Tips Posts

While SMS is great when you have a package that includes unlimited SMS messages, it can be extremely expensive to either send or receive international SMS messages, often to the tune of $2/message. Here are a few alternatives that are available for the iPhone to help reduce costs. Kik Messenger A few days ago, my friend John recommended that I grab a copy of the Kik Messenger application on the iPhone. Kik is an SMS-like application that allows you to have real time text chats with your friends over data or WiFi. Because it supports push notifications, it’s as real-time as SMS is, which makes it useful for communicating with friends and family back home. And because it uses the data network instead of SMS, you don’t have to pay SMS fees for each message, which can save you a bundle of money when you’re traveling abroad. Unfortunately at this […]

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 size for me. So, I was forced to leave empty handed. I walked across the street to Europe Bound, and found a fairly similar Marmot Sharp Point Softshell Jacket. The one at […]

I posted a blog entry on my personal site detailing how I was feeling last night. Since that time I’ve migrated to Vancouver and have checked into a nice suite at the Coast Plaza and Suite Hotels in Vancouver. Coast Hotels has supported various trips I’ve made over the years, and I’m definitely thankful to them for helping put me up from time to time. I’m actually in a suite on their top floor right now, with an absolutely amazing view of the Pacific Ocean from my window. If you’re looking for a great Vancouver hotel, then make sure you check out the Coast Hotels in Vancouver. I’m about 36 hours away from starting the adventure, and I’m definitely getting excited now. I just ordered a six pack of beer via room service, and will spend the remainder of the night doing a bit of research and thinking about the […]

For some reason, I initially thought I could simply turn my car off prior to leaving for my year long adventure and it would be completely fine when I returned. After talking to a few people though, it turns out that you really do need to take special precautions to make sure your car will actually be functioning if you leave it for any extended period of time. So if you’re looking to leave for more than a month or so, you should make sure you take the following precautions with your vehicle. What To Do Prior To Leaving Over-inflate your tires by approximately 5 PSI. This will help prevent the tires from flattening while you are away, which sometimes results in permanent deformation of the rubber. Do a complete oil change right before you leave. Fuel breaks down after about a month or so. If you leave the car […]

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 already, and will wait until next weekend to say them to family members. I don’t really like goodbyes, so I’ll just roll with “see you guys soon”. In all likelihood I’ll be gone for a full year, but if a cheap flight […]

My friend John sent me this link. I think you have to watch the video to truly appreciate the application: Basically it’s an iPhone application that can translate (in real time) between Spanish and English. Obviously the grammar is a tad off since the words don’t get reordered, but I can imagine a lot of really great uses for this on my trip. I’m going to grab a copy and play around with it this weekend. But definitely cool.

I’m one of those people that always purchases travel health insurance whenever I go out of country. Normally you just go down to the insurance broker, fill out a bit of paperwork, and leave with an insurance policy that will cover you in the event of any emergency. I figured (incorrectly) that it would be just as easy to obtain insurance for my upcoming trip, which is why I left it until the last minute. I’ve slowly been chipping away at the problem for the last month or so, and finally managed to acquire some insurance. British Columbia’s MSP Most of the problem with extended travel insurance is due to British Columbia’s medical services plan (MSP). Most BC residents pay into this system, either personally or through their employers. The MSP plan covers basic medical in the province, and allows everyone to obtain surgery (at no additional cost) or visit […]

Today is December 4th, which means at around 9am exactly 30 days from now I’ll be aboard a plane slowly climbing out of Vancouver airport and heading towards Houston. I have a six hour layover in Houston airport, after which I’ll be boarding an evening 10.5 hour flight for Buenos Aires, Argentina, arriving around 9am in the morning there. So, a full 24 hours of traveling from airport to airport. This last month has been quite stressful. It’s one thing to move from one apartment to another, but a different experience entirely moving from one apartment to no-where. Instead of transferring items such as tenant insurance, I am instead cancelling them, and the procedures are generally more involved. Same for cable, hydro, car insurance, etc. The one thing I would have done differently is that I probably would have rented a U-haul truck and tried to get most of the […]

I’m only about a month away from leaving on my big adventure. First stop is obviously Buenos Aires, and then over to Ireland to drink one of these bad boys with Andy. After that, I really have no plans, other than to hit Serbia sometime around July. I also have some family that’s visiting China in August, so I may hit that as well. So, if you were slowly making your way around the world, where would you go? What would you want to see?

Things are moving quickly now. My apartment is about 90% packed at this point, and I’m currently cleaning like a mad man so that I can get most of my damage deposit back. I’ve already moved in with my parents for the month of December, after which I’ll be heading to Vancouver Airport and catching a plane to Buenos Aires. Everyone keeps asking me if I’m excited. Truthfully, not yet. I know I will be, but packing and moving are both a bit stressful, and I haven’t had too much time to fantasize about my first beer in Argentina yet. I’m hoping once December rolls around and I no longer have the keys to my apartment that the realization that I’m about to spend a year traveling will finally hit me. I’m going to start keeping a running tally of my traveling expenses on this site so that others can […]