This page is where I put just about everything that you can know about me. My personal goals, business goals, active hobbies, inactive hobbies, interests, passions and even some of my favorite animals. If you want to know more about me, this is the place to do it.
Where I’ve Been
Born in 1985, I have had a wanderlust ever since.
Where I’m Going
Currently I have a plan to travel around the world in my lifetime and I plan on doing that one step at a time.
My Goals in Life
The majority of my personal goals are things like learning languages, travel around the world in my lifetime, become a licensed helicopter pilot, learn to code, build a house out of shipping containers, have a family and other random goals that I want to achieve just because I want to. They’re just for me to feel like I have achieved something with my life.
My Personal Goals
Learning multiple languages
travel around the world in my lifetime
become a licensed helicopter pilot
learn to code
build a tiny home out of shipping containers
have a family
My Business Goals
Own/Operate/manage a 5 star hostel or chain of 5 star hostels
to work in the travel industry
to own an online business
retire by 50
Work for a travel tech company
Start my own travel tech company – Currently I am learning to code so I can create my own travel app.
My Active Hobbies
I like to stay active as much as possible. Sometimes I am busy working so I can afford my next trip while other times I am enjoying more of my own home state of Colorado but no matter what, I like to do fun activities. Here’s some of what I like to do to stay active.
Travel
Obviously since this is my travel blog, I enjoy traveling. I
Rock Climbing and Bouldering
– I decided to get into Rock climbing a few years ago because I like the ability to be able to lift my own body weight without much hassle. It makes me feel more empowered to know that I can pull myself up something with just my arms if need be.
Repelling
This is like downhilling for people who like to climb.
Mountain biking
I love how much ground you can put behind you on a bicycle and mountain biking is one of the best things to do in colorado since we have some of the best mountains in the world right here.
Snowboarding
I’m from Colorado so…um…yeah.
Kayaking
Aside from the sunburn I think Kayaking is my favorite water sport.
Paddleboarding
I have only paddleboard’d a of couple times but I think it is one of the best upper body exercises I’ve ever done. It also really stimulates your core strength and balance. If you ever do this, just make sure that you wear plenty of sunscreen cause you’re basically just standing in the sun.
Rafting
Walking
I just put one foot in front of the other for an extended period of time. This also happens to be one of my favorite things to do while I am traveling. I’ll just walk to a park and do some reading or study the local language. Walking is also when I listen to a good bit of music.
Jogging
I get my heart pumping a bit more with a little bit of speed added to my walking. Sometimes I even pay money to go to a gym so I can do this while staying in the same spot.
Surfing
I haven’t done much surfing but I love the feel of riding on top of the water as I am pushed along by the power of the wave. It’s a bit of work to paddle out sometimes but at the end of the day when my arms are so sore that I can barely lift them, I feel like I made some good progress and some
Skating
I got into skating a little bit when I was like 14 and have kept some sort of skateboard around ever since. Sometimes just putting wheels between my feet and the ground is all the travel rush I need.
Swimming
I was never a strong swimmer growing up and am still not much of one but I think swimming is one of the best things you can do for you respiratory system so I try to swim a few laps whenever I get the chance.
Backpacking/Hiking
I don’t really enjoy doing this on just any occasion but I have found that carrying excessive weight on your back as you walk up steep inclines for what is seemingly no real reason other than to say that you have done it can actually be a very rewarding experience.
Stretching + Yoga
I stretch more than do any official yoga classes but I do like to stretch everyday. Sometimes it’s just simple stretching that I do but I have learned over the years that a good stretch is a good way to begin just about any physical activity.
Pull-ups
The pull up bar is my single favorite gym exercise. I feel like the ability to fully lift your own weight is a good thing to be able to do. I don’t do it as mush as I used to but of all of the things I ever did at the gym, I enjoyed the pull up bar the most.
Airsoft
I don’t play as much as I used to but I have really enjoyed getting out onto the field form time to time to go sling a bunch of plastic BBs at my friends. I really enjoy the teamwork element of airsoft and I also get to run around outside with a bunch of my friends as we battle it out in a game of cunning and physique.
Camping
There’s something very liberating about just going out into the woods and living for a few days. I find that the lack of modern luxuries and amenities of everyday life can allow me to focus more on what I find to be important in my life. It also really helps me to take less for granted.
Drums
This might not seem like any sort of fitness or action activity but I have found that playing the drums for a while can be one of the best relievers of stress that I have ever found.
Dance
I am not much of a dancer but I am really fascinated by dance illusions when people are able to move to fluidly that it looks unnatural. I watch YouTube dance tutorials from time to time and try to learn how to do certain dance moves and spend some time here and there to watch how my feet move in a mirror so I can make improvements.
Martial Arts
I like to watch some YouTube tutorials on how to do certain moves or postures. I feel that this helps with my over body mechanics and
My Not-So Active Hobbies
Music
I listen to a lot of weird music. I discover most of what I listen to by Shazaming songs that I like the sound of, music that I find that is related to that music, from my younger brother, from my older brother, from some of my friends and just abut anywhere else that I can find. My playlists are pretty random so if you listen to them, just keep in mind that I use Shazam in all sorts of weird places.
Street Art and “quality Graffiti”
– It’s been a while since I’ve done any of my own work but I really like the rather new acceptance of the street artist. Im not a street artist of any sort but I like bold colors and I street art seems to have lots of bold colors. Im sure it’s totally cliche but my favorite artist is Banksy. I also really like the work of a guy named Brian Batt in NYC. Other than that I’m not really all that art cultured. I like some stuff and don’t like other stuff.
