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Eric commented about HoboTraveler.com in La Union Philippines, On Saturday September 19th, 2009 04:24:24 PM
Andy,
Good and fun idea Chuck WOW.
I think your list to vote on should only include places you have NOT been to.
After reading your blog for many years, seeing you enter a new country would be more interesting IMO.
Please don't put Thailand on the vote list.
A Somalia trip however would have me riveted.
Daallo Airlines - from website - Dubai - Mogadishu
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Eric commented about Russian Economist Predicts USA Ends, On Thursday September 3rd, 2009 10:06:22 AM
Andy,
Reminds me of Garreau's book from 1981 "The Nine Nations of North America".
Where he slices up North America based on cultural and economic qualities, and points to the current boundaries as being artificial.
http://www.garreau.com/
The US may very well be a future great budget destination. As you know, many of the individual states are bigger than some countries. I recently spoke at length with a 20 year old that had been to all the lower 48, wandering about overland from city to town to city. He had some great stories.
When you look at enough historical maps you realize that borders over time are never static. It is folly to think the US or any other country is exempt from this reality. It's only a matter of when.
Some will argue, but I tend to think It doesn't take a crystal ball to see the US is in the midst of a slow crash, and has been for awhile. Only the ongoing rate is what is in question. Your right, there is no solution, their is only how people respond to the waves of change.
It is said that a nation state is a monopoly on violence within a geographic region, and it's ability to tax the population for this and other "services". If for some reason this can't be maintained and regions go autonomous or consolidate into other powers for similar "services", maybe then your tax situation will become either a non-issue (no federal income tax) or it will fall under some new taxing authority. Provided this happens sooner rather than later.
In the Panarin prediction, Indiana will be part of Canada. It's generally considered to have an overall tax burden that's slightly higher than the US, but hey, perhaps you could get your back problem fixed without having to buy insurance.
Eric
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Eric commented about My Old Fat Ugly Face on Camera, On Wednesday July 29th, 2009 09:15:41 AM
Andy,
I looked at some California sailboat listings online and the prices do seem to jump up quite a bit on a per foot basis once you get in the 30 foot plus range. Not sure why or even if its typical.
Living on the hook would be excellent. By avoiding room costs youd have payback in less than a year or so with a $1,000 - $2,000 dollar boat. Smart provisioning would of course be a requirement.
From California to Rio Dulce wouldnt it mean going via the big ditch in Panama then north praying you avoid the drug runners? I wonder if the same type of no slip paying cheap boats are available in marinas in south Florida? Would be a much shorter trip to Rio Dulce.
http://www.patriotfiles.com/forum/imgcacheA/14048.png
Eric
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Eric commented about Learn Tagalog in Baguio Philippines, On Tuesday July 28th, 2009 08:30:39 PM
Andy,
At between 16 to 33 percent of the original room price e, language skills may very well be the best tool for reducing costs as a long term world traveler.
Eric
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Eric commented about My Old Fat Ugly Face on Camera, On Tuesday July 28th, 2009 08:19:14 PM
Andy,
This got me thinking about explorers, wanderers and travelers in the times prior to air travel that we now take for granted. Before the early 1900s, anyone wanting to see the planet, meant that sailing would be necessary in one form or another in conjunction with overland. Even if one could cross the Bearing Straight when frozen, the Darien Gap and other pinch points, youd still need a boat to get to many islands on the globe and ferry across some rivers.
Would be Interesting to know what Phil at Sail to Adventure has planned as a travel strategy as the boats look to be 27 and 24 ft monohulls. Skim coastlines and stay near ports? Or use ports as a base and do inland overland excursions at certain points? I have no clue really, but are these large enough craft to cover the large expanses of deep ocean reliably?
We often plan for travel and focus on the land masses. Sailing brings a whole new dimension to the world traveler possibles. Ive always envied those with the skills to sail. Given the right circumstances, I have to think its got to be one of the most enjoyable ways to see the world. The times I have sailed has been good medicine for me.
Recently a 17 year old became the youngest ever to sail around the world solo! Hes Zac Sunderland from California and did it in a 36 footer covering 28,000 miles in 13 months. At that pace I wonder if he spent time to stop and smell the pelicans.
Good luck to Phil and his crew.
Eric
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Eric commented about Baguio Tropical Storm, On Tuesday July 21st, 2009 09:20:54 PM
Luzon Topography
http://class.csueastbay.edu/anthropologymuseum/virtmus/Philippines/Islands/LuzonTopo.jpg
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Eric commented about Unemployment 2009, On Friday July 3rd, 2009 03:35:47 PM
Andy,
Real unemployment is 20.6 in the USA (June 2009) according to...
http://www.shadowstats.com/
I think I heard recently that the official estimates were at 9.5.
