Happiness is…

April25

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2 Year Travel Summary! Dec 2011 to Dec 2013…

April24

From December 2011 to December 2013 I lived the life of a digital nomad, I traveled around the world while working remote :). It was challenging, immensely fun, and I learned a shit ton :).

So, where did I go?

Panama for a few weeks.
Cusco, Peru for a month.
Buenos Aires, Argentina for a few months (1, 2, 3, 4)
Chile for a month (1, 2)
Easter Island
Melbourne, Australia for 1 year (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
Bali for a week.
Singapore for a week.
Tasmania for a week.
New Zealand for a month.
Hong Kong (1, 2)
Split, Croatia (1, 2)
Freiburg, Germany for a month.
Romania for a month.
Amsterdamn for a week or two (work).
Spain For The Via de la Plata (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
Scotland for the last month (1, 2, 3)

And then back home to settle down in Fayetteville, Arkansas :)

What did I learn?

#1 – You learn a whole lot about yourself when traveling for 6 month stretches alone. Lots of time to think, read, and just be with yourself. It was super helpful for me and I cleared a whole lot of bullshit from my mind, and I have a much better idea of who I am and what I want to do. Which is an good feeling :).

#2 – Living with your brother is really fun, especially when it is in Australia for a year. Especially when he refers to himself as your life coach :).

#3 – Time zones are hard, but also nice because they force you to prioritize what meetings need to happen. I just switched to a format to try to force this at home with meetings only on MTW from 9am to noon. We will see if that helps.

And I was reminded just how kind and awesome 99% of the people in the world are :). And how they just want clean air, good health care, opportunities to better themselves, opportunities for their kids, and for politicians to go fuck themselves (especially the corrupt ones, which usually means all of them in lots of these countries). Maybe one day a global political party can really get some traction.

Favorite places or experiences?

I loved them all but I especially loved Croatia! I can’t wait to go back as the weather and beach and people are amazing. Followed closely by Scotland, it felt like home :).

Highlights of the trip?
– Christmas and New Years in Panama with friends and family :).
– Taking Ayahuasca in Peru and seeing old ruiens + reading about them.
Touring the Mendoza wine region one weekend with Rose and Steve.
– Running at this great park in Buenos Aires while I was there + getting a lot of big picture working while I was there at local cafes.
– Finding the weirdest wines I’ve ever had with Joel and Laura one night in BA.
– Hiking Patagonia for a week near El Chalten. One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.
– Getting to see Easter Island and do a lot of biking, running, and walking after the polluted capital of Chile.
– Living with my brother Nick for a year in Melbourne Australia :)!
Riding a train from south to north australia for 3 days, I had a blast and it was an awesome trip!
– A week vacation in Bali where I read the entire Wheel of Time series over + the final one. And had some amazing food and total relaxation.
– Doing a short week camping adventure across Tasmania with Joel! And seeing a platypus in nature up in the mountains around old growth forests plus so many other beautiful areas. Tasmania is amazing!
– Heading back to Singapore for a week for delicious food and great company :)!
– RVing across all of New Zealand with my brother the navigator :). And seeing Hobbit town!
– Going on a boat with some work friends in Croatia that happened to fall on my birthday, exploring old military bases and a sub base was a life long dream :)! Not to mention how amazing that entire country is!
– Amazing hospitality in Serbia, and fantastic food and history!
– Running and mountain biking in Freiburg Germany, so many amazing trails everywhere!
– All the little trips I did across Romania, an amazing country and I’m hoping to go back when it is warmer :).
– Walking for 7 days across the Via de la Plata in Spain. It wasn’t what I expected, and I wish I had done it 8 years ago when I first found it. But it was still an amazing and challenging experience. Lots and lots of alone time when you are working all day.
– Scotland with family and friends! It was so great to have so many visitors for the last month.

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El Chalten Argentina

April27

I spent the last ~12 days in Patagonia in El Chalten Argentina! It was amazing! It is nestled right against some amazing mountains as you can see from the below pictures.

