tips and tricks

This is a continuation of my post on social media as see on my Instagram here.

Feeling adventurous? Need to get away from the everyday hustle and bustle of life in the big city? Why not take a short trip to Beitou where all your hot spring related dreams can come true...

Ok, so maybe not dreams but this was an experience never to forget. My friend had suggested we go to the hot springs. I, being the open minded traveler I am, said why the hell not with little to no hesitation. Though I had some idea of what to expect, it turned out to be almost more than I could handle...

Packing for a trip, you want to have everything you need, right? I believe that there's a tendency to overpack rather than under pack. What is one thing though that I highly recommend any backpacker pack? Sandals⠀ ⠀

We have all had electronic devices go for a swim at one point or another. For instance, back in August, my laptop had a whole cup of water fall on it. Just recently, my iPad took a dive in (Taiwanese) beer. This tip will go through the vital steps to ensure your device stays working even after a disaster.

You're in the middle of nowhere. You're wondering "Why does everything hate me?!" Everything has gone wrong and you have no where else to turn to... but your insurance policy! And in a good way. 😉

Now, you're stuck in the middle of no where with a dead cellphone, don't you wish you had a backup plan? Having an external battery pack on the go has been useful while learning a new place or having to stay in contact with someone until you arrive.

Ever think that your local cuisine is unhealthy? Try living in Taiwan, only eat street food and not gain any weight. ;)

This past year, I have heard a few people suggest the use of a VPN during their travels. A VPN, for those who don't know, is a Virtual Private Network. A VPN is useful because it provides an extra layer of encryption when connected to the internet. If you don't use the protection from a VPN you could be a potential target of a man-in-the-middle attack where they (bad people) attempt to steal passwords and logins to your bank accounts, etc.

With some inspiration from my end-of-year reflection, I came to the realization that some of the moderately expensive items enabled me to be more explorative than I normally would have. (It's an excellent exercise to think about the things and the people who made you most happy. Highly recommend!)

I am, by no means, fluent in Chinese but I have thoroughly enjoyed studying it these past 2 years. It has been rewarding to understand but also speak the language with the locals right here in Taipei.

I attended a motorcycle rally in Yosemite California this fall. I met many cool people and listened to their amazing stories. One of the folks who presented made it a point to land in unknown places, buy a motorcycle, and then proceed to adventure around seeing things and meeting people along the way.

Here are some tips i've been writing over the past 2 months. I still have lots of content to upload since beginning of my journey. Stay tuned!!

iOS currently has some dodgy support for RAW photos. RAW photos contain the every bit of information that is generated by the photo sensor inside your camera. This gives photographers and weekend warriors alike much more flexibility to tweak their photos to their liking!

Syncing from a camera to the iPad is surprisingly easy as long as you have the right tools..

Writing on the iOS platform can be a biiiiitch unless you know what you're doing. My hacks for providing the best writing environment for the iPad are as follows:

Getting the wrinkles out of clothing with no iron can be impossible. Likely though, there is another way to de-wrinkle a piece of clothing.

Food is awesome. Food is not so awesome when it gets you sick. Every traveler should be prepared to get sick in countries that are close to the equator. These countries generally have no means to clean and purify the water en-mass leaving it up to the person at the end of the tap to purify .

Getting your money in a foreign country used to be fraught with challenges. It often involved going to a branch of your bank and getting the money exchanged or visiting the money exchange kiosks in the airport (the terror 😱).

I often rely on review sites too much to dictate where I go and what I do. It's a culture that is especially prominent in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Sometimes people spend hours coordinating and researching restaurants they plan on dining at. This generally drives me absolutely bonkers.

Man, this past week has not been a good week for my electronics. My iPad decided to go for a swim in beer on New Years. 😱 I thought it was doomed but I was able to revive it following a few quick and painless steps. Stay tuned on a tip about that...