Well, my first Travel Blog Exchange was a success…sort of. As I mentioned in my last post, I only purchased my TBEX ticket a week beforehand and was totally unprepared for my first official travel expo. But I learned a lot and most definitely met a lot of great people. Of course I also skipped … Read more
Having the opportunity, freedom and desire to travel has created endless opportunities for me to visit countries outside of my own, explore different cultures and meet a variety of diverse and interesting characters. Over the years I’ve lost count of the all the profound, inspirational and sometimes most basic of lessons learned from traveling, but … Read more
Yes, the US edition of TBEX 2012 (the Travel Blog Exchange) is kicking off…well, technically the pre-events have already begun. But Friday’s evening soiree (yes, tomorrow) will be the real kick-off to the all-weekend event. I just bought my ticket less than two weeks ago…and just yesterday finally logged into the TBEX site and discovered … Read more
Every country has hotels and hostels…what does Japan do differently? Just because Japan is constantly looking towards the future does not mean they have forgotten about the past. From traditional ryokan to modern capsule hotels and love hotels, Japanese lodging comes in several unique forms that I could not help but test out. The best … Read more
Translated as “Drunkards Alley” or “Alley Of The Drunkards,” Nonbei Yokocho is two parallel alleys in Shibuya, Tokyo full of miniature bars. Altogether there a grand total of around 50 mini bars here, although sometimes it has mistakenly been cited as having a hundred or more. Sure, the bars are small, but there is no … Read more
I know it has been a few weeks since our last travel blogger interview here at the HoliDaze, but like a fine wine that gets aged just perfectly, this delay has only sweetened this week’s fantastic interview. Yes, it seems like every week the interviewee bar only gets upped, and this one is definitely no … Read more
Let’s say you have a month of freedom…where would you travel to and why? There is only one catch: it is July, the peak of the Western summer, and heat is the biggest factor to consider. Why do I ask? Well, as of now I have plane tickets from Mexico City to Havana. Awesome because … Read more
Worth over $2 billion annually, California‘s world-renowned wines used to be its number one cash crop. They’ve been surpassed — err…blown away — by the marijuana industry, which according to a 2011 report is worth $14 billion, a whopping seven times that of the vineyards! And it’s growing every year. Analysts at Cowen & Co. … Read more
Have you ever heard of Bangladesh? It’s okay to say no, you won’t be the first one…and I’m sure you won’t be the last. It’s a small country, originally part of Bengal until 1947 when India gained its independence and Bengal was divided along religious lines into East and West sections. West Bengal merged with … Read more
No one will ever tell you being a blogger is easy work. It is a long, slow, painfully tedious process, often filled with doubts such as “is anyone reading this?” But to those who do it, blogging is more a labor of love than a chore. Although that is not to say it doesn’t occasionally … Read more
Okay, so they didn’t copy it so much as just use a slightly different version of the same template. But still it made Wired news, which I find hilarious. From The Wired.com Article: The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has a Flash-heavy official webpage in English, to instruct the curious about the peculiar ways of … Read more
So, you’ve been invited to your first traditional Indian Hindu wedding. You are in for a treat, and also some work. Hindu weddings are quite extravagant. What people don’t see at these elaborate celebrations is all the effort, energy, and preparation that go into orchestrating the 3+ days of events, which marry colorful fabrics, robust, … Read more
