TravelingShorts.com

Past Couple of Months in Review

brupm — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 16:20:10 -0400

I wanted to highlight 5 of my favorite posts from the past couple of months:

Hope you enjoy!

Where We've Been

brupm — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 14:15:00 -0400

As expected, our trip has changed shape a couple times. We have only been planning about 1-2 weeks in advance, sometimes less. This is easy to do when you are open to all forms of accommodations. The Eurail pass helps as well as we can decide to pickup and leave whenever, oftentimes without even needing even a reservation. The following is a list of all the places we visited during our trip and day-trips we took from each location.

Our Itinerary over the last couple months.

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Coming Back Home

brupm — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 12:55:31 -0400

We are returning to South Florida after 5 months of travel for a short break before we spend a couple more weeks on the road. This trip has taught me a lot about life and I am really glad to have been able to spend the time traveling, seeing friends and family and enjoying new experiences. I really needed some time off to recharge my batteries after 10 years of uninterrupted work. I feel ready to tackle the new challenges ahead. I am not yet sure where we are going to live, or what ventures I’ll get involved in, but whatever it is I am ready to kick ass.

Out of all the places we visited, I would have to say my favorite ones were Asheville, La Palma, Sevilla, Toulouse and Berlin. Our budget averaged at around $70 day per person, just under what we had planned. I grew to hate my backpack even more as time went on, and I have to say I am pretty tired of wearing the same clothes over and over. Our bags are about 30% lighter than when we started, last week they weighted in a 15 kilos each, just over 30 pounds.

An experience like this is really a once in a lifetime sort of thing.

Some Stats.:

4500+ Pictures
16 Countries
About 35 Cities
About 65 Train Rides

She was posing for me, so I couldn’t help but to snap a couple shots.

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Where We've Slept

brupm — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 12:02:16 -0400

In the past six months we have sleep in (in no particular order):

Hotel (1 thru 5 stars)
Friend’s and family houses
Hostel
Hostal
Tent at a campground
Mobile home at a campground
Train seats
Train sleeper car (2, 3, 4, and 6 person sleepers)
Ferry
Airplane
Bed and Breakfast
Rented apartment

Some of those accommodations were booked in advance, some were not. We spent about 40% of our nights in a campground, another 20% split between hotel/hostal/hostel, 10% in rented apartments, 15% with friends and family and the last 15% divided amongst the rest.

Some nights were very comfortable, others not so much. We have stayed at campground complexes that offered anything you could possibly want, even excellent restaurants. Overnight train rides can be though, we’ve had good nights and then a tight sleeper with no air conditioning and 90 degree temperatures. Sometimes Paula and I were separated in the sleeper trains, other times we were together.

Hostels are usually very centrally located, but you have no privacy. Campgrounds are normally out in the middle of nowhere, but they usually have a lot to offer and are very inexpensive. We’ve camped in beach, rural and urban areas. We pretty much mastered the public transportation system of any of the cities we visited. A lot of times I hated camping, other times I enjoyed it.

Staying with friends and family is a real treat, so is a nice hotel. We couldn’t have traveled 5 months without a budget conscious mix of accommodations thought. Not only was it healthy for the budget but it also made us appreciate things a lot more. There is something to be said about not being jaded by the norm.

Ciao Italy, Hello Greece

brupm — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 18:07:04 -0400

Today we embark in what will likely be one of the most difficult and unpredictable legs of the entire trip. We are leaving from Sorrento, Italy to Athens, Greece in something like an amazing race. From Sorrento we take a train to Napoli, then to Benevento, then Foggia then another one to Bari. From Bari we must get from the train station to the port, take a 16 hour ferry to Patras. Once we arrive in Patras we go from the port to the train station and then take a train to Athens. Once in Athens we’ll take the metro to the apartment we rented in the city. The whole trip should take no more than 30 hours.

One of the reasons we are making this cumbersome route is to use our Eurail pass to the fullest. The pass was very expensive and it gives us most of the trips mentioned above for free. A sane person would have just taken a car from Sorrento to the Naples airport and then a flight to Athens. That’s just too easy.

