Destinations Posts

A Few Photos Depicting Argentina Scenery

Argentina

In 2011 I spent three months living in the beautiful country of Argentina in South America. I enjoyed my trip so much that in 2012 I went back and spent another two months there. From the steaks and tango in Buenos Aires, to the vineyards of Mendoza, to the rolling hills and epic landscape of Patagonia, the Argentina scenery all around the country is absolutely amazing. If you’re thinking about taking a trip to South America, then definitely make sure you visit Argentina, one of the prettiest countries that I’ve ever been to. It’s also a great place to eat steak, if you’re a meat eater. Here are a few of the photos I took during my two trips representing some of the beautiful Argentina scenery. All in all, I had an amazing five months in Argentina, with the highlight being a four day trip to Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost […]

Reggae Mansion Hostel Review In Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

I was originally looking for a hostel on the internet that was central to Kuala Lumpur and also had a view of the Petronas Towers. Eventually I found the highly rated Reggae Mansion hostel, which had an amazing roof-top bar with views of the KL Tower and the Petronas. Without a doubt, my stay at the hostel was the highlight of my trip to Kuala Lumpur. After the first night of drinking, most of us quickly became friends in the hostel, often eating together and heading out in the evenings together. Down the street from the establishment is an actual reggae bar, so most of us would head down there in the evenings for some drinks and dancing. The hostel is massive – inside is a full restaurant, countless dorm rooms, hallways full of private rooms, laundry facilities, and even a 20-30 seat movie theatre which shows two movies a […]

Visiting Machu Picchu in Peru

Peru

It has been a long-time dream of mine to finally visit Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas. I actually tried several times over the last few years, but somehow never made it to the ruins. I even bought a plane ticket earlier this year from Vancouver to Cuzco, Peru, but ended up not being able to go due to work commitments. Since I’ve been living in Brasil for the last month with my girlfriend, we decided it would be a good opportunity to finally visit Peru and Machu Picchu. A Few Days In Cuzco Most people who visit Machu Picchu initially have a stop in Cuzco, a medium-sized city approximately one hour by airplane from Lima. For a city of about 300,000 people, the downtown core feels surprisingly small, and easy to navigate by foot. Driving around the city on the other hand can be a bit scary […]

First Day In Peru: A Casual Day Around Cuzco

Peru

Luciana and I headed to the airport around 1am last night, with plans to catch a flight at 3:50am for Lima. Obviously that’s not an ideal flight time, but since it was heavily discounted we thought we could live with it. Another reason we booked that particular flight is that it was with TAM airlines, and they happen to be with Star Alliance. Since I’m going for Gold Status this year with Star Alliance, I welcomed the chance to get 6,000 more miles with them. Unfortunately when we got to the airport, TAM told us that we had to go over to LAN’s counter and check-in with them. I said I was confused because the tickets we had clearly said they were for TAM, even though the flight was operated by LAN Peru. The end result of this 15 minute discussion is that all my efforts to book with a […]

Peru Bound: Finally

Peru

I few months ago I blogged about the fact that I had finally purchased a ticket to go to Peru and see Machu Picchu. Unfortunately due to the launch of WPtouch Pro 3, I wasn’t able to go at the time, and ended up tossing a $1,000 plane ticket in the garbage since Expedia wouldn’t give me a refund. All in all though the launch was a big success, so I can’t really complain. Sacrifices like that are part of owning your own business, and why I personally don’t feel as guilty when I enjoy a bit of relaxation time when things occasionally slow down for a while. Now that I’m finally back in South America, Luciana and I decided it would be an opportune time to visit Peru and ultimately Machu Picchu. We have a flight out of Sao Paulo at 3:50am (ouch), but that means we’ll be in […]

Five Weeks of Travel in São Paulo, Brazil

Brazil

I’m currently down in São Paulo, Brazil, living with my girlfriend Luciana in her apartment in Vila Leopoldina. The original plan was to spend two or three months here exploring Sao Paulo, and then eventually head to Europe to continue on with our travel adventures. Our plans have changed somewhat though in that Luciana is now able to travel sooner than she would have originally been able to. So we’ve decided to accelerate our plans slightly, first by heading on a trip to Machu Picchu tomorrow, and second by heading to Europe in just a few weeks. I’ll be heading back to Canada on August 8th to see some friends and some family, and then I’ll be heading to Madrid to meet Luciana. She’s forced to stay back in Brazil for an exam for her MBA, but we’ll meet up shortly after that. In terms of São Paulo, my main […]

Homemade Fresh Salsa Recipe

BrazilFood & Drink

One of the hardest parts of traveling to remote countries is that it is not always easy to find some of the foods you enjoy the most back home. That in itself presents a great opportunity for exploring new foods, but let’s face it: sometimes it’s nice to have some tried and true comfort food. A good example of that for me is mexican food. It’s probably my favourite cuisine, and it was pretty rare that we didn’t have tacos at least weekly in my household growing up. Unfortunately in many parts of the world I’ve been in, finding mexican salsa can be a real pain. Even if you can find it (like here in Brazil), it’s an imported item that can easily cost $10 for a small container’s worth. Thankfully making fresh salsa at home is a pretty easy task, and one that I’ve performed a few times over […]

My Three Week Tour of North America

Canada

In just three days, I’ll be heading to the airport again on what will undoubtedly be a great tour of North America. I’m meeting Luciana in Toronto, and her and I will slowly make our way via train to Québec City. From there we are going to head back to Ottawa for a weekend, then off to Banff, Lake Louise and hopefully Jasper. After a brief stop in Vancouver, we’re going to head down to San Francisco for some San Francisco Giants baseball action, and hopefully a few winery tours. Many of the places we are heading to are places I haven’t spent much time in. While I’ve driven through Québec City before, I have never spent any time there and am looking forward to wandering the streets with Luciana (plus I need to get my yearly poutine fix in Québec). I also have never been to Napa Valley before, […]

Upcoming Trip To Peru

Peru

I was sort of hoping to keep this trip a secret, but enough people know now that it doesn’t seem to make any sense to not talk about it anymore (basically, I suck at secrets). While I have been to South America twice now, there is one destination there that I have never been able to make happen on my previous trips – I have always wanted to visit Peru, and in particular Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas (now found, thankfully). So I decided to finally plan a trip to Peru. I’ve also aligned the trip to coincide exactly with my birthday, which will be a nice change from my normal birthday (which I usually always try to make rather quiet, but ends up usually involving shooters and a hangover). Machu Picchu is one of the New Wonders of the World, and it’ll be the 4th one […]

Australia Bound

Australia

While there is still a great deal of world left for me to explore, I have to admit that I’ve managed to see many of the places I was really hoping to over these last few years. In the last 18 months I’ve visited Argentina, Uruguay, New York City, Ireland, Scotland, Oahu (Hawaii), Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Bali (Indonesia), South Africa, England, New Zealand, Brazil, Malta, Italy, France and Serbia. I also did a few trips around Canada, including Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, and Montreal. This year I really only had two goals in terms of where I wanted to visit. The first one is Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas, located near the city of Cusco in Peru. The second place I really wanted to visit this year is Australia. My friend Vanesa (from Buenos Aires) has been telling me for years what an amazing place it is, so […]