Blog - foXnoMad

The Texas State Capitol Building In Austin, Texas

by | Jan 19, 2012 | | 10

texas state capitol building

The term Texas seems to evoke emotional responses from many people, most especially Americans. Either as a source of pride or embarrassment, except Austin which I’m told isn’t “real” Texas. Which is ironic because Texas’ State Capitol Building is located there and while many things are bigger in Texas – the pride is pouring out the doors of this building isn’t matched by many offices anywhere else.

austin texas state capitol buildingStumbling out of a downtown Austin cafe in a caffeine daze after a morning of typing my mind numb, I wandered up to this Austin icon, walking in the door and asked if there were any tours or access inside. A day before Christmas they said yes, didn’t mind my backpack filled with electronics, wires, and spare computer parts; and told me tours were free about every 30 minutes.

Now normally government buildings are pretty boring and combined with tours they throw me back to college classes where I got the best sleep of my life. But what people love and hate about Texas is what I can’t get enough of. Sure, there’s the over-sized aspect to everything (a tradition American colonists found and cultivated with the native peoples in the area when they arrived) but there is also passion and pride. To a degree you don’t often find in the North Americas or northern-Europe-world – this crazed, reverent acceptance of virtue, flaw, and land. It’s almost Italian…and if you’ve ever been to Italy, you know what I’m talking about.

Probably the most surprising yet interesting demonstration of this Texan pride struck me after the tour when I was allowed to wander around the building freely, as all visitors are. If the doors are open you can enter any of the offices and conference rooms and take photos all you want. It was explained to me that this policy is because “we think we have the best capitol building in the country and want to show it off.”

Whether it’s the door hinges that remind you of where you are (they’re all labeled by the way), the stars on every doorknob, the parts of Texas you can’t capture with a camera, or the fact that the Texas State Capitol Building is 6.7 meters taller than the US Capitol, this building says a lot about what Texas is and is not.

Low Budget Travel Tricks You Can Use To Overcome Big Budget Problems: Part 3

by | Jan 13, 2012 | , , | 10

light sabers

Now here you stand great traveler, with all of the power in your hands, expertly wielded with your mind. Nature was subdued in Part 1 and nicking nicked in Part 2. But with great power comes great temptation on the journey we travel. You’ll need to make new allies and rely on ancient texts to guide your quest as lord of the wings.

Upgrade Your Tech For Free From The Inside Out

I really wish I could send all of you a few thousand dollars to buy a bunch of new fancy gadgets but until I can, let’s talk about upgrading what you already have. Remember, gadgets are hardware and software – and software is often you can do something about right away. When it comes to unlocking your phone – Android, iPhone, or otherwise I’ve got you covered with my complete guide to unlocking mobiles. You can do things like add multi-tasking, games, and other apps not available directly for your version of phone. On top of that, you’ll get the added benefit of being able to choose any carrier you want around the world and at home.

  • madrid fruitsGoing Apple? – I’ve mentioned a few times before that several PC netbooks are compatible enough to run Mac OS X – with some modifications. If you’re up for creating a Hackintosh that’s one thing but when it comes to tablets it’s another.
  • Talking Tablets – iPads aren’t the only tablets on the market – Samsung’s Galaxy 10.1 is a nice competitor – but basically the same price. Rather, if you happened to get a Kindle Fire or (in my opinion superior device) Nook Tablet over New Year’s you can root either (Nook Guide – Kindle Guide) to access to the full Android store. A solid tablet for $250 less than you might pay otherwise. (On a side note, the next version of the iPad will be released by April this year and it’s rumored that the current iPad 2s will drop $100. So, if you can wait until spring, your wallet will likely thank you.)
  • Extend Your Battery Life And Wireless Range – Both are easier than you may believe.
  • Get Better Alarm Clocks Across Timezones – These 3 methods work across laptops, phones, and other portable devices if you’ve been oversleeping one too many times.

Finally, if you’ve got a desktop at home, the office, or your parents house you can create your own mini cloud to backup, speed up downloads, and get around Internet censorship. Here’s how to make the most out of your desktop while traveling.

fethiye kiliseAirlines Beware Nerdy Ninjas Await

The airlines have money and can make metal tubes fly across oceans but you’ve got the world’s largest collection of knowledge at your disposal. First though, let’s go old school. Very, very, old school.

Now let’s bring out the big guns. Here’s how to use the entire Internet to stand up to the airlines when you need to.