Italy was incredible. We spent just short of 2 weeks from Venice to Sorrento with stops in Cinque Terre, Siena, and Rome. The food was pretty incredible and the people were nice and helpful. Transportation is not as exact as say Germany or Switzerland but who would expect that. My ancestors are from Italy and I have always wanted to come. I can say it was everything I expected it to be. The fresh seafood, incredible pastas and deliciously fresh seasonal ingredients made my day.

I am not sure what to expect of Greece but I am looking forward to a little relaxation. Italy was packed full of attractions and sightseeing. After Athens I am looking forward to spending a couple days in Mykonos relaxing by the beach. That is if we ever make it there :)

Tuscany

brupm — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 07:10:21 -0400

We camped at the awesome camping Colleverde in Siena.

We hiked to the top of the Siena Cathedral and got an amazing view of the city.

We tasted wine inside a cave at Enoteca Italiana.

We drank some delicious coffee (Caffé Lungo Macchiato)

We enjoyed a great Jazz band inside a fortress.

We relaxed under the leaning tower of Pisa.

We visited Florence and its world wonder cathedral.

We took a beautiful scenic route from Siena to Chiusi and then Rome.

Tuscany is incredible!

Wear Deodorant

brupm — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 06:13:51 -0400

Do you know that old inspirational video that always seems to be going around on the web called “Wear Sunscreen”? If you haven’t watched it yet, you should. However inspiring that video may be, I am not going to write about that today. I want to write about people not wearing deodorant.

We have spent the last couple months traveling the European continent and I’ve have ran across a lot of people that just plain stink. They smell at 8am and they smell at midnight. Sometimes it’s and old stench too, the tired kind. You see, I expect the bums to smell, they always do. But these are business people, wearing nice button-down shirts, carrying leather briefcases. Why do they smell? I’ll tell you why.

They don’t use deodorant. No, deodorant is not expensive. It’s not hard to find, it’s not prohibited, and it’s not considered an adictive drug in Europe, a lot of people just don’t seem to care much about not smelling like death.

We are here during the summer, which makes the problem even worse. Few establishments have air-conditioning and this only escalates the problem. This is not a rant, it’s a plea, if you live in Europe, and happen to read this, please buy your neighbor a deodorant, I did. Together we can change things.

Kthxbye!

Lessons for Leaders

brupm — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 06:11:11 -0400

I would like to share a great book I just finished reading by Kevin Miller owner of New Leaders. It’s a quick read and ideal if you are planning to start or run your own business. Here is a great quote from the book:

“You will only have a few chances to get your business right. If you don’t succeed within a certain amount of time, it is lights out. Early customers are faithful, but only have limited patience to give. Early adopters are absolutely crucial to your future success; you’ll work twice as hard for half as much with your first customers.”

Download the e-book.

Cinque Terre

brupm — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:40:21 -0400

Probably one of the prettiest landscapes on earth. The Cinque Terre is located in Northern Italy in the Liguria region of the country. A must see if you enjoy nature, the ocean and simple life. We stayed just outside of the Cinque Terre, in La Spezia, a 10 minute ride into Riomaggiore the first of the 5 towns. The other 4 towns are a few minutes away from each other by train.

This place is magical. The train ride is something out of this world, an engineering marvel of tracks built on top of mountains takes you thru tunnels and leaves you gasping for air. A few seconds before getting to Riomaggiore a long dark tunnels precedes an explosion of infinite ocean and incredible views to your left. You will not resist getting off the train to take a peak.

Cinque Terre is a national park, so you will need to buy a pass ($6) to hike between the towns. The first walk is from Riomaggiore to Manorola and it’s called Via dell’Amore. A short 15 minute stroll gives you breathtaking views specially during sunset.

Manarola is by far my favorite town, small, with delicious food and lots of locals. Walk from the train station upwards to town to see how people live. Here you’ll get a chance to interact with the locals, eat grapes straight from an old ladies front yard and see some of the largest lemons you will ever see.

