Beat Nomad

A Year of Returning Home from the Peace Corps

Post author By Jessie Beck
Post date January 27, 2015
Sticky post

Since returning home from the Peace Corps in December 2013, I had just barely wrapped my head around all the new iPhone apps and food choices at my disposal by the time 2014 rolled in.

I’ve also been absent from The Nomadic Beat. So with the first month of 2015 almost to a close, here’s a recap on one year spent re-integrating after returning home from the Peace Corps.

What did that process look like exactly? What was re-integrating into American life and culture like? Read on.

Omg Food, Food, Food!

Somewhere around July, I posted on Facebook “I will never be over burritos.” It was one of my most liked and commented-on posts of the year. “How can you ever get over burritos?” One friend replied. TRUE point, friend. TRUE POINT.

Also, that was July — almost half a year after I returned. Yes, I spent most of my initial days indulging in nostalgic cravings for raspberries, asparagus, burritos, good cheese and beer. And yes, it has tapered a bit, but are burritos old and non-exciting yet? Nope — not a bit.

Toilets are Awesome

I will never take a flush toilet for granted again. Never, ever, ever. That, and running water.

Even though I live in a small studio apartment with a mini fridge and a double hot plate, I know what I could be living in instead (a pink dollhouse with no water and a pit latrine, that’s what!). So I love my place. I appreciate it for those everyday luxuries (yes, luxuries) most of us take for granted.

Trying to Understand Where My Old and New Self Met

California Style I was gone for almost two and a half years in my early to mid-20s; an age when most people try to define their identities as adults. Not teenagers, not college students, but adults.

I didn’t miss out on this development, but it happened abroad. This is pretty significant for two reasons:

First, I felt more aware of it. When I initially returned, I gravitated towards old habits, but they didn’t feel right. I’d go to the same clothing stores I frequented before, and suddenly feel too “old” for them. I’d go to old favorite bars, coffee shops, and restaurants and feel out of place.

I’d look at a menu and quickly identify my usual, but not feel up to it. I was constantly thinking “well, Old Jessie would have had the caprese sandwich, but New Jessie wants a burger with avocado.”

Returning from living abroad forced me to experience all these changes in tastes and lifestyle preferences all at once, rather than gradually. That made me more aware.

Secondly, this meant that I had to reconcile this Old-Jessie-New-Jessie identity crisis. At times, it meant some awkward moments (and outfits), but overall it’s been a fun experience in new discovery.

Annoying Everyone Around Me with “This One Time in Peace Corps” Stories

I know, I know, I know. I talk about Peace Corps and Madagascar waaay too much. I’m probably annoying my friends, co-workers, and boyfriend with all my “this one time in Madagascar…” stories.

I don’t mean to talk about it so much, and I’m not trying to one up anyone when asked “so, what did you do for New Years last year?” It kind of just comes out, like word vomit.

An RPCV friend of mine, Karina, put our side of this well. “For us, it’s just our most recent two years of our lives. Our friends might be talking about this great party they went to last summer, and we are too — they just happened to take place in another country.”

So please be understanding, friends. I don’t want to treat the last two and a half years of my life like it’s either an empty, untalked about void, or an obnoxious conversation piece.

Remembering How to Be a “Real Adult”

It’s weird, but there are some basic life skills I feel like I just simply forgot after two and half years of not having to use them.

For example, it took me a moment to remember how scheduling a dentist appointment and using insurance worked again (since Peace Corps takes care of all of this for us). Banking, renting cars, navigating public transportation — all of this I had to dig back into my mind for.

I’m being totally honest when I say, this time last year, I would have been thrown off by the question “what’s your group number, miss?” if I had attempted to file an insurance claim. W$#!G%# — my what?

Feeling Behind on Life

Pretty quickly after getting back from Peace Corps, in February 2014, I started a new job in Berkeley, California. I was 25 at the time and, quite frankly, just stoked to have more than $200 / month coming in to my bank account.

Then, I met other 24 – 26 year olds in the San Francisco Bay area. They had been working for prestigious companies for years, making great salaries and benefits, and — sometimes — living fairly expensive lifestyles.

Okay, okay, okay — I am at the epicenter of the tech boom, but that’s not an excuse to write off this sentiment. Other volunteers felt behind because they didn’t have so much as a boyfriend, when all their friends were getting married. We didn’t have cars, babies, and our two years of Peace Corps isn’t always looked at as real experience by all employers (psh, their loss!)

Back to the point: my accomplishments as a PCV were pushed in the back of my mind, and I suddenly felt behind in life — especially career wise.

I know it’s not true, but it’s hard not to feel this way. Throughout the year, I’ve had to actively remind myself of what’s truly valuable in life (experiences and happiness, not possessions and titles), that I love my job, and why the fuck should we feel so urgent about getting a job directly after college?

Getting Used to All this New Technology

Technology changes rapidly, so it was the most noticeable difference in American culture circa 2011 versus American culture circa 2014. Otherwise, it was just new trends (which we had been closely watching via Pinterest anyway…)

I came back into a world that predominantly used smartphones. Tons of cafes and shops started using iPads for checking out customers (I’d never seen that!). Online dating had become more socially acceptable and casual, and so, so, so many things had become digitized.

Apps like Uber, Lyft, and Tinder had not been created, but soared in popularity since I left. For about two weeks I had no idea what my friends were talking about when they said “I’m going to call an Uber” or “they met on Tinder.” I still remember leaning over and whispering to a fellow Madagascar RPCV and asking “pssst, what’s Tinder??” Thank goodness for friends, right?

Here’s to 2015!

Reintegration is different for everyone, and I tend to feel less nostalgic for my Peace Corps experience than some of my friends (it was great, but I love my life now too!).

Regardless, for everyone who has spent this past year reintegrating into American life after Peace Corps, I’m sure it’s been a year of reverse culture shock, identity crises, and burrito binging. To all of you, here’s to entering 2015 feeling more at ease in our every day lives than this time last year!

Now, who wants to work off those burrito binges with me? Ugh.

Tags Peace Corps, Peace Corps, Reintegration

The Nomadic Life Travel Writing Tips

10 Writing Tips from High School I Still Use

Post author By Jessie Beck
Post date April 14, 2014
8 Comments on 10 Writing Tips from High School I Still Use
Sticky post

Girl writing in a cafe — Photo credit: Andrew Stawarz

As I mentioned in a recent post, “From Travel Writer to Editor Extraordinaire” I’ve moved up (or laterally, depending on your perspective) from writing to editing. Every week, I read dozens of pieces by dozens of different authors — each with their own style, voice, and expertise, and each with varying experience in writing. With almost all of the articles passing through my inbox, they have imperfections. Obviously, that’s not a problem, and I fully expect it. After all, that’s the whole point of an editor, right?

However, no matter how much they make me laugh or impress me with some well thought out advice, I can’t wholly love a piece that includes sentences like: “One should really travel to Ireland in the spring. It is very green and picturesque.” When I read stuff like that, I’ll imagine all the red marks my high school English teacher would scrawl over it. This particular teacher challenged us and all of his students to write better by with his own set of writing rules. Though I found following them obnoxious at times, even 16-year-old me had to admit those rules helped strengthen my writing. So, readers — and especially those of you who write, for Go Overseas or otherwise — pay attention to these 10 incredibly useful writing tips from my high school teacher. I still use them to this day, and if used right, they’ll make your writing stronger as well.

1. Don’t use the verb “to be”

This writing rule gave myself and my classmates the most trouble. I mean, have you ever tried to write an essay without the verb “to be”? Try it sometime and you’ll see it always seems to sneak in there without anyone noticing, and even when you do find yourself typing out that sneaky little “was”, you’ll then spend a good minute or two thinking of an apt replacement. However annoyed we initially felt about this rule, after he returned a few essays littered with red circles around every little “were” “been” “are” and “am” and asked us to rewrite the piece without them, we saw our writing grow significantly stronger. We replaced those wimpy, non-specific to-be derivatives with better, more specific verbs and as a bonus, just about eliminated the passive voice from our writing.

Of course, I will now use the verb “to be” when writing, but I try my best to avoid it when I can. Overall, it forces us to be more specific (oh look, there’s that sneaky little “be” now…) and less vague about the who-did-what details in our stories.

2. Leave “that” and “which” out of your writing

I like using “that” and “which” every once in awhile for flow, but this particular English teacher had a point. Most of the time when you insert “that” or “which” into a sentence, you don’t actually need it there. Think about the title of this blog post. I could have written “10 writing tips from high school that I still use” but I didn’t. The title works fine without it. So, use these little words, but use them sparingly. Especially when you’re editing an overly wordy sentence (that) one of these two words snuck into, cut them out.

3. Words like “very” and “really” are weak

I hate the word very. I hate the word really, but just a little less. Why? They’re weak.

Think about it, what sounds better? And what captures the true emotion of what you want to describe better? “He was very angry” or “He was furious”?

Exactly. If any of my writers ever inserts the word “very” into their piece, I will highlight it, delete it, and sigh a sigh of relief. So make my life easier and your writing stronger — throw those little words into the storage room of your mental vocabulary and only ever use it if you’re talking to a child or teaching ESL.

4. Speak with authority

Again, sentences like “South Africa is probably the best destination to view the ‘Big Five'” sound weak. If you’re writing about a topic, your audience will assume that you either have experience with this topic, or have done your research — thereby making you an expert. So write like an expert! Leave that “probably” out and say with total certainty: South Africa IS the best destination to view the ‘Big Five’ — dammit!

If you don’t feel confident you just wrote a 100% true statement, then you should question whether you want to say it at all. In that scenario, it’s likely that you didn’t research it well enough (so go back and double check your facts), or it doesn’t add anything to your piece.

5. Avoid using the pronoun “one” if you’re speaking casually

If you’re writing in French, go ahead, use “on” as much as you’d like, but in English, saying “One’s academics will benefit greatly from spending a semester abroad” sounds weird in the travel writing / online context. It sounds weird because you would never phrase this particular thought this way when speaking to a friend. In casual contexts, leave pronounces like “one” for the poets and academics, and write how you would speak. It will make your voice sound more natural, and less forced.

6. Don’t use “a lot”

Again, the word “a lot” is boring, weak, and often accompanies vague statements. Saying “Paris has a lot of museums” won’t capture my attention. However, if I want to portray that same idea, but by taking “a lot” out, I’ll have to get creative and come up with a more engaging and specific way of phrasing the same idea. For example, “With all the museums Paris has to offer, you will never see it all,” still lets the reader know Paris has “a lot of museums” but it relates it to the context (things to do in Paris) and just sounds more intelligent.

7. Kill your babies

Okay, my high school teacher didn’t give me this rule — Steven King did, in his book “On Writing“. It’s a brilliant book every writer should read, by the way.

Essentially, he says “kill your babies,” in reference to all of those wonderfully witty and fantastically written sentences that, in the end, sound great but don’t add anything to your piece. You know the ones: the sly remark or inside joke most people won’t understand; the detail about how beautiful the weather was in Venice in a story about a culinary discovery; those facts that stand out strongly in your memory when you recount a story, but your audience doesn’t actually need to know. So, take Mr.King’s advice and kill them. Cry a little, move them to a “dead babies” doc, whatever, but whatever you do, take them out.

8. Get to the point quickly

For example, if I ask you, the ever talented and dedicated writer, to give me a piece on “The 10 Best Volunteer Abroad Destinations for Summer 2014”, you’re wasting our audience’s time by giving me an introduction paragraph like the following:

Volunteering abroad is a wonderful and life-changing opportunity every person should experience. In addition to helping out communities in need, volunteers get to experience a new culture and learn about themselves…

So far, you haven’t mentioned anything about summer 2014 or what makes a great volunteer abroad destination. Considering how short the average person’s attention span has become, you may have already lost them. If not, you’re misleading them. And in any case, it’s terribly generic and not useful to our precious cohort of readers who return to our site and read multiple articles on volunteering abroad. Instead, I’d prefer:

Congratulations — you’ve looked at your calendar, scheduled some time off, and decided to take the plunge and volunteer abroad this summer 2014. Still don’t know where though? No worries, we’ve got a list of 10 great volunteer abroad destinations best explored in the summertime.

Now our readers know exactly what they’re about to read.