Beat The Bling, Fight Temptation, And Shave Your Hairy Budget

When you’re already off on vacation or traveling it’s easy to dismiss the impact ATM, foreign transaction, and other miscellaneous fees can have on your budget. Avoid wasting your funds unnecessarily (imagine how many beers you could buy) by choosing the right bank before going overseas. In case that’s too late or you’re just extremely diligent, for all its faults, Mint.com does a heck of a job notifying you of fees you’ve paid but could be avoiding. From credit cards to coupons, Mint will also automatically suggest improvements based on your spending. Why think when a technology can do it for you – focus those brain cells on beautiful sunsets or amazing views – it’s what travel is all about.

bottle of whiskey

  • Miss Flights For Free – I have a tendency to never be on time and this is a skill I’ve perfected over a lifetime of being late and skipping college exams.
  • Exchange Cash The Star Trek Way – Need to borrow a few bucks from a friend or perhaps want to payback your friend Pat Stewart for all of those Romulan ales? Well, Paypal for one lets you bump phones to give and take cash. It’s one of many apps using Bump Technologies.

How much would a week in Indonesia cost you? Budget Your Trip knows the answer to that and many other destinations. Remember preparation and anticipation is what makes the difference between a guy who gets beat up and Batman.

The road is a long one for a traveler without shoes, stamina, or smarts. You are now not one of them, armed with the knowledge of Part 1 and Part 2 of this series.

Low Budget Travel Tricks You Can Use To Overcome Big Budget Problems: Part 2

by | Jan 12, 2012 | , , | 4

the hulk

In Part 1 of Low Budget Travel Tricks you learned to tame mother nature and battle armies of microscopic vampires, you, our nomadic hero. Though your path is still wroth with bandits and ruthless dragons who control the skies, yet still, you will overcome them. Leverage and luck on your side you’ll defeat these foes, allowing you to go on the offensive, but first to today’s battles.

quito downtown at nightFight Off Attackers, Pickpockets, And Hotel Thieves

Prevention, awareness, and contingency are the basic steps to a robust security plan, whether you’re looking out for hackers or simply want to be prepared in case of a mugging. When it comes to your personal safety, knowing the streets or parts of town you might want to avoid (or just avoid at night) can go a long way in keeping you from assault. Hotels, hostels, and Tripadvisor are all good resources that can lessen your chances of ending up at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Pocket Protection

  • Carry Only What You Need – I only carry a day pack if I’m hiking or looking for a cafe to get some work done. Otherwise, I leave my laptop and other valuables with wherever I’m staying. They’re safer there, no day pack often helps you blend in, plus it’s better for your back.
  • Distribute Your Money On Your Person – A little bit of cash in your pockets, socks, underwear, bra, etc. means if someone picks your pocket, you’re not losing everything. A decoy wallet with a small amount of cash and an expired credit card can also protect you by fooling pickpockets.
  • Catch The Bastards Crooks – One of 4 ways to be shadier than a thief is to set a credit card trap:

“Keep this card (with no money in the account) in your decoy wallet. If it’s stolen call the credit card company or bank right away to let them know. In most countries the companies will keep close track to see where and if that card is used. If there happens to be a camera at the first place the pickpocket tries to use the card you may be in luck.”

The digital equivalent of a credit card trap is to use the free Project Prey on your laptop, mobile phone, and tablet.

european hotelsHotel Hacking

Much like protecting the items on your person when you’re out and about – it’s a good idea to distribute your valuables. Make use of the safe in the room (no guarantee yet decent protection) but generally speaking, locking the zippers on your bags provides enough discouragement for opportunistic thieves. The first rule of security is that no security is absolute – you just need enough security to make a potential theft more risky than it’s worth to the thief.

klingon female warriorOvercome Physical Threats

Let’s start with an obvious one that’s easy to forget depending on where you’ve been traveling – keep your valuables out of sight. That means iPhones, which seem as common as grass these days, but don’t forget they’re a cool $600 that’s easily resold anywhere in the world. It’s tempting in taxis, buses, and while wandering the city streets to multi-task with a bit of texting or gloat to your friends (“I iz totally rockin Buenos Aires right now Jimmy”) but it’s not Jimmy that’s going to get jacked that way.

  • Treat Your Gadgets Like Real Actors, Not Reality Stars – Meaning be picky about when they make an appearance.
  • Bring A Safety Whistle – This is one personal safety tip from Legal Nomads I can’t get enough of and Jodi’s got 3 good reasons to carry a whistle.

When it comes to personal safety though whether you’ve got formal training or not, these 3 insightful rules by Sam Harris could help you avoid being harmed physically.

Tomorrow in the third and final part of this series you’ll take down a frequent foe and battle your own demons to become the one to rule them all.