Corniglia is the next town over and is a hike up from the train station. Vernazza has a small black sand beach and lots of great food. The region is known for the delicious pesto, original foccacia and Cinque Terre white wine. Eat as much gelato as your heart desires, all locally made.

You can hike between all 5 towns, some trails are harder and longer than others. The last town is Monterosso. This one is right on the water and has a considerably larger beach. Here you’ll find most of the tourists and high prices. Arrive early and reserve a spot on the beach. There is also an anchovy salting center to the left of the park in the main plaza.

We took this opportunity to unwind, explore the town’s winding streets and enjoy the scenery. If you are as lucky as we were you may hit a local wine tasting on your way thru Via dell’Amore. As you sip delicious wine and watch the sunset remember that life is beautiful and its up to you to live it to the fullest.

Not Caring What People Think is Hard

brupm — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 12:26:59 -0400

But you have to let it go. If you spend your life worrying about what people think you will regret it, and you won’t achieve your full potential. I would never advocate being selfish, that is of my least favorite character flaws of the human kind. I am talking about living your life to the fullest, taking advantage of every minute and making proper decisions regardless of most people’s opinions. There are much fewer occasions in life where you actually need to care what others think than you perceive. Those occasions happen even less once you ignore those people that just don’t matter to you. All the other times don’t be selfish.

Just something I had to say.

"Only when you lose everything are you free to do anything."

brupm — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 12:24:12 -0400

“Only when you lose everything are you free to do anything.”

- Tyler Durden

Croatia

brupm — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:33:09 -0400

We are now in Venice, and it’s hot as hell here. We spent the past 7 days in Split, Croatia. I had no idea Croatia was so beautiful. A country only recenttly freed from Soviet union powers has a lot to offer.

The people are there are incredible helpful and very nice to talk to. Overall I was extremely surprised and would highly recommend a visit to anyone.

More pictures from Croatia.

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My Setup in Split, Croatia

brupm — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:30:28 -0400

I didn’t do any work.

I didn’t have to don anything but to enjoy the sun, beach and good company.

Sometimes You Just Have to Jump

brupm — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:29:30 -0400

Me taking a dive in Split, Croatia. Life can be scary sometimes. Once you face your fears the payoff can be huge.

100 Days on the Road

brupm — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 12:52:14 -0400

As I sit here on a train from Berlin to Budapest shoved into a couchette like a sardine who’s too large for its can I contemplate the last 100 days. Traveling is about expecting the unexpected. Sometimes you get 5 star treatment, other times someone will piss on your tent and you will be just fine with it. Life is a bit that way you see, some days everything seems to work just fine. You leave home and the car has a full tank of gas, the traffic lights all turn green as you approach them, the elevator is at the first floor and the steak you order for lunch is perfectly seasoned and cooked to perfection. Other days you wake up late, rush only to find out the car needs gas, traffic is a mess, you barely have time for lunch and the toilet paper in the office bathroom is wet. I am sure you can relate to both scenarios.

Traveling is a lot like that. You have to be willing to take the bad with the good and move on. Here are some of the things this trip has taught me, some of them may be useful to you.

Don’t take for grated the comforts of home. Being able to control the temperature of your room is a lot more important than you would otherwise think. Your bed is the only clean bed, period. You lose your ability to control the noise levels during the hours of the night as soon as you leave your house.

People you don’t know have a very different sense of humor, you are gonna have to tolerate it. Some people will seem like assholes, others pretentious, if you don’t accept that that’s who they are, you’ll be constantly annoyed.

Routine is usually bad at home and while traveling the world. Spontaneity, is priceless.

You will have to defend yourself, but don’t push too hard. Sometimes the person on the other end is not as selfish as you think they are. On the same note, people are selfish, just accept that and learn to deal with it.

Reading maps and navigating a city becomes easier as time goes by. Eventually they start to make sense.

Missing home has nothing to do with the things you owned. It has to do with the connections you no longer have with people you enjoy. Having a place to call home is overrated, having friends nearby is highly underrated.