9. Your conclusion may work better as an introduction

I wrote several essays in college where I had a hard time figuring out what point I wanted to make, and how to express it. Often, after writing a so-so introduction, and then spending time thinking through my argument by writing the body, I would write a bangin’ conclusion that got right to the point and succinctly said what I had initially struggled to express in my introduction. So I swapped them. I’ve done this a couple of times when editing as well — it’s as though in the writing process we’re still trying to gather our thoughts together when we write our introduction, but when we slam out a conclusion, we know exactly what we’re talking about. If you see that happening, don’t shy away from scratching that original introduction and moving your conclusion up to the beginning of your piece.

For this reason, this particular English teacher suggested we even consider writing the introduction in the last part of the writing process.

10. Please, no cliches

Come on, you’re more creative than that. Just. Don’t. Use. Them.

*Phew* okay, that piece ended up longer than I expected — but if you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me. Now, get out there, start typing, and for the love of good writing, resist those terrible, terrible urges to ruin your piece by ignoring these simple writing tips from my high school teacher (and Steven King.)

Tags Travel writing, Writing Tips

Peace Corps The Nomadic Life

You Won’t Save The World as a Peace Corps Volunteer

Post author By Jessie Beck
Post date February 26, 2014
6 Comments on You Won’t Save The World as a Peace Corps Volunteer
Sticky post

Before I begin: As an RPCV who loved her service, I’d like to wish you all a happy Peace Corps week.

But now, *ahem* for the real reason you came here: that catchy title that I used to lure you in here.

You won’t save the world as a Peace Corps Volunteer

So, you want to join the Peace Corps? I’m sure you’ve got tons of questions. I’m sure you also have these grand, romanticized ideas of what it means to be in the Peace Corps. You’re probably conjuring up images of you surrounded by cute little African/Asian/Latin American children that you’re helping teach English/Math/How to brush their teeth (yes, that’s a real Peace Corps task). However, most volunteers don’t have that idyllic experience. Some do. Some luck out, and the rest of us are listening to their Peace Corps stories and thinking “F you and your f-ing flush toilet. Do you know what I have to go through to pee every morning?” For me, I had to dodge flying homemade soccer balls and walk through 200 screaming middle school students to get to my pit latrine — sometimes embarrassingly carrying my toilet paper, sometimes stuffing it down my bra to be more discreet. Worst of all though, I had to put on pants. Uhg.

Even now, after returning to the U.S. the disillusion continues. My friends and family still coo “it seems like you had such a great time in Peace Corps!” Well, I did have some great times in Peace Corps. I also had the most embarrassing moment of my life (which I swear, I will only divulge to other RPCVs and whoever I end up married to — since, apparently, you have to reveal all dirty secrets to someone before they can rightfully commit the rest of their life to you, uhhhg). I felt boredom on a whole different level (think, sweeping your house five times in one day). I watched A LOT of TV — I am now more caught up on pop culture than I ever will be again in my life. I also developed a deep and serious skepticism about any interaction with men. Those things weren’t so fun (well, the TV part was…)

They also don’t fit into this incorrect image of “saving the developing world” that many people associate with Peace Corps. Well, you’re not going to save the world, but here are a few things you will do:

First, you’ll ask a lot of dumb questions

No amount of reading and talking to RPCVs will truly prepare you for what’s in store with the Peace Corps. You’ll ask a lot of dumb questions on your group’s Facebook page (please guys, save face and Google questions about luggage allowances.) You’ll ask even more dumb questions during your training and for several months afterwards. That’s OK. We all do it. We all forget about it. You live, you learn, and eventually you become that PCV looking at a new group about to arrive in country and think — as my friend Jackie puts it — “ohh buddy…”

Then, you’ll either develop realistic expectations, give up, or be miserable

As a Peace Corps volunteer I think it’s incredibly important to have real expectations about your service. You’re there for two years, and it seems like a long time, but in the grand scheme of development, it isn’t. Those volunteers who fail to understand this — preferably before departure — end up being the most disillusioned and (though there are no case studies to prove this) more likely to give up, or ET, as we say. Ambition is great, and I know of some motivated and ambitious volunteers who accomplished a lot during their service but for most of us, our impact will be much smaller. Honestly, if you enter Peace Corps expecting to make smaller changes and have a good experience, you’ll do better emotionally, mentally, and professionally. Lower your expectations about what you will accomplish, now.

You’ll break up with your girlfriend/boyfriend from back home

I don’t know why we didn’t figure this out in study abroad, but long distance in general, and Peace Corps especially is a great way to kill a relationship. I have more optimism for couples who do Peace Corps at the same time but in different countries (you can relate better to each other and grow in more similar ways) but otherwise, that relationship is eventually going to shrivel up and die at some point of your two years of service. Well, 90% of the time (just in case you were about to race to the comments section to contradict me…)

You’ll become a PR campaign for America

Sometimes, I wondered if my presence in my community was nothing more than a great PR move on behalf of the U.S. government. In Madagascar there was no doubt that Peace Corps volunteers had created this awesome and respected view of Americans (versus the less respected and slightly scorned image they had of the French). This will be part of your impact. You will change the way people think about Americans, and not always for the better. I heard a lot of shit talking about Americans in Ethiopia, sometimes directly pointed at Peace Corps volunteers. It’s a shame, but the point remains the same: our individual actions as Peace Corps volunteers influence the overall impression of Americans in the developing world.

And your body will betray you.

You’ll drunkenly (or not drunkenly) vomit in an embassy worker’s garden. You’ll poop your pants. You’ll have problems managing your weight. Diarrhea will be a normal occurrence. You’ll get really good at telling when you or someone else has giardia/worms/malaria and be able to name exactly what medicine they need. Or if you’re really unfortunate, you’ll get some medieval illness you haven’t thought about since 8th grade history class (bubonic plague, scarlet fever, etc.). But I don’t want to scare you; most likely you’ll just poop your pants and that’ll be the worst of it. Of course, after you recover, you’ll talk about it with all your Peace Corps friends, have a good laugh, and carry on. Shit happens. Literally.

—

Anyways, if it seems like I’m being overly snarky and portraying Peace Corps as a terrible experience — that’s not my intention. I loved Peace Corps and I will almost always encourage anyone who is interested in joining to start their application and do it. But I have found that in these conversations I’ve been having recently, there are a lot of constants in my reality as a PCV that non PCVs/RPCVs are surprised to hear about (the TV watching, for example). So, just trying to tell it like it is. The end.

See a related post I wrote on Go Overseas: 10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Joining Peace Corps.

Tags Peace Corps, Should I Join Peace Corps, Volunteer Abroad

The Nomadic Life Travel

10 Destinations Worthy of A Traveler’s Bucket List

Post author By Jessie Beck
Post date January 24, 2014
16 Comments on 10 Destinations Worthy of A Traveler’s Bucket List
Sticky post

Daydreaming about travel is almost as fun as traveling for real. Seriously, there have been scientific studies on the topic. It’s also the driving force behind some wonderful blog posts and articles in the travel blogosphere. NY Times has a beautifully done article titled 52 Places to Go in 2014; Afar Magazine gives its readers travel inspiration regularly, but they too have compiled their own (shorter) “Where to Go in 2014” list. Other sites target their lists to more specific types of travelers, like Go Overseas’ Best Places to Learn Spanish and Matador Network’s new book featuring 101 Places to Get F*cked Up Before You Die.

This list, however, is my bucket list. It’s where I would go if money, political conflict, and time were no issue. I didn’t choose these destinations for being up and coming destinations to travel to in 2014, or because they are great places to teach abroad. I chose them because, for each their own reason, these are the destinations that give me travel inspiration. I hope they inspire you as well!

1. Beirut, Lebanon

Currently, there is a travel advisory against all travel to certain areas of Beirut — but that doesn’t change the fact that Beirut has been high on my travel bucket list since I was a teenager, eating chicken shawarma for lunch every other day while my peers lined up for Taco Bell. While Lebanese food alone (hummus, ftayer, baba ghanoush, makdous, shawarma, baklava…) is reason enough to travel to Lebanon, Beirut also has a reputation for fantastic nightlife and plenty of cafes to munch mezze and smoke water pipes in by its beautiful seafront. Someday, Beirut… someday…

2. Patagonia, Argentina/Chile

Patagonia is an awe-inspiring region full of natural wonders and opportunity for adventure. The massive region of Patagonia (from the word patagones) sits in both Chile and Argentina, and stretches down to Tierre del Fuego — the end of South America and launching point to Antarctica. Its natural features are as diverse as the area is large. It includes jutting mountains, glaciers leftover from the last ice age, and a vast, foreboding desert (believed to be the seventh largest in the world). For outdoor enthusiasts, rock climbers, hikers, horse-back riders, and anyone looking for adventure with one of the world’s most scenic backdrops, Patagonia is (supposedly) a must.

3. Oaxaca, Mexico

Why visit Oaxaca, Mexico? Well, for the culture and cheese-drenched food, of course. For a long time, I overlooked Mexico as a travel destination, while hypocritically chasing taco trucks and drinking horchata, until someone brought up Oaxaca. Travel in Oaxaca, apparently, is different than a jaunt in one of its beachy, spring-break loving neighbors. While there is no shortage of beach in this southwestern Mexican state, the diversity, colonial architecture, lively Dia de los Muertos celebrations, and cuisine are what really make it worth visiting for more intrepidly-minded travelers.

4. Waitomo, New Zealand

Time and time again, New Zealand pops up on all sorts of “must-see” destination lists. It’s safe, beautiful, and offers attractions that appeal to a variety of travel personalities. 10-year old me, however, had no idea or concern about these factors. All I knew about New Zealand was: glow worms; caves full of glow worms. Fifteen years later, being surrounded on all sides by glittery glow worms still sounds awesome. On New Zealand’s north island, in Waitomo, visitors can do just that.

5. Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul is just one of those places that lives in the hearts of all travelers deeply affected with wanderlust. It’s visually appealing, with windy markets full of colorful goods just begging you to get lost in. The food is fresh and fantastic. It’s cheap. And it’s just different enough from the West to hold the allure of “otherness”. Maybe it’s beginning to be a bit more beaten-path, but who cares?

6. Portugal

From Porto to Lisbon and every small town in between, there are so many reasons to visit Portugal, and so many reasons why this little Western European country is far too underrated as a travel destination. It’s cheap (more importantly, the wine and port are cheap), photogenic, easy to get around, and has an endlessly scenic, craggy coastline and sunny beaches. Also, El Camino de Santiago has a route that passes through. Seriously, I’m this close to throwing my hiking shoes and a wine key into my backpack and hoping on a plane to Lisbon now.

7. Cuba

Cuba has long held fascination for travelers because of its caught-in-another-era personality. But Cuba’s opening up — slowly but surely — and it looks like it is soon in for a change. Catching a glimpse of Cuba before it lifts the embargo and embraces a modern transformation is the main motivation to visit Cuba now, but of course not the only reason. There’s also the rum, the cigars, the hot weather, the people, and music. Seriously, Cuba has produced some talented musicians (I loved Leo Brower’s music enough to tattoo “Una Dia di Noviembre” on my right arm) and thanks to them, some beautiful songs.

8. Zion National Park, Utah

Though Zion is Utah’s oldest and most popular park, it doesn’t get as much talk time as bigger names like Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon. Too bad, because it’s probably just as gorgeous and impressive as either of those. Among much else, the park is known for its massive pink, cream, and red sandstone cliffs, a unique combination of wildlife and geology, and of course numerous hiking trails, rock climbing opportunities, and even some spelunking. But mostly, it’s a sunrise on top of one of those sun-colored cliffs that I’m after.

9. Kyoto, Japan

Beirut, Oaxaca, Istanbul, and now, Kyoto? There’s definitely a travel to eat trend going on with this list and during a recent trip to Tokyo, Kyoto got on my bucket list for being the culinary capitol of Japan. Tokyo already had me sold on Japanese food, so lets see if a trip to Kyoto will leave my friends rolling their eyes and muttering “would you shut up about Obanzai Ryori already?” Of course, food isn’t the only reason to visit Kyoto. It was Japan’s capitol for over 1,000 years and now boasts a unique meld of the modern and hip, nestled next to an impressive amount of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and a still working geisha district.

