Tips Posts

Intertropical Convergence Zone

Tips

On my original flight from Houston to Buenos Aires I commented on the fact that we hit some turbulence near the equator. It was probably about 2am for me and I was a bit groggy from ativan, so I didn’t really take too much notice. But I thought at the time that it may be related to crossing from the nothern hemisphere down to the southern hemisphere. Sure enough, there’s a region of unstable air around the equator called the Intertropical Convergence Zone which often causes turbulence for flights crossing between the two hemispheres. Sometimes the turbulence isn’t so bad, but I’ve read reports of some flights having nearly six hours of turbulence on crossings. When I hit the open skies again in about two weeks, I’ll hopefully be able to sleep through the transition. I actually have a little vial of “happy traveler” pills, including a few anti-anxiety pills […]

Plans For April

Preparation

I’ve been busy making plans for April. I haven’t pulled the trigger yet on most of it, but I’ve done a preliminary timetable and the budget works. So this is what it’s looking like. March 31 – April 5 – New York City, USA April 6 – April 10 – Shannon & Limerick, Ireland April 11 – April 15 – Edinburgh, Scotland April 15 – April 17 – Dublin, Ireland April 17 – April 21 – London outskirts, England April 21 – April 26 – Paris, France There’s a bit of bouncing around there, but I’m coordinating meeting up with a few other people, and that’s how it has to happen to work. For example, I’m meeting up with my friend Tanya in Dublin, and my old roommate from university, Jerome, in Paris. I also am trying to stay put during the weekdays so I can get some work done, […]

Crime In Buenos Aires, Argentina

Tips

One of the biggest questions people always ask me about Buenos Aires is whether or not it is a safe city. Buenos Aires has an international reputation (at least lately) of being riddled with petty crime. Prior to coming here, I did quite a few scans on the internet and there is no shortage of sites talking about people’s personal experiences with crime in Buenos Aires. In fact, many of the locals talk about it like getting something stolen is almost a rite of passage in this city. Upon landing in the city for the first time, you’re immediately bombarded with stores covered in iron bars and graffiti as far as the eye can see. On the surface, it definitely looks like a potentially unsafe city, at least compared to cities back home. But what’s the reality of the situation? The Publishing Bias In university research there’s a term called […]

Money, Credit Cards, The Safe and a Passport

Tips

One of the hard parts of traveling around is deciding what to bring with you and what to leave behind. That’s relevant before your adventures, and it’s also relevant while you’re traveling. Despite Buenos Aires having a relatively high petty crime rate, I spent my first week and a half here walking around with my wallet in my back pocket and basically every piece of ID and financial card in there as well. It wasn’t until I lost my bank card a few days later that I started to really think about the stupidity of carrying everything I have on my person at all times. So, I’ve made a few changes, and here are the results. My Wallet I’ve basically taken everything of importance out of my wallet and stuck it in the apartment safe. That includes my British Columbia ID, my credit cards, health cards, and the majority of […]

Journey To The End Of The World

ArgentinaPreparation

Well, I just did it – I booked a trip to Ushuaia, Argentina, the southern most city on the entire planet. I was originally going to go to Machu Picchu during that time slot, but once I learned that the southern most Irish pub in the world was in Ushuaia and that St. Patrick’s Day would align with the day I arrived, the decision became easy. As you can see from the above map, Ushuaia is about as far south as you can get on the planet, other than Antarctica of course. In fact, many of the ships that go to Antarctica leave from Ushuaia. If I had more time, I would consider making the journey there, but I’m content on this trip simply to enjoy Ushuaia. To save a bit of cash I’ll be staying in the Antarctica Hostel. I picked the Antarctica Hostel because it has stellar reviews […]

Budgeting For A Big Adventure

Tips

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, testing out the WiFi. There was a group of four middle-aged individuals from New York sitting on a couch next to me talking in english. So, I said hey (english people here tend to gravitate towards […]

Save Money By Traveling The World: Update 1

ArgentinaTips

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 will), I am interested to see just how different a full year of exotic travel is in terms of costs from my lifestyle back in North America. In terms of flights, I’ve decided to only include the one-way […]

My Camera Just Isn’t Cutting It

PhotographyTips

This was one of the things I was afraid of. About six months ago I decided to sell off most of my camera gear. Part of that decision was due to the fact that if I was going to go on this trip I would need more money, and my camera gear represented a significant investment ($5,000+) that I could tap into. I could always buy another camera, but I may not always be able to do a trip like this. The second was that I was originally planning on traveling with just a backpack, and there really wouldn’t be any room for a big SLR or lenses. About a month before I left for Buenos Aires, I decided it would probably be smart to bring along a little suitcase of stuff as well. Since I’m in Buenos Aires for three months, and I have a full apartment, there was […]

Montevideo Trip Planning

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The country of Uruguay is just a short ferry ride away from Buenos Aires. It’s always been on my list of things to see while I’m down in Argentina, but I didn’t have any definite plans in my mind for when I would go over. Usually people go over to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay, since it’s just a short ferry ride away. However, an even greater adventure is the city of Montevideo, which is at least a 2.5 hour ferry ride away from Buenos Aires (if you take the fast ferry, longer if you take the slow ferry). So this weekend I’ve decided to head over to Montevideo with Gus and Russ. We’ve paid for a full tour, which includes both ferry rides, a lunch, and a full day of walking. Here’s a rough itinerary. 5:45am – wake up! 6:15am – head to the ferry port 6:30am – check […]

Bye Bye Bank Card Birdie

Tips

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. At some level I’m almost relieved that it’s out of the way. Somehow yours truly lost his bank card today. I made two trips to the bank today, one to HSBC near Alto Palermo and one to CitiBank. At HSBC I took out 1000 pesos and at CitiBank I did the same. I made it back home, did some work, then went to a little coffee shop where I read for an hour or so. When I got home from there I opened my wallet, and was surprised that my bank card wasn’t in it. I actually have every other card in the safe in my apartment, but because I had gone to the bank earlier I had taken it out. Normally when I use it I put it right back into my wallet again, so it was surprisingly to me […]