trip around the world – Page 2

Flo et les nanas

It’s a good thing I’ve been practicing my French, because I found out just a couple of days ago, from Facebook, that a French friend of mine will be in Bangkok the same time as me. I gave him the name of my hostel and, being perfectly located for his purposes, he booked the sameContinue reading “Flo et les nanas”

One night in Paris

It’s costing me 20 euros to ride in from the airport and back for a few hours in Paris and I don’t even care. If New York is laid out in a grid, Paris is laid out like a splatter painting. To wander through Paris is therefore to be lost in Paris, and this isContinue reading “One night in Paris”

CouchSurfing vs hostel

Is CouchSurfing cheaper than staying in a hostel? Actually, this depends somewhat. If you’re going to an area where the hostels are inexpensive, as in around $10 a night or less, it may end up costing you just as much to CouchSurf. For one thing, you tend to pay more in transportation costs getting toContinue reading “CouchSurfing vs hostel”

Tourists of Lisbon

Often when I travel, I end up at the spots where a hundred or so other foreigners have congregated also — in fact, this seems nearly impossible to avoid, unless you stick to the ugly parts of town. So I end up trying to find the beauty in the tourists themselves, in the postcards, inContinue reading “Tourists of Lisbon”

LX Factory, Lisbon

FX Factory, a former factory space near the Alcântara tram stop in the south of Lisbon, has been turned into an interesting hipster-esque scene with an industrial street-art feel. I say “hipster-esque,” because although I did spot some hipsters there, flannel and everything, and although the entire city of Lisbon seems like something hipsters wouldContinue reading “LX Factory, Lisbon”

Cruz Quebrada

My first few days in Lisbon, I stayed in Cruz Quebrada because my CouchSurfing host lived there. Formerly a home to heroin addicts, it now primarily provides residential housing for mainstreamers. The tram station is directly next to the water — not the ocean, but still technically the Tagus River. The ocean is a coupleContinue reading “Cruz Quebrada”

Spurning a drug dealer-beggar in Lisbon

I’m in downtown Lisbon, wandering with my camera, taking photos in Restauradores and Rossio, the beautiful light and the perfect cobblestones in contrasting colors. I’m starting to get hungry, and I spot some roasted chestnuts and slow down to get some. A wizened man with two missing front teeth falls into step with me and showsContinue reading “Spurning a drug dealer-beggar in Lisbon”

Milan in the rain, on the cheap

I arrive in Milan on a gray and sopping wet day, and am greeted in the baggage claim area by a bevy of tourist fliers, all of which appear to be for shopping. Haute couture shopping, fine leather goods, discount malls in nearby Switzerland. The fliers and the weather are so discouraging, in fact, thatContinue reading “Milan in the rain, on the cheap”

A star called Rijel-Linda

I land in New York at 6 am on a Sunday morning, and stand in the freezing cold waiting for the A train. I get off at 14th in Manhattan, as per my instructions, and wheel my little bag over the uneven streets to 17th and 7th and there it is, my destination: Cafeteria, otherwiseContinue reading “A star called Rijel-Linda”

Virtual reality in Vancouver

So Vancouver is hard to really get to see when you’re going to conferences for a week straight, but I did get to walk around and take some photos one afternoon when the sun came out — and then my camera ate the pictures, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. IContinue reading “Virtual reality in Vancouver”