The first 5 or 6 days were pretty cold, windy, and wet but the last week was beautiful with clear blue skies and barely any wind. I hiked a ton, saw quite a few glaciers, did a few trail runs, and had a few days of going so high I was trudging through snow. Great trip and very relaxing.

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Luigi Bosca – Malbec

March31

Not too bad, a little too acidic but not bad. Drinkable!

Mendoza and Argentina Wine Country!

March3

I spent a week in Mendoza with Rose and Steve and had a blast! Mendoza is in the largest wine growing region of Argentina and next to a lot of mountains (which you can see the snow capped peaks in the below pictures). We drank a lot of wine, went on a day long biking tour of vineyards, and ended up at a small beer garden. We were there the week before the massive wine festival, glad we missed that as prices for a place to stay doubled and looked like it was going to be crazy. Great running too, they have a fantastic huge park with trails in Mendoza.

It takes 14 to 16 hours on a bus to get to Mendoza from Argentina, basically going width wise across the entire country.

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Buenos Aires!

March3

I’ve been in BA for about 3 weeks and it is an amazing city! I’ve been working a lot so when I’ve had free time just been wandering around a bit, so not too much to report. Mostly I have been enjoying the amazing food and wine :)

I love my apartment and a few pictures below, it is super funky and located in the San Telmo historic district. Huge 12 foot ceilings with huge windows, small deck, etc. Rose and Steve are staying with me for a few weeks before they head to Uruguay.

I’ve back to running as hoping to start doing some races in 3 to 4 months once I’m back to longer distances. The sidewalks around BA are not too bad, I twisted my ankle yesterday on a curb but I blame Argentina women for that as sometimes your eyes can’t believe they are wearing heels that tall. I’ve been running at the Buenos Aires Ecological Reserve which is only a mile from my place and amazing! Full of grass/dirt paths, quiet, tons of birds, and next to the ocean/river/marsh. I highly recommend running there if you are in BA. Check out pictures of it here.

Casa Boher – Merlot

March3

A great wine, tried a Merlot as tired of Malbecs! Smooth and red, highly drinkable.

Catalpa – Malbec

February13

A delicious Malbec that I really enjoyed! This one is located near Mendoza (Uco Valley) and hoping to visit it later this month maybe. Learn more about this one here.

Familia Gascon – Malbec

February11

Another Malbec, and yet another bottle where I can barely read who made it. What is with all the fancy writing people? Ya ya it’s cool. This wine was ok, but a bit acidic or something I couldn’t put my taste buds on. And not as smooth as the last one, maybe a bit too fruity and acidic. I think that was it.

That said, I drank it.

Vina el Gerno – Malbec

February8

This was a delicious wine from a small vineyard, I don’t understand how people describe wines as it always seems odd. Basically it was really smooth, tasted great, and I drank it. There is some additional info here about them too.

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Plans For The Next 18 Months…

December24

So, in short here are my plans for the next 18 months:

Jan – Month in Cusco, Peru (at 11,000+ feet)
Feb, March, April – Buenos Aires, Argentina.
May – Santiago, Chile.

I scored apartments with internet in each place and hopefully going to visit Brazil from Argentina quite a few times. I’ve got plenty of space at most places so hopefully some friends will come visit!

Still working down ideas of what I’ll do while I’m in each place, but the general idea is Mayan ruins, old churches, museums, food, steak, wine, vineyards, lots of fun work (webpub/wwwh), wine, beach, patagonia, etc. May 30th I fly off to Australia, still waiting to figure out that stuff, but I’ll be there for a year! And hopefully quite a few trips to Asia and surrounding regions.

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This is bwb’s personal blog, so he can share his thoughts with the world, however scary or silly they might be. Plus family and friends can track what I am up to, and where I am in the world.

I am pretty simple. I love Mangos. I love the ocean (although mostly at sunset, as I’m a ginger). I love to travel, eat exotic food, do long bike rides, read, and use my imagination. At some point, I decided it was better to be a pirate captain than an admiral. I am a globalist and see the entire world as my responsibility and playground. And I am married to an amazing woman who makes life even more fun :)! And we are now the proud parents of Calico Jack :).


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