10. Seychelles

Every wanderlust list has to include at least one cliche, lounge by the beach in a “tropical paradise” sort of destination. Seychelles is this list’s cliche palm-trees-and-sun destination. But with so many other places in the world to go if you want to sit under a palm tree on the beach, why Seychelles? Well, this cluster of 115 islands off the coast of Africa may be growing more and more accessible to travelers, but it’s still off the beaten path enough to lack the crowds more well known beach destinations attract. The costliness of visiting Seychelles probably helps with this, but like I said before, these are the destinations I would go to if money was no object, right?

What are your bucket list travel destinations?

Tags Beirut, Cuba, Istanbul, Kyoto, Oaxaca, Patagonia, Portugal, Seychelles, Travel, Waitomo, Zion National Park

Japan The Nomadic Life Travel

Traveling Solo in Tokyo

On a whim, I traveled solo to Tokyo this past December on the last leg of a three month trip. With no price difference on American Airlines to have a two hour layover or a five day layover in Tokyo on a flight from Hanoi to Washington DC, I just had to take advantage of this essentially free flight. Long stopovers such as this are a great travel hacker tool, and although a stop in Japan would be pricer than schlepping around Southeast Asia, ultimately, it was still a thrifty way to see one last place.

If Japan is Anything Like Japan Airlines, then I’m Already in Love…

My impressions of Japan start at the airport. First of all, because of a super-spacey mental lapse on my part, of which I’m still kicking myself in the butt for, I showed up a day late for my flight (don’t judge). I realized this about 10 minutes away from the airport in Hanoi and promptly started to inwardly panic, faced with the dreaded scene of how an African (and most likely, Vietnamese) airline would handle this: counter attendant scolds me, then ushers over someone else to consult my predicament in a language I don’t understand.

The attendant, somehow sensing my anxiety, smiled again and said “it’s going to be OK”

Second person walks away and comes back with two other people to consult. The four of them keep discussing. Meanwhile, the line behind me is getting angry and finally they send me to some dark corner of the airport to settle the matter, where again, the counter attendant needs to consult everyone in the vicinity before deciding my fate, which is ultimately: buy a new ticket for tomorrow’s flight.

Fortunately, this was Japan Airlines. No one consulted anyone else, an emergency plan for idiots like me apparently part of the protocol. They just smiled and asked very apologetically if I wouldn’t mind paying a $100 flight change fee.

“Perfect!” I exclaimed. The attendant, somehow sensing my anxiety, smiled again and said “it’s going to be OK”. I hadn’t even left the airport yet, and I was already in love with Japan.

Getting Lost in Asakusa

Fast forward to Tokyo. The city was just waking up. Businessmen with sleek suitcases sipped espresso at the airport train station while I waited. Once on the train, neatly stylish women in long skirts and boots, or young girls in school uniforms filled the seats as we sped towards Tokyo. Everyone seemed preoccupied, texting, listening to music, reading, or jotting down notes in small notebooks. Even with all the movement, it felt so peaceful.

The train let me off in Asakusa, a neighborhood outside the center of Tokyo most well known for it’s attraction, the Buddhist temple Sensō-ji, and narrow maze of shopping streets.

Armed with confusing directions from the hostel and an address that Google Maps didn’t understand (Japanese addresses are organized “district-block-building” and look like “10-5-8”) I got terribly lost and wound up walking in circles for awhile before finally getting it right. But getting lost on foot is just the point of visiting Asakusa.

Each small street presents the potential for new discovery, and if they do eventually lead you to Sensō-ji, you’ll be rewarded with a magnificent old temple surrounded by gardens (and tourists…)

Still not tired of visiting Japanese temples — which are distinctly different from their Southeast neighbors — I later sped off to Kamakura for a day trip and enjoyed seeing even larger, less crowded temples.

Things to Do in Tokyo: A City Full of Distractions

It’s near impossible to be bored in Tokyo. Whatever your interests are, there’s something for you. Personally, I have no patience for museums, but prefer to spend city travel in bars, restaurants, parks, and sometimes shops. I also didn’t seek out any of the cliche-ishly crazy aspects of Tokyo, but still found great things to do (solo!). My personal favorites:

Seeing Tokyo from above — The new Tokyo Skytree offers visitors a great view of the Tokyo skyline, but you have to pay. For a free option, try the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (photo above taken from the top!)
Sipping on a Japanese craft beer — I had no idea craft beer was gaining enough popularity in Japan that there were multiple bars specializing in it. Time Out Tokyo has a great list of craft beer bars. I sampled Craft Beer Market and Harajuku Taproom. Craft Beer Market won out for price, while Harajuku Taproom had a better location and ambiance.
Eating Japanese food — I won’t pretend like I always knew what I was eating (one Tokyoite I met took me on a dinner where is sole goal was to order the “strangest food on the menu”) but I can confidently say, Tokyo is full of great food, and manta ray jerky is delicious.

Exploring the city, one station at a time — Each area in Tokyo has it’s own feel. In fact, many visitors to Tokyo explain it as a huge mass of micro-cities. Harajuku is quirky, Asakusa is quaint. Get on the train and explore.
Staying out all night — Since the trains close pretty early, you may have to. But that’s OK, Tokyo has a low crime rate and there’s enough nightlife (Karaoke, anyone?) to keep the fun going until dawn.
Browsing the latest trends — Tokyo is full of shopping. Sibuya 109, though well trodden, features a lot of Japanese designers and give visitors a great taste of what’s hip in Japan.
Buddhist temples and parks — As a whole, Tokyo is a sprawling concrete jungle, but pockets of green and calm are blissfully easy to come by. There are Asakusa’s Senso-ji and Harajuku’s Yoyogi, just to name two, but take to the streets and explore.
Tokyo neighborhoods — Each neighborhood within Tokyo has it’s own distinct personality and feel. This microcosm of unique places are one of the many reasons that makes Tokyo a fantastic city to explore endlessly.
The Ghibli Museum — I adore Spirited Away and basically anything Miyazaki directs. Expectedly, Tokyo has a museum dedicated to Miyazaki films where kids are encouraged to get lost and explore. Buy tickets well in advance, though, since they can sell out days — even weeks — in advanced. [Photo below]

Why Tokyo Rocks for Solo Travel

My favorite quote about Tokyo is from Matthew Amster-Burton in his food-centric, Toyko travelogue Pretty Good Number One (a must read for anyone about to travel to Tokyo):

Tokyo is the opposite of the DMV. It is the least annoying place I have ever been.

Ditto. Even the parts about Tokyo that I first believed would be chaotic and overwhelming, like cramming onto a rush-hour train at Shinjuku, were still efficient and not obnoxious at all to navigate. More amazing still was how quiet the station and trains were, even with a mass of hundreds of people shuffling to and from trains.

What this also means though, is Tokyo is a fantastic place for the solo traveler. In fact, I made a list of all the reasons why Tokyo is a great destination for solo travelers — even women traveling solo.

Being alone isn’t weird
And even if it was weird, no one would tell you that you’re being weird
The Tokyo Train System is the most user-friendly public transportation in the world. Buy a Suica or Pasmo card at the airport. You’ll be refunded for your deposit when you return it later.
There are unlimited sights and attractions to see — you’ll never be bored or able see it all
Friendly and polite locals — seriously. This is the total opposite of the DMV.
Tokyo is the safest city in the world. So safe, some budget travelers sleep outside in the summer months to save money.
For places to sleep, there are a variety of hostel and Couchsurfing options. I stayed at Khaosan World, in part because they had a sale, but also because of its ambiance and non-party hostel vibe. I loved it enough that I’d stay and pay full price if I ever go back — especially since the bunks are comfy, spacious, and allow you a good amount of privacy for a shared room.
Lots of couchsurfing and expat meetups, if you care to meet someone outside your hostel.

In sum: Tokyo is easy to fall in love with, and undoubtedly one of the best destinations for solo travelers — if not the best.

Have you traveled alone in Tokyo? What are your tips?

Tags Japan, solo travel, Tokyo

Adventure Travel Asia Laos The Nomadic Life Travel

Thakhek, Laos: The Bermuda Triangle of Rock Climbers

Post author By Jessie Beck
Post date January 10, 2014
4 Comments on Thakhek, Laos: The Bermuda Triangle of Rock Climbers
Sticky post

Month three of a round the world journey

In November of this year, Liz and I landed in Hanoi to embark on our third month of travel, and we were tired. We had hit a wall, and wanted nothing more than to be somewhere warm, forget about bus schedules and border crossings and stay in the same place for a week. Of course, whiling away the hours with beer on the beach isn’t really our style, and in any case, a cyclone was hurriedly rushing toward the coast of Vietnam at that time, so we decided to hop a train and a bus over to Thakhek, Laos.

Why Thakhek?

Because of the rock climbing.

Of all the places to visit in Laos, Thakhek isn’t as popular as Luang Prabang or Van Vieng — but that’s part of its charm. Thakhek town has a lazy, river-side vibe, and most often draws visitors for the border crossing between Laos and Thailand, “the loop” — a circuit you can travel by motorbike visiting nearby caves — and trekking. Of course, with these caves come mountains, and with these mountains, rock face. Fortunately for us, a German couple had tapped the climbing potential of the area outside of Thakhek several years ago and not only bolted dozens and dozens of routes (and were still bolting more when we showed up at their door) but had built a hostel for visiting climbers: Green Climber’s Home.

Green Climbers Home

For us, Green Climber’s Home was like a dream hostel. A bed in their dorm or a rented tent was affordable. The food was also cheap and featured a ton of fresh, healthy options (we were mildly obsessed with the green salads and mango smoothies). Almost all of the routes were within a five minute walk of where we slept, and the hostel had any and all climbing accessories like climbing harnesses available to rent if you didn’t bring it with you. Best of all, our fellow guests were there to climb, talk climbing, and climb some more. Maybe I’m a bit biased, but I’ve always felt that climbers are some of the most down to earth, friendly people around, so to stay in a hostel full of them just meant extra good vibes. Not to mention, the clever bar games that came out after a few beers: who can coil a rope the fastest; bouldering around benches/tables; or attempting to pick a small box off the floor with our mouths as a tipsy test of flexibility.

It’s probably no surprise then that almost everyone we met there was staying or already had stayed longer than they planned. Even we tacked on an extra three days (minimal compared to a few other personalities who had already logged a month at the place). Basically, it was one of those places you could easily forget about time and stay forever at. It was like a Bermuda Triangle of rock climbers who had disappeared from the rest of the world — especially since no wifi meant deconnecting.

In short, Green Climber’s Home was exactly where we wanted to be to wade out our travel fatigue.

A story of resilience

At the time we visited, Green Climber’s Home was under some construction. About a year back, a fire that started during some Saint Slyvester celebrations destroyed most of the hostel. However, once word got out to the climbing community, donations came pouring back in to make restoring the place possible. Good thing too, because not only is it a great place for climbers, but a business that cares about giving back to the community and being sustainable. Happily, I noticed on their website that they have finally completed all the restoration since we visited.

Why Thakhek rocks for rock climbers

Besides this little community of vagabond-rock climbers, one of the reasons why Thakhek rocks as a rock climbing destination is the variety of easy to advanced climbs. There’s something for everyone: 5.7 – 5.9 grade climbs to get comfortable leading on; multi-pitch routes; and some seriously challenging I only managed to watch others ascend. Like most rock climbing in Southeast Asia, it’s also warm and humid for most of the day, but there’s enough routes in the shade to keep climbers out of the sun.

Tips on climbing in Thakhek

I won’t waste too much time with the how-to aspect of climbing in Thakhek — The Green Climber’s Home website already has thorough details, bus schedules, and maps in both English and German. But some quick tips to know:

No gear? No experience? That’s no excuse. Gear rentals and classes are available.
Bring tape — the rock is seriously sharp
A 60m rope is fine, 70m is better, and 80m is necessary for few climbs. Rentals aren’t too expensive though, so I’d recommend bringing a 60/70m, whatever you have, and renting the 80m if you happen to need it.
You can purchase a guidebook with topo maps of all the climbs at Green Climber’s Home. It includes other parts of Laos.
Green Climber’s Home and all of the routes are located 16km out of town. A tuk-tuk should cost about 100,000 kip ($12USD). Limited bikes and motorbikes are available for rent at the hostel.
There isn’t a whole lot around Green Climber’s Home other than climbing. Even if you’re there just to bag some new routes, pop by Thakhek on a rest day for some fresh fried fish and a Beer Lao Dark by the riverside!

