I have a ritual which I enjoy doing every few months; go through all my things and downsize. This is part of my ongoing efforts to be a minimalist; buy what I need and fight temptation as much as I can for things I want. I’ve already downsized a few times and I’m at a point where I just can’t…
Category: RTW Backpacking
Gear/preparations/thoughts related to my RTW trip
Sick of paying “Stupid Tax”
By “Stupid Tax”, I mean losing money by not doing things efficiently. Of course, hindsight is 20/20. 1. Bought a $100 plane ticket in Brazil that I cannot use (Sao Paulo – Porto Alegre) because I had to change my plans for the visa application. The embassy needed proof I am leaving Brazil. I couldn’t…
How I feel at the start of every trip I take
It always takes me a little while to get used to the whole backpacking thing all over again. It doesn’t matter how much travelling I’ve done in the past. Initially, I always feel a little homesick, a little turned off by noisy hostels (they were blasting music in the next door attached-bar until 11 pm),…
Planning for South America
The last 2 weeks have been spent planning my upcoming trip to South America. Most of the trip is pretty straightforward except for the Galapagos Islands cruise and my stay in Brazil. I’ll elaborate more on this later. Where as I traveled in Europe, Africa, and Asia mostly using ground transportation, I will mostly be flying…
End of the road for now.
I landed in LA on 14th of April and got back to Austin TX on the 19th after spending a few days in LA and San Francisco. I remember walking outside Dublin International Airport and thinking, “How the hell do I get to my hostel?” At that moment, Dublin felt like the largest place in…
So what now?…
*This was written in Andong, South Korea on April 6th 2011 @ 9:15 pm. I was in Hanoi, debating for days on whether or not: 1. To go to China 2. Skip China, fly to Hong Kong 3. Skip China and Hong Kong, fly to South Korea 4. Skip all of them and fly straight…
Short update.
I returned to Phnom Penh for a few days after Sihanoukville before deciding to go to Saigon. On the bus, I met a girl who invited me to her friend’s Cambodian wedding in a village in Svay Rieng so I decided to hop off midway through my trip and go check it out. I arrived…
Short Update…
Just reached Ahmedabad (Gujerat region) after a 17-18 hour bus ride from Aurangabad (where I visited some awesome caves). Sorry for lack of updates, I’m working on it but haven’t had much writing inspiration lately and outside of Mumbai, the internet (and computers at cyber cafes) hasn’t been stellar.
Short Update…
I’m currently in Mumbai, India. Today, I saw lots of security (police + commandos) near the area I’m staying at. I found out President Obama is visiting this Saturday. And I later realized, the hotel he will be visiting, the Taj Mahal, was the site of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. I walked past it…
Short update…
It’s Monday, October 25th 2010 4:21 pm as I type this up. I am currently in Arusha, northern Tanzania. I signed up for the single most expensive portion of my trip today; an African safari. Hope it goes well and I’m not ripped off, as I had to do a bunch of safari shopping this…