I’m an idea man. No, really. I’ve been on the road for a couple of years and every now and then I come up with a good one. Here are a few thoughts and suggestions that might make the world just a tiny bit easier to deal with.

If you and I happen to cross paths on a remote jungle trail and you’re carrying a machete, please don’t run towards me with a big smile on your face. I know that you were just excited to point out that lovely bird in the tree and it’s very nice of you but now I have to change my pants.

Hey guys, Axe body spray is the patchouli of our time — just say no. That stuff doesn’t work anyways — I’ve guzzled gallons of it without getting laid once. I know the commercials suggest otherwise but they also claim I can maintain an erection while driving a race car and that’s never happened either.

If you’re going to charge me $20 or more to visit your park or archaeological site, I should at least get a free map. That’s twice what I’m paying for the hotel — having to kick down another $3 for a map is a bit much. Hell, even the black market kidney I just bought came with an owner’s manual and a warranty card.

Parks are a free fart zone. When out in nature, surrounded by trees and all of that fresh oxygen, a man has every right to proudly rip one, so quit looking at me like that. Instead, maybe you should teach your kid not to stand so close to strangers.

Antigua is a lovely place but I think your strict development regulations are strangling innovation. Yes, it’s nice that the town looks just like it did a hundred years ago but last time I was there tourism was way down. What you need is a Hooters-themed water park. Think about it.

I just saw a sign in Tikal that said “Templo 4″ and, directly underneath, “Temple 4″. I love bilingual signs, really I do, but if the only difference is a single letter, save the paint. I can probably sound that one out.

I was just back in the States for a week or so, flying home to surprise my parents for Christmas. The flight really put a strain on my budget since it was a last minute idea and I was paying holiday rates, so I limited myself to spending no more than $150 on new gear. Time was short, as well, so I was limited to things that would ship immediately. This is what I ended up with:

Alfa USB Long-Range WiFi AdapterI love my Macbook Pro but I’ve never been happy with the wifi reception — while traveling with a friend, he could regularly see 3-4 more hotspots on his Android smart phone than I could with my laptop. I remembered reading a post a couple of years ago where Anil over at FoxNomad had mentioned a wifi booster of some sort, so I poked around the interwebs a bit and found the Alfa USB long-range WiFi adapter on Amazon. At less than $30, it seemed worth trying, even though I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get it to work on my Mac.

After some head-scratching and digging through forums I did get the driver and application installed and I can say that so far it’s speeding up my download speeds and grabbing signals I can’t see without it (I’ll post a full review after I’ve had a chance to test it). The app is a little clunky and it’s a pain screwing on the antenna every time but if that means I can work in my room rather than in a hotel lobby or at that cafe across the street, I’m all for it.

It’s fairly easy to use: screw in the antenna, plug in the USB and launch their app. It will show a list of wifi nodes. Select one, click ‘connect’, wait for it to log in and then switch from wifi to the the USB connection in your network preferences and you’re done. I haven’t found a way to get it to remember passwords, though, so it can be a hassle typing it in each time.

They offer two additional antennas that should reach even further but I wasn’t able to have them delivered in time. I don’t know how durable it is –it’s made of cheap plastic– but it weighs nothing and if I can get 6 months use out of it it’s worth the price to me.

Barska 10×40 MonocularWhen I first started this trip, I brought a sharp pair of $300 Nikon binoculars. Unfortunately, they weighed two pounds so they tended to stay in my main pack and didn’t see much use. After six months on the road they disappeared, either while in a bus’s cargo hold or from my hotel room.

There are times when I’d like to see something closer up, so a monocular seemed like a good option. It only cost $40, has the same power as binoculars and only weighs 9 ounces, so I don’t mind cramming it into a corner of my day bag. And at that price, I’m not paranoid about it walking off again. The optics are pretty bright and sharp. It is a little slow to focus but I can live with that considering how little I’ll be using it.

Timbuk2 Messenger BagI’ve been really happy with my old Timbuk2 Swig backpack but after almost two years of daily abuse, it was starting to come undone. The stitching was coming apart on the main strap and –more importantly– the waterproof rubberized layer was in ribbons.

