Tag: drifter

Strange Hacks to Nomadic Travel

So I’ve been nomadic for about 3 years now, and have developed a couple hacks/things that I like to do when I’m bouncing around from place to place. I wrote down this list for myself as a reminder and am sharing it in case anyone else finds the list useful.

Technology

  • Future Flight Ticket for Forward Travel: used to get into countries, and to ship bags overseas. If you travel like me, you often don’t know where you are going to be tomorrow, let alone when you are leaving a particular country. To avoid planning, there are sites online to get you a flight ticket to show to travel authorities. Some of the sites just use photoshop to generate a fake flight ticket, while other sites pay for a flight ticket and cancel it on your behalf after a time period (different rates apply for 24-hour versus several-week periods)
  • Incognito mode for booking flights (cheaper)
  • VPN: allows access to geo-restricted content and keeps your personal information secure while using public Wi-Fi. I used it to access my sister’s HBO account in France (when they don’t have access to HBO Max) so I can watch “True Detective”
  • Google Translate: communicate with locals, read menus, scan health ingredients on products. I once had a full 45-minute conversation with my Turkish taxi driver in Istanbul through the app
  • Currency converter app: always good to stay up to date on local prices
  • Ride-sharing apps: These can be a more affordable and convenient alternative to traditional taxi services. Every place has their own version. For example: the cheapest in Asia is usually Grab or Gojek
  • Travel itinerary app: This will help you keep track of your flights, hotels, and other reservations in one place
  • Flight tracking app: helps to stay informed about flight delays and gate changes
  • Google Maps App: While in the US, Apple Maps may be more reliable, I find Google Maps to be much better abroad. A lot of my friends like MAPS.ME but I never really got into it.
  • E-sim: Extra props to you if it’s a regional pass. (ex: for all of Europe, all of Asia) I use Airalo, and have been a big fan. Really nice to get off a flight/bus/train and immediately have access to the world on my phone without having to stop by a store. While my friends are frantically looking for a 7-Eleven and trying to figure out how to activate their phones, I’m already routing myself to the nearest bakery, listening to music, and swiping through the DAPPS to meet up with a local
  • Travelers Insurance: important to have peace of mind when doing activities like surfing and skiing abroad. I have World Nomads, but other big players are SafetyWing and Allianz

Accommodation

  • Booking Hostels with Free Cancelation: used during ski season and around other events like Octoberfest, when I wanted to have flexibility with schedules but not miss out on opportunities to stay in specific areas
  • Analyze Hostelworld for looking at “how busy” hostels might be (I typically prefer hostels with more people)
  • Before booking a stay, cross-check other accommodation sites like booking.com. There are often arbitrage opportunities across the sites with prices
    • Note: You can always book the cheapest hostel, but party/hangout at the best one
    • Helps to have or make a friend who is staying at the hostel, or if the hostel has a bar that you can buy a drink at
  • When booking accommodation/hostels:
    • Look at blogs online of the best places to stay
    • Use the hostelworld app to see how many people have booked a specific place
    • Create your own ranking system for the things you care about and how to weigh the decision
    • Questions for the ranking system can include:
      • Does it have laundry machines?
      • AC?
      • How many people are in the dorm room? Note: I personally like 4-8 people. I stayed in a dorm room once with 32 beds and decided that it will never be worth the 98 cents a night saved, instead of “splurging” for a smaller room
      • How far from the city center? For most cities, I like being as close to city center as possible, but there are a couple of exceptions. E.g. in Rome I prefer the historic district, in Glasgow I prefer West Side, etc.
      • Insert other things that you care about

General Tips / Tricks

  • Bring a blender: used to make healthy smoothies and green drinks on the road. My friends and I would always travel with this when road-tripping, and whoever woke up first would make a smoothie for everyone
  • Reimbursement for Delayed Baggage
    • This can come through your credit card, Travel Insurance, or directly through the Airline itself
    • I once received 450 euros for my bag being delayed a couple of days
  • Use Starbucks / Mcdonalds for consistent wifi
  • Centralize and Decentralize valuables
    • Decentralize: Multiple credit/debit cards, but store them in different locations
    • Centralize: On travel day, have everything important (for me, that’s my drone, credit cards, passport) in the same-day bag. Never check this bag and always keep it next to you
  • When in expensive cities and looking for cheap meals, use:
    • Bakeries. They are not just desert spots and often have paninis and sandwiches
    • 7 Eleven / Spar / Tesco / Convenient store meals to go
  • When going grocery shopping, look to see if there is an “International section/shelf.” I often look for this so I can buy peanut butter
  • When in a city and craving to play music, walk into a music shop and “demo” guitars /pianos for free
  • Use walking tours as an overview of the city, opportunity to meet new people, and ability to memorize obscure facts and be an intellectual. More on that here
  • When entering a new city/place, immediately take a picture and tag your location on social media. You never know what friends / fellow travelers are in your area, and it’s always great to reconnect