Eric
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Eric commented about Opening a Coconut Travel Tip, On Saturday June 13th, 2009 09:13:26 AM
Andy,
You could save the coconut water (milk) and make less mess by drilling a hole and draining it. Its more work, but a decent knife or screwdriver should do the job. Best to drill out the dark eyes of the coconut. For some, this may not be worth the effort. After that, then break it. Ive heard an ice cream scooper works good for getting the meat out.
In the wild Ive opened them with nothing but my bare hands and a rock. Without tools this is not an envious task.
Eric
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Eric commented about People Stink Travel Tip, On Friday May 8th, 2009 03:15:12 PM
Andy is genius. He posts a short one and the comments quickly exceed the post size 5x, and they all reinforce the subject and page title. I just googled hobo people stink and he is in the number 1 position.
Eric
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Eric commented about NEW Map of Location of Andy, On Friday May 8th, 2009 02:55:00 PM
Andy,
FYI - Works fine in Firefox.
It is a nice feature but Id like to make a few observations.
First, if the below sounds like Im suggesting WORK, then please ignore me. These are just thoughts.
It shows nicely a day by day marker (on the top map), but not the flow or path of your travels. After a couple of years, wont it just end up being a map FULL of little orange markers, and hard to find where you really are currently? If the current location was a different marker color would help. In the end I suppose you could break it down by year similar to your archives to limit the congestion.
What is truly useful is that someone could combine the map with suggestions from your blog, and in some instances be much better than a guidebook.
One more thing related to the above Google Maps has a terrain feature, if one was to actually follow this path, getting a sense of elevation in the area I think might help. Again, if it sounds like Im advocating work, please ignore.
One question for you. Are you considering Madagascar?
Thanks,
Eric
Comment About NEW Map of Location of Andy
Eric commented about No Free Breakfast for Budget Traveler, On Friday May 1st, 2009 09:15:35 AM
Andy,
This is a great travel efficiency tip. Plus, on mornings when you hunt around for your breakfast, you might get the added benefit of a bit of exercise.
Those carb laden breakfast freebies are rarely healthy for you (my opinion). Sausage would not be high on my list of protein choices either. But I will admit I like the greasy stuff sometimes, ha!
Once again, I really appreciate the fact that you are putting prices with your posts. Giving travelers that follow a similar path a few good cost benchmarks.
Along those lines, Im thinking giving prices in the local currency is always a good idea. It gives a better gauge without the exchange rate fluctuation.
Thanks,
Eric
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Eric commented about Twitter and BlackBerry in the Bath Water, On Tuesday April 28th, 2009 03:15:24 PM
Seven Mass Media
How true.
Eric
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Eric commented about Opening Drinks to Avoid Being Drugged, On Monday April 27th, 2009 04:30:24 AM
Andy,
Ive seen cases where a waiter makes it seem like they just opened a drink by faking it and making a similar drink opening noise on the way towards the customer, but it was already opened beforehand. Not necessarily to drug someone, but to deliver a diluted, reused or watered down drink, hence more profitable. Or water that is supposed to be filtered/bottled etc but isnt.
This tactic could also be used to drug somebody by reducing ones suspicion if your not paying enough attention in a crowded and noisy place.
Solo travelers certainly have to be more on guard, unfortunately.
Eric
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Eric commented about May 22 2006 Fly Bangkok to Katmandu Nepal, On Wednesday March 19th, 2008 08:40:00 AM
which airline did you use please??? Thanks a lot Eric
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Eric commented about Thailand Squat Toilet, On Monday July 3rd, 2006 08:47:00 AM
Andy,
Does the toilet paper flush ok in the squat toilets?
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Eric commented about CAMBODIA COFFEE FILTER, On Friday June 23rd, 2006 03:50:00 PM
Andy,
If your not going to Vietnam soon and are still looking for the one cup Vietnamese screw down filter type coffee maker, a search on ebay for "Vietnamese coffee" will return several in the 10 dollar range or less, plus shipping (6/06).
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Eric commented about May 31 June 1 Bangkok to Solo Indonesia, On Wednesday May 31st, 2006 08:08:00 AM
Andy,
According to the link I post below:
The population in 2000 of the Yogyakarta entire province is 3.1 million, Bantul 781,000, and Yogyakarta City 396,700.
Here's the link to the BPS Yogyakarta statistics site.
Eric
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Eric commented about The Lost World of Khao San Road, On Friday May 19th, 2006 10:15:00 AM
Andy,
What are the 3 secure places on Khao San Road in your opinion? And is it because they have a hasp for your lock, or is there more to it?
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Eric commented about Mobile Office Thailand, On Monday May 15th, 2006 08:28:00 AM
Andy,
Re: Mobile Office
Wouldn't it be simpler to budget the total cost of the room and internet together as a package? Since it's possible that you could have a $10 room, and IF you work 2 hours per day then you could have a $6 per hour connection and be the same total budget at $22 per day??
