My annoying-on-paper flight from Buffalo to Charlotte to Miami to Lima to Montevideo went about as smoothly as I could have hoped. My Lima to Montevideo flight was scheduled to take off at 11:59pm, but we ended up watching fireworks from the runway for a few minutes before taking off. It was interesting to see New Years from the sky, and fireworks aren’t really shot very high. Continue reading I like looking at everything from far away, except you. →

After a few days of night buses, uncomfortable camel rides, and cold desert tents, I was looking forward to sleeping at a normal time in a normal bed again. Entering Essaouira was like entering a twilight zone – not a single person talked to us as we walked through the markets complete with our backpacks and suitcases. Very pleasant. It seems being left alone is all that is necessary for me to like a place these days. Continue reading Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here? →

From Porto, I took the train down the Lisbon, but went directly to Sinta for the weekend. The town is 40 minutes outside the city center towards the coast. Very touristy place, but more space to hike around and see some palaces, castles, coasts, and beautiful homes. Rumor has it that Madonna just bought a place here, so how bad could it be? Continue reading We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place, we stay there, even though we go away. →

After a few days in the hostel in San Jose, it was time to start making my way towards Panama. There were a couple people also going in that direction, so I had some sustained social interaction from place to place over the next week. The first stop on that trip was Puerto Viejo, which is on the Atlantic coast in Costa Rica. Continue reading Fear is not real. The only place that fear can exist is in our thoughts of the future. →

Why wait? I figured I’d start the year in a new place, so to Costa Rica I went. With a few days before my family arrived, I stayed in San Jose for a couple days, which isn’t nearly as bad as people said it was. Stayed in the University Area and there were a couple very nice hostels. Mostly people landing and then leaving in the morning, but the WiFi was good, so that’s fine by me. Continue reading See, here I am now by myself, talking to myself. That’s Chaos Theory! →

I flew into Portland for a little vacation on my way to Seattle this time to see if it lived up to the show’s hype, and it more or less did. Hipster, but not as comically so of course. But it’s the land of craft beers and not real jobs and tattoos, as far as I can tell. Continue reading I guess people are just cropping out all the sadness →

A lovely 9 hour night bus ride along twists and turns got me to Pochutla. I took a shared taxi to Puerto Angel, then a taxi from there to Mazunte, where I plan to stay for at least a couple days. It’s supposed to be a lazy beach area. I only paid 65 pesos, unlike those suckers who paid 150 at the bus station and didn’t get to walk through Pochutla or Puerto Angel.

Continue reading A half full moon in Mexico City I think of you →

I haven’t been cafe-ing as much, plus there aren’t as many opportunities to do it. But I did find a good one in Oaxaca so I feel I should mention it. It’s Café Los Cuiles, and I had breakfast here as well as some famous Oaxacan hot chocolate (made with cinnamon), and partook of their lovely setup and fast WiFi. Let’s be honest, I really just like the fast WiFi.

Continue reading A city of treasure buried beneath a sky of curses →

The first night I went to Charlie’s Bar with a guy from my hostel in Sarajevo, which was fun. The next night I went to Caffe Bar Mosquito to have some coffee, a beer, and get some work done. Similar to Iceland in that their coffee shops turn into bars, which is kind of cool. I’m mostly working, so not a whole lot of sightseeing is accomplished each day. Continue reading Even Beethoven had his critics. See if you can name three of them. →

Closed out the Ring Road in preparation for the boat trip to Denmark. It was a lot of coastline driving, and we drove up into the foggy mountains for a bit as well. Very nice landscapes, etc, and then eventually made it to Seydisfjordur a bit early so we could relax before the trip. Continue reading Don’t just stand there, kill something! →

After picking dad up at the airport around 7am, we had about 2 hours to burn before we could go to the Blue Lagoon.  I decided to drive the peninsula the long way and check out the coastline, and then we arrived in Grindavik and got coffee while we waited.  The owner of the coffee shop, Bryggjan, was as nice as he was adverse to putting vowels in the name of his business.  He gave us some local tips to see some cool things. Continue reading We’re still pioneers, we’ve barely begun. Our greatest accomplishments cannot be behind us. →

Reykjavik is a small city with a townish feel, so it’s not as if there’s an absolute ton to do here. So I’ve predominately spent my time working, actually getting things done on time that is, and almost getting ahead a bit as I look to do more traveling over the next few weeks.  Don’t want to start that from behind.  So this is largely a story of working in Reykjavik. Continue reading I do not allow that a being gifted with thought and will can allow himself to despair →

Finally Saturday came, meaning it was time to take my tour to Giants Causeway.  It’s a hexagonal formation of layered basalt due to volcanic a long time ago.  But as I’ve figured out with these tours at this point, they make you see other things too.

Game of Thrones is shot in Titanic Studios (right next to the museum I was in earlier in the week) and also throughout a lot of Ireland that we visited on this tour.  I’ve only seen one episode, but a lot of people were really into it.  So now I can say I’ve been where Game of Thrones is filmed at least. Continue reading You know nothing, Jon Snow! →