wanderings

Amsterdam

2008-10-05T21:37:00.001-07:00

I'm in Amsterdam for a few days to get acclimated to my new time zone before catching the direct flight from Schipol to Kilimanjaro airport.

At this point my body is thoroughly confused as to which time zone it's supposed to be in. Eartlier this month I was in Asia, last week in Finland and a few days ago in San Francisco. It will be good to stick to a time zone for a while.

Amsterdam is a human scale city. There are few cars in the city center, but an extensive network of public transit... and bicycles everywhere. It reminds me of San Francisco. It's about the same size and share of some its liberal, progressive values. In both cities people will accept you for who you are, and both have an appreciation for art and artistic expression.

The Golden Age architecture, the tree lined canals, and the friendly, relaxed pace of life make it an excellent place to transition from my usual frantic pace to something a bit more mellow. I'm in purge mode now, trying to flush out my system all the worries, frustrations and annoyances from the past 18 months. Amsterdam is a great place to do that.

All packed and ready to go

2008-10-03T18:00:00.000-07:00

I'll carry you to the end of the world

Early this morning, as I was making my way to the airport I ran into a neighbor while waiting for the elevator. After exchanging a friendly greetings she observed: "You look like you're about to climb a mountain".

Grinning, I replied: "As a matter of fact...".

I'm a light traveler. Really, I am. When flying I rarely check luggage and usually only carry a small bag and a day pack. For this adventure, I tried to pare down to the essential, but I ended up with two rather larger bags and a day pack. However, considering I'm packing hiking poles, a sleeping bag, food, cold weather and scuba diving gear, I suppose I did pretty well. That's a lot of luggage to carry around, but when you have a mountain to climb...

The beginning is near

2008-09-28T17:48:00.000-07:00

The time to depart is nearing. I suddenly came to this realization last Sunday when I calculated that I had to start my Lariam now.

I had to carefully calculate which day of the week I should pick for my weekly dose to avoid possible interference with side effects of AMS while climbing Kili. Lariam can cause CNS side-effects, including dizziness and headaches, so I timed it to be after my mountain acclimation. Since I'll start the climb on Tuesday October 7th, Sunday seemed like a good day to pick.

I'm back from Helsinki today and after returning from the airport I dropped by REI to exchange my REI Zenith sleeping bag, rated at 20°F/6°C, for a warmer The North Face Snowshoe rated for 0°F/-18°C. It's a synthetic bag, which is recommended against down because of the potentially damp, if not outright rainy, conditions on Kili, but it remains relatively lightweight at 1670 g (3 lbs 11 oz).

I think I got all the kit I need now. Just need to do my final bag packing, and onward we go...

Travel Immunizations

2008-08-18T22:54:00.001-07:00

When traveling abroad you'll want to make sure you have the appropriate immunizations based on your destination, the activities you plan to participate in and your health history.

If you plan to hike Kilimanjaro, where the closest hospital is in Nairobi, a country away, you will need to make different preparations than if you only plan to stay in a large western city.

You can consult you regular physician but an alternative to consider is a local travel clinic. They are can quickly find out which immunizations are recommended (or required), but they also frequently have the necessary medicine on hand.

I was able to make a same day appointment to the San Francisco Adult Immunization & Travel Clinic. Most of the necessary paperwork is available online and you can fill it out in advance to reduce the wait. In particular, you will need to locate your vaccination and childhood disease history. After explaining my itinerary and having the various options explained to me, I got three shots in each arm: Hepatitis A, influenza, yellow fever, Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis), polio booster and meningococcal vaccine. In addition, I will take an oral typhoid vaccine. I already had hepatitis B immunization, otherwise it would have been luck 7 shots.

The yellow fever immunization currently appears to not be required for entry to Tanzania (although this page also recommends the non-existent "malaria vaccination", so beware), but this requirement has been known to change and you wouldn't want to be turned away at the border because of that. Note that the WHO recommends yellow fever vaccination for Tanzania. You will be issued an international certificate of vaccination (usually a small yellow booklet) that you should keep with your passport.

In addition, I also got prescribed some Cipro, a broad-spectrum antibiotic particularly capable of treating severe diarrhea, and Diamox (acetazolamide), a drug that helps with high altitude acclimation by increasing the blood Ph, causing an increase in respiration rate, particularly at night. I will also take with a me prescription for Lariam (mefloquine), as a malaria prophylactic.

Depending on your situation a full set of immunizations can take three months, so make sure to get started on this well before your departure date.

5 Tips to Find Cheap International Flights

2008-07-20T14:48:00.001-07:00

I've booked (most of) my plane tickets for my upcoming trip to East Africa. Still have to figure out how to get to Zanzibar. I'm debating between a Kilimanjaro-Zanzibar flight, or traveling overland to Dar es Salaam followed by a ferry ride. In the meantime, a few tips for cheap international air travel.

