Slow Travel
My first big trip overseas was two months in Thailand. Somewhere in the middle of that, a series of scheduling issues, including a friend from China coming to meet up with me, led to my spending ten days in Bangkok. Several people have told me I’m crazy for spending that much time in such a …
Read More →Tamarindo Tsunami – A Fiction
The recent flooding and stranding of hundreds of people in Macchu Pichu and Aguas Calientes, Peru, has wondering what Tamarindo would be like if it was hit by a natural disaster of epic proportions. What follows is a fictitious account of this alternate reality. When the first wave rolled in high off the horizon on …
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My Pack: Costa Rica
As has become a bit of a custom, and because people have been asking, here’s what I’m packing while in Costa Rica for 2 and a half months. Bag one is an Arc’teryx Cierzo 35 L daypack. The bag is fairly light, expands to hold a fair bit, and still compresses down when only partially …
Read More →Clean Lines
7:45. Wake up. Pull on board shorts. Sunscreen on face. Pull damp rashguard over my head and tie it into the laces of my shorts. Board under arm. Lock room. Walk barefoot down rocky driveway, across the road, and through Witch’s Rock Surf Camp. I scan the beach and it’s quiet. The sun has been …
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Gorillapod SLR-Zoom
Several people have asked how the Gorillapod worked out on my recent trip to Chile and Peru, and my answer is that it performed great… in exactly the way I expected it to. I shoot a Nikon D300. The metal chassis on this camera means that it’s a bit on the heavy side. Add to …
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My Pack: South America
One of the biggest things a traveller worries about is their pack. A common question on the travel forums is “Which pack should I buy?” and with good reason. Sometimes it seems that there are so many options to choose from and no easy way to decide what is best for you. It helps to see what others are using, so keep reading to see what I’m currently packing when I hit the road for more than a couple of weeks.
Read More →Stuff I Like: Bullet SPACE® PEN
Once upon a time, there existed a National Aeronautics and Space Administration that desired a pen that could perform in the vacuum of space. More than a billion dollars later, Paul C. Fisher developed the SPACE® PEN. What did the Russians do? They used a pencil.
While certainly worth a chuckle, the preceding anecdote falls a little short of the truth. This does nothing to detract from how great the Fisher Bullet SPACE® PEN is for the modern traveller. With the cap over the tip, this little pen slips easily into a pocket, but when the cap is removed and slid onto the back, it becomes a full sized writing tool. That alone would be enough for me to carry one of these around on a regular basis, but it’s the technology that really sold me on it.
Read More →How Not To Suck At Your First Half Marathon
I was recently part of the support crew for a group of runners who traveled to California to enter the Big Sur half marathon, and in my position as a non-runner I was able to glean a few helpful techniques. I have distilled these down to nine simple tips that should leave you feeling calm and raring to go on the start line.
Read More →A Comedy of Errors
It has been more than two months since my return from Costa Rica and I am just now continuing to write about the experience. You might be asking yourself why this is, and with any luck some answers lie in the words to follow. “Son of a bitch!” I scream into the sky as dusk …
Read More →Tamarindo
The pavement is already warm as I walk barefoot down the road from my cabina to the water. Acrid smoke from a small brush and garbage fire floods my nostrils when I turn off onto the small path that leads down to the beach but is quickly blown away by the constant offshore breeze that …
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