Wales & Scotland

After an electric time in London, I decided it was time to take the city out of the boy and head out to Wales. Well, not fully out of the city, because I ended up staying in the Capital of Wales, Cardiff. This is a place you can skip. Even the people don’t want to be there. In their ever-friendly smiles, they tried to tell me how much of a shit hole Cardiff is. Ok, fine it’s not that bad, but definitely not a place I want to live in. Their national parks in Wales, however, are spectacular. The Brecon Beacons was incredible, and Snowdonia is a top reason why I know I need to return to Wales. Something to note: the country does make it tough to travel around. (Especially to these national parks) I highly recommend if you go, to rent a car. Linking some notes on the main bus line from Cardiff to the Brecon Beacons below. I also recommend that you do not decide to piss off the road while waiting for the bus, could make it challenging to grab your gear and flag down the driver. Not speaking from personal experience or anything.

Outside of general touristy things in Cardiff and a lot of hikes in the Brecon Beacons, my highlight was finding and absolutely demolishing a group of Welsh uni students in basketball. Did I enjoy asserting my dominance on kids 6 years younger than me? Absolutely. US 1. Wales 0.

Edit: I recently met a Welsh from Cardiff who actually likes her hometown. I’ve been told to issue a public apology for my opinions. Take this as a witness. Writing this so she does not go full Liam Neeson from “Taken” and end my always entertaining, nonsensical life.

From Wales, I took a train to Scotland, where I ended up visiting Edinburgh, Stirling, Glasgow, Glencoe, Loch Lomond, and Loch Ness. Top highlights for me were the architecture of Edinburgh, drunk conversations with Glasgow locals on politics, finding (and slaying) the monster Nessie, and the Scottish countryside.

Note to every girl I have met on my travels: No, I did not check out the filming locations of Outlander in Scotland. Sorry not sorry.

New Travel Rules I added for myself in Scotland:

  • “If you stop to listen to a musician or street performer for more than a minute, you owe them a dollar.” – Kevin Kelly
  • If you are supposed to walk up/down 3 floors or less, then take the stairs. Anything over that is acceptable for the elevator
  • Always bring a water bottle. Fuck paying a pound/euro for every meal. This might be the first thing I noticed the US is “in the right” for.

Greatest invention I saw:

On my flight from Scotland to Spain, the airline loaded up the plane from back to front. US and the rest of the world NEEDS to adopt this strategy. I don’t understand why this is not common, best practice. Yes, I know there are the Karens of the world who want to be put on the plane first, but their rationale of being “prioritized” doesn’t even make sense. Why would you even want to be in a small condensed space for longer? Loading from back to front would save so much time and increase efficiency with flight timelines. It’s a seamless process with no downsides. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

Summary:

Overall, I absolutely loved my time in Wales and Scotland. Next time I’m back, I’m trekking through Snowdonia, training the North Coast 500 (Route 66), and visiting the Isle of Skye. Peace out UK.

Directions to Brecon Beacons:

  • If you want to trek to Pen y Fan (the highest peak in South Wales), stop at Storey Arms. Read more about ways to reach Pen y Fan here

Spots in Cardiff:

  • Roath park
  • Cardiff castle
  • Cardiff bay
  • Millennium centre
  • Llandath cathedral
  • Castell Coch
  • Caerphilly castle
  • City hall

Spots in Edinburgh:

  • Arthur’s seat – extinct volcano overlooking the city
  • National Museum of Scotland
  • Edinburgh Castle
  • Camera Obscura and World of Illusions
  • Palace of Holyroodhouse
  • Royal Mile
  • Calton Hill
  • Inchcolm Abbey and Island
  • Meadows
  • Leith
  • Royal Botanic Garden
  • Michelin starred restaurant Martin Wishart
  • Portobello Beach
  • Sneaky Petes

First Time Over the Pond

So I’ve been traveling Europe for >2 months now and decided to look back at my notes I took during my first country abroad in Europe: Ireland. These notes were taken in pubs, on trains, buses, and at 3am, so please dont judge me too much…

