Last Thursday I arrived at JFK International in NYC having absolutely no idea what to expect. Well, my first impressions of New York have me thinking, “it really is as big as everyone has said it is.” However, up to this point I’ve only spent about 4 hours in the city, as almost immediately after arriving I hopped a bus up to Philadelphia to visit my good friend David Walsh. The North East has been treating me really well so far, and if I were to sum up the trip to this point, it would be “right place, right time.” It’s not like anything extremely dramatic has happened. No I’ve not won the lottery or any all inclusive trips to
Continue Reading > 12 Comments posted: September 13th, 2010
Spending the last month in Portland has been great. I’ve been able to settle into the good kind of routine, get Overcoming the Fear of Uncertainty about 94% completed, and spend time with family and friends. However, for as much as I love being home, sometimes opportunities present themselves that are just too good to pass up. Such has been the case with the Jet Blue All You Can Fly Deal. For those of you that were living under a rock last week, this deal lets you fly as much as you want, anywhere Jet Blue travels for a month. That’s right, Location 180 is coming to you! Well, to some of you. I’ve had three trips that I’d been
Continue Reading > 18 Comments posted: August 23rd, 2010
After spending nearly 7 months in Southeast Asia, it’s safe to say that I took a LOT of photos. Thousands. Between being in a wide variety of unique places and wanting to explore my passion for photography, I spent a lot of my time in Asia first learning the basics of photography, and then exploring the technique of HDR photography. The following is a photo tour of my time in Southeast Asia. Starting with my very first day in Thailand, moving onto my month in the Philippines and finishing up with time in Bali and the Thai islands. Enjoy All of the photos in this article (except any that I’m in) were taken by me. If you want to
Continue Reading > 19 Comments posted: August 13th, 2010
If you’ve never traveled abroad (or even if you have) going from initial thought to boarding that first flight can be a really daunting task. The sad truth of the matter is that whether its the cost, uncertainty, time or whatever, many people never take that dream trip they’ve always wanted. Well that doesn’t have to be you. Taking a trip or spending a time abroad is actually much easier to do than you might expect, and with a little pre-planning you could be on the beach in Cannes or the mountains of Switzerland in no time. Here are ten of the most useful ways that I’ve found to plan and prepare for a big trip abroad: 1) Start a
Continue Reading > 7 Comments posted: August 9th, 2010
I am probably 37,000 feet up by the time you read this, so I will approve any comments and respond as soon as I land! Over the past 9 or so months I’ve been incredibly selfish. Now, I’m not saying I’ve done anything wrong, or that looking back I should have done anything differently, but the fact of the matter is that I’ve been focused only for what is best for me, with little regard for those around me. That said, just about everyone around me has been incredibly supportive of everything I’ve been doing. Even my family and close friends who have been affected the most by me quitting my job and moving to a foreign country for half
Continue Reading > 11 Comments posted: July 20th, 2010
For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to scuba dive. When I was younger I used to get incredibly jealous when my dad and uncle would leave on dive trips, and I’d have to stay at home and do fun things like go to school. Exotic places like Cozumel, Roatan and Thailand became implanted in my brain as these holy grail destinations – perhaps that’s what led me down my current path. For years, I considered the prospect of getting certified, but there were numerous road blocks that always got in my way. First off, is the proximity factor. While the Willamette Valley is a mere hour drive from the Oregon coast, the diving conditions you would find
Continue Reading > 12 Comments posted: July 17th, 2010
I feel like I’ve been doing more traveling over the last month than I had in the previous six months combined. Although I guess when I think back, I’ve been a lot of places and seen a LOT of cool stuff. Currently I’m writing from a nice bakery on the Thai island of Ko Tao. Ko Tao is without a doubt one of my favorite islands that I’ve been to thus far. A far cry from the insanity that is Koh Phi Phi, as soon as you get off the boat you can tell that this place is much more tranquil. Ko Tao is one of the dive capitals of Thailand, and I think we are probably the only people
Continue Reading > 19 Comments posted: July 12th, 2010
First off, sorry to everyone for being somewhat unresponsive over the last week! I’ve been in Bali and my free time at a computer has been pretty limited. Although, I’m sure you guys can understand my desire to have a bunch of experiences, rather than spend all of my time writing about them. Also, if you haven’t seen it, check out my recent guest post at Unclutterer. When I was younger I used to always dream of the day when I could take a lavish vacation to some place truly exotic. Places like Tahiti, Bora Bora and Bali all seemed like these far away, astronomically expensive destinations that I wouldn’t get to experience until I was of retirement age. Well,
Continue Reading > 24 Comments posted: July 1st, 2010
With all of the talk about the new iPhone 4 over the last few weeks, I’d like to review one of the most beneficial tools I’ve used on my travels: the iPod Touch with the new iOS4 (Iphone Operating System 4). The iPod Touch has always been like the Jan Brady of the Apple lineup. It never seems to get as much attention as it’s siblings Macbook Pro and Iphone. Too bad really. If you’ve been around for awhile you may remember me finally, after years of resisting, giving up my faux pod for a brand new iPod Touch. Essentially it’s turned out to be one of the best purchases of my life. Luckily I bought it when I did, because
Continue Reading > 18 Comments posted: June 24th, 2010
I’ve had a few requests over the last week from people who are curious about my interactions with Thai people while living over here. I haven’t written about this as much as I would’ve liked for a few reasons. Partially for the trivial reason of I have no idea how to spell half of the things I’d like to write about, but also because my interactions have been *fairly* limited. This isn’t necessarily by choice. With the language barrier being as difficult as it is, especially as a non-Latin language, you really have three choices for how to proceed. The first is to try to avoid the interactions altogether. I’ve met a surprising amount of people who’ve been living here for months,
Continue Reading > 12 Comments posted: April 19th, 2010