Tags Laos, Rock climbing, Thakhek

Adventure Travel Africa Ethiopia The Nomadic Life

On the Roof of Africa: Trekking in Simien Mountains, Ethiopia

Post author By Jessie Beck
Post date January 2, 2014
No Comments on On the Roof of Africa: Trekking in Simien Mountains, Ethiopia
Sticky post

Four Days of Walking

For the four days Liz and I trekked through the Simien Mountains, the smell of wild thyme followed us. The wind was full of strong gusts of the scent that reminded me of old, unidentifiable memories, as we hiked from one beautiful vista to the next, among wild baboons, birds, and ibex. It seemed like we were forever pausing at a cliff side to stare out on blue-green rolling mountains from the roof of Africa. At one point, I noticed that the horizon was never straight, always slanted, which could explain why it also always felt as though we were trudging uphill. It felt that way because it was that way.

Because of the season, and the rains that came every day, the park was filled with a dozen shades of green, from the dark army green of lichen hanging from low, umbrella-like trees, to the bright yellow-green of terraced barley fields, and the pale yellow-green of tufts of wild grass in between. Bursts of yellow, purple, and a muted pink from wildflowers filled the gap and I could never seem to take a photo good enough to record just how beautiful this mixture of color looked.

With the colors, the rain also brought mud and clouds. We trekked through muck, hopped across streams, and sometimes found the trail had turned in to a river. On our final day of the trek, we hiked 400 meters to the top of a peak through cold rain and hail, only so we could eat cabbage sandwiches in a cloud and stare at more cloud. From the top of a second peak, we waited for half an hour, chatting, eating cookies, with a pair of chain-smoking French tourists, watching the clouds move over the valley, waiting for them to part just well enough for us to see and understand just how high up we were.

On our first full day, we took refuge from the rain in a rounded hut, while an elderly woman with a worn, yellow scarf, slowly roasted coffee for a coffee ceremony. Our guide, who we all thought to be shifty and easily offended, sat in the corner and sipped his coffee, while our scout, who we all gathered to be well liked and jovial (even though he only spoke about 10 words of English), sat at the center making jokes in Amharic and making the old woman and her daughter laugh. The rest of us, excluded because of our linguistic shortcomings, fell into conversation amongst ourselves.

Coming down from the mountains to our campsite on the second day, a group of rag-tag children came sprinting up the mountain with little woven boxes in hand that they wanted to sell us. It wasn’t the first time this had happened, but we were tired, so we paused to play and joke with them. They tried to teach us how to use a whip to herd donkeys, and we tested their English. One of the girls began mocking the Canadian girl’s laugh, which sent all of us, especially our elderly scout, into riotous laughter.

That night, like every night, we descended into our campsite feeling wet, cold, and tired, but eager to eat whatever it was our cook had whipped up. Usually, she made an Ethiopian interpretation of what Western food was, but we didn’t know how to say that we’d rather just have injera and shiro.

On our final day, Liz and the other American raced up a nearby peak, while the Canadian girl and I wrote in our journals on a cliff by our campsite, watching a bird that always sounded like he was burping dive in and out of the sky. Like that we stayed until nearly dusk, waiting for our car to pick us up. When we asked our guide “what will we do if our driver doesn’t show up?” — being North Americans who need a contingency plan — he shrugged and gave us a vague “we’ll do something” response. Serendipitously, our car showed up just as I was trying to process what “something” would mean, and we drove back to Gondar at 5 mph in a thick mask of fog.

How to travel to the Simien Mountains

Anyone who travels to the Simiens needs to hire a scout at minimum. Some people recommend having a guide, since scouts don’t usually speak English, but I would have been fine without ours! They’re cheap, only a few dollars a day, though it’s polite to tip at the end as well.

Cooks are optional, but affordable and nice to have someone else make your food after a long day of hiking. Also, if you hire donkeys to carry your bags, a cook will make sure they get to the next campsite. Hiring a donkey to carry your bag is also optional, but nice.

All of this can be arranged in Gondar or at the park office in Debark. Starting and ending in Debark is a good way to save a little money, and convenient if you are heading north to Axum after the trek (going back to Gondar is about an hour or two of backtracking).

In the end, we spent about $220 each for everything (food, transportation to/from Gondar, guide, cook, scout, permits, donkeys, and lodging) for 4 days and 3 nights of trekking.

Photos

{1} Vista on the roof of Africa
{2} Flowers along the trail
{3} Waiting for the clouds to part from a summit
{4} Traditional house in the Simiens
{5} Getting ready to go at Campsite #2
{6} Baboons by a waterfall
{7} The road in/out
{8} Scouts and guides talking around a campfire while a local girl visits

Tags Ethiopia, Simien Mountains, Travel

The Nomadic Life Travel

How to Celebrate Christmas After A Long Journey Abroad

Post author By Jessie Beck
Post date December 25, 2013
1 Comment on How to Celebrate Christmas After A Long Journey Abroad
Sticky post

If you’re like me and haven’t celebrated Christmas with your family, or in your own nation for several years, or are bravely returning home after a RTW trip in the height of Christmas cheer and creature comforts, here’s how to celebrate Christmas after a long journey away:

1. Hug your family

They’re probably letting you crash on their couch/spare bedroom, so thank them for it with the biggest bear hug you’ve got.

2. Gobble down as many cookies, glasses of egg nog, and other home-cooked delights as possible without puking

I know you’re probably excited to have cheese and proper junk food in your diet again, but don’t push it.

Cake

3. Take a long hot shower

Hot water… real water pressures… and showers with the best shower heads, that actually make sense… ahhhhh

4. Use this captive audience to your advantage

You’ve been gone for awhile, use this opportunity to share your stories and photos from abroad because who knows how long this holiday cheer will last before they begin grumble under their breath for “would she shut up about Tokyo already…”

5. Turn your brain to mush with a movie marathon

One of the coolest discoveries I’ve made since being home? Our neighborhood movie theater now has plush recliners and sells beer and wine. And there’s no better time to indulge in these creature comforts than Christmas movie season when literally dozens of brand-new, never before seen, movies are coming out! I was just beginning to get a little tired of re-watching Weeds on my laptop…

6. Start a snowball fight

(If you have snow, that is.) My idea of what’s socially appropriate in America might be a little off at present, but when it comes to playing in the snow, who cares? I haven’t touched snow in three years, jerks, let me throw a snowball or two!

7. Act like a kid again

Especially if you haven’t celebrated Christmas at home for the past year, two, or more, feel free to act like a kid again. There’s probably oodles of Christmasy things you missed out on last year while sipping mojitos on a beach, so no need to hold back being excited about them this year!

8. Turn your souvenirs into Christmas gifts

In America, I hate shopping, but in Tokyo, it was a blast. I’m also notorious for never bringing back souvenirs for friends and family, so timing my return to America right before Christmas motivated me, for once, to stock up on a few exotic goodies and wrap them up in holiday paper. I get the feeling that there’ll be a lot of “oooo, thank you Jessie… but um… what is it??” this year.

9. Sleep in

No work, no busses to catch, and no dorm-mates rustling around in plastic bags at 4 in the morning (seriously guys, please stop organizing your backpacks with plastic bags!) I, for one, am sleeping late!

10. Catch up with old friends

While I absolutely love all the friends I have made in the past two and a half years abroad, my friends from home are no less important (especially those of you who have been following this blog ;D). I’m looking forward to catching up with you all, and please, let me know if I say something absolutely inappropriate or commit some terrible social faux-pas!

Happy Holidays, guys! Wherever you may be!

(Only two photos were my own in this post: #2 & #10, credits for the rest can be found by clicking on them)

Tags Christmas, Holiday, Opinions, Post-travel

Africa In Photos La Reunion The Nomadic Life

Photo Gallery: Quirky Street Art in La Reunion

Post author By Jessie Beck
Post date December 20, 2013
No Comments on Photo Gallery: Quirky Street Art in La Reunion
Sticky post

“You can always tell the kind of personality a place has by the way they treat graffiti,” – My little brother.

If that’s the case, then I’d call La Reunion quirky, cartoonish, and welcome to the burst of color graffiti adds to its streets. Most of the graffiti I took photos of ended up being by an artist named Jace (I’m sort of in love with his yellow-man character and the different situations he winds up in), but not all of it. Anyways, I ended up with so many photos of graffiti from La Reunion — and there’s a surprising amount for such a small chunk of land — that I decided to devote a whole post to it.

Enjoy!

In Saint-Pierre; By Jace

In Saint-Pierre; Unknown artist

In Saint-Pierre; Unknown artist

In Cilaos; By Jace

What has been your favorite travel destination for street art?

Tags Graffiti, La Reunion, Street Art, Travel Photography

The Nomadic Life Travel

Oh Hello, America. Long Time No See…

Post author By Jessie Beck
Post date December 18, 2013
2 Comments on Oh Hello, America. Long Time No See…
Sticky post

Last Tuesday, I was stepping off a flight from Tokyo and being welcomed back into America by the oh-so-cheery Dallas airport.

I’m kidding. Dallas was a weird first sample of America after two and a half years abroad. It was just a little too AMERICA for me to handle after a 12-hour flight in which I intelligently took Benadryl to help me sleep, and then watched 10-hours worth of movies instead of sleeping. I wasn’t in the mood to understand everyone’s conversations, and was a bit of a zombie as I wandered around the airport ogling junk food options and trying to make sense of the fact that I am once again considered a small person (5’3″, if you were wondering…). A man sat down a seat away from me at one point and, as Americans sometimes do, said something about how terrible the weather was at no one in particular, but loud enough for me to understand I was meant to respond. I didn’t respond, I just lapsed into thought about how odd this habit was.

Since last Tuesday, I’d say I’ve become a bit more socially apt than that (being well rested helps), but bits and pieces of life back in America continue to distract and boggle me. Reverse culture shock, I suppose. (Although I don’t really feel shocked, just boggled. Should we perhaps change the term to reverse culture bogglement? Reverse culture confusion?) Anyways, here are a few of the things about America that have stood out:

We really, really love our troops

This is mostly thanks to a bunch of overhead announcements at the Dallas airport. On one hand, it seemed normal to me that, once again on American soil, I’d start to be bombarded with “support our troops” propaganda and that super cheery demeanor airport staff gets around military personnel (mention Peace Corps, however, and you get none of that excited and gushy “we so appreciate what you’re doing for our country!” Whomp, whomp, whomp). On the other hand, it was one of those things that felt distinctly American. We really f*ing love our military, but I didn’t see so much of that abroad.

Christmas and consumerism

Some of the travelers I met in the past couple of months shook their heads a bit when I said I’d be returning home at Christmas.

“All of that consumerism is going to be shocking!” They’d say.

Those who didn’t, were probably fearing their own Christmastime return.

It has been a little shocking, but Tokyo helped lessen this blow a little. At least in Japan, where Christians account for a minuscule part of the population, Christmas is a blatantly consumerist holiday. It seemed to be nothing more than a nice excuse to buy a small gift for a friend, and I kind of liked the simplicity of this notion. In America, however, there’s so much pressure to buy for everyone you know, and wrap it in pretty boxes and paper that will quickly go into the garbage. Furthermore, with all the options of things to buy in America, and so many options of each specific item (color, price, best deal, sales, etc.) I find this attempt to acquire gifts a bit daunting and time consuming. Perhaps, this is a good time to implement my friend Chacha, of The Rich Life’s December challenge: The Gift of Giving No. I’m not sure my 3-year-old niece would appreciate this though.

We create and sell some pretty useless crap

Today, I saw a commercial for a cut in half birdhouse you can suction cup to your windows so you can watch what birds do inside birdhouses. Enough said.

Washing machines are fantastic

And why are they fantastic? They shrink your jeans back to a fitted size, you can have your clothes washed while you sleep, and do I really have to explain the simple joy of pulling a towel straight out of the dryer? Yeah, washing machines are fantastic.

So many choices!