Traveling is usually more tiresome than not traveling. You will have a lot less free time that you imagined you would. You will read a lot less books than you imagine while away.

Baggage is annoying, both literal baggage and figurative baggage. Carrying as little as possible makes things a lot simpler. Being attached to little is hard but gives you much more flexibility. Learning to live with very limited stuff will make you look deep inside yourself and realize what’s important.

Simple things like doing the laundry, going to the supermarket and finding a good restaurant become small projects. Everything is more difficult in a new place. Searching for a place to eat and avoiding being taken advantage of takes real effort.

You will make mistakes, you will be taken advantage of. The important part is realizing it quickly and making sure to spot it in the future. Move on!

The grass continues to be greener on the other side. Sometimes I look at people in their nice air-conditioned cars driving by me and wish I could be them. A couple months ago I was, and I wanted to backpack around the world. Go figure!

Decision making is an art, practice and make perfect. Dwelling on futile aspects of a decision becomes really stressful. Listen to your gut instinct, quickly analyze the facts and decide. This is a very valuable skill to have.

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Reliable Internet is Hard to Come By

brupm — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 16:43:24 -0400

I just don’t understand what the problem really is. After traveling for over 90 days, I have experience internet connectivity problems virtually everywhere we’ve been. I can speak for United States including Puerto Rico, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany and The Netherlands. Places like McDonalds and Starbucks and mostly all other spots which advertise in big bold letters: “WI-FI” more often than not have non-working internet connection. What’s so difficult about keeping a working internet connection?

I understand the difficulties involved in proving WI-FI at a conference where hundreds of people are connected in large room, repeaters, DNS leases, etc. At a small restaurant where 2 people are trying to check their mail… Give me a break! Both McDonalds and Starbucks are multi-billion dollar corporations with thousands of employees and they can’t figure out wireless internet?

I don’t want to rant only about the big players. I have been to countless so called “hotspots” which don’t work. Patronized stores to partake on the patron-only WI-FI only to hear the lame excuses of the employees: “it hasn’t been working”.

Are you fucking kidding me?

Here is how this should work. Contract a business class connection from a reliable provider. Purchase a good quality modem and wireless router. Spent at least $300 on a business class N router. Configure the router to NOT broadcast the SSID but don’t require a password. Requiring a password diminishes the signal strength and causes more problems than it’s worth, specially for a free hotspot. Provide the SSID to patrons on the purchase receipt. Enjoy!

How difficult is that? Sure you can get fancy with a router that load balances dual ISP connections, but this would be way too difficult for a company that only knows how to make crappy hamburgers.

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Amsterdam, Cologne and The Rhine River Valley

brupm — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 19:28:20 -0400

The past couple weeks have been pretty interesting. I haven’t written in a while, mainly because I haven’t had time to sit with the computer for long enough to write. Today I am writing in reverse chronological order as it makes the most sense to me right now.

I am currently on a train from Amsterdam to Hamburg, Germany. Amsterdam was a blast. The city clearly caters to tourists, in a nice way though. We took a Sandeman’s city tour the first day we were there, after 4 hours of walking around downtown with a very knowledgeable guide I felt like I knew the city. We enjoyed the city’s architecture, photography museam and the local culture ☺. After spending 4 days in Amsterdam my wallet is drained, time to go back to Germany.

Amsterdam

The cost of living in Amsterdam is really high, you have to pay for everything, literally. Bathrooms cost $0.50, anywhere, even McDonalds. Hot water costs an extra $0.20.

We decided to take a day trip out to Zaanse Schans, a 20 minute train ride from Amsterdam Centraal. This town stands for the invention of industry in Europe. With about 300 years of history, the world’s first and last standing (and operating) windmills. The site is picturesque to say the least. An open air museum featuring working windmills, cheesemaking shops, a clock museum, farm animals and even a river boat ride. You really have to see this place to believe it.

