travel7
I travel quite a bit, for both work and play. When I do, I make a point to enjoy local customs and explore local foods. In most cases, I can recall the good places of towns, great restaurants, safe places to stay and seedy places to avoid. In 2004, my friend Elizabeth was sent to Vancouver for several months on business. While she was there, I gave her a number of places off the top of my head to explore and she would later come to say I should put together a book of my explorations to share with others.

That seemed like a lot of work.

Instead, taking the much-easier route, I devoted a spot on my website for various travel adventures. Much like Allen Wu's backpacking adventure through the Middle East, I decided to chronicle things along the way for those who may follow a similar path down the road. By no means am I going to push you to make the same travel plans as myself, but it was good to read Mr. Wu's travel log when preparing for Egypt. There are some things a first-hand account can give which a travel book cannot.

In the following pages, I tried to detail my travels and the situations behind them. Whenever traveling where a foreign language is spoken, I make a point to learn the basic phrases of conversation to assist in survival. Even though my Spanish, Italian and Arabic skills blow, I know enough to get by, and more-often-then-not, people open up in English once they know you've attempted their language. Additionally, I like adventure travel and avoid tour busses. Don't get me wrong, tour busses can be great in the right setting, but seeing the Grand Canyon through a bus window is not my idea of fun.

GENERAL TRAVEL TIPS
I've learned a few things while skipping around the globe which makes traveling a bit more enjoyable. Some are travel tips, some are "while you're there" tips, and then there are the occasional random thoughts which come to mind. Everyone really needs to discover what makes them a better traveler, and these are my things.

ITALY
thumb-italy
September, 2005. Stemming from a wine-filled night of playing poker in a buddy's basement, The Girlfriend and I decided to get away for a couple of weeks to explore Rome, the Amalfi Coast and Sicily. We booked the entire thing by ourselves, struggling to get anything accomplished when going through a travel agency.

EGYPT and JORDAN
thumb-jordan
February, 2006. My friend Ken and I made a pact to head to Egypt if we ever saw a package for less than $1,000. Apparently, there are a lot of packages available for under a grand. We decided to go through a travel agency given where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do there.

ENGLAND, NETHERLANDS and BELGIUM
page18-1003-thumb
March, 2006. For my friend Rik's 40th birthday, he chose to celebrate out of the country. Namely, Amsterdam. With the time difference, a three day weekend overseas is pretty difficult. The Girlfriend and I added a couple of days in the United Kingdom and another couple in Belgium, making our trip eight days overseas, planning everything ourselves.

GALAPAGOS ISLANDS (including ECUADOR)
page49-1011-thumb
March, 2007. Instead of sitting around and being all depressed for turning 60, my mom wanted to do something fun to mark the occasion. The Galapagos Islands, or bust! We went with an outdoor company my family has a good history with and they've pretty much redefined adventure travel.

PANAMA
page19-1000-thumb
August, 2007. The Girlfriend and I decided to take a quick out-of-the-country trip before she starts school and flying around taking trips isn't as easy. Time and money restricted us to going South of the border, and hurricane season narrowed our choices to south Central America, free and clear of hurricanes.

SWITZERLAND, LIECHTENSTEIN, AUSTRIA, SLOVAKIA, CZECH REPUBLIC
August, 2008. What started as an attempt to see the Czech Republic before it gets expensive and all "Euro-y", The Girlfriend and I decided to take a week and see Czech and Slovakia. Airfare was cheaper into Switzerland; then we added Austria since we'd be in the neighborhood. And tiny, little Liechtenstein, because its there.

SPAIN
July, 2009. My friend Rik celebrated his decade birthday in Netherlands, Jim celebrated in Mexico and Canada, my mom in the Galapagos. Keeping with the tradition, my decade birthday will be spent in Spain for the Running of the Bulls. I don't actually plan on running, but I can't promise I won't, either.

INDIA
2010. When The Girlfriend graduates her fancy-pants anesthesia school, she wants to explore India as a means to de-stress herself. Since her and I travel well together, I get to come along. Lucky me, I thought I'd have to stay behind and watch the house.

PUERTO RICO
When retirement rears its head, The P's are buying property in Puerto Rico to spend the winter months. Given its location in the Carribean, The Girlfriend and I will be using their place as a "home base" for exploring the region.