Tips to Find Cheap International Flights

#1. Be flexible

Nearby airports may have cheaper or more flights available than your home (or destination) airport (Oakland and San Jose instead of SFO in the Bay Area, for example).

In general, flying to big hub airports will be cheaper, for example SFO, LAX, JFK, London, Amsterdam, Bangkok, Sydney, Nairobi and Buenos Aires. Don't confuse these with airline hubs, i.e. airports controlled by one airline and which therefore have less competition.

#2. Pick the best time to travel

Cheapest days to travel are typically Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. Traveling early in the day is also usually cheaper, and so are red eye flights. Use farecompare.com to find the best date to travel to your destination.

#3. Buy your tickets early

It pays to buy your ticket early, especially 21 and 14 days before departure. Then again, sometimes you can get lucky and find some last minute discounted fare.

Be aware that fares fluctuate. You can setup an alert to be notified when the price changes. Buy if you see it trending up, or if it goes down to a bargain price. You can try farecast to predict if your planned trip will go up or down from its current fare. Use airfarewatchdog.com to get notified when the fare changes. Travelocity and Orbitz also offer a notification service.

#4. Consider low-cost carriers

These low-cost carriers have a lower business cost structure and tend to forego assigned seats, pretzels, pillows and in-flight movies. You also may not get the benefits of accumulating frequent flyer miles with them, but then who cares if you're actually flying cheaper. In the US, these are Southwest, JetBlue, Virgin America, Frontier and others. In Europe, Ryanair and easyJet are the two big ones.

For some of them, their fare may only be available directly from their websites, and not from internet travel sites.

#5. Use consolidators for international flights

Aggregator and travel sites such as Kayak, Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity only provide the airlines official published fares. But if you are looking for cheaper fares, or more exotic itinerary, a consolidator may be the way to go.

A consolidator (or "bucket shop") is an independent company that has special discount agreements with the airlines. Consolidators sell discounted tickets from their contracted inventory. As a result you may end up with a better fare than working with travel agents or the airlines directly.

Airlines contract the consolidators to fill otherwise empty seats. Because the airlines would prefer to sell the official (higher) fare, consolidators are often prohibited from advertising the name of the airlines. There may also be other restrictions on the tickets, such as restrictions on changing flights and cancellation penalties.

#6. (bonus tip) Pick the right seat

When given the choice, pick the right seat. Nobody wants the seat next to the toilets, but exit row seats usually have more legroom. How to find out which is which? Use SeatGuru to find out the configuration based on the airline and airplane. Each seat is rated and you can get a sense of exactly what you'll get. Highly recommended.

My Itinerary

I used AirTreks, a San Francisco-based consolidator that specializes in round-the-world airline packages, to book my airline tickets.

I'm flying to Amsterdam to catch a direct KLM flight to Kilimanjaro airport, as I've heard horror stories of baggage getting lost in transit via Nairobi. After that, Zanzibar and Dubai, before hoping back to Europe:

View Larger Map

Oct 2: SFO to Amsterdam (via Memphis, TN)
Oct 6: Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro
Oct 7-13 Kilimanjaro climb
Oct 14-17 Safari (Lake Manyara, Lake Eyasi, Ngorongoro crater)
Oct 18-25: Zanzibar
Oct 28: Dar es Salaam to Dubai
Oct 31: Dubai to Nice (via Rome)
Nov 5: Barcelona to San Francisco (via Amsterdam)

I'm also in the process of finalizing hotel reservations and booking with TeamKilimanjaro for the climb. Next steps: the consulates to get the travel visas and the travel clinic to get all the necessary inoculations.

A Hike to Duck Lake

2008-07-10T01:02:00.001-07:00

Barney Lake viewed from Duck Pass

Trailhead: Coldwater campground near Lake Mary, Mammoth Lakes; 9,050′ (2760 m)

Distance:

Arrowhead Lake	1.25 mi	9,660′ (2,944 m)
Skelton Lake	1.5 mi	9,915′ (3,022 m)
Barney Lake	2.7 mi	10,203′ (3,110 m)
Duck Pass	4.7 mi	10,797′ (3,290 m)
Duck Lake	5 mi	10,427′ (3,209 m)

Altitude gain: 1,747′ (532 m)

Duck Lake is the largest of lakes in the Mammoth Lakes Basin. The hike to Duck Lake is a pleasant stroll through high alpine terrain with several smaller lakes on the way. It is one of the most popular day hikes in the Mammoth Lakes area and offers magnificent vistas.

Don't forget to check with the Mammoth Lakes ranger station for weather conditions. The trail can be covered with snow well into July. In the summer, bring bug repellent: mosquitoes abound. If you get lucky, you might have a close encounter with Bigfoot, who is rumored to be living in the area.