I generally carry my laptop and camera with me, so being safe from an unexpected downpour is pretty important to me. And the Swig certainly performed well in that regard — my only real complaint was that it was just a hair too small for the SLR and required careful packing to fit everything in.

I’ve used Timbuk2 messenger bags for years — my main transportation has been a motorcycle for a decade or more and I have always been impressed with their durability and ability to keep the wet stuff on the outside of the bag. This one features a lot of pockets, which is always welcome, and has a narrow pocket for the laptop (though not a padded laptop sleeve as the old pack had). Everything fits easily and so far it’s comfortable. I generally carry my day pack slung off one shoulder so it feels pretty natural.

At $70 for the large size, it’s more than I wanted to spend but I expect to get 2-3 years worth of use from it. Considering that I once spent $50 on a fancy high-tech shirt that I threw in the trash just 2 weeks into my trip, I think it’s a good investment.

Added anything new to your kit lately?

Please note that these are affiliate links, meaning that if you purchase one of these items from Amazon I’ll get 4% of the sale. Buy that monocular and I’ll make a buck and change. Buy a Mercedes and I’ll name my first born after you :)

Two years ago I sat at my laptop on a cold rainy night and clicked the Publish button for the first time. Until that moment, this whole “I’m gonna travel the world and write about it” thing wasn’t quite real. I was saving money and making plans but this was my first concrete step in a journey that would change my life.

I’ve since clicked that button over 250 times and over 200,000 people have stopped by the site (some of them even returned!) It’s a crazy world.

I started the blog a few months before I left, knowing I’d have a lot of things to learn and bugs to work out, so while it’s now two years old, I’ve only been traveling for 21 months. “Only” 21 months is far longer than I ever expected or hoped. I have no idea how long this ride will last — I plan simply to travel as long as I can and so long as it’s fun.

I’d like to take a moment and thank everyone who has followed along and especially those who have left a comment or sent an email with words of encouragement. I can’t tell you how much that means when I’m sitting in a dingy hotel room, having one of those “What the hell am I doing?” moments.

Thanks, too, to those who have asked for advice or shared tips — being thousands of miles from home (wherever that is now) and still feeling a sense of community is a strange and wonderful thing.

I thought this would be a good excuse to share some of my personal favorite posts from the last two years. Not all of them did well traffic-wise, but they’re the ones I’m most pleased with for one reason or another. Thank you all again for hanging around and I hope we can have this chat again in another couple of years.

-Wes

My Hand-Picked Favorite Stories (They’re Ripe!)

Three Mistakes on a Hot Day in Bangkok — Only one week into my big adventure, I discover that I have a talent for getting myself into awkward situations. Lucky me.

One Bizarre Night — Poker Scam in Saigon — I think a good definition of stupidity is knowing something is a scam but going along with it because you “want to see how it works”. I managed to escape but others weren’t so lucky — check out the comments.

Fighting the Fear: On Two Wheels in Vietnam — Riding a motorbike through some of the craziest traffic in the world isn’t all puppies and rainbows. On this day, the Fear nearly got the best of me.

Death Ride for Buddha — Battered scooters without headlights, Buddhist rock carvings, bush meat and a day-long adventure in Laos. What could possibly go wrong?

Depression, Burn Out and Renewal on the Streets of India — In which our hero loses his mojo, mopes about a bit, then gets it back in a most unexpected and painful way.

My First Night in Kathmandu — Lost, freezing and your ears are bleeding from the world’s worst cover band? Welcome to Kathmandu.

BONUS: Making Friends and Influencing People in India — Christine over at almost fearless was kind enough to run this piece in which I once again manage to put my foot in my mouth and offend a kind Indian family.

My Favorite Photos

Another 3 Months in Asia: My Top Ten Photos — Some of my favorite shots from traveling through Vietnam and Laos for three months.

The Pushkar Camel Fair, India — Over 50,000 camels and cattle converge on the holy city of Pushkar for a week-long celebration.

The Ganges River at Sunrise — My all-time favorite photos from one of the most photogenic places I’ve ever been, the eternal city of Varanasi, India.

The Songkran Water Festival in Chiang Mai — Three days of utter mayhem in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The Thais really know how to celebrate New Year.

