I would like to stop being Angry and Frustrated

Asiabill from has written 258 comments

DITTO! for me I feel the same even I receive less than a third of your 100 emails a day. Usually managing such mood swings and anger and frustrations is done by "ACCEPTANCE" of the basic "laws" of human nature. People's most important NEEDS and DESIRES are SIMPLE and their wish to enjoy receiving them FREE is nearly universal as is their HATRED of those of us who provide these basic needs for a price. There is a thin line between people's admiration and inspiration of mentors, inventors and "gurus" like yourself and their negativity or casting of stones attitude as people like yourself remind them of their failures in their own lives.

When I first read your header I thought, "but of course Andy" your left Bah behind instead of organizing her joint escape with you or possibly at some upcoming date that was doable. But of course that's a typical example of judging others by our own character having a loving companion is one of Bill's more important "joys of life" . Each of us are ALWAYS divided internally as to some of the decisions we make and though one side KNEW we made the RIGHT choice the other side of us is SCREAMING and SHOUTING and CALLING NAMES at our inner self who made the choice. Such is Life! C'est la vie!

The mosquito spray looks like a GREAT deal for 2 bucks I bought something half the size without the spray can for nearly as much but haven't had to use it yet.

Most forum webmasters have chosen # 2 moderators but I never liked the idea myself so occasionally my yahoo group gets ATTACKED but then I deal with it in a few minutes. The trouble with limiting "spam" is most people with experience and can be content providers themselves as addition or enhancing part of someone's blog have ulterior motives. #3 the LOG IN idea might work and be the best because the WORST of the TROLLS may shy away from making the worst and most annoying of the comments. My common frustration is that our guests making bookings do NOT READ when all they need to do is SCROLL DOWN like I advise them in the first paragraph. But I remember researching mail order businesses and it said reader ONLY read the 1st sentence, the last sentence and anything which says FREE and opens the envelope 10 times more if address is hand written.

ANDY, you are a REALLY GOOD GUY and interesting stellar individual with some great karma flow going your way. I've skimmed through your pages of deleted comments and see how many spam attacks, A- -HOLES making EVIL accusations at you and various other more boring off topic comments are sent. So I guess IF removing the "comment" section will NOT take any money OUT of your pocket and ENHANCE your JOY of LIFE then it's probably wise for you to do so. Should that be the case so long and all the BEST to you. Bill

Gadget from has written 916 comments

Soon we will require people to log in to comment, so that is guaranteed to happen. I suppose i will just wait and see what happens.

Generally, inside the password area is easy to moderate, however this will make the disliked or deleted area boring, but not important, we are selling happiness not the ugly.

I enjoy human nature, except when I have to deal with is up close and personal, then I want to walk away from some people. I sold Real Estate for years, and it was sad listening to the corrupt suggestions or desires from people I thought at first were nice people.

I do not want to know what is inside the inner thoughts of many people.

your mom is not the only one who reads all of your posts.

Gadget from has written 916 comments

Yes,
I will write directly to my Mother and Father. I am forever grateful to them for being two of the best parents on the planet, and to help make me the man I am today.

There are too many children who disclaim their family, I do the opposite to lobby for people to accept and reward their parents.

Also an indirect way of writing that allows me to tell readers what the phrase meant without them thinking I am talking down. There is a balance, too high or too low, there must be clues to explanations. Allusions are fun, except when you lose everyone in the process.

arcu from has written 16 comments

Maybe I missed this- are u waiting for something there, in Senegal? If you weren't I assume you'd have left by now...

Gadget from has written 916 comments

I am arranging all my visas for "West" West Africa, from here in Senegal to Liberia.

I like to give all countries and locations at least 10 days, so always go slower than tourists, I feel as if I just arrived.

I went to the Ghana Embassy yesterday, I hope to get a five year visa to Ghana so I could fly cheaper to Accra. I can get a six month visa for 200 Dollars, but I must enter Ghana in three months, so of little value.

I think I can will get a Guinea visa here in Dakar, and then can get the remainder in Banjul, the Gambia where the language of business is English.

it is very confusing to map out the visas, and the guidebook does not do this, the assumption is you only visit one country. I am sure somebody has done it, but I have yet to come across if for an American. The visa requirement for Europeans is different than American here.

Hi Andy,

I can't wait till you make it to Liberia, I have some friends there that can help if you need be.

Okay, here's a little idea I've been kicking around, "VINTAGE T-SHIRTS" in West Africa. Yes, that's is right, American Vintage T-Shirts that have been donated to West Africa over the years as second hand clothing, especially the '70's and 80's era. Some of these Tee's bring $200 - $500 on ebay !!. So Andy, keep your eye open for these T-Shirts, especially in Liberia which has recieved literally tons of these second hand clothing donations, here's an example ...

http://www.viceland.com/int/v16n11/htdocs/liberian-girls-and-boys-234.php


Cheers !!