To get there, follow the Lake Mary Loop road until the sign to the Coldwater Creek campground. The trailhead to Duck Pass is at the far end (southwest) of the campground. You can park in the day use area there. There are clean toilets at the trailhead.

The Duck Pass trail begins with some moderately steep switchbacks through a pine forest. After about ½ hour, you will pass along Arrowhead Lake on your left (a sign points to it). Next come Skelton Lake and after crossing the 10,000′ elevation line and about 1 ½ h on the trail, Barney Lake with its deep turquoise waters.

If you still have some energy left and it's not too late in the day, right after Barney Lake, a strenuous series of steep switchback lead to the unmarked Duck Pass. Looking on the south side of the pass, you will find Duck Lake and Pika Lake right behind it.

View Larger Map

Make sure to bring enough water with you (½ L/h, ½ quart/h). There are several streams on the way, so you can refill as you go if you have a water filter or purifying tablets.

You should count on 2 ½ hours to reach Duck Lake from the trailhead.

During the hike my SpO₂ was 91-92%, with a heart rate of 65-140 bpm.

Skeletool CX: a Lightweight Multitool Worth Carrying on the Road

2008-06-26T23:41:00.000-07:00

How can you not like a product with a cool name like Skeletool. The name is directly inspired from its lightweight frame which is stripped down and punctured with holes designed to remove any bit of metal not absolutely necessary.

But the Skeletool also foregoes those extra tools that you don't really need and its focus is squarely on the essentials. The Skeletool CX includes:

Needle-nose and regular pliers
Wire and hard-wire cutters
Carabiner/Bottle opener
Bit driver with 4 bits: Phillips #1 and #2 and screwdriver 3/16" and 1/4"
Combo knife with straight and serrated edge with locking blade (154CM stainless steel)

For a multi-tool, that's a pretty good selection of the tools you're likely to use, without any of the more dubious ones. For example, in addition to the above the Leatherman Wave includes two knives, a saw, scissors and two files. I don't think I'm going to miss those.

The big difference, of course, is the weight. The Leatherman Wave is 214 g (8.5 oz), while the Skeletool is only 142 g (5 oz). A difference that's well worth it.

There are two models of Skeletool: a based model and the Skeletool CX. While the Skeletool CX has a tungsten coating and a carbon fiber handle insert, this does not affect the weight compared to the base model. The value of the Skeletool CX, and the justification for the higher price, is the combination straight/serrated knife and the 154CM steel used for the blade instead of the 420HC steel of the base model. 154CM steel is a high carbon steel with 1.05% carbon and 14% chromium. It has better edge holding ability compared to 440HC steel, which contains about .4% carbon and 13% chromium.

Having a serrated blade comes in handy to cut ropes or twigs, although the serrated part of the blade is more difficult to sharpen.

The only small disappointment may be the size of the blade, which is a bit smaller than I had hoped. It appears to be about the same size than on the Leatherman Wave, though, and I'm sure it will be large enough for most applications.

An annoyance that I should mention as well: the plastic clamshell that the Skeletool is packaged in is frustrating to open: the plastic is too tough, and as you cut it, it comes apart in sharp shards. You could get hurt just opening the thing! If you didn't already have a solid knife, I'm not sure how you would open it. Compare this to the experience of opening an Apple product which is a pleasure in itself, before even using the product. Why put your customer in a bad mood just before they get to use your product for the first time and as they form their impression of it? The user experience includes the packaging...

The Skeletool CX makes a good compromise between utility and weight, and I'll be glad to carry it along in my pack as I get on the road.

Template updated

2008-06-24T00:40:00.000-07:00

Updated (more like deconstructed, tore apart and rebuilt from the ground up) my blogging template to work nicely with the iPhone. Still not perfect, but better. I'm sure I'll continue to tweak it over time.

What are those changes, you ask?

In the <head> section, add:

<meta name="viewport" content="width = device-width" />

The viewport tag will ensure that the page is taking the full width of the iPhone, without any horizontal scrolling.

Next, add this to the <body> tag:

<body onload="setTimeout(function() { window.scrollTo(0, 1); }, 100);">

This will make sure that once the page is loaded the top toolbar will get scrolled out of view so that as much as your web page as possible is displayed on the screen.

Finally, you'll want a custom stylesheet for the iPhone. My stylesheet is built-in into my template (i.e. not an external file), so I added another <style> tag that overrides and modify the style defined in my "default" stylesheet:

<style media="only screen and (max-device-width: 480px)" type="text/css">


/* Override style definitions as appropriate */
body {
  width:480px;
  background:#f00
  margin:0;
  padding:0;
  font: large "Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif;;
  color:#333;
 }

/* etc... */

.not-iPhone {display:none;}

</style>

Note that I define a #not-iPhone class so that I can hide any content that I don't want to show up on the iPhone, such as large images or unsupported media formats.