Low Budget Travel Tricks You Can Use To Overcome Big Budget Problems: Part 1

by | Jan 10, 2012 | | 12

coins from around the world

You, the sole traveler, wandering the world alone face hazardous weather, gigantic nefarious companies, wildlife that eats you alive at night – and that’s on a good day. Yet you, brave nomad, have one thing they don’t. It’s what allows short judo fighters to flip larger opponents through the sky and hobbits to become lord of rings. You, my friend have, have leverage.

Here’s how to wield yours to find cracks in large systems that aren’t nearly as maneuverable as you are to save money, comfort, and sometimes your own skin.

Change Temperatures From The Inside Out

Most of our intuition about temperatures are wrong because we base them on how we feel and rudimentary dichotomies (e.g. to make something hot use cold). The problem with that general logic is that we’re all running around in hot bodies (oh baby) that fight to keep their temperatures constant. Around many parts of the world where people don’t have the luxury of air conditioning or central heating they’ve stumbled upon some effective but counter-intuitive methods of controlling the air around them feels.

  • hot tea cup spotsDrink Hot Liquids To Beat The Heat – Again, you would think that a cold milkshake would work better than hot tea but cold drinks actually heat you up in the long run. Your stomach cools down in the first 15 minutes, but after that you’re back to normal temperature – then hotter. Digestion takes energy and often our bodies temporarily overcompensate to heat up that cold spot fast.

Hot drinks (without calories) on the other hand work much like spicy foods, causing you to sweat, and tea has the added benefit of being mostly water which helps replace the body’s natural coolant.

  • Pee To Feel Warm – No, I don’t mean pee on yourself to stay warm (because soon you’ll feel really cold anyway); but by not holding your urine in, your body won’t have to bother heating it up. You see, your body wastes energy keeping you – all of you – at the same core temperature. Peeing when you’ve got the urge (that means your bladder is about 25% full by the way) frees up heat that can go to your chilly little fingers.

red label shotAs for beer and other alcohol, cold or otherwise, it’s not going to bring you relief from the heat since booze dehydrates you. Enough beer though and you’ll be drunk which may or may not improve your outlook on the weather. As for drinking vodka and other hard liquor to stay warm, it too actually does the opposite. Alcohol gets those blood vessels flowing to the skin – which makes you feel warmer – but causes your to lose body heat more rapidly. So, if you’re lost in the woods on winter’s day, lay off the booze, it could kill you. Layers, on the other hand, let you regulate your body temperature much easier and make moms happy all over the world.

Finally, this is an old trick from the ancient Egyptians I’ve talked about previously – spritzing your bed and pillow sheets with ice water before sleeping to cool you off at night.

Deter Common Pests

I thankfully haven’t come across bed bugs yet but they’re certainly a growing problem. On top of that, they’re a growing problem that can follow you home. If you suspect you’ve been feasted on and happen to be traveling in the summer or in warmer regions, a car trunk in the sun will get hot enough to rid your luggage of bed bugs. Leave your bags in a hot car trunk for about 4 hours and bed bugs – eggs and all – will be dead.

car in front of apartment europe

To defeat other organized insects you’re likely to come across:

  • Turn Your Smelly Feet Into Mosquito Traps – Combined with stinky socks, duct tape, and the right measurements.
  • Hang Bags Of Water To Deter Flies – A trick I picked up in the Philippines. Here’s what it looks like.
  • Use Baby Power, Coffee, Or Cayenne To Throw Ants Off Track – One they lose their scent trails, ants get lost and die, leaving your snacks alone (hopefully).

Unfortunately cockroaches are much more difficult to get rid of depending on the extent of their infiltration (I once stayed at a place in India that would make your nightmares bleed reminiscent of this X-Files episode). That said, apparently catnip is a good deterrent but I’m guessing you’re not carrying that in your handbag.

On Thursday in Part 2 I’ll show you how to fend off other big problems with a bit of actual judo, some old-school hacking, and cloud calculating that wouldn’t bust the most modest of travel budgets.

The Simple Things Waiting Along The St. Johns River In Jacksonville, Florida

by | Jan 6, 2012 | | 8

dog st johns river jacksonville

Sometimes, travel is simple. As it should be outside of the times we’re not rushing through inept airport security or searching mindless booking sites that seem to be designed so they’re maddening. There is no elegant story behind this photo where body language says everything. I captured this golden retriever waiting for his owners along the banks of the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida. Though he didn’t make it quite easy (loyal but not exactly patient) it reminded me how dogs sometimes have this whole travel thing figured out much better than we do.

They don’t carry anything and are faithful companions but most of all they never seem to lose this eternal optimism and joy for the journey. I don’t mean to get soft on you but often when hit with travel stresses we try to cure it with complex reasoning, frustration, and complication. In the end, all is has to be is as simple as this.