  • Steering wheel on the opposite side. Driving on the opposite side. They’re driving wrong! OR PARADIGM SHIFT (#thanksStevenCovey for teaching me that word) we are driving wrong…
  • Outlets are different here. Found out that Ireland and UK share an outlet type, and the rest of Europe has a whole different outlet. Had to buy an adapter for all my tech shit.
  • I’m not from America, I’m from the States. There are ALOT of countries in America
  • Irish girls are cute (or maybe its just the people visiting…or maybe its just any accent besides the typical American…or maybe I’m just drunk)
  • Like NYC, can’t get into clubs without nice pants. Joggers are called track suits here, and do not work
  • Locals are confused what I meant when I asked if there was “pickup” games for sports like football (soccer) – sad, I really wanted to jump in on their 5-a-side footsie games, which all seem to be regulated and part of different leagues
  • Getting the feeling that I will think US cities are boring after traveling across Europe. There is just so much more history, cool old shit, and building designs here.
  • Trinity College reminds me of Princeton’s campus
  • St. Patricks Cathedral and Book of Kells are dope
  • Music is interesting
    • About 30% of their “big hit” songs played in the club I’ve never heard of
    • Don’t judge me for being pretentious, but I kinda feel like there is a delay with music hits here and they are a little outdated. A lot of the pubs, hostels, and public areas don’t play recent hit songs, but hit songs from 5-15 years ago. Its like visiting my Mother or Grandma and seeing that they are still using VCRs and DVD players haha
    • After spending more than a week in Ireland, I’ve now decided that bar/club music can be described as basic white boy – if you can play Mr. Brightside, Sweet Caroline, and Country Roads you have the creative right to play in any bar from Dublin to Galway
  • I’m creating a new rule for myself to hold off on booking several days for a place at once. (I had this fear of not finding a hostel, but I think its worth the risk) There is so much to see in Ireland but I’m strapped to returning (at least at night) now to Dublin for 5 days. Think I could’ve done Dublin in 2-3 days no problem.
    • EDIT: It was definitely worth staying in Dublin for 5 days. Met a lot of really cool people and did some amazing day trips during days 3-5. But I still agree with this idea of booking places only for a few days at first, and extending as needed
  • Best way to get a list of places is to talk to the locals. Not “top 10” lists on Google. If you have to resort to online lists, check Reddit, as its written by people and there’s no paid posts or sponsorships
  • Funneist line I heard in Ireland:
    • Irishman speaking to me: “so where you from, lad?”
    • Englishman: “He’s from the land where they play rugby, but for pussies.”
    • Irishman: “Ah, America! And you all don’t even call it the right name, you fake footballers”
  • Just walking down Grafton or Camden street can inspire anyone to dust off their guitar or keyboard and get practicing
  • It’s called “takeaway” here and not take out. Guess they are similar enough.
  • Places are open way later than US typical bars, and food options are plenty once bars close. Some of the places do have a 10% late night charge after midnight however
  • They’re called toilets here, not washroom or bathroom. Makes sense, no need to sugarcoat things
  • I’m unsure how I feel about the “typical tourist.” Yes I’m a tourist myself. But I want to do more than just visit a place. I want to immerse myself in it. Speak the language, eat the food, blend in. I don’t see how throwing paint on your face, waving the Irish flag, and acting like a leprechaun at a bar crawl makes you any more Irish. But if you’re having a good time, I guess at the end of the day, you do you. Your happiness is definitely not dictated by my own private condescending notations, that often times can be quite hypocritical in and of themselves
  • If hotels and hostels were the same price, nay, even if hostels were more expensive, I’d still prefer them. The serendipity of meeting and making new friends is part of the essential travel practice. The lobby, bar, kitchen, and game rooms are awesome ways to meet people
  • They say river ____, not river ____. Fox River in Illinois would be pronounced “River Fox” in Ireland
  • If you go to the Aran Islands AND DO NOT rent a bike, you are…how can I put this nicely…the type of human being who orders Chipotle but does not put guac on their burrito. Yes, it’ll cost ya a lil. But it will enhance your life immensely.
  • Tip for Cliffs of Moher: Busses and tour guides typically arrive every two hours. On those two hour marks, old people leave and new people arrive. It is herein that lies the golden opportunity of 15-45mins. SKIP a bus ride. Honestly this should be a no brainer. I could spend a whole day there hiking to both ends, checking out their visitor center, and taking a nap on the edge, yet everyone I meet is only there for 1-2 hours. And I get it, you’re only in Ireland for so long, there is so much cool stuff to see, blah blah. But hear me out…if you skip a bus ride, you get the time it takes for the old people to leave and the new people to get to your spot of isolation. That moment, typically between 15-45mins, is pure bliss to me. NO ONE walking by, NO One in sight, (if you pick the right spots) it’s just you, the seagulls, and the cliffs. As long as you don’t give in to the call of the void, I think it’s an experience worth having.
  • Booking group bus tours to get to a set of destinations in Ireland are honestly quite affordable. I’ve found that if you were to take public transportation to all of the destination, and added in the cost of entry to see the national monuments/castles/cool shit, you are basically only paying a couple extra euro. All of that for an experienced tour guide who drives you around from spot to spot, tells you when to leave, and where to go / what to do? As long as it’s not my Mom, sign me up.
    • Another reason why these group bus tours are fun: you never know who you might meet. In my first bus tour to Castles and the Blarney Stone, I met a group of 9 friends from Atlanta who were just the sweetest humans ever and decided to adopt my hobo ass into their group. Not only did we have a blast hanging out in Dublin the next couple days, but I think there is a chance I’m going to travel with them in the future.
  • Got a job offer from this hostel in Belfast, Northern Ireland to work there if I ever decide to come back. Nice to know that if all else goes wrong, my friend Diego has got my back