What to Pack?
On 18 October 2010 from Reuver, Netherlands | add a commentEven though I have packed bags hundreds of times by now, it can still be a challenge, and is usually something I tend to leave to the last minute. Packing for business trips is easy: suits, shirts, socks, underwear, toiletries, done. Only evening outfit and coat are dependent on the weather. For my trip to South America weather I need to pack for both the cold and rain of the mountains in Peru, and the hot summer beach weather in Brazil. As a guideline I used my packing list that I made for Australia and New Zealand in 2003, and found it fairly useful, although the amount of gadgets that I am bringing has increased quite a bit, as well as the number of warm clothes (I remember buying sweaters in Australia). Here’s the full list.
Things to wear
Large backpack (Lowe Alpine, 70 litre)
Smaller daypack (Berghaus, 25+5 litre)
Sleeping bag (Nomad, 1,5 kg)
Lightweight Travelsheet (150 g)
Long trousers (2 zip off and 2 regular)
Wind- and waterproof jacket (Gaastra)
Fleece sweaters (2)
T-shirts (2 longsleeve, 4 polo)
Button down shirt
Underwear & socks
Thermal underwear, hat, gloves
Light hiking boots (Hanwag)
Sandals
Things to use
Towels & serong
Hat, sunglasses & sun protection spray (Nivea Invisible, factor 30)
Swimming shorts & prescription diving goggles
Small medicine bag, mozzie spray (DEET) & malaria tablets (Malarone)
Large toiletbag (including electrical toothbrush and shaver)
Things invented
Netbook (Asus Eee PC 1015PE)
Camera (Canon PowerShot S90) + underwater cover
GPS Travel Recorder (QStarz BT-Q1000X)
Phone (Nokia 6300)
MP3-player (Philips GoGear Spark 4GB)
Compass (Recta, for worldwide use)
Pocket knife (Wenger, Swiss of course)
Headlight (LED)
Things written
Passport
International driver’s license
Yellow Fever Vaccination Certificate
Debit card & credit cards
PADI Advanced Open Water card
Lonely Planets (Peru, South America on a Shoestring)
Books & magazines
Time for a Sabbatical
On 12 October 2010 from Prague, Czech Republic | add a commentEver since my trip to Patagonia & Antarctica in 2007-2008 I have wanted to go back to South America. From other travellers in Argentina and Chile I heard great stories about Galapagos, Machu Picchu and Salar de Uyuni. I was planning to go to these places at the end of 2008, but decided to travel in South-East Asia with a Swiss friend instead. At the end of 2009 there was no chance of taking a leave from the project in Prague for 5 weeks. So in 2010 I can finally make my dream come true. 2,5 months of paid leave and 3 months of unpaid leave should provide ample time to visit these places, and more. I am basically going back to slow travelling (like slow food or slow IT – Ron Tolido wrote some interesting columns on the topic), the method of travelling I got used to during my time in Australia, New Zealand and Patagonia. With a 5-month trip there’s not the (self-inflicted) rush there was in South-East Asia, where on some days I would be travelling by bus for 7 hours in the morning, do some sightseeing in the afternoon, and travel another 7 hours by bus the next day.
Obviously I will be exploring all the highlights of the places that I am visiting, but also the less known sites, of which I generally treasure the fondest memories. And it will allow me to simply stay longer in a place that I like, for example Ushuaia and Bariloche in Argentina. Arequipa in Peru is likely to qualify for this as well. To keep things flexible, I decided to have only a short list of must do’s for this trip: the already mentioned Galapagos, Machu Picchu and Salar de Uyuni, as well as the redeemer of Christ in Rio de Janeiro and Chitzen Itza. This way I can see all the new world wonders in the Americas in one trip and boost my score from 1 to 4 out of 7. And 5 countries (Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico) in 5 months seems a lot more managable than 5 countries in 5 weeks.