Like I already expressed, the seemingly endless array of choices can be a bit overwhelming — but in the case of food, it’s also very exciting. Menus take me about 10-15 minutes of processing, and grocery stores are a whole afternoon’s worth of entertainment. I’m really trying hard not to every delicious thing at once, especially after going a little crazy with the 7-layer dip and pigs in a blanket at a recent Christmas party…

Americans love friendly banter

I was still in Tokyo when this one hit me. I made a joke to one of the stewardesses using grammatically complicated English and slang — and not only did she understand, she laughed. I had two epiphanies getting on that plane: I could stop speaking like an ESL teacher with strangers, and Americans really do love to make friendly small talk with just about everyone and anyone. The conversation with my waitresses aren’t just “one coke and a pizza, please,” but also an opportunity to announce that so far, today’s been a good day, and by the way, how are you? Americans really are friendly — and I’m glad that my experiences this week have been living up to this awesome stereotype.

Now, please excuse me. I have an afternoon excursion at the supermarket planned…

Tags humor, Reverse Culture Shock, Travel, United States

Africa Ethiopia In Photos The Nomadic Life

Photo Gallery: Looking Back on One Month in Ethiopia

Post author By Jessie Beck
Post date December 11, 2013
3 Comments on Photo Gallery: Looking Back on One Month in Ethiopia
Sticky post

The month that Liz and I spent in Ethiopia marked a lot of strong positives and negatives. I was yelled at threateningly (twice), and Liz was told that all Americans should go to hell. Boarding a bus first thing in the morning turned out to be an experience akin to the running of the bulls. The habit of having local and faranji (foreigner) prices for everything (food, hotels, transportation, literally… everything) drove us crazy. But then we would meet a kind shopkeeper or group of playful kids, or find ourselves overlooking a dramatically beautiful landscape, and those negative experiences seemed instantly to be countered. Unfortunately, it sometimes took all of our patience and will power to get through the most unpleasant moments and remember the kindness and beauty other people and areas of the country had shown us. Actually, wherever we are in the world, it’s all too easy to let the rudest and meanest representatives of a new place be the loudest speakers in our minds. But because of how strongly I felt this in Ethiopia, I always hesitate when people ask, “so, wasn’t Ethiopia amaaazing?” or “Everyone was really nice there, right?” The answer is yes and no. I’ll probably elaborate further in coming posts, because, at the very least, Ethiopia has given me a lot of stories to tell.

Despite the ups and downs, one thing Ethiopia was consistent in was being beautiful (with, perhaps, the exception of Addis Ababa) and full of visually stunning scenes. Personally, I was also a big fan of the food, but maybe I’m less bothered than most by eating the same thing three times a day. So, in the end, while I may hesitate to sum up the overall amazingness of Ethiopia or general nice-ness level of its people, I won’t hesitate to say I don’t regret going there and I’d enthusiastically encourage others to go there and explore.

But anyways, the purpose of this post is to dazzle you with some of my favorite photos of the trip, so let’s get to it.

{1} Men and women in a church in Bahir Dar
{2} Street scene from above in Harar
{3} Woman preparing coffee for a coffee ceremony in the Simien Mountains
{4} Waiting for the clouds to part at the top of a peak in Simien Mountains
{5} Traditional breakfast food, “ful medames” made of beans and tomatoe and served with bread
{6} Young girl by our campsite in the Simien Mountains

Tags Ethiopia, Photos

The Nomadic Life Travel

Why I’m Thankful for Travel

Post author By Jessie Beck
Post date November 28, 2013
6 Comments on Why I’m Thankful for Travel
Sticky post

Being Thanksgiving and all, the blogosphere is filled with recently posted, thoughtful pieces about thankfulness and the like. Among travel blogs, I’ve come across a few introspective posts on what travel makes us thankful for, and all the eye-opening bits and personal transformation that come with being an intrepid, nomadic soul. I enjoy them, and there’s quite a few things I could think of myself (my American passport, to start with), but what about the reverse? Maybe I’m hitting on some of the same sentiments, but I wanted to talk today about why I’m thankful for travel and the opportunity to explore.

For the friendships

Travel encourages us, even forces us, to make new friends. When you are a stranger in an unfamiliar place, you can’t just hide in the comfort of your own home, relying on TV and old friends for company. You have to be brave and talk to someone you’ve never met before. Sometimes, when I’m on the road alone for awhile, it’s loneliness and the realization that I haven’t opened my mouth to say more than “one coffee, please,” that gets me out of my own head and striking up conversations with whoever will let me. I’ve met so many amazing and inspiring people this way.

I’m thankful that travel has taught this shy kid to be a bit more bold and see the whole world as a potential source of friendship, not just the sorts of people that look similar to you. Also, I’m thankful for all the like-minded people that I’ve accumulated as friends over the past few years, because believe me, I’ve found some good ones ;D

For what it teaches us about ourselves

In the semi-unstructured realm of travel, we have a lot of time to think introspectively and reflect on what we are experiencing, how we react to unfamiliar situations, and what that says about ourselves. It also puts us in new situations that bring out this really base self of everyone’s personality. I really believe that how you handle a stressful situation (like missing a bus or being ripped off) can reveal a lot about yourself, and that these situations are a way to practice bettering ourselves. Ditto for how we act around new people. In travel, as opposed to at home, we experience these sorts of things often, and get to learn something new about ourselves every day.

There’s also the concept of learning by contrast. I don’t think I fully understood what being an American meant until I studied abroad in Senegal and Malta. By learning what it meant to be Senegalese/Maltese/British/French/Spanish/etc. I was also learning about my own national identity and how we fit into the world. For this, I am thankful for travel.

For what it teaches us about others

Roaming the world exposes us to endless personalities, cultures, and outlooks on life. When face to face with our differences, I think we are more likely to break down stereotypes and understand that finer differences exist underneath any one label (i.e. Asian, Christian, lawyer, etc.). The humanity of the ‘other’ is impossible to escape, and so long as we travel with an open and inquisitive mind, we are likely to learn much more about others than we ever could have at home. Sometimes, even the context itself suddenly sheds light on something we may not have understood before. Sometimes, we also discover there’s a lot to learn from these other perspectives — maybe I didn’t have all the answers after all…

For the skills we pick up along the way

How else would I have figured out how to wash a pair jeans by hand, speak Malagasy, or drive a motorbike if not through travel? I guess I had all the resources to do so at home, just not the initiative. In this regard, I am thankful that travel doesn’t just create the opportunities to develop new skills, but pushes us to do so as well.

For the patience and good humor it gives us

Travel isn’t always sunny beaches and good food — it can be stressful, challenging, and downright upleasant at times. There’s nothing like a 36 hour bus ride on a hard metal bench to teach a girl how to meditate and be patient (and also, how to hold “it” in when you really have to pee) or vendors in a Moroccan market place asking you every 5 seconds “where are you from?” for you to practice fending off irritation by making jokes (“I’m from Japan, obviously…”). Anyone who has traveled for a long time (hopefully) has gained the ability to be patient and laugh off the small things. How could you survive it if you haven’t?

For the adventure

If you haven’t figured it out already, I love a good story, and even better, a good adventure. Travel, and even just applying that sense of wonder and discovery to your everday life back home, is my favorite way to have new adventures. I’m thankful for all the big and small adventures, everything from trying a new dish to trekking across the Simien Mountains, that travel has allowed me to embark on.

For showing us what’s really important in life

And finally, perhaps a combination of everything I’ve just mentioned, I am most thankful for travel because it has taught me what’s most important in life. Maybe this doesn’t apply to everyone, but I don’t think careers and success are more important than friendship and happiness. They hold weight, for sure, but after living and traveling abroad for quite some time, I’m a little nervous to return to our materialistic, progress-obsessed nation (this fear has mostly come out of reading Cosmo magazines on my Kindle…). For all the running around and 60 hour work weeks we do, I don’t believe we’re really becoming a happier and more satisfied, just creating more cravings and demands. After experiencing life at a much more basic level, maybe it’s better to strive to have enough in the ways of material posessions and to be comfortable than all these unnecessary excesses. Maybe, everything we do in life should be towards making it a better, more pleasant place for others, and enjoying every day, rather than working our butts off so that “some day” we’ll be well off.

So that’s my list, but how about you? Why are you thankful for travel?

Tags Reflection, Thanksgiving, Travel

Adventure Travel Africa Travel Uganda

What it’s Like Gorilla Trekking in Uganda

Post author By Jessie Beck
Post date November 21, 2013
5 Comments on What it’s Like Gorilla Trekking in Uganda
Sticky post

In the jungle

Standing in the mess of twisted vines and jungle overgrowth in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, our little group of explorers — myself, my friend, a middle-aged Swedish couple, our guide, scouts, and trackers — stood in silence as we stared at a family of silverback gorillas in front of us. They stared back, equally curious. A loud, humming sound broke the silence, and one of the Swedes turned to our guide and asked, “what was that?” in a voice that suggested wonder and excitement.

Our guide, the only woman working as a guide in the park, smiled and began to giggle like the schoolgirl she must have been years ago. “Hehehe – they are farting,” she said and we all began to smile and laugh softly. Even the scouts and trackers, who never spoke enough for me to know just how much English they knew, began to chuckle. The sound happened again, and we all looked knowingly at each other and continued our immature, muted giggles.

“They ate a really big breakfast,” our guide said, continuing the joke.

And for an hour, they continued to lounge in the jungle, farting, pooping, growling at each other, and sometimes lumbering over into another part of the forest. At one point, one of the females, seemingly annoyed at her audience, charged at us and one of the trackers raised his machete and barked back at her. She backed down.

“You always have to show that you aren’t afraid. They’re just trying to scare you, but if you try to run, they may pick you up. They’re really strong and can break your bones or kill you really easily. They don’t always mean to, they’re just so strong.” Our guide had cautioned us.

After one hour, we had to leave before we over stayed our welcome and really began to piss off the gorillas.

Since trekking in Uganda in September, I’ve gotten a lot of questions from other travelers about the experience and I thought I would include them here in case you were wondering the same thing:

Was it worth the money?

Honestly, I try not to think about it. I was a lot of money for what it was, but the proceeds from the $500 per person permits go back into protecting the gorillas and their environment, and improving the standards of living in nearby communities (related goals, really). Also, even though the trek was brief, it was incredibly well run and you could tell a lot of work and money goes in to protecting the park. Trackers, guides, and scouts are well-trained, and the guides all speak excellent English.

Is there any way to do it cheaper?

All in all, we paid $900 each for the permit, private transportation to/from Kampala, hotels, water, and all our meals, through Cheap Uganda Safaris. While we don’t regret the splurge (our driver/guide, Alex, who runs his own company, Freelyn Adventures when not freelancing for others, was awesome and it was nice to break up our budget backpacking with a bit of uncomplicated luxury) we could have done it cheaper. We could have linked up with other travelers since tour prices drop as the number of people increases, or taken the independent route, buying the permits ourselves, making it to Kabale by bus and hiring a driver from there, getting all of our own food, and camping in our tent. Also, a lot of tour companies buy permits in advance and so towards the end of the tourist season, around November, some will have discounts on their tours and will sell the permits off for about $350. The trade-off here is that it’s rainy season, and the trail is muddy and slippery.

Do you always get to see the gorillas?

It’s pretty much guaranteed. We asked this question to our guide who said yes, she’s always been able to find the gorillas. The park tracks each family’s movements and at the beginning of the day, trackers set out well before the guides and hikers to locate the families based on where they were last seen. Guides and trackers communicate with walkie talkies for updates on their whereabouts. When we asked our guide what was the longest it ever took to locacte them, she said “about 10 hours.”

“We had to call the office on our walkie-talkies and have them bring us dinner and more water,” she said, remembering the experience.

For us, we found them in about 2 hours, stayed for an hour, and were the first group out of the park.

So, it was pretty amazing then?

I’d be kind of an asshole if I said no, right? Just kidding. It was amazing, but far too short an amount of time. Also, I think seeing the gorillas (sitting around, farting, eating, looking at me with a strangely human face) made it easier to relate to them and grasp the commonalities humans have with other primates. So, in a way it made them less of this incredible, mysterious animal that exists somewhere-out-there in the world and more of a familiar face. Maybe I’m being vague, but it wasn’t like seeing lemurs and thinking about how cute and amusing they are, but being in the presence of an animal that you know is watching and observing you as much as you are it was a totally different nature viewing experience. They’re intelligent and complex, and you feel that.

