First experience camping in places with snow still on the ground.  Discovering that a "30 degree sleeping bag" might mean "your body temperature will be 30 degrees in this sleeping bag".  

Hiking up lots of red rock bits, seeing the size of the whole out-west thing.

Not going to jail because it's "overcrowded".  Enjoying a hot shower.  Moab camping trip!

Mini road trip! 

A long weekend in Steamboat, Colorado.  Mountains, huge hot springs, and all sorts of ski-town randomness.

I'm hiding out in the mountains.

Getting work done at 'the office', overlooking a pristine mountain lake.  Driving supercars and riding mountain bikes.  Attending a tiny sunset outdoor concert with Nina Simone.   Hanging out with friends, eating great food.  Taking paragliding lessons twice a day, all month.  Or maybe even longer.

I still need more sales people, and get my house rented again. 

Coal country, Pennsylvania. 

A place where entertainment is still outdoors, with rules of conduct few and far between.  Courtesy of the very friendly locals, airboat rides for me!

14 feet of aluminum boat, 600HP V8 motor with giant three-blade composite propeller on the back.  Born of the mind of someone with no clear concern for consequence, in the hands of a guy who likes to tango with excess.  

Glorious abundance of scenic, peaceful, undisturbed nature along the riverside. 

The massive hurricane wind from the huge blade hurtling us down the river, the oversize motor screaming behind us, blurred vision from the mad speed.  Ahhhh, the soothing blissful peace of nature!

It's not safe.  Over stimulation abounds, and a feed station for every conceivable vice is about a block away.  From anywhere.  24/7, and in your language of choice.

That was my initial impression of NYC.  Not that it was my virgin visit, mind you.  But ones relatively sane mind will shake the damage that a visit causes, leaving the experience in a misty fog of gracious forgettitude.

Anyone attempting to persuade you that this vice dispenser is expensive, is clearly not familiar with the inner workings of this spawn of American ueber consumption culture.  Reasonably nice place to crash on the upper Westside, $26 per night.  Come on.  I had a distinct notion that the guy behind the desk would have thrown in a albino midget hooker for a small tip.  

I should hurry up and rent an apartment here.  Get it over with.

This having been an exploratory weekend, to survey the survivability of the situation at large, I left Sunday.  But I'll be back.  I'll be back soon.  Even though I'm sure I could quit whenever I want to. 

Part III of the vagabonding trip due north.  Didn't make any sense logistically, but the name Charleston on the map was whispering things in my head.  Turned out to be a good call for a visit.

Charleston is a beautiful town.  Lots of attractive people, shopping spread out outside and all over the French Quarter.  Tons of bars, every possible flavor, price range, age group, social clique, congregating in a (wide spread) walking distance.  

Great architecture everywhere, and recreational activity niche bits abound.  There is even a Kali group!  I'd live here for a while, no question.

Didn't get to spend a whole lot of time in Savannah. 

Good company made it all right but the whole thing didn't really take.  Beats Tampa / Orlando for sure.  More art students, less plastic.  But mobbed by tourists and lots of gehtto flavor.  Having a local po-po cutie as tour guide, and a strong indie venue did add some to the appreciation factor.

Spending a few days acting in accordance to the wishes of the inner booze hound can be a curiously clarifying experience.

I realized that the most rewardingly polarized Florida living experience can only be had in Miami.  On, near, or around South Beach, in a geographically specific idealistic sense.

All this though can only be said for those who actually survive the experience.

It's bound to happen every so often.  Just like gravity.  What goes up, must come down.

Utah was up.  Key West is down.  Much more than a geographical certainty, it's the draw of endless sunshine, booze, and a distinct absence of obligations and consequence.

It may not be the seat of much controvery or exotic allure, but I drove to Atlanta anyway.  Spurred by a somewhat tumultuous affair, the scene of the crime grows all the flavor necessary for a twisty story.

Trekking around made Atlanta actually grow on me, with lots of very cute neighborhoods, engaging architecture, and culinarily related happy times.

If you ever find yourself in those parts, check out the botanical gardens!

Ed, my personal hero, had his movie "The Year of Getting to Know Us" (Sharon Stone, Lucy Liu, Tom Arnold, Jimmy Fallon) premiere at Sundance.  Me, of course on site to witness the glorious birth of cinematical genius.

Fringe benefit: Awesome parties, celebrity close-ups, and two weeks of skiing!

It should be entirely unnecessary to delve into the many virtues implicit in travelling around Europe with twins.  Improving just about every aspect of what would be otherwise just the run-of-the-mill standard Europe excursion, I highly recommend bringing twins and award the experience 14 and a half stars.

Ok and so maybe it was 'just' a week in Munich, Salzburg, and Passau (my hometown), but the star rating stands nontheless.

Partying for Newyears in the capital of an infamous eastern European country.  What, ask you, could be better?  For one, a time machine would be nice, dial it in for ten years ago, when tourists were few, prices were laughable, and women were breathtaking. 

I somehow missed what happened in the ten years since I've last visited.

Fast forward to a tourist infested but still piss-poor city with astronomical prices, locals less than extatic about foreigners, and of course the cold crappy winter bit. 

I miscalculated this one. 

Skip Budapest.  Unless maybe you're going in the summer, and you're also ready to get off the beaten path and explore other parts of Hungary, which are still cool and interesting.  But if you're short on time I'd recommend Prag instead, or white Russia if you're up for real adventure.

This may well have been my last return to Passau, the town I was born and raised in - at least with the benefit of great free accomodations. Since my parents are finally selling the house neither of them live in, it's the end of that. Bummer!