Just a thought.
Eric
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Eric commented about How good is WIFI in your Hotel, On Thursday April 6th, 2006 07:54:00 AM
I'm not totally sure, but I think the ASCE report is based on internal standards, and not necessarily a comparison to the rest of the planet.
I appreciate your candid assessments of the various countries in all areas (not just internet related stuff), and value what you say because your experiencing it firsthand. Thanks.
Budapest looks picturesque, how long do you plan to be there?
Eric
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Eric commented about How good is WIFI in your Hotel, On Thursday April 6th, 2006 06:43:00 AM
10x NY net speeds in Guatemala. I doubt this is consistent throughout both countries, but it does shed a bit of light on the fact that the US got a "D" on the infrastructure report card by American Society of Civil Engineers.
ASCE 2005 Report Card
Eric
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Eric commented about Fava or Haba Bean, On Tuesday March 28th, 2006 06:59:00 AM
According to the USDA, fava beans have 12g of protein per cup, palm hearts and corn both have 4g of protein per cup.
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Eric commented about Mobile Office Internet Speed Antigua Guatemala, On Tuesday March 21st, 2006 11:57:00 AM
Andy,
Thanks for the post. Thats a nice surprise, 11.0 Mbps is faster than I expected from anywhere in Guatemala, wireless or otherwise. From other reports as well, Antigua sounded like the preferred place to be for an internet mobile office in Guate. Don Quijote room 8 it is.
Do you use a protective sleeve for your laptop when traveling?
Eric
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Eric commented about Depart Panajachel Arrival Antigua, On Monday March 20th, 2006 06:45:00 AM
Andy,
You mentioned a few weeks back that you were going to Budapest via NY. Is that still in the works?
Eric
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Eric commented about Guatemala Vegetables, On Thursday March 9th, 2006 12:31:00 PM
Andy,
Looks like you are in San Marcos la Laguna just west of Panajachel. There is supposedly a place called Unicornio there that advertize a price of 35 Q / $4.67 US per night for a cabin with communal kitchen and hot water etc.
They have a one page web site ....
http://www.hotelunicornio.com/
Eric
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Eric commented about The Poor Countries Take the Lead, On Wednesday March 8th, 2006 07:39:00 AM
Andy,
Thats excellent. Is the wireless internet an unlimited connection, and does it come included in the room price? You say screaming fast internet, how fast I wonder? Can you test it for us internet office seekers? Thanks.
Any of these should do ....
http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/
http://www.wugnet.com/myspeed/speedtest.asp
http://vonage.com/help.php?article=497&category=73&nav=6
http://www.internetfrog.com/mypc/speedtest/
I just came from Puerto Rico and I had a connection of 1100 kbps DL/1200 kbps UL or 1.1 mbps/1.2 mbps near the airport in San Juan.
Eric
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Eric commented about Sailboat Comedy, On Wednesday February 8th, 2006 03:29:00 PM
I was wondering all along if/when you would ditch this crew and move on. Keep telling it like it is Andy. Your straight forward approach, and plain truth assessment of your travels is what makes your blog worth following.
Not sure if this is really a good gauge ot not, but I would suspect that Grenada should prove to be more friendly on the wallet than Trinidad anyhow, as it has a GDP per capita of 5,000 v.s. Trinidad at 12,700.
Eric
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Eric commented about Cell Telephone GPS Ft Wayne Indiana, On Wednesday January 4th, 2006 03:12:00 PM
Re: Degrees Marks
Andy, I’m no GPS expert, but it looks to me like you might be able to eliminate web page/blog character display problems when showing a GPS coordinate if you use the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) format in decimal. Which according to the specs on your device, it does. The decimal equivalent does not require the special characters, similar to ones that display in Google Maps.
http://maps.google.com/
For instance, if you input your mentioned 41 07.92 N, 85 09.765 W in Google Maps it returns the location in Fort Wayne, Indiana and a companion GPS coordinate in decimal of 41.132000, -85.162750.
On the other side of the planet, say, in Bangkok would be 13.733333, 100.500000.
North and East are positive values, and South and West are negative values based on a starting point at Greenwich Mean Time and the Equator.
If the GPS Magellan eXplorist 100 will display in decimal, you won’t have to convert any data. And readers can simply input the values to see where you are.
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Eric commented about Nutrition Calculators Wanted, On Saturday October 1st, 2005 07:39:00 PM
Andy,
There is a nutrient database for about 6000 foods on the USDA web site at http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/ Looks a bit technical but maybe it will be of some us to you.
Best of luck with the travels.
Eric
Comment About Nutrition Calculators Wanted
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