When I got to the end of the jetway at the sprawling Changi Airport in Singapore, a cart was waiting for me. The Singapore Airlines employee sitting behind the wheel knew he’d spotted the passenger he’d been waiting for when he looked at me and said, “San Francisco?” I nodded, knowing that my connecting flight from Kuala Lumpur had arrived late, and I was at risk of missing my connection—an 18-hour marathon of a flight back to the U.S. [Read more…]
The Fine Art of Effective Worrying
There’s an odd habit I’ve developed over the years that leads me to uproot and move many thousands of miles away from home when opportunity or urge strikes. This habit of mine prompts a great many questions from friends and family about my future plans, current interests, and the state of my mental wellbeing or lack thereof. They are worried about me for various reasons, sometimes empathetic and other times schadenfreudean. [Read more…]
Traveling Overseas: The Non-Essential Essentials
Have you ever been sitting, cramped and hungry, on a 12+ hour flight heading overseas somewhere only to realize you’ve forgotten to pack something? I haven’t, but that’s mostly because I tend to bring an entire medium-sized suitcase more than what I actually need. But I can imagine what it might feel like, and it’s not good. [Read more…]
5 Ways to Not Be Ugly Abroad
Before I ever stepped foot overseas or even had much of a desire to travel very far, I was forced to watch the film adaptation of the book The Ugly American. I had enrolled in a political film class (huge real-world value there..) at Arizona State University and The Ugly American was probably the film I least looked forward to on the semester’s schedule. [Read more…]
The Hostel Revolution
There are no guarantees. If you take the risk, you may end up in a bed with sheets that aren’t quite clean. You may find out that pillows aren’t included or that, gasp, there is no hot water in the shower. But at the end of the day, you’ll still pay an incredibly small fee for being able to sleep securely with a roof over your head in a faraway foreign land. [Read more…]
