I recently discovered the pleasures of long-distance hiking (I have always enjoyed day hikes) and completed a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2019. I hope to add the Pacific Crest Trail, Camino de Santiago and some other long trails in the future.
Comparing My Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hikes
In 2019, I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) and in 2022, I thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). I wrote summary posts for both of those hikes and I thought it might be interesting to do a post comparing my experiences on both trails.
Try this Free Long-Distance Hike (Thru-Hike) Tracking Tool
I created a spreadsheet to track any long-distance hike. Here's what it can do and how you can use it for your own hikes for free.
Analyzing My Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) Thru-Hike — Expenses and Statistics
In 2022, I thru-hiked the PCT. Here is a summary of my hike and expenses, with lots of statistics and charts.
I am always on the hunt for tips and tricks to travel better (find cheaper flights, stay safe on the road, etc.)
Digital Camera Buying Guide: Everything You Need to Know
Buying the perfect digital camera is tough because there are so many good choices. Here is everything you need to know to make the best purchase.
What to Pack: The Ultimate Travel Packing List and Custom List Generator
Travel packing depends on your lifestyle, your destination, your planned activities and the amount of time you will be traveling. Here is a comprehensive travel packing list with 300+ items that should cover most travel situations. The idea is not to pack every item listed here but rather to create a customized list for each trip you take, while hopefully getting occasional “oh, I didn’t … [ Read more ]
Staying Connected in Japan: Phone and Internet Options for Your Trip to the Land of the Rising Sun
I’ve lived a year in Japan and visited multiple times since then. I really love the country, its people and the culture. But, while Japan has long been considered an example of high-tech progress and advanced mobile communications infrastructure, the reality on the ground is quite different, at least from a foreign visitor’s perspective. In fact, while they practically give away prepaid SIM cards in … [ Read more ]
I'm an avid reader and I like to collect quotations that inspire or educate. I do that for my business site and I do it for travel as well. I actually have collected a great many quotations but I have only recently started adding them to the site so check back regularly for more.
Ryū Murakami
Every one of a hundred thousand cities around the world had its own special sunset and it was worth going there, just once, if only to see the sun go down.
Glenn Clark
If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears.
As I explore my own digital nomad life, I learn useful tips and tricks to be more effective and efficient.
What Every Traveler and Digital Nomad Needs to Know about Passwords
Last Updated: October 13, 2023 (originally published December 6, 2019) A password is often the foundation which supports your digital privacy efforts. The way you approach passwords, as with everything privacy related, is a tradeoff of convenience and security. The key things to understand about passwords are their strengths and weaknesses, how to store and use them, and how to create good ones. It’s also good to … [ Read more ]
150+ WordPress Plugins to Take Your Blog to the Next Level
You are probably using some WordPress plugins already, but perhaps you are missing out on some others that can improve your site and blogging skills considerably. That’s understandable since there are so many thousands to choose from and since there are some great plugins that do things you didn’t even know you might want to or be able to do. Here is a list of … [ Read more ]
How to Choose the Best Web Hosting for Your WordPress Blog or Website
Choosing a web hosting company is either fairly easy or a big headache depending on the number and type of sites you want to host and the specifics of your technical requirements. Factors will include amount of traffic, CPU and memory requirements (based on traffic, but also on how optimized your site is), how much disk space and bandwidth you need (hosting tons of photos, … [ Read more ]
I am mildly obsessed with street art and try to get photos of it everywhere I go.
Street Art: Singapore
Continuing to highlight my fascination with street art of all kinds, here are photos I took in Singapore. If you are interested in visiting this city state, check out my detailed Singapore travel guide. [embed-google-photos-album link="https://photos.app.goo.gl/AkaRaaVUUfCEF78L7" slideshow-delay=4]
Street Art: Vienna, Austria
Continuing to highlight my fascination with street art of all kinds, here are photos I took in Vienna, which turns out to be one of the best cities for such art that I have visited (other tops spots include: Valparaíso and Santiago, Chile; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Rio de Janeiro and Salvador da Bahia, Brazil; Bogotá, Colombia; Madrid, Spain; … [ Read more ]
Street Art: Paraguay
Continuing to highlight my fascination with street art of all kinds, here are photos I took in Paraguay back in late 2011. I never got around to posting them back then so here goes. [embed-google-photos-album link="https://photos.app.goo.gl/SpyEqCYXwcvRwHPF9" slideshow-delay=4]
There are many great blogs out there for eye-candy and useful information about travel destinations so I don't focus on this very often, but I do have a few hopefully useful posts, including my budget breakdowns for Central America and South America
Three Weeks in Northern Laos: An Itinerary and Budget Breakdown
I recently spent three weeks traveling around Northern Laos. Here is my itinerary, some notes and travel tips and my budget breakdown.
Getting from Huay Xai or Luang Namtha to Chiang Mai (Laos to Thailand)
Getting from Luang Namtha, Laos to Chiang Mai, Thailand is not as straightforward as it might seem and can be a challenge to do in one day. Here are your transportation options.
Singapore Travel Guide
Singapore is a clean, green and modern city with a surprisingly large number of things to see and do. Here is my guide for what you need to know to make the most of your visit, including recommended sights, and information about transportation options, budgeting, how long to visit, staying connected, food options and more.
Over the years I have studied Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, and Thai. I don't write frequently on this topic, but I do run two resource sites, one for learning Spanish and one for learning Japanese. I also have written a very extensive overview of how to learn a language
How to Create an Anki Deck from a Google Sheets Spreadsheet
Last Updated: July 18, 2020 I have used Anki for years. It is a very popular and powerful program with an active community. Although one of Anki’s most useful features is the ability to download study material created by others in the community, you will probably want to create your own study materials. You can do so by creating new entries directly in Anki, but if … [ Read more ]
Thoughts on Learning the Thai Language after One Year
“Everyday, Thais see me studying Thai, reading books in Thai, writing Thai, etc. And they always ask, ‘is it fun to learn Thai?’ And I tell them, ‘NO, it ain’t fun and it hasn’t been fun even a single day of learning this language.’ In fact, early on I’d rather have teeth pulled without anesthetic any day of the week than invest more time studying … [ Read more ]
