Category: Travels

Bad Buds

Free stuff isn’t always (often isn’t) worth it

Visual Riddles: Spain – The Tree of Shoes

I had been walking for quite some time.  By this point, I’d been walking, through Spain, for about a little over a month.  By this point, I was used to walking all day without seeing anyone else.  And while I was used to seeing signs of people, I didn’t really see too much of other…

Hot Eggs and the Formation of the Earth

One day, back when I was living in a trailer park in Te Puke, New Zealand, I boiled an egg. Now, if I am eager to eat a recently boiled egg, it is my custom, once the egg is done, to remove it from the heat and add cold water and let it overflow in…

my house versus a bus

Life can be full of the unexpected. I was never expecting to work on the tree ambulance, or to be poisoned by a potato, or to get a soup recipe from Mr. T. I was never expecting an egg to dangerously explode by a camp fire, nor was I expecting to almost get a Hungarian…

Polite Signs above a Toilet

It’s a tricky thing, to take a picture of a strange bathroom situation.  You definitely don’t want to be the guy taking pictures in the bathroom.  But sometimes there is something so good, it needs to have its picture taken.  That piece of graffiti, or that sign on the toilet.  Like this one: What a…

Outcast Crayon

There’s no accounting for the things you might find on the ground. And that’s why it’s worth looking. Not long ago I was in Beaverton, Oregon, when I noticed a single crayon at the foot of a park bench. Now that, in and of itself, may be of no great import, but it was the…

BOOKHUNT: white whales, revoked hours, and first edition misses

For whatever reason, about a month after learning about Spider World by Colin Wilson, I found myself in California; digging holes, cleaning toilets, and building things for a New Yorker who wasn’t sure what he was trying to build. And accounting. I was also doing some accounting. In my free time, I was scouring the…

Five Dollars: Free with Every Banana. Unorthodox Californian Banking Practices

Withdrawing money abroad can cost a lot in banking fees.  I solved this problem in California by strategically buying Flip Flops and Bananas.  You can, too.  I suppose  title youthe above title may mislead some readers into believing that the State of California has incentivized banks to pay people to eat bananas in an effort…

Ignoring Spot (the exchange rate, not the dog)

“So you mean to tell me that whenever I withdraw money in a foreign currency, the official exchange rate can be ignored and any amount of money can be taken from my account?  And I have no way to determine what that rate will be before I withdraw the money, and I will have absolutely…

things you can do with your fridge

So I’m sitting there, thinking about my underwear. A few steps away is a giant chess board and a hot tub. In the evening I will be served large quantities chocolate cake, along with ice cream, for free. But it is about my underwear that I am thinking, when I finally ask myself: What’s the…