Town of Zaanse Schans

On our way to Amsterdam we passed by Cologne, Germany. During a two hour train connection we explore the city center and Europe’s biggest and baddest gothic cathedral

Cologne Gothic Catedral

Before getting to Amsterdam we camped for a couple days in St. Goar, Germany right on the Rhine river. The place was beautiful. It’s pretty incredible to wake up to a beautiful mountain top castle along the Rhine river. The food in the Rhine region was very good, hearty and best of all inexpensive. We could eat and drink all we wanted and still stick to the budget. Not in Amsterdam.

Town of St. Goar

Before St. Goar we stopped in Munich for 3 days. I was impressed. Bavarian food is also delicious, the prices were affordable and the beers were big. We had a chance to catch a handful of World Cup soccer matches while enjoying local brews at the nearby beer halls. We also took a 30 minute train ride out to Dachau, the nazis first concentration and extermination camp in europe. A very sad and revolting sight to see which must be experienced to be understood. The cruelty, and torture inflicted on people on that place is a scary thought.

Dachau concentration camp

Munich is full of life, museum, castles and palaces. A large city but very easily manuverable. Public transportation is excellent. We stayed at The Tent (the-tent.com) which is literally a hostel with big (30-60 person) tents where you can either sleep on bunk beds or on a mat on the floor. Suffice to say this is a party hostel. With facilities to accommodate a ton of young people, even during Oketoberfest this place is where the party is at.

At the BMW World Headquarters, Munich

Next we’ll be spending some time with Paula’s family in Hamburg, Germany before we move on to Denmark. I am looking forward to spending a couple of days relaxing and catching back up on things tech.

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The Past 90 Days

brupm — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 19:18:34 -0400

Since I left for this trip 90 days ago I decided one of my goals would be to simplify my life. Here is how it’s coming along.

We sold our condo and most of our possessions, canceled most services which required a bill paid monthly, cut down the number of credit cards to a bare minimum. We got rid of our cars and packed all the rest into a storage unit. Believe it or not this was not too difficult. I have since learned and gotten used to living with the bare minimum. Everything I have used in the past 90 days fits in my backpack and there are very few things I miss (digital SLR being one of them).

Now comes time to simplify the tech side of things. I left before the iPad was released. I did play with one at the apple store, could see myself having and enjoying one, but right now, I don’t need it. The iPhone 4G looks incredible. I am still using my iPhone 3Gs and probably will not be getting a 4G. I have since unsubscribed from 99% of RSS feeds I used to read, only keeping 3-4 of closest friends. Finally after 3 months I have managed to decresead e-mail to 5-6 pieces per day. Sometimes 3 days will go by before I check it.

So what have I been spending time one. Reflection. Before I left for the trip I wrote about the fact that I started working at 15 and didn’t have time to choose a profession. I also didn’t have a lot of time to figure out who I was, what I liked and what I didn’t like, a lot of times I just took as it was and assumed that’s how how it was supposed to be. I didn’t realize how very often in life you have to take the bull by the horns, do something that scares you daily and challenge your assumptions. My time was consumed with work, school, technology and entertainment.

I have learned more in the past 90 days than in the past 9 years. Living in the moment is still a challenge but I am working on it. Multitasking has robbed us of the ability to focus, I am trying to get that back. How often do you read a paragraph and at the end you have no clue what it just said? Or you forget it 5 minutes later? I used to do it all the time. How many distractions, right now, are preventing you from achieving excellence? How many of those things are helping you achive it?

There is still much ground to cover, much to learn. Eventually living in the now, focusing on what matters and marching on wisely will come naturally.

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There she was, the famous Eiffel. There we were, naping under...

brupm — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:42:23 -0400

There she was, the famous Eiffel. There we were, naping under its enormity.

A True French Dinner

brupm — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 06:56:03 -0400

A couple days ago we got recommended an authentic french restaurant for dinner. I was personally looking forward to a hearty meal after so many cheese and wine picnics. We got an incredible deal and delicious food.

A delicious Foie Gras salad

Followed by Escargot Entree

Magret de Canard Plat &

Closing with Crème brûlée

All of that for €35.