am just enjoying a beer in my Vancouver hotel room prior to heading out and meeting up with a few friends for dinner. I went out yesterday and bought a few more things to take along on the trip, so I wanted to highlight those here. Marmot Jacket I originally went to MEC in Vancouver to buy a nice jacket for my trip. I was looking for something really light that I could possibly wear in the evenings, and also something to add a bit of warmth if I'm in Europe later next year. I found the perfect jacket at MEC, but they unfortunately didn't have the right ...

Tonight is my last night in Chilliwack. It's been nearly two full years since I packed up my apartment in Vancouver and moved my entire life back to the small town I grew up. At the time, I was in desperate need of a break from city life, and welcomed the thought of having some family around as well as a slower pace of life. Since then I've spent the last two years working from my apartment here in Chilliwack, visiting old friends, having dinner with family, and doing a little bit of soul searching. Not long after I arrived back in Chilliwack my family started commenting to me about how much ...

Getting down to the wire! Yesterday I was talking about my trip to some family members, and came to the realization that I'm only a week away from starting it. Truthfully, it's starting to sink in now, and I find myself split between feeling excited and feeling a bit nervous. Excited, because I have a great opportunity to see some of the world and make some new friends along the way. Nervous, because I hate flying and challenging traveling situations. But, I'm approaching this whole trip with an open mind, so I'll just roll with whatever punches come my way. I've said most of my goodbyes to friends ...