Andy, the thing about Google Maps is that your GPS will nearly always be more accurate than their maps. I'm struggling sometimes with the same thing w/ my GPS tracker.

To map tens of thousands of flat images onto a spherical surface Google will stretch and manipulate the image to make it blend with others. Using Google Earth I can move forward and backwards in time (looking at how a satellite image evolves over time) and note the sometimes large jumps in building locations.

This might not be your problem. Your map might say you're dozens and dozens of kilometers from your point, which isn't right. The distances I'm talking about are commonly shifts of less than two or three dozen meters.

Gadget from has written 916 comments

Here in West Africa it appears the GPS marks a location about 10-15 kilometers Southwest of the location on Google Maps. This time we was in the ocean so pursued the answer.

Readers assume that I am the problem, so we now are using Google Maps to retrieve there long and lats so we agree, even if not correct by GPS.

Thanks for the opinion, I support you that my GPS is accurate, but I suspect readers would assume Google Maps is correct, so a Catch 22.

Yeah just get people to log in.... your true followers will keep following!

Phil J from has written 75 comments

Hi Andy. I can understand your frustration. But it is just one more fact of life. I love reading your blogs and visiting your website. I am an intensively curious person and love travel and adventure. So reading your blogs and enjoying my morning coffee has become a regular morning routine. I have a new website. My nephew discontinued sailtoadventure. So I now have topsailadventures.com. I need to do some more additions to it and I am going to post Hobo Traveler as a link if you do not mind. And I will do a blog about how much I enjoy hobotraveler.
One of the nice things about reading your blogs and visiting your website is that I know you are honest. I never feel like you are gas lighting me or blowing smoke up my pants. As my Aussie friends so colorfully put it in their quaint, loveable idiom, yours is the "straight griffin" or " the dinkum oil ".
Andy, when your gps does not agree with a map or chart, the map or chart is in error. By its very nature a satellite gps has only two choices. It can work or not work. If it is locked on to satellites it has to give an accureate latitude and longitude. We frequently see errors on charts when plotting a location with a gps coordinate. Usually the gps can give you a location within just a few yards. Lots of nautical charts are innacurate. Especially the ones of western Mexican waters and some out in the western pacific. The navigational charts produced by Captain James Cook, NOAA, and by the British Admiralty are really the straight griffin. You can bet your boat on it.
thanks
Phil

Andy,
Do you know about the datum setting? You have to set your gps to whatever standard datum is used on the map. It is printed on a paper map, you set your gps setting to that datum, a cute little nameand number.
I didn't know what google uses. So [in real time] I have googulated a bit and found this:
Typically, the data you import into the Google Earth application is created with a specific geographic coordinate system, such as a Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projection and a NAD27 datum (North American Datum of 1927).

worldmind from has written 13 comments

How about using "You're fired!" from The Apprentice, Donald Trump's reality TV show? That seems to apply pretty well.

I also think that the solution of hiring a handful, let's say 3 trusted moderators would work really well for you after training and providing guidelines. No?

Nothing in the world like one's parents. It's a good reminder.

Keep on truckin', Andy. As they say, life's a bitch, and sometimes I quite agree!

pff, before you kick me out with registration (I hate that, but understand the case)...

Marry in every country you like a girl, tell her you give her a bunch of money for that and then go and she can look for the next one ...

Uuups, not Christian style, but very effective: You get right to stay everywhere. As long as your paper marriage goes on. Pay back with the same how they do it here.

I know a European man he did that with an African girl. One very beautiful one, never understood why that guy let her go ... He got about 5000 bucks. Plus some tax reduction because married ...

Not a real tip, just cross thinking ...

My wifes twin brother came from the north down to see us, in an African country, no need to tell where. He came by luxery bus. Then he entered a yellow cab, this common public transport.

That was bad: They started beating him, took all his property, beat him again and, thankfully, throw him out of the car. They did not kill him. He was not looking fine, I see still his wounds. He did not recover well and a year later he died.

He died for sparing a few pennies, living cheap instead of taking a good taxi.

White people live longer there because they fear us, it would be too troublefull to beat a white one down. Don't think that makes me feel safe, that believe is an error. You where only lucky till today.

We where in a hotel, having sold a truck. So, 30000 bucks in the bag. There came rumors up that strangers found out our hotel ....
We had to run to the airport and my wife was white in the face because of fear, ready to expect any second someone stopping our taxi or killing us...

You can die for no reason anywhere by human hand, no exclusion.

Life is good, but the world is bad ....

I love that you write whatever you're feeling! I feel like I'm reading your diary- especially in the title- and appreciate your honesty about the fact that you're not necessarily enjoying Senegal. I think a lot of travel bloggers skim over the same information (i.e. 'a charming little treasure' etc.) and it gets really repetitive. This post was like a breath of fresh air! I especially loved the section dedicated to Mom. Thanks again for a great post!