Photo Essay: A Thai Wedding in Chiang Mai — My friends Mark and Sa were getting married in Chiang Mai and asked me to play wedding photographer. Can I get a “hell yes?”

Travel Tips that Might Actually Be Helpful, for Once…

Travel Photo Tune-Up, a Step-by-Step Tutorial — I share my tips and tricks for improving your photos after the fact, using Adobe Lightroom.

Real World Travel Tips — These are my tips for getting the most out of your travels and really experiencing the local culture.

RTW Gear Update: My Top Ten List — After a year on the road, what worked best and what got sent home?

How I Saved Hundreds on Travel Shots — If you’re traveling for a long time, a little research could save you a small fortune.

My Daily Budget by Country — How cheap is it? A day’s spending broken down for Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Honduras.

I spent a day tracking my expenses in the lovely town of Copan Ruinas. Prices here seem to be about average for much of Honduras, though the larger cities and islands are noticeably more expensive.

Room — I’m staying at the La Posada de Belssy, near the main square for $12 a night. For that I get a small clean room with fan, bathroom and a hot shower. Wifi is included and there’s a nice rooftop patio with hammocks and a good view. It’s a good value place to stay.

Food — Meals can get expensive here, relatively speaking. A plate at a sit-down cafe can cost $6-10 easily, which seems high when you’re only paying $12 for a hotel. I normally just grab coffee and a baleada (a huge soft taco with beans, cheese and sour cream) but today I woke up starving so I had the tipico breakfast at ViaVia, a popular backpacker cafe and hotel. For $6.50 I got 2 eggs, refried beans, fried plantains, cheese, avocado, tortillas and coffee. A 10% tip is the custom here and is included in that total.

For lunch, I just grabbed a baleada with beans and beef for $2 and had a orange/pineapple smoothie for $1.75. Dinner was a fantastic grilled beef plate from Carnitas Nia Lola for $7 — it was more than I could eat and could easily feed two. Honduran beers cost $1.50 at most places and I had a couple Salva Vidas as I watched the sunset.

Transport — Copan Ruinas is a small town so I really just walked everywhere. I did get caught in a rainstorm and grabbed a local tuk tuk taxi — they’ll run you just about anywhere in town for a buck. I did have one offer me a ride to the Copan site for $10, hoping I didn’t realize that it was only a 10 minute walk.

Bus trips around the country vary widely in price. Large, comfortable buses can carry you from the capitol, San Pedro Sula to Copan for about $6 if you’re willing to go without AC (keep in mind that this distance is about halfway across the country). For a cooler ride, you’ll have to go with the Hedman Alas luxury bus service and it will cost about four times as much. A 12-seater van service will take you to Antigua, Guatemala for $20 and 6 hours of your time.

Miscellaneous — There are tours and such available but I never seem to go for that sort of thing. The nearby ruins are $15 to visit and well worth the money, though I didn’t visit them on this day. Bottled water costs about $.75 a liter — ViaVia cafe will refills your bottles with filtered water for about 10 cents a refill, a nice service.

One expense I’ve trimmed from my budget is cigarettes. My friend Aisha is a hypnotherapist and was kind enough to gift me two sessions at Wellspring Hypnosis and Healing Arts. I always thought I was too stubborn and set in my ways for hypnosis to help but I can honestly say I walked out of her office a non-smoker. She’s based in Austin and has MP3′s available on her website — highly recommended if you’re trying to quit smoking or lose weight. I’m a believer.

All in all, I spent $33.25 for the whole day — not as cheap as I would like but not too bad. I could have easily cut $7-8 off that by eating more cheaply but after spending time on the island of Utila, where food was about 25% more expensive, I just couldn’t resist living it up a bit. There are a couple of hostels in town, too, where I could have saved another $5 on housing but I like having my own room and the view from the rooftop at the Belssy was quite lovely.

One of these days, I’m going to live it up and visit the modern Honolulu. Spectacular ocean views, views of the skyline and home to Iron Chef Morimoto’s new restaurant? Yes, please.

