Gone Nomad

It's not official until I buy my ticket but I'm going to go country-hopping for a year, starting in June. Two years ago, this was just another crazy idea that would probably never get off the ground. Now, inspired by my friends' travels and curious about the world I'm preparing for the exciting journey ahead of me.

When you're working off a laptop in a foreign country you'll need access to the web eventually. Today, I did a test-run using the free wireless at a coffee shop and now I'm evaluating what I'm going to do about protecting my computer and my information.

Having a client in a country could mean you need to get a working visa if you want to go there. There is a way around this, however, and it doesn't mean lying to the folks at the border.

A few interesting facts about Canada I can whip out if some one asks me about my country during my travels.

A preliminary review of the Canary Wireless Digital Hotspotter, a wifi detector that displays quite a bit of information about the available networks in the area. I've had it for about a month and it's time to give the weigh down.

Well, I've finally gone and booked my flight to Europe. The trip begins in early June in Aberdeen Scotland.

I was just talking to a friend about staying in a hostel in our own city. I mean, you have an apartment or house in Vancouver and you pack your bags and go stay in a hostel... in Vancouver. Occasionally, I've heard of people doing this in a hotel but usually they're trying to get away from kids and have some time to relax. Haven't heard of anyone doing it with hostels.

Not that I think we'd be the first or anything.

An exchange student complained that when they go out to the pubs in the hopes of making friends with locals, they end up meeting more exchange students. Part of the reason, they reckoned, is that with their pass/fail grading scheme they're the only group that can afford to go out almost every night of the week.

After seeing videos and reading news of the unrest in Tibet it's not hard to imagine that traveling there could be risky. But even your typical "safe" country harbours all kinds of dangers. Hepatitis could be hiding in those ice cubes sitting in your drink, you could be attacked by a scorpion, or you could get trapped in a local clash. Could be. And that's what the travel agent I spoke to on Saturday wanted me to be thinking about when she explained the travel insurance coverage. Medical fees, dental fees, medical evacuation, bedside visits, even dealing with my remains, should it come to that.

A book by psychologist Dan Gilbert triggers some thoughts on the nature of happiness. He discusses this notion of "synthesized happiness" which feels no different from your regular everyday happiness. So how can we take advantage of that?