Tags Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Gorilla, Mountain gorilla, Silverback gorilla, Uganda

Africa Ethiopia Travel

Drinking Coffee with Tomoca, Addis Ababa’s Oldest Roasters

Post author By Jessie Beck
Post date November 11, 2013
3 Comments on Drinking Coffee with Tomoca, Addis Ababa’s Oldest Roasters
Sticky post

My inspiration to travel to Ethiopia came while drinking a cup of coffee that tasted like cardboard. I wanted good coffee, and I felt that Ethiopia would have that. After all, my experiences in America had taught me that Ethiopian Arabica roasts were medium-bodied, fruity, and exactly the thing to cure my coffee doldrums. As with many other places that are famous for their coffee though, Ethiopia tends to send the best of their beans abroad as a cash crop, and it turned out that getting a delicious Ethiopian roast in Ethiopia was trickier than I had expected — which is why my friend and I decided to head to To.mo.ca (an abbreviation for Torrefazione Moderna Café). Although firmly on the tourist circuit, this coffee shop run by Addis Ababa’s oldest coffee roasting company has still preserved much of its original ambiance, and is still largely frequented by nearby businessmen and other locals looking for a quick pick me up. Since their founding in 1953, they have since expanded to two other locations in Addis Ababa, but we wanted to check out the original on the Piazza’s Cathedral Street, where we felt the personality of it’s original years would be most in tact.

So, with a hand-drawn map on the back of an old receipt, we left our hotel in search of the famed coffee shop, but couldn’t seem to find it. We continued for blocks past where we thought the shop would be, into slightly sketchy territory, but eventually gave up and settled on one of the stylish, modern cafes abundant in Addis Ababa. Disappointed, we vowed to try again the next day.

Turns out, the place is so unassuming from the outside, that we had walked right past it on our first try! Marked only by a small, simple brown sign, To.mo.ca is easy to miss if you’ve never been there before. Fortunately, we walked slower on our second attempt, and this time spotted the small hole in the wall, just past the intersection with Churchill Avenue and went inside.

Once we entered, we were surrounded by the sweet aroma of freshly brewed coffee and the loud clamor of tiny glass and ceramic mugs against saucers, the tell-tale hiss of an espresso machine, and lively conversation. The place was full with customers — mostly men — standing around tall tables chatting with friends or pouring over the newspaper on small stools while sipping on To.mo.ca’s espresso-shot sized cups of buna (black coffee), makiato (coffee with milk), or capucinnos. All their coffee is slow roasted using a traditional Ethiopian process but in modern Italian-made roasters to bring out a fuller flavor and aroma from their Ethiopian Arabica beans. Even before tasting their coffee, I could smell the result of the time and care they had put into getting a quality roast out of a quality bean and felt myself bubbling with excitement as we approached the counter.

For a bigger cup, we told the cashier “double” before paying and being handed a small plastic chip, which we then took to a back counter where the coffee was dished out. Three employees stood behind the back counter, taking chips and brewing coffee out of their large espresso machines, while customers grabbed their cup (no Starbucks take away cups here!) as the orders came up. Another woman bustled around taking a shaker full of sugar away from those with slightly empty cups, and placing them in front of customers who had just received their orders — since, of course, you can’t drink a cup of coffee as an Ethiopian without three teaspoons of sugar (we were just glad no one was trying to put the sugar in the coffee for us.)

And how was the coffee? Everything I expected of an Ethiopian coffee roaster with 60 years to perfect their craft. The small cup of buna tasted rich and strong and left us feeling revived and ready to dive in to the chaos of Addis Ababa’s downtown area, or perhaps, inspired by the Balzac quote hanging from the ceiling (“When you drink a cup of coffee, ideas come marching like an army”) write a short story. We even debated taking a bag of one of their several roasts on the road so we could enjoy the aromatic flavors of To.mo.ca even after we had long left Ethiopia’s capitol behind. But in the end, we decided against it. Sitting in the bustling atmosphere of To.mo.ca’s original coffee shop was part of the reason that made that one cup so enjoyable, and even if we could take the taste home with us, we would never be able to fully recreate the experience of sipping downright delicious coffee with the locals at To.mo.ca in Addis Ababa.

Tags addis ababa, Coffee, tomoca

Adventure Travel Africa The Nomadic Life Uganda

At The Source of the Blue Nile in Jinja, Uganda

Post author By Jessie Beck
Post date October 22, 2013
2 Comments on At The Source of the Blue Nile in Jinja, Uganda
Sticky post

I will forever remember Uganda as being a thousand shades of green. We arrived in Jinja, Uganda at the end of a long rainy season, and at the beginning of a tropical downpour, that had been making me nervous as I tried to balance myself and heavy backpack on the back of my motorcycle taxi (called a boda boda).

“Where are you from?” My driver asked

“America,” I said dryly.

“Oh! Amereeca! Will you marry me?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to marry anyone I have known for only two minutes. Now please watch the road.”

“You’re scared?”

“Just watch the road.”

Obviously, I was more concerned with getting to our hostel, Adrift, before it began to dump buckets of water from the sky, than a boda boda driver’s romantic, or more likely, self-serving, intentions.

We got there, but just barely, and spent the rest of the evening drinking beer and trying to make out a brown, muddy Nile that stood against a backdrop of white haze. The next morning, however, the rain and mist had lifted, and we were greeted with a wide, lolling river, made lazy by a pair of nearby dams.

Why visit Jinja?

Jinja, Uganda is a popular stop over for adventurous tourists looking to bungee jump or white water raft down the Nile (mostly out of our hostel, Adrift, which sits a few kilometers outside of town but has a lively bar that overlooks the Nile) and the less adventurous ones who would prefer to bob up and down on a small canoe bird-watching or booze-cruising on a sunset boat ride that putters past papyrus reeds and fishermen — exactly the sort of scene you might expect to see on the Nile if you ignore the anomaly of your boat.

Off the river, Jinja is a large, bustling town. Downtown’s main street is dotted with several cute cafes (like, Source of the Nile) that serve up freshly brewed coffee — a great break from the instant coffee we kept getting throughout Kenya — and dozens of souvenir shops basically selling the same thing. Being Uganda’s second largest metropolis (after Kampala) I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised by this bit of cosmopolitanism. I was rather surprised by how many foreigners and tourists were roaming the streets, many of whom seemed to be unusually pretty girls in their early 20s, sporting flowing long skirts. Volunteers in the name of God, maybe? I’ll never know.

Final thoughts

In the end, I found the place overly touristy but beautiful. I was happy to move on, but encountered several foreigners who now call it home. Mostly, I feel like I’ve walked away from Jinja being able to say “no big deal, I’ve been to the Nile.” Not a bad place to spend a few days, right?

Tags Adrift, Bungee Jumping, Jinja, Source of the Nile, Uganda, White Water Rafting

Africa Kenya Travel Uganda

How (Not) to Cross the Border Overland from Kenya to Uganda

Post author By Jessie Beck
Post date October 12, 2013
1 Comment on How (Not) to Cross the Border Overland from Kenya to Uganda
Sticky post

When we hopped off the bus in Malaba, the bustling, ramshackle border town between Kenya and Uganda, we were immediately bombarded by motorcycle taxis trying to ferry us across the border.

“No, we’ll walk,” we said, finding it ridiculous to pay someone to drive us a distance we could cover in less than ten minutes.

So we hiked our bags on our back and headed to the office on the Kenyan side, when we saw the recliner chair from the best recliners we knew we had found the office. The office was easy enough to find, and the process was simple too. Since we had arrived in a mini bus, and not with one of the large international buses that ferry people between Kampala, Nairobi, and Kigali, we had also arrived with a crowd of locals going to market (and who therefore didn’t need to have their passports checked) and were the only ones in line. It took us all of ten minutes, and we were stamped and sent on to the Ugandan side.

A Peace Corps friend in Malaba had told us that the Ugandan office wasn’t that simple to find. We would have to veer left off the road a bit — so we tried to do that. A group of men shouted at us and told us we were going the wrong way. They pointed us towards a sidewalk where dozens of other pedestrians were walking in to Uganda, so we followed them, still looking for someone who could stamp our passports and give us a visa. Instead, we found two soldiers lazily sitting by an entrance looking thing, with their AKs sitting in their laps.

“Passports, please!” They demanded.

We handed them over.

“What’s in your bag?” One of them asked Liz.
“Where’s your WHO card?” The other asked me.

We responded accordingly, but it quickly seemed apparent that they were more interested in flirting with us than making sure we were legally crossing international borders. We smiled (because you should never upset a man with a gun) and moved on, now fully in the throngs of an African market filled with colorful fabrics. We stopped to look, because our Peace Corps friend had also mentioned it was a great place to find fabric we could later turn into clothes.

A few meters down the road, we found our bus to Jinja, and turned to each other to say “well, that was easy.”

It wasn’t until later that night we discovered that we were now illegal in Uganda — in the confusion of the border crossing and market, we had never managed to get a Ugandan visa (which all American citizens need in order to enter) or stamp… This was quickly becoming a hassle, I could catch myself thinking, how easy it was in Asia with the Vietnam visa on arrival program.

What You Need To Know

Before attempting to cross the border ourselves, the internet had made it seem as though it would be semi difficult to cross overland between Kenya and Uganda. I totally disagree.

The main towns to cross through are Malaba and Busia. For those coming from Kenya, you can cross into Uganda and return to Kenya with a single-entry visa (don’t waste the money on a multiple-entry visa — Kenya has special agreements with Uganda and Tanzania that allow you to travel between the three with only a single-entry visa) but you still need to buy a separate visa to Uganda. Visas for Uganda and Kenya cost $50 USD each. You can pay with local currency, but make sure you have exact just in case the border agents don’t have change (as happened to us). That said, visas are available on arrival.

Large bus companies such as Easy Coach cross the border, and make it easy for passengers to go through the process. Just hop off and follow what everyone else is doing, then meet the bus on the other side. They’re good about waiting and making sure everyone is back on board before leaving, just in case that sort of thing makes you nervous. If you are traveling with local buses, however, make sure you get both stamps! It’s very easy to find a bus in either direction from the border, and you generally don’t have to wait long. If you are going with a local bus, I’d suggest traveling by day. This is best if you are going only a short distance.

Also somewhat annoying, the bus from Malaba – Jinja is the same price as the bus from Malaba – Kampala, but worth it if you don’t want to back track.

All in all, crossing the border overland between Kenya and Uganda is easy, and you don’t need to have anything special (like passport size photos, as the official website claims) besides money for the fee in order to get a visa on either side. Plan to spend about an hour crossing, just in case you get caught behind a large group, and definitely don’t have any worries about crossing this border!

Our Return to Kenya

Ten days later, we groggily stepped off the Kampala – Nairobi direct and into the Ugandan passport control office.

“Where are your visas?” The offcial asked.
“We tried to get them! There were men with guns… they looked official… we don’t know what happened!” We groveled.

Our official consulted with someone else, and eventually decided that they would give us the visa, stamp us in, and stamp us out, all at the same time.

“Perfect!” We said, and happily forked over the $50 visa fee. We both breathed a sigh of relief that they were so understanding, and that we didn’t even have to offer a bribe, before ambling on to meet back with our bus and try to catch a few hours of sleep on the bumpy bus ride east.

Tags bus, Busia, Crossing overland, Kenya, Malaba, Uganda

Kenya Travel

Apparently, Hell Has Zebras: A Visit to Hell’s Gate National Park

Post author By Jessie Beck
Post date September 21, 2013
No Comments on Apparently, Hell Has Zebras: A Visit to Hell’s Gate National Park
Sticky post

“Welcome to hell!” a Kenyan man standing by a row of rental bikes shouted, obviously amused at his joke. “Would you like to buy a map?”

Liz and I had just turned off the main road from our camp ground by Lake Naivasha, headed to the Elsa entrance of Hell’s Gate National Park on rickety bikes that were already beginning to make our bums sore. We decided to take him up on his offer and Liz handed over a dollar for a sorry excuse of a map, a badly drawn, photocopied sketch of the area, that would end up being little use to us when we really did get lost — a second joke on the map-seller’s part — before struggling up a dirt road on a slight incline to the entrance of Hell’s Gate, to the entrance of hell, you might say.

Safari by bike

We shattered some preconceptions that day: apparently, Hell has zebras. And giraffes, warthogs, gazelle, baboons, and buffalo.