If you do ever find yourself in the south of Germany and just want to party with lots of hot, educated University girls, Passau is a good bet. Founded as a Roman outpost a really long time ago it has lots of culture, neat architecture, and one of the best international business and law programs in the country.

That and females make up 60% of the 10,000 student University body.  And the checkout isle of your local grocery store offers gum, razors, hard liquor, and cigarettes - it's lifestyle unambiguity at its' finest!

Park City ... beautiful area, tons of hiking, mountain biking, rafting and just about anything else, surrounded by affluent residential areas and a population very much into outdoor activity.  If you're single and looking to party (and meet hot single chicks), then this is the one to skip, though.  You have to be bleeding green to just buy a plane ticket, it's sometimes actually cheaper to fly to Europe than Salt Lake.  And then it's also not exactly either cheap to stay out there (unless you're couch surfing), and Utah has all sorts of funny alcohol laws.

Verdict:  Visit if you get the chance, but bring the booty with you.  Or just be all Zen about it.

Austin.  Good times.  Great music scene.  Super friendly people.  Hard as shit to get to, unless you're flying.  I drove, and while I may not know where endlessness ends, it certainly starts in Texas. 

Great Chevelle concert, too. 

I never visited New Orleans before Katrina, or seen it anytime shortly thereafter.  Now though (October 2007), it's as much of a beautiful city as I could imagine it ever having been.

The combination of indulging architectural nuances, copious amounts of art galleries, street artists, great restaurants, and innumerable bars and party spots make this one of the top American cities for me.  Not only the obviously European city feel French quarter, but much of the rest of New Orleans has a 'real city' feel.  I came in during voting season, and the level of public involvement was nothing short of amazing.  It seemed as though the whole city was out on the streets promoting various candidates, very lively and engaged - it's something more major cities could take an example from.

It's another one of the 'must visit again' spots - and at just under ten hours of driving distance from Florida, I expect to be back soon!

An absolutely amazing place, pictures just can't do it justice.  It's a combination of vast expanses of untouched space, rock formations of shapes and intense color that demand an unequivocal pause of conscious thought, and endless blue skyes.  My stay was much too short, one day I'll revisit this place with a tent and the time to enjoy more of this beautiful bit of nature. 

Well.  This might not exactly qualify as "travel" since it was barely a 2.5 hour trip, but it's getting a spot here, nonetheless. 

I'm told that Florida has over 400 springs, and so far I've only seen two.  Two little spring things.  That's about to change though, as I discovered by the beautiful, pristine surroundings of Alexander Springs, these places can be worthwhile to explore.  For pictures, go to my Picasa page from here.

This particular trip was exciting because 1) it was my very first ever real camping trip (solo, in crappy weather, and being the only person at the camp site made it particularly interesting), 2) I watched one gator being trapped and another shot (necessary to protect the silly people swimming in the spring), and 3) since I never had an opportunity before to dive and see so much freshwater wildlife (huge turtles and all sorts of fishlings).

As soon as I got back I invested in a waterproof digital camera, and went to Sierra Trading Post (the greatest outdoor stuff Website ever) and bought a tent.  Next week, as soon as it arrives, I'm back out to explore more spring things!

Some of my frequent travel resources, in no particular order:

Travelocity.com - finally you can select non-date specific one way tickets.  Find out the cheapest days to fly somewhere!  It's amazing how low fares go, and it's way more fun to travel without a set return date, if your lifestyle does afford it to you.

Kayak.com - just like Farecast, but you also get International flights.  Get an idea when to get the lowest rates for any particular destination.  This site is always on my cross-check list.

Worldtravelwatch.com - if you're out gallavanting around the world, keep an eye on this.

Flyertalk.com - inside scoop on anything new related to air travel.  Always worth a check.

Farecompare.com - Y-ups.  If you're stuck having to pay bucks for a last minute flight and either have the bankroll or can't find anything else, this way you can get First Class tickets for the price of regular coach. 

Farecast.com - get an idea of when the cheapest fares come around.  It's really handy for trip planning, if not a little confusing.  Find the graphs, young grasshopper.

NWA.com - often the cheapest way to get to London.  From there get super cheap airfares to anywhere. 

Central America.  It's a good start, really.  Sitting on some remote beach, far away from television, billboards, and morons in SUVs, it's temptuously thought provoking.

If one were wise, one would find an ATM machine, withdraw all availiable funds, max out all credit cards, and pull the plug on the grid.  At that particular time the level of wisdom still eluded me, but the seeds of dissent had been planted.

There is also the aspect of having the company of a fantastically beautiful little Asian scenario, great surf, and picture perfect inexpensive accomodations.

I came back.  But don't think for even a moment that I'm here to stay!

Here are more of the pictures, on PICASA - Part 1 and also here is Part 2.

So I just got to spend a month in glorious Chicago, thanks entirely to my good friend and confidante, Brookie-pooh.  We used to date in our glorious past, and we managed to remain friends past that.  Which, considering me being a huge pain in the ass, is quite an achievement.

The verdict on Chicago?  Great city, shitty climate.

The people are seriously all incredibly friendly, there's tons to do, bars on every corner, and the food everywhere is to die for.  And it's cheap!  The cost of living is easily comparable to that of Tampa in terms of housing and general expenses - except for keeping a car, which can get pricey.  I wouldn't want to move there though since it's incredibly hot and muggy in the summer, and completely insanely frozen cold in the winter.  I have no idea how that place could have gotten settled in the first place, it's the worst climate combination of any place I've ever been to.

The best time to go would probably be in September, as things cool down a bit.  And as with most places, you need to spend some time there to really get something out of it!

More pictures of various bits of the glamour that is my jetsetting girl-funded lifestyle are here, on PICASA.