Writing
I enjoy writing here on this blog but I also enjoy writing in my journal for my own personal pleasure.
My Random Interests
“Smart Travel” or “Travel Tech”
This is really anything that is tech based and increases peoples ability to travel from point A to point B or even all the way to Z. This can be services like Uber for helping people do the actual transporting of themselves. It can be AirBnB for helping people to find nicer accommodations and in more places than a hotel would have. It can be Duolingo for helping people to learn the local language easier and even for free. It can be a flight saver or notification app. My passion in this area is mostly focus on helping more people travel ore often and for less money. The more efficiently people move around the
Antique Maps
Open Source
This is kind of a widely used term now but I like the basic idea of creating something and giving it away to the whole world for free.
Automation (“Set it and forget it”)
This page on my blog is a perfect example of my “Set it and forget it” mentality that I love about the internet. We are now able to harness so much more about . Confession: I use IFTTT.com to automatically share my instagram pics and YouTube videos on twitter so I don’t have to manually tweet them. I just set up an automated share feature to increase my productivity.
Remote Access
( Digital nomads, Smart homes, ZenPayroll, UBER, etc.)
Smart Homes
( This is also going to be a big part of Travel Tech) – The smart home in my opinion is a home that knows exactly how much resources are coming and exactly where those resources are consumed and where there is unnecessary waste and delivers all sorts of analytics and metrics on that intake and consumption. I think of this mostly as water, electricity, natural gas/propane and possibly even food and other resources. If you knew what rooms in your house consumed ore electricity or heat, then you could make changes in your consumption in that room to. In this sense I believe that the smart home is going to be one of the solutions to the worlds energy crisis. Secondly comes things like notifications from your dishwasher and Washer/dryer that they are done.
CrowdSource
(masses of people collaborate to get something done)
The Shared Economy
The on-demand economy
(Uber, Magic, Google, Fandango, AirBnb, etc.) – As our society becomes more and more efficient, we now have access to more and more goods and services on demand. We can order just about anything from food, drinks, transportation, accommodation and even
3D Printing and rapid prototyping
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UAS (Drones)
– I am really interested to see where drone technology is going an dhow all of their non-weaponized applications that will be used by civilians and businesses. Search and rescue as well as reducing almost all of the friction in delivery of small goods over adverse or even hostile terrain for very little cost. I see this providing huge benefits in the medical field in developing countries.
Crowdfunding (Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, GoFundMe, Patreon, Kiva, Bitcoin, etc.)
– I think this might be one of my favorite startup sectors because it is enabling more people around the world. Crowdfunding is taking over the world with a number of different applications and new ideas that are allowing people to fund their ideas, businesses, causes and dreams without having to go and ask a bank for financing. I am a huge proponent of such technology and do whatever I can to fund more ideas.
Sustainable Transport
(This is where I am very into Travel Tech like UBER, Waze and Tesla)
Shipping Containers
– Follow my board on Pinterest all about Shipping Containers and all of their unique applications around the world.
Machines that I think are cool:
It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that most machines that I think are cool have something to do with transport and the ability to travel with more ease. Here’s a growing collection of machines that I think are cool.
Motorpeds
Helicopters
I don’t know why but I have always been fascinated with helicopters. I have currently never flown in one but I
Enduro Motorcycles
An Enduro is like a combination between a dirt bike and a street motorcycle. It is usually heavier than a standard dirt bike but that because it is made for longer distance rides and carrying heavier loads.
Toyota Land Cruisers
(The FJ60 is my personal favorite)
Tesla Models S
I fell in love with the Tesla when I first came across an article where they had completed a coast to coast trip in a Tesla and it’s established charging stations across the US. As soon as I understood that I could travel all the way across the US in a full size sedan and pay no additional costs for gas, I was instantly enamored by their ability. I won’t have $120,000 anytime soon to buy one but I think it’s a very cool car.
Elio Motors
I found these guys randomly online one day but I am completely in favor of their mission to create a 1-2 seater “car” that gets up to 84 miles/gallon and only costs $7,000 brand new from the factory. They are literally working on a way to give away cars so that anyone and everyone will be able to afford a brand new commuter car that gets 80+ MPG in addition to owning their full sized cars and SUVs. They also plan to produce these cars here in the United States. The low cost of this vehicle along with it’s low fuel costs and what I can only assume will also be low insurance and registration costs, Elio motors could be what puts a lot of people into their own cars and also greatly help with the world sustainable transport problem.
Microcontrollers
Raspberry Pi, Arduino, WonderBar, Makey Makey, littleBits and more.
littleBits – These creative little rapid prototyping tools are like primitive circuits + LEGOs with a dummy resistant magnetic connection system. I have used these to make motion activated lights to sound activated web notifications in just a few seconds.
My favorite animals
North American Kestrel
– Smallest bird of prey in North America
HummingBird
– Only bird that can fly directly backwards.
Owls
– Nights stealth flight
Penguins
– most acrobatic underwater movement ever.
Porcupine
– Never attacks other animals
Raccoon
– Only animal to wash it’s food before it eats it.
Honey Badger
– Most aggressive of all animals.
Flying Squirrel
– Only “flying” rodent
Kangaroo
– Roos are about as big as humans.
Skunks
– Defense mechanism and friendly behavior.
Panther
– because panthers are awesome
Fox
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Wolf
– Pack hunter and often alone.
Octopuss and other Cephlapoda
– brilliantly intelligent and most insane camouflage in the world.
Dolphins
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Orcas
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Sea Turtles
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Otters
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