It was beautiful, and probably not the image you’d conjure up if I had just told you “we just visited Hell”. But it also wasn’t the image you’d get if I were to say I had been on safari in Kenya.

To start with, Hell’s Gate doesn’t have any predators, a small dissappointment since they’re a main safari attraction, but at the same time great because it allows for another unique feature of the park to exist.

You can bike and walk — unguided — through the park, instead of traveling by car.

I loved that part. Even if the bike seats had our butts acheing for two days after, it was worth it to stand in the middle of a grassy plain, just a few feet away from the wildlife (if you had managed to walk quietly enough not to startle them), and pretend like we were the only humans around for miles. Going unguided also gave us the feeling of discovering something new and setting out on a true, rugged, adventure. Our discoveries were our own. This was what I had imagined safaris were like, before a long ago trip to South Africa taught me that Safari in Africa was synonymous with looking at far away wildlife with binoculars from a Land Rover.

Scrambling through the canyon

We did, however, have to hire a guide to wander through the serpintine, sand-colored, Hell’s Gate canyon and recent filming site for Tomb Raider II.

As we trodded along, ocassionaly stopping to admire the naturally hot water trickeling from the rocks, my thoughts bounced between wondering what the filming crews had done about the graffiti on the wall, and why exactly inspired the first explorers to visit this place, Fischer and Thompson, to call it “Hell’s Gate”. Did they take the hot water and active volcanoe as signs that a firey underworld sat just beneath the surface? Who knows, but it was fun to think about.

Climbing Fischer’s Tower

About one kilometer from the park entrance stands a tall, slender, pyramid-shaped pile of rocks called Fischer’s Tower. Besides being able to bike among the wildlife, this tower was our other main motivation for visiting the park: you could rock climb. Before heading off into the park, we had just noticed a small mention of rock climbing in a guide book (“in Hell’s Gate you can bike, hike, rock climb, and …”) which is pretty typical really. I’ve found that as a nomadic climber, the normal range of guide books won’t do much more than mention the possibility of rock climbing, and to really track down a good climbing spot requires more word-of-mouth and internet research.

Upon arrival, we learned that this tower was mostly trad climbing — which we didn’t have gear for — but had a solid 5.7, 5.8, and 5.9 sport climb routes that we were able to hop on to and get our fix (thanks to the Kenyan rock climbing guide who spends his days posted up at the bottom of the tower, renting out equipment for tourists who want to go vertical, who took pity on our rope-less situation). The tall rock walls surrounding the valley also offered a variety of more challenging climbs, but again, not bolted. Our new friend told us that he had been working in the valley for over 6 years and knew all the routes. For anyone who wants more beta, showing up at the tower and interrogating him might not be a bad way to do so.

Some practical boring stuff…

We camped at Fisherman’s camp, about 5km from the Elsa entrance to the park. Camping in our own tent was 500 KSH per person, per night (so unfair, shouldn’t we get a discount for squishing?!).
Entrance to the park for non-East African residents was $25 USD, and a 100 KSH fee for each bike. Our bikes were 500 KSH to rent from our hotel, but if you rent a bike at the park entrance, you don’t have to pay the bike fee.
Busses from the town Naivasha to Fishermans camp were about 80 KSH
Two good cafes in town (Acacia and one next to the butcher) serve cheap local options.
Multiple people said it was best for us to set out early and aim to be at the park around 7, so we could have the roads to ourselves before cars came through and kicked up dust (and it’s better photography lighting anyway), and after getting there not-so-early, I’d agree.

Tags Bike safari, Hell's Gate, Kenya, Rock climbing, Wildlife

Africa Kenya The Nomadic Life Travel

Landing Without A Plan in Kenya

Post author By Jessie Beck
Post date September 15, 2013
2 Comments on Landing Without A Plan in Kenya
Sticky post

Stepping off the airplane into Nairobi’s international airport felt surreal. Normally, I think of airports as these familiar, unchanging structures — which is ironic since they are buildings built for the purpose of transience and travel — that I can confidently navigate worldwide, no matter if I’ve never been there before or I have been there a dozen times. However, because of construction and the recent fire at Nairobi’s airport, it seemed more like I was strolling through an outdoor expo than an airport. They had erected large white tents to act as an arrivals terminal. The bathrooms were port-o-potties. Customs agents sat behind a folding table in folding chairs, then sent us outside to walk to another tent where our bags waited, lined up next to a paper sign with our flight number, rather than rotating on a large carousal. The airport felt temporary and transient, which I suppose matches its purpose better than colossal airports like Charles du Galle and Dulles.

But the airport may have been misleading. However small it felt, we were without a doubt back on a more beaten path, set to wander around a country with an abundance of travelers and a healthy tourist industry — an excellent situation for us, since we had done little research about our first stop on our round-the-world trip and would need other travelers and resources made for travelers to help us along the way.

Finding Things to Do in Nairobi

At first glance, we found Nairobi fancy and developed, and since we were coming from somewhere less developed, we had no qualms about spending a day or two pretending to be fancy as well. I was excited enough just seeing asparagus and red peppers on a cafe menu (sad, I know). So, after looking at 101 Things to Do in Nairobi, we decided to forget about the normal touristy stuff, and instead watch a cheesy movie on a big screen at Junction Cinema, drink our first I.P.A. beer in two years at Brew Bistro and Lounge, and have a bagel and coffee at a Nairobi coffee chain, Java. While others at our cozy hostel — Upper Hill Campsite — set out on day trips to Nairobi Giraffe Farm or to shop in local markets, we shyly slunk away to the mall, telling our new friends that we had “errands to run” when actually we were oggling new clothes and going to the cinema like a pair of bored teenagers.

Getting Out of Nairobi

For some reason, I suddenly remembered photos of a flamingo filled lake in Kenya, and decided that’s what I’d want to see here (having already done a safari, and reserving a trek to see gorillas in Uganda as our one big splurge). A quick Google search told me Lake Nakuru, on the road to Uganda (perfect!) was the place I was thinking off. Chats with other hostelers, however, told us that camping alongside the hippos of Lake Naivasha would be more worth our time. Not only does Lake Naivasha have flamingos, but it’s close to the entrance of Hell’s Gate Park, which allows visitors to bike and walk through game filled valleys, rather than drive. We both loved the idea of being outside with the animals (no predators though — phew!), and the possibility of rock climbing as mentioned in an old and battered Lonely Planet, so we immediately made plans to hop a matatu (bus) to the lake the next day. We’d end up staying at Fisherman’s Camp, a classically backpacker spot and one of the cheapest in the area, but would later discover a few quieter budget options elsewhere by the lake.

Maybe Next Time?

Of course, attractions like going on safari in Maasi Mara, hiking Mount Kenya, and lounging on the beaches near Mombasa were all tempting as well, but would have taken us out of the way from getting to Uganda. We heard nothing but positive reviews from people recently returning from then. Naturally, we didn’t want to actually say no to visiting them so in the spirit of travelers who want to see it all, we kept (and keep) telling ourselves “next time… Maybe after Uganda?” We’re traveling without much of any plans right now, so who knows?

Tags Africa, Airport, Kenya, Lake Naivasha, Nairobi, Travel

Africa In Photos Madagascar The Nomadic Life Travel

Photo-Frenzied in Morondava’s Avenue de Baobabs

Post author By Jessie Beck
Post date September 8, 2013
6 Comments on Photo-Frenzied in Morondava’s Avenue de Baobabs
Sticky post

I went to Madagascar’s most iconic and photographed site, and I didn’t bring my camera.

Just kidding. Though I did think about it for the purpose of writing a piece on how photography distracts from being present and the importance of absorbing and interacting with a place rather than documenting it. Maybe I should have done just that, but I selfishly wanted my postcard snapshot of the Avenue de Baobabs at sunset too. They’re just so damn photogenic.

I wasn’t alone in this. Car after car full of tourists rolled in, parking at the entrance closest to the road back to Morondava town or pausing for a few seconds to drop off groups returning from the Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park, so they could lazily walk the several yards of baobab-lined path back to their private four-by-fours just in time to get dinner. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a large concentration of tourists in Madagascar in my whole two years of living here (although Isalo came close).

As we made our way down the sandy path, a group of small children ran up to us with chameleons on sticks. They knew from experience that basically every visitor would have a camera and demanded we take photos then give them small change. “Madame, photo! Madame, photo!”

It made me a little uncomfortable but one of my friends was impressed they had figured out they could make money off of this. They would have made a cute photo, but I was more interested in chatting with them. I asked one of the little girls her name in Malagasy. When I couldn’t pronounce it quite right she got pouty and stomped her feet “NO! Boon-BOO-na!” I laughed. I love it when kids step out of their robotic “oh, madame-o, please give me something” and let their personality escape.

I snuck a photo of her from behind, and she snapped her head around, obviously in recognition of the shutter’s ‘cliiick’ and was back to berating me with ‘madame, photo!’ I feigned ignorance. I told another group of boys near her I didn’t want to take their photo because they were dirty. They were amused. I was serious.

In the end, my seven friends and I all joined the photo-snapping frenzy, but I could tell that all of us still felt somewhat separate from the tourists passing through. We were observing them and their habits the same way they were observing the trees and cooing over cute little African children holding chameleons on a stick. Even with our cameras, we were putting our Madagascar-acquired habits to good use by simply standing in the middle of the road, chatting and staring, moving slowly and not worrying about time.

After we put away our cameras and piled into our taxis to head back to town for pizza, the cool night breeze forcing me to put on a sweater, I felt reminded of why I love travel — for these moments of absolute beauty and tranquility. For being separated from ‘the rest of the world’ but in such a way that isn’t anxious, but peaceful. I felt absolutely content to be where I was in that moment, but at the same time excited for the adventures to come once I’m off this island (which is soon…)

Oh yeah, and those photos:

Photos: (1) Entrance to the Avenue of Baobabs (2) Bobona and her chameleon (3) The kids in front of the baobabs (4) Baobab from the bottom of the trunk (5) A woman on the road to the Avenue de Baobabs (6) A traditional canoe called a ‘lakana’ on Morondava’s beach (7) Musicians in the ‘Rasta Bar’ in Morondava

Tags Baobab Trees, Morondava, Travel Photography

Peace Corps The Nomadic Life

What are The Positives and Negatives of Doing Peace Corps?

Post author By Jessie Beck
Post date September 25, 2017
No Comments on What are The Positives and Negatives of Doing Peace Corps?

Peace Corps Madagascar — Photo Credit: Sally Bull

Hi Jessie!

Last spring, I decided I had enough of the job so I sought out my local Peace Corps recruiter. He told me the first year in the Peace Corps is really, really hard but then the second year he didn’t want to leave. Fast forward to now – I decided to move to Madrid for the year, get my TEFL certification to teach English, and learn Spanish. I basically did this to add to my resume for the Peace Corps and because I had always wanted to learn Spanish. Anyway, I wanted to email you to see if you could just give me all the positives and negatives or anything else that is interesting. Thank you!

– Madrid Teacher

Like the recruiter said, the first year is pretty hard — but moreso if you’ve never lived abroad and don’t know what to expect. With regards to the first year of Peace Corps, here are a few of the negatives:

Feeling isolated — it can definitely be lonely if you’re the only foreigner for miles.
Language barriers can add to the sense of isolation, and create a feeling of incompetency (why can’t I figure out how to buy a bottle of juice!?!?)
FOMO — especially when it comes to dating, going out, and other “normal” 20-some activities.
Lots of downtime = potential for boredom. Not everyone knows how to deal with this.
Sometimes the restrictions placed on you by Peace Corps can be a burden — you often don’t have the flexibility to choose where you want to live (in terms of town and house), just pick up and take a trip whenever, drive a car / motorcycle, etc.

Of course, there’s plenty of positives too:

Your PCV friends and bonds with your host community
Getting to intimately know a new country / culture
Learning how to be a self-sufficient bad-ass who can start a fire, recommend a cure for dysentery, bake english muffins without an oven, and hand-wash all your laundry
The newness and excitement of it all

You may notice I didn’t say much about the work itself. This is because you don’t really make much of an impact in your first year of service. Instead, you’re learning how to your a job, cultural nuances, and what sorts of projects are most effective. Don’t stress if your work doesn’t feel like “work”. I think that’s what gets a lot of people down — this inaccurate expectation that they’ll swoop in and “change the world“.