One of my goals for the coming year is to share more useful information about the places I visit. I share tips and tricks from time to time, but my advice tends to be along the lines of “Try not to crap your pants” or “Are you sure she’s not a dude?” Of limited use, I admit. So I thought I’d mention a few places worth visiting if you find yourself spending time on the island of Utila.

This is not a comprehensive listing and I’m sure there are plenty of nice places that I’m not mentioning. It was also slow season while I was here so many places were closed for the season or open with reduced hours. I spent three weeks here and these are places that I found myself returning to. None of these are paid endorsements or reviews.

Babalu Bar and Grill — This dockside bar is probably one of my favorite bars in the world — top five, even. Built on a sprawling rickety dock that juts out into the bay, it’s just a perfect place to watch the sunset or relax and listen to Etta James while enjoying the rum punch ($1.35 US). If you’re nice, Dado will often add a floater of rum to it. The attached kitchen serves fish and snacks but I wasn’t terribly thrilled with my king fish plate.

Bundu Cafe — Generally over-priced food and very expensive beer (50% more than their neighbors) I stopped here mostly because it had reliable wifi. Service is pretty bad and they add a 10% charge to the bill just to rub it in. The food is decent, at least, and I don’t find myself checking the status of my travel insurance. (Undergoing a name-change to “Buccaneer Grill” at the moment so there’s no sign — it’s across the street from the bank.)

Charolette’s Cafe — A short hike uphill from the firehouse, Charolette has the best baked goods on the island and good-value breakfasts. It’s comfortable, clean and a good place to meet the local inhabitants. If she had wifi, I’d have never left.

Thompson Cafe — While their baked goods aren’t nearly as good or varied as Charolette’s, they do have cheap breakfast food and –surprisingly– free wifi. It’s a bit of an sweat box inside and the service is terrible but the food is easy on the budget and filling.

El Picante Mexican Restaurant — It’s hard to miss this place, as it overlooks the ferry dock where everyone arrives. Not only does it have the best view in town, the food is reasonable-priced and quite good. Drink prices are the same as everyone in town, so it’s a great place for a sunset cocktail and the owners, John and Theresa, are wonderful people. They offer homemade chips and salsa to dining customers, so split an app or plate for a cheap evening.

Munchie’s — The building is lovely and I like hanging out on the covered porch and people-watching but the prices and service are about the same as Bandu’s, if not worse. When the planets align just so, the free wifi actually works.

Genesis Cafe — Right next door to Munchies, the service is better and the food a bit cheaper. The specials are usually a good value — I had a tasty grilled red snapper lunch for less than $5. Upstairs, Blanca runs a reasonably-priced laundry service.

Indian Wok and Mango Cafe — I never got around to eating at either place, but both are consistently mentioned as being the best restaurant in town.

If you’re under 30 and looking to get drunk and/or laid, head to Tranquilo or Coco’s after sundown. Thumping music, cheap drink specials and a meat market vibe are what pull the crowds here. Tranquilo was by far the most popular spot while I was here.

Rehab — Another dock bar, Rehab is a good place to have a beer or five. Run by a friendly bunch of expats, it still attracts a local crowd on weekends and is one of the few places where born locals, expats, and tourists intermingle while listening to old country songs. I can’t recommend their signature vodka drink (served in test tubes) — it’s fairly disgusting.

Skid Row — One of my all-time favorite dive bars, Skid Row is the perfect place to meet oddball characters and swap tall tales. Opening at 10am, you’ll generally find the seats full of locals drinking beer by about 10:02. With a free pool table and big flat-panel TV, it’s also the closest thing Utila has to a sports bar. Great pub food, cold beer, the strongest cocktails in town and –my personal favorite– the rum and lemonade will bring you back as soon as the hangover fades.

High Tide and Carlota’s Place — Open air bars on Chepe’s Beach, both are a good spot to stop and have a drink while watching the water lap at the shore. Carlota’s also serves food and I’ve had a couple of people recommend it. High Tide has a nice breeze and somewhat friendlier service (okay… the service at both is fine but Jennilee, the bartender at High Tide, is very cute and sweet).

Traveling doesn’t require tons of preparation and planning. You can sometimes find good deals on last minute holidays and get away from it all.