A Look Back At Your And My 2011 Travel Predictions

by | Jan 5, 2012 | | 14

lipscani new year bucharest 2012

At the beginning of 2011 I took a look back on my travel predictions for 2010 and all things considered, I wasn’t too far off the mark overall. When looking forward to the upcoming year that just was (aka. 2011) I invited you to join in the prediction game. Some of your predictions were bold and others more reserved but all were heading in the same general direction of more travel for more people.

Many of these trends we predicted were already in effect going into 2011 and many more will push right in to 2012 – here are the predictions you and I made and how they turned out toward the end of last year.

muscat oman coastThe Rise Of The Middle East And South America

A few of us cheated a bit here as these large regions of the world encompass enough countries that it’s easier to get right than wrong. Although complete 2011 statistics aren’t out for most places yet, early reports indicate a few countries in the Middle East saw strong increases in travelers. (I was one of them, spending much of early 2011 there.) Turkey was up about 9%, Israel 4%, but that’s likely from travelers already headed to the region changing their plans due to the Arab Spring (Egypt’s tourism industry was hit with a 60% drop last year with similar trends in Tunisia, Libya, and Syria which had 40% tourism jumps in 2009.)

As for South America, several countries on the continent saw healthy gains. Notably Colombia, as Ayngelina predicted, had 8.5% more visitors in 2011 than the previous year. One my 4 picks Chile, had something of a tourism boom in 2011. Interestingly enough, it’s not the increase in travelers to South America in 2011 (+13%), that’s as surprising; as how many more South Americans traveled beyond the continent themselves last year.

Prediction Check: So, while many countries in the Middle East saw increases of tourists, many others saw drops. It looks like more people weren’t going to the region but instead shifting where they visited in the area. We can count that prediction as one we got sort of right but when it came to South America, you were spot on.

See You In Iraq – Travel To “Dangerous Destinations”

Places like Iraq that probably aren’t on most people’s travel lists, many of you thought, would become 2011’s offbeat galore. Although the New York Times named northern Iraq one its 41 places to visit in 2011, not many more did. That said, the ‘tourism’ revenue in countries like Iraq, last year increased several times.

sulaymaniyah mall iraq

The reason? Budget travelers might seem more adventurous and brave than business types but nothing motivates like economic opportunity. Many developing countries and “dangerous” places like Afghanistan are focusing their tourism efforts on business travelers and luxury vacationers. They aren’t getting as many people but more revenue in this efficient approach.

Prediction Check: Yes and no. More travelers – not quite – but certainly more travel revenue from those who are visiting.

Longer Trips And Travel Blog Explosion

I think most of you reading this site probably have a hunch that longer trips and more unorthodox styles of travel will become more common in the near future. When I met up in London with David Betteridge and Paul Albert to participate in the Nokia documentary Teddy Bears And Talking Drums, they exposed me to a large world of location independent entrepreneurs and designers living around the world. The success and continued momentum of programs like Meet Plan Go show we’re moving toward the notion that extended travel isn’t absolutely crazy. (I think future generations will wonder how or why so many people of our era stayed at offices when we’ve got laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc.)

We were also on the same page about travel blogging – yes, there’s been an explosion of the travel blogosphere in the past 12 months. That rapid expansion as Matt guessed has drawn the attention of large national tourism boards. Jordan, South Korea, and Spain where I attended Valencia’s F1 race are among those who’ve invited bloggers next to traditional journalists for events.

Prediction Check: You were all right on this one but I think the more difficult question is where do these two trends specifically go from here?

porto portugal airportA Few More Prediction Checks And My Thoughts On 2012

  • Airline Fees, Fees, Fees – Yup, we had many more of those in 2011; mostly of the surcharge and baggage fee variety.
  • USAirways Adding Routes To South America – Nope, not one. But they did add several routes domestically in the US and a couple to east Asia and Europe.
  • Easing Of Visa Restrictions For Travelers From The Developing World – Several countries have made efforts on exchanging visa-free travel but in general citizens of the developing world  still have access to about 55% less of the world. Last year, India, Thailand, and Brazil were all deemed “newly industrialized countries” by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Whether that status will result in equal travel rights around the world remains to be seen.

What Is In Store For 2012 – I Look Into My Crystal Ball Next Week

In the last two years we’ve seen rather gradual travel trends – and not to take away from our predicting prowess – but that made our guesses a bit easier coming into 2012. What do you think will be coming up in 2012? Next week I’ll share some of my thoughts on the year of the travel shift – with a few forecasts from and for you as well.

About Anil Polat

foxnomad aboutHi, 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

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