In the iPhone stylesheet, I've changed the layout so that it fits a smaller screen (480 px). For example, I moved the sidebar at the bottom of the page, instead of on the left. I also simplified the layout and removed some of the background textures I used on the desktop. Finally, I used a resized version of the header image (resized to 480 px wide), so that it loads a bit faster.

Kili or bust

2008-06-22T22:31:00.000-07:00

As Colin Thubron explains, the reasons for the traveler to get on the road are many, and often mysterious, including to the traveler himself. So it is with me: without understanding why, I've decided to attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

One reason might be that I enjoy traveling for the adventure of it, the joy of discovering new things and new people, the excitement of getting from one place to another, the opportunity to challenge myself and to get out of my comfort zone. I haven't done any serious traveling in a while. A few trips here and there to Europe and South-America, but nothing too challenging. So, maybe it's time to go on the road again. Aside from Egypt, I haven't travelled to Africa before, so that's a reason of sort to explore that corner of the world.

Another reason might be Kenny, a friend who traveled to Africa and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro a few years ago. Kenny came back with pictures and stories that have made me dream of faraway places since. So, yeah, I think I'll blame Kenny on this one.

For me one the pleasures of traveling is the gear hunting. I am, it is true, a bit gear obsessed. Now, don't get me wrong: I am a minimalist, I like to travel light. But that doesn't mean that finding the smallest set of the best equipment doesn't take a long time. And that hunt of the gear is part of the fun.

I have to start this adventure on the right foot. So my first step (ar ar) is to buy the right pair of boots, my previous Salomon hiking boots having been pretty much destroyed by the alkali salts of Burning Man. After much research online I think that a mid hiking boots is what I'm looking for. I've tried all the models I could find in the area sports equipment stores, but finally selected the Merrell Radius Mid, which turned out to have the most comfortable fit.

I also own a pair of Merrell Chameleon, which are very comfortable lightweight hiking shoes. Apparently, Merrell's shoes are a bit wider than other brands, which fits my feet better. Make sure you try the boots before buying them, as comfort is key. Pick the right size so that the boots are comfortable with the socks you will wear while hiking, such as a thin pair of liner socks and another pair of heavy wool socks.

New boots have to be broken in gradually. I went to hike Mount Tamalpais this weekend with my new acquisition, but I may have pushed a bit too much as I ended up with a small blister. However, that was an opportunity to test blister bandages. See, what did I tell you about being gear obsessed. This is going to be fun.

"You go to see what will happen..."

2008-06-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

A hundred reasons clamour for your going. You go to touch on human identities, to people an empty map. You have a notion that this is the world's heart. You go to encounter the protean shapes of faith. You go because you are still young and crave excitement, the crunch of your boots in the dust; you go because you are old and need to understand something before it's too late. You go to see what will happen.

— Colin Thubron, Shadow of the Silk Road

No Keys

2007-02-04T21:27:00.000-08:00

When you get on the road for long enough and start to become a serious traveler, you eventually notice that you're missing something. It may take you a while for notice. At first, you may have a queasy feeling that you're forgetting something important, like perhaps your bags or your passport.

And then it hits you. You're a man with no keys. You have no car keys, no appartment keys, no letter box keys, no office keys, no garage opener, no access cards. You don't have to worry about losing them, forgetting them, getting them stolen. You're a free man. Keyless.

By the way, do you know the difference between a tourist and a traveler? A tourist doesn't know where he is and a traveler doesn't know where he's going.

No matter how far a tourist goes, it's the same place. If it's Tuesday, it must be Luxor. It doesn't really matter because he goes to the same Hard Rock Cafe and McDonald'd and Pizza Hut. The sights change, the local waitresses don't understand him as well, but he's basically always in the same place. He never really left. He has a schedule and he sticks to it. He's in a momentary state of geographic displacement.

A traveler may have a vague schedule, but he knows he won't stick to it. Things will happen. Ferries will be missed, planes will be canceled, buses will break down, passports will get lost. The hut on the beach will beacon to stay a few more days, the friends on the road will share tips about a detour not to be missed, a taxi driver will share a secret about a little village where the rest of his family lives.

It's fine to be a tourist. Sometimes, that's all you have time for, and it's better than staying home. But it's really nice not to have to worry about your keys.

The Road Not Taken

2004-06-02T23:06:00.000-07:00

By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Why?

2004-06-02T22:50:00.000-07:00

Why would you choose to leave behind comfort and certainty?

Maybe you want the see the world or take a break from your routine or learn about other cultures, maybe so you can better understand yours. Or maybe you have no good reason at all. Maybe it's more a compulsion. An itch. A longing.

No matter, if you start thinking about it, you are ready. Just go. Travel will do your soul good.