Although there’s a lot to do in Baku, Azerbaijan, chances are you’ll be spending a lot of time in the Old City for views like these. There are a number of good budget hotels in this part of Baku as well, if you’re fine with a small room at a reasonable price in the Old City, check out Altstadt Hotel.
Eating is one of the most pleasurable, enlightening ways to experience a culture when traveling. Snacking on the road however usually consists of a forced choice between junk and crap due to a lack of healthy (or tasty) options between point origin and destination. Meal replacement drinks have grown in popularity over the last few years so I was especially intrigued when I was contacted by Ambronite.
Started by 5 Finns through a successful Indigogo campaign, I decided to try Ambronite to see if it might be an ideal body hack travelers can use during long layovers.
Starts As A Powder
Ambronite is delivered in a small box of either five or ten sealed powered packets meant to be mixed with cold water, ready to consume within a few minutes. Made completely from natural foods that are blended down, Ambronite is designed to meet the nutritional requirements of a balanced meal.
You can see the entire ingredient list here. Ambronite is gluten-free, has no added sugar, and is vegan.
Function Over Flavor
Despite all of its practical benefits, Ambronite has a gritty texture with a taste something similar to a hemp bar. You’re not going to ditch eating vegetarian food in Turkey if you’re got the time or opportunity; but when you’re stuck at a train station, Ambronite could be a wonderful solution for travelers. Ambronite is filling enough that after you’re done drinking it you instantly know traveler’s constipation isn’t going to be an issue you’ll be facing.
The problem is both the taste and the fact that Ambronite isn’t very easy to mix without a blender. Using the shaker that’s included in the 10-pack Ambronite box you often end up with mix where a stubborn 10% of the stuff clumps. I found Ambronite’s earthy flavor could be greatly enhanced by blending berries with it using soy milk – though a blender’s not exactly a carry-on item.
What You Gain In Taste You Lose In Portability
The more palatable you make Ambronite the less portable it becomes, since you really need a blender to smooth out the drink as well as the flavor. Ambronite isn’t terrible (although I might have made it seem so) but it’s not something you’re going to reach for at home to satisfy a craving next time your stomach grumbles.
Yet if you travel frequently and are tired of having to compromise your health by eating soggy week-old bus station sandwiches, a few packs of Ambronite is worth packing in your carry-on luggage. Sealed in powder form, Ambronite will pass through airport security without issue. According to the company, unopened Ambronite stays fresh for up to 6 months; an opened pack is good to eat for 2 weeks.
Given the price of around $80 for 10 packets Ambronite is an effective 500 calories tool to fill in those gaps between destinations when you want to satisfy your hunger – and would rather drink something with a little less taste but a hell of a lot healthier than what you can find at most airports.
Ambronite also offers free samples with shipping worldwide. If you’re curious, you can request a free pack of Ambronite here and let me know what you think in the comments below.
Wandering into the Old City of Tallinn, Estonia a short walk from one of the best hostels in the world, signs along the medieval town walls will lead you to this view of the Estonian capital from above.
While I was running around to capture these photographs from the Star Wars sets in Tunisia, some distance away on top of the car I took to get there was my iPhone 5s, recording a timelapse of the whole experience. (You can literally see me running around in the video below.) Arriving a few hours before sunset, I set up the phone, mildly stable, on a small travel bag hooked up to a PowerTrip portable battery pack.
Once everything was in place, I told Tayeb, the owner of the owner of Residence Almadina who drove me out to the Mos Espa sets about 20 kilometers (~12.5 miles) away from Tozeur, to be careful shaking the car if got in or out. To his credit, he patiently waited the entire time, even though he didn’t quite understand the enthusiasm of taking as many pictures as I did.
Coming back and forth to check in on the phone to make sure it was still standing, you can watch the result below:
There are a number of things I would have done differently – like taking a wider angle – and I would have liked to stay into darkness. The sky changed a spectacular shade of purple I’ve rarely seen, as the remaining cars along with ours drove off quickly back to Tozeur. (With a sense of urgency I might add.) Although I couldn’t really get to the bottom of the collective retreat, the fast return got me to my train back to Tunis with only a few minutes to spare.
Still, it was one of the most geek-satisfying days of my entire travels with the The Hologram/Binary Sunset medley playing in my head the entire time.
There are almost an infinite number of ways to take an interesting photo of the Chicago Bean; a tourist attraction that sounds incredibly stupid in theory but doesn’t disappoint in person.
Other than creating your own travel blog it’s tough to share discoveries you’ve made during a trip – like finding one of the world’s best coffee shops in Sibiu – with people in a useful fashion. On the other side, it’s not the easiest to find local secrets online in one place, so we often fall back on generic guide books, trying to guess what’s not been turned into a tourist trap by the time we’ve read it.
How TripVerse Solves Both Problems
TripVerse is a free app available (download on iOS and Android) which lets you check in to spots like restaurants, write your own review, and places them on a travel map automatically. In essence the idea is to create a crowdsource custom travel itineraries (although you can search for specific users’ recommendations as well). Important information like addresses are also added automatically by the app so you don’t have to do much to tag a place as being somewhere you think is worth visiting.
It’s worth noting that all of the information on TripVerse is available offline so you don’t need an Internet connection once you’ve specified a location such as a day in Vilnius, Lithuania. Also, you don’t necessarily need to contribute – I suspect a lot of the entries on TripVerse will be added by a small percentage of users, pretty much like any digital platform where you can consume or create.
From now until Monday, December 14th however TripVerse is giving you an great incentive to sign up and create a few trips of your own.
Win A Nexus 5X Phone
An update to one of the best Android phones of its time, the Nexus 5, is Google’s Nexus 5X. It’s one of the best travel phones than many of these hardcore travelers carry and TripVerse is giving one away.
Contest Entry Requirements
The Nexus giveaway is based on a point system, where being more active on TripVerse gives you more points (i.e. chances) to win the phone. Here’s what you need to do and how to earn more points:
Once you’ve done that you can earn more points by creating a trip with at least 5 activities on TripVerse (5 points). For some more easy points, click below:
Sharing the trips you’ve created on your Facebook and Twitter feeds also earns you 4 points each. You have until Monday, December 14 to enter and the winner will be selected at random on December 16, 2015. You’ll get the phone at most 3 weeks after than. Good luck to all of you!
Hi, I'm Anil. foXnoMad is where I combine travel and tech to help you travel smarter. I'm on a journey to every country in the world and you're invited to join the adventure! Read More 
