In April, 2003, I left my job in Dublin and began my life as a digital nomad. At the time I didn’t know that I had just become a digital nomad, or that I would be doing it for ten years. My previous employment record was three years and three months, and that was three […]
Notes on Pangandaran, Indonesia – An alternative beach destination to Bali
[Pangandaran Beach, Java – Indonesia] Up until a few days before I arrived I had never heard of Pangandaran. This fishing village on the south coast of West Java is a popular beach resort (if you can describe it as that) for domestic visitors, but like much of Indonesia beyond Bali, it is not on […]
Notes on Kota (Old Jakarta)
Kota (Old Jakarta) is the area around the old port area of Jakarta. [Remnants of Old Jakarta] The remaining heritage buildings here are remnants from the Dutch colonial era when the city was known as Batavia. [Jakarta History Museum] Like seemingly every big colonial city in the region Batavia was an “x of the east” […]
A long-term PC users review of the Macbook Air
So I bought a Mac. I was the last person to think I would switch over, especially as I had been using PC laptops for so long. April 2012 marked ten years since I bought my first laptop, and in that decade I owned four laptops, averaging 2.5 years per laptop (which is roughly the […]
My life as a non-drinking traveller
It was 20 years ago today March 14, 2013 marks an important milestone in my life: I have been sober for 20 years. This means I haven’t had a drink or mind altering substance in that time, and to top that off I gave up smoking on the same day as well. Being a non-drinker […]
Guesthouse Review: Ali’s Nest – A budget guest house in Singapore
Guesthouse Name: Ali’s Nest Address: 23 Roberts Ln, Singapore. One of the joys of travelling in Southeast Asia is staying in guest houses. For less than the price of a dorm room in Europe you get the privacy of own room with a bathroom attached. In some cities there are cheap guest house districts such […]
In Pictures: Wadi Rum – Jordan
I am very much a city person but there is something about desert landscapes that appeals to me. It wasn’t always that way. I grew up on the edge of the Australian Outback so I thought I had my quota of the desert for one lifetime. Having travelled overseas and returned as an adult I […]
Iconic Saigon war photo locations revisited
There are some cities in the world where I can’t help but think about its troubled past. I lived in London for two years where its ugly post-war buildings are a constant reminder of the blitz. I have spent several months in Budapest where you see plaques everywhere inscribed with 1956. Ho Chi Minh City […]
Ridiculously skinny buildings of Vietnam
[A tall and skinny building in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.] Spend any amount of time in Vietnam and you will soon notice that there are skinny buildings everywhere. Some are so slender that they barely look like they could fit a double bed across. Don’t ask me how they would get a double bed […]
A day as an extra on the tsunami film, The Impossible
I have been self employed for close to 10 years now, but there have been occasions that I have taken up the odd day job. There was that time in Mumbai where I was a Bollywood voice over extra. Recently in Melbourne I got back on the factory floor for a day to help pack […]