Lonely Planet Collection
On 3 October 2009 from
Reuver, Netherlands
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It is no secret that I am a large fan of Lonely Planet guidebooks. Aside from the miniature versions of important landmarks, it is the only physical collection I maintain. Years ago (2001) they sent me a free travel guide after I gave them some feedback on the Canada guidebook, and that basically bought my loyalty (pretty cheap, eh). 9 years down the road of independent travel it has become a decent collection spanning all continents. Almost enough guides to lose track of, and therefore I made the inventory below. In case you need to borrow one, you know where to find me.
| Guide | Year | Edition |
| Europe | ||
| Norway | 1999 | 1 |
| Portugal | 2005 | 5 |
| Spain | 2007 | 6 |
| Paris | 2001 | 3 |
| Netherlands | 2004 | 2 |
| Germany | 2004 | 4 |
| Switzerland | 2009 | 6 |
| Austria | 2008 | 5 |
| Italy | 2004 | 6 |
| Poland | 2005 | 5 |
| Czech & Slovak Republics | 2007 | 5 |
| Hungary | 2009 | 6 |
| Croatia | 2007 | 4 |
| Ukraine | 2005 | 1 |
| Russia, Ukraine & Belarus | 2000 | 2 |
| Greece | 2002 | 5 |
| Turkey | 2001 | 7 |
| Africa & the Middle East | ||
| Egypt | 2006 | 8 |
| Israel & the Palestinian Territories | 2007 | 5 |
| Jordan | 2009 | 7 |
| Asia | ||
| Across ASIA on the cheap | 1973 | 1 |
| South-East Asia on a Shoestring | 2008 | 14 |
| Thailand | 2003 | 10 |
| Hong Kong & Macau | 2004 | 11 |
| Nepal | 2003 | 6 |
| Australia & the Pacific | ||
| Australia | 2002 | 11 |
| New Zealand | 2002 | 11 |
| North, Central & South America | ||
| Canada | 1999 | 7 |
| New York City | 2008 | 6 |
| Southwest (Arizona, New Mexico, Utah) | 2002 | 3 |
| South America on a Shoestring | 2007 | 10 |
| Peru | 2010 | 7 |
| Bolivia | 2010 | 7 |
| Brazil | 2010 | 8 |
| Antarctica | 2005 | 3 |
| Various | ||
| Travel Photography | 2000 | 1 |
| The Travel Book | 2004 | - |
Guides in italics are not actually owned by me, just collected 
Mega Mansions
On 17 August 2009 from
Reuver, Netherlands
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Saturday morning we left Cape Cod at a decent time to drive to Mystic, Connecticut. Since it would only be a short drive, we decided to do some sightseeing in Newport, Rhode Island. This town became the place to summer for rich New Yorkers, and they tried to outdo each other in building the grandest mansion. Obviously, we visited that one that dwarfed them all: the Breakers, an Italian Renaissance megapalace built for Cornelius Vanderbilt II. 70 Rooms would indeed do for a summer residence. After a late lunch at the Elms, another large mansion, we continued on to Mystic. We had dinner and ice-cream in this centuries-old seaport town.
Initially the plan for the last day was to catch a ferry from New London to Long Island, catch two more ferries to get to the Hamptons, have a look around, and drive back to JFK. Since we had already seen the most sumptuous mansion imaginable in Newport, and the waiting time for the ferries as well as the traffic jams on Long Island in the weekend could be long and unpredictable, we decided to forego on the Hamptons, and drive straight to JFK. But even with taking things slowly in the morning, it left plenty of time to make a stop in New Haven, where Yale University is located. Unfortunately the tour times did not match our itinerary, so we wandered around the campus by ourselves. It was very interesting to note the quite distinct architectural styles between Harvard and Yale.
During this entire trip TomTom was a very good companion, aside from not finding the hotel in Cape Cod and sending us to some fields when we wanted to go to the center of Bird-in-Hand (or perhaps that was the center). But other than that, we drove everywhere in one go. The exception being our final destination. According to our companion, the car rental drop-off was in the middle of a not-so-well-to-do residential neighbourhood. Oh well, with about 5 hours to spare before departure, we had plenty of time to get back to the highway and find the real drop-off place. And thus ended a 2-week, 11-state/district (NY,NJ,DE,MD,DC,VA,PA,VT,MA,RI,CT) fly-rail-drive in North-East USA.