That said, it’s great that you’re teaching in Spain beforehand. I also taught abroad before joining Peace Corps. They probably would’ve accepted me anyway, but it was good to have that foundation. I felt like it made me a better volunteer — especially since my CELTA training was far better than the ESL teacher training Peace Corps Madagascar did.

In short, it made me a better volunteer even if it didn’t necessarily make me more qualified as a volunteer. In the end, that’s more important anyway. In my opinion, I think too many people join straight out of college and may not be as effective than if they had gotten a year or two of experience elsewhere first.

Tags Peace Corps

The Nomadic Life Travel Writing Tips

Letter from the Editor: After a Long Hiatus, Beatnomad Officially Ends

Post author By Jessie Beck
Post date September 13, 2017

When I first left Madagascar, I knew Beatnomad would face an identity crisis. I’d relied on Madagascar and my knowledge of the country to build Beatnomad’s brand, so without it, I both lost my biggest source of content inspiration and felt like the new destinations I was learning about had no place here.

“What happens to a location-focused travel blog when you leave said location?” I wondered. I wasn’t growing the expertise I had built success off of and, meanwhile, was building expertise in other areas. I had moved to San Francisco, became a content marketing / SEO pro, and got really, really, really into cycling.

Ultimately, it was clear that I had to evolve or move on.

After several years of procrastinating on the decision (while working full time to build out the travel blog for Go Overseas and feeling too tired to come home to my personal blogging), I finally decided to cut the cord and move on.

However, I won’t be giving up blogging completely — just shifting focus to my new blog Eat Bike Travel, a blog that documents food and bike adventures in the Bay Area and beyond (like, what’s it like to see the Tour de France in person? Or what are some good restaurants to bike to in the San Francisco Bay Area?). I’m hoping that, by centering the blog on interests rather than destinations, it will be more flexible and have better longevity.

You can also, of course, always find me doling out my best packing advice on the Tortuga blog, Packsmith — a travel backpack company that I’ve regularly written articles for over the past 3 years and for whom I’m grateful for keeping my blogging chops alive.

As humans, we constantly evolve and grow our identities. We shift interests as time passes. Ultimately, blogs are a reflection of that. So onwards to new frontiers (both literally and figuratively). I’ll see you elsewhere in the blogosphere.

Note: I will not be deleting Beatnomad and will continue to maintain the site, even if I am not actively contributing content to it. Please feel free to access old content for as long as you’d like!

The Nomadic Life The United States Travel

How Lyft Inspired My Most Creative Date Night in San Francisco

Post author By Jessie Beck
Post date December 28, 2015
No Comments on How Lyft Inspired My Most Creative Date Night in San Francisco

Like many San Franciscans, I don’t own a car. I bike, walk, and take public transportation or Lyft almost everywhere. Typically, this means I end up staying within a mile radius of my house (the Mission, Castro, and Noe Valley) even though I know the city has so much more to offer.

So one night, after a flurry of referrals that landed me 13 Lyft ride credits that were all expiring within a month, Jon and I decided to pop our Mission date bubble and venture out to all the areas of San Francisco that we never go out in.

When Friday night rolled around, we knew all the things to do here, so left our Mission home for the ultimate San Francisco date night, powered by a series of Lyft rides.

Stop One: Drinks and Appetizers at Two Sisters Bar and Books in Hayes Valley

Our first stop was in neighboring Hayes Valley at Two Sisters Bar and Books for a couple of cocktails and an appetizer to start off the night.

Though on the pricier side, they do have a solid happy hour deal and a cozy, bookish vibe that the bibliophile in me couldn’t resist. The bar was started, as the name suggests, by two sisters who were inspired by “an incredible bookstore in Krakow; a quintessential coffee-house in Vienna; [and] a neighborhood bar in Paris.” Once we entered, it all made sense.

Unfortunately, we arrived a little too late for happy hour (whoops!) and at 7 on a Friday, all of the seats were already taken by a hip-yet-artsy crowd. Still, the ambiance was as promised, so we settled in to a corner in the back, ordered up a couple of cocktails, pickles, and chicken wings.

The low lighting and patterned wallpaper felt romantic and the cocktails were delicious. Like many of the neighboring bars and restaurants in Hayes, it had a decidedly European (and non-Mission) feel to it.

“Man, the bartenders here are just so… nice,” Jon said as he put down his empty glass and I took out my phone to call our second ride of the night.

Stop Two: Dinner at Shanghai Dumpling King in Outer Richmond

If you like Chinese food, San Francisco has a lot of great and authentic options, several of which are in the Richmond. It’s a far trek for Mission-dwelers who are happy to have the cultishly famous Mission Chinese as their go to, but worth it if you’re craving one thing in particular: soup dumplings. I’d never had one before (ever!) so, in the spirit of trying new things, we headed to Shanghai Dumpling King for our main course.

Ironically, we caught a ride with an SFU college student who lived in the area and was saving money to teach English in Shanghai after the semester ended. Jon chatted about the semester he spent studying there. Call it a sign if you want, I’ll let it be a “mood builder”.

After a conversation filled, twenty minute drive, we arrived at Shanghai Dumpling King and joined the line of dumpling fans to get a table.

“It’s a 15 minute wait,” the server told us — an unusually short wait time for a popular San Francisco dinner spot. Even better, the line moved fast and efficiently, and before we were even seated the server asked us for our order. Jon took charge and ordered in Chinese.

“What did you get?” I asked.

“Soup dumplings… and something else. I have no idea what I ordered, but the guy recommended them so I just said yes.” He said.

We’d figure out later that he had ordered a classic Shanghai style pork dumpling (more than fine by me!) The food came fast. I giggled as Jon taught me how to properly pick up a soup dumpling, bite off the top, and pour sauce into it. Within 10 minutes, we’d hungrily gobbled down a dozen and a half dumplings and were ready to move on to stop three before it closed.

Stop Three: After Dinner Drinks at Cliff House at Ocean Beach

Which brings us to a San Francisco classic: drinks at the Cliff House, a former amusement park, now restaurant and bar, that overlooks the Pacific Ocean on — you guessed it — a cliff. We normally pass it on long bike rides but since it’s so far away never considered it as a potential spot to grab a drink at.

Unlike our first two stops of the night, we didn’t go there for the food and drinks per say, but rather its reputation for being a San Francisco landmark and its view of the Pacific. Even with the sun long ago set, we could see the dark waves crashing onto the shore below our window side table.

Full of dumplings, we sat and sipped a glass of Merlot while a jazz band set up stage. Jon began looking up the history of the Cliff House online.

“It’s the same guy who owned Sutro Baths,” Jon said. I tried to imagine how it must have looked and felt to be here back in its original form.

Not long after, the band began playing old 20s classics, further solidifying the old-timey atmosphere of the place. I felt a world away from home.

We felt even more remote when, after finishing our Merlots, we realized we were so far away from other people that it would take a full 10 minutes for our driver to arrive. It was time to start heading back in the direction of the Mission.

Stop Four: A Scenic View (sort of) at Twin Peaks

However, we didn’t exactly choose a less remote part of town. Before rounding off our impromptu culinary tour of San Francisco with dessert, we wanted to try and catch a glimpse of the city at night.

“Where ya headed?” our driver asked.

“Twin Peaks,” we said and got in.

Quickly, we had abandoned the flat expanse of the ocean for a steep ascent up to the second tallest hill in San Francisco (quite a title in this city). Neither of us had been there at night before and had high hopes of looking out over a glistening, nighttime, cityscape.

However, as we got to the top a heavy fog kept our driver from seeing too far in front of him and us from seeing what would have otherwise been a beautiful view of the city (damn you, Karl!) Nevertheless, we had made it so we dutifully stepped out, shivered for a minute while staring into haze of lights we could see before getting back in the car.

“Where to now?” Our driver asked.

“Foreign Cinema, in the Mission.” We said.

Stop Five: Dessert at Foreign Cinema in Mission

Of course, however stuck in our little neighborhood we may get, there’s still so much to explore just around our house, so many places we’ve yet to try that are right around the corner.

For me at least, one of these places was Foreign Cinema, a bar / restaurant known for the giant movie screen backdrop that plays old and foreign films while diners eat and chat.

We ordered our final round of drinks and a cheese plate for dessert.

“The food here isn’t that good,” Jon said. (To be fair, Foreign Cinema’s ratings are good, I’ve still never eaten anything there, and Jon has unusually high standards — so, if you’re a Foreign Cinema fan… or employee… I apologize.)

“Well, I guess you can’t mess up a cheese plate, right?” I said.

Food quality aside, I liked the space. Tables are set up in a backyard garden to the backdrop of its large movie screen. Heat lamps keep the outdoor patio warm on cool San Francisco nights while strings of lights give the space a truly warm and welcoming air. It was a refreshing place to end the night.

Stop Six: Home.

Feeling tired, tipsy, and a little lazy, we called our final Lyft to take us the final mile home… and sleep.

It’s now been a few months since our little adventure, and it’s still one of my favorite memories of San Francisco so far. This is mainly because it was one of the few times I dedicated to trying to see as much of it as possible in a short amount of time. I was exploring my city as I would any other new city in the world.

Travel doesn’t always have to take us to some faraway, exotic place. Sometimes, it just means driving a few miles down the road to a new bar, or restaurant, or lookout point. As long as you’re open to discovering it, there’s so much to explore in your city. And if you don’t already have it, sign up for Lyft now, grab a couple of free rides, and let me know how you used them to see something or somewhere new!

Photo credits: Christian Arballo

Omg Food, Food, Food!

Toilets are Awesome

Trying to Understand Where My Old and New Self Met

Annoying Everyone Around Me with “This One Time in Peace Corps” Stories

Remembering How to Be a “Real Adult”

Feeling Behind on Life

Getting Used to All this New Technology

Here’s to 2015!

Tell Yer Friends:

1. Don’t use the verb “to be”

2. Leave “that” and “which” out of your writing

3. Words like “very” and “really” are weak

4. Speak with authority

5. Avoid using the pronoun “one” if you’re speaking casually

6. Don’t use “a lot”

7. Kill your babies

8. Get to the point quickly

9. Your conclusion may work better as an introduction

10. Please, no cliches

Tell Yer Friends:

You won’t save the world as a Peace Corps Volunteer

First, you’ll ask a lot of dumb questions

Then, you’ll either develop realistic expectations, give up, or be miserable

You’ll break up with your girlfriend/boyfriend from back home

You’ll become a PR campaign for America

And your body will betray you.

Tell Yer Friends:

1. Beirut, Lebanon

2. Patagonia, Argentina/Chile

3. Oaxaca, Mexico

4. Waitomo, New Zealand

5. Istanbul, Turkey

6. Portugal

7. Cuba

8. Zion National Park, Utah

9. Kyoto, Japan

10. Seychelles

What are your bucket list travel destinations?

Tell Yer Friends:

If Japan is Anything Like Japan Airlines, then I’m Already in Love…

Getting Lost in Asakusa

Things to Do in Tokyo: A City Full of Distractions

Why Tokyo Rocks for Solo Travel

Have you traveled alone in Tokyo? What are your tips?

Tell Yer Friends:

Month three of a round the world journey

Why Thakhek?

Green Climbers Home

A story of resilience

Why Thakhek rocks for rock climbers

Tips on climbing in Thakhek

Tell Yer Friends:

Four Days of Walking

How to travel to the Simien Mountains

Photos

Tell Yer Friends:

1. Hug your family

2. Gobble down as many cookies, glasses of egg nog, and other home-cooked delights as possible without puking

3. Take a long hot shower

4. Use this captive audience to your advantage

5. Turn your brain to mush with a movie marathon

6. Start a snowball fight

7. Act like a kid again

8. Turn your souvenirs into Christmas gifts

9. Sleep in

10. Catch up with old friends

Happy Holidays, guys! Wherever you may be!

Tell Yer Friends:

In Saint-Pierre; By Jace

In Saint-Pierre; Unknown artist

In Saint-Pierre; Unknown artist

In Saint-Pierre; Unknown artist

In Cilaos; By Jace

What has been your favorite travel destination for street art?

Tell Yer Friends:

We really, really love our troops

Christmas and consumerism

We create and sell some pretty useless crap

Washing machines are fantastic

So many choices!