Hey, Howdy from Playa del Carmen, where I'm typing this newsletter on an old, half-working laptop with keyboard keys that keep popping off the keyboard. Last week, during a pre-work stretch while sitting at the table, I knocked over a glass of water with my elbow. It landed on my regular laptop. Now I'm waiting to hear about the extent of the damage from the repair people. I should have skipped the stretch.
Apart from that hiccup, all is well. The cold front has passed, the Covid situation remains on 'orange' alert after some fear it would return to lockdown and I washed a rug for the first time in my life. I didn't even ruin it.
I also extended my apartment lease for an extra three months, so now I have this place until early June. With my current sweet rental deal, I don't want to risk losing the apartment and having to find another one. And while extending my rental contract has involved twenty FB and WhatsApp messages with 4 different people (and it's not clear who they are and how, or if, they are connected in any way), I'm fairly confident that the extension is approved and finalized. Fairly confident. --- I started reading "Letting Go: Our Pathway to Surrender" by David Hawkins. I'm only a couple of chapters in but I think it will be a positive read. The focus is on how to free ourselves from negativity through the mechanism of surrender in order to achieve happiness. We'll see how it goes. --- About twice per month I find myself chatting with a university student, answering their questions about the digital nomad / traveling lifestyle for a paper they are writing or a course they are studying. We typically do a video call on Zoom and I share experiences from my life of travel for an hour or so. I enjoy the calls as they help me look at my 20 years of travel from new angles and it's hopefully useful to the students as well. When I began this traveling journey in 1999, the concept of a digital nomad didn't exist of course. Twenty years later, and it's remarkable how many students are studying this at universities across the globe. I've now spoken with students in the US, Canada, UK, France, Switzerland, Singapore, Australia, Argentina and more! ---
Cat lesson (I'm a cat dad to Matcha, a kitten we rescued in Bali last year): A tiny drop of CBD, as prescribed by the vet, and cutting Matcha's nails finally became possible. It was a long 3 months of my body being shredded to pieces by her sharp claws! |
Travel-related (usually) tidbits that appeared in my inboxes this past week. - WORK FROM HOME: Here's an article about the 'work from home' movement, how it has become a 'work from anywhere' mentality and where that might eventually lead for offices, employees, cities and more.
- PRODUCTIVITY: After a reader introduced me to Zettelkasten, an effective productivity system created by Niklas Luhmann, I dove into it some more. It's worth checking out if you feel you're not as productive or organized as you'd like. The system is quite straightforward and intuitive, with many tools out there to help you get set up.
- FOREST MEGAPHONE: Students in Estonia built huge wooden megaphones in the forest. You can sit inside them and listen to the amplified sounds of nature. Doesn't that sound perfect?
|
Photo of the week: A couple of years ago, in Granada, Spain, we attended a very cool and passionate flamenco show in a cave dwelling. The one we went to was Zambra Maria la Canastera and it was excellent. |
BOOKING FLIGHTSA Frommers writer tried to find the best and worst airfare search sites for 2021. I'm not sure I agree as I've always found Kayak.com to be the best and then I generally go straight to the airline's website and book my flight there. CHAMPS-ELYSEES MAKEOVERThe famed avenue in Paris will receive a major makeover, turning it into a pedestrian-friendly green space over the next couple of years. EVERYONE'S RUSSIAN FRIENDI don't know how I found the Youtube channel of Dan Sheekoz but I watched 10 videos in a row. Dan is a Russian guy who started his channel to practice his English, while explaining various aspects of his, and his wife's, lives. It's so genuine and so addictive as a result. And finally.... |
Mexico City, one of the largest cities on the planet, banned all single-use plastics as of January 1st. Bags, containers, forks, straws, plastic cups, stirrers, single-use coffee capsules, balloons and more are all on the list of banned items. It took one year to prepare for this major change but clearly, it can be done. |
Thank you for reading and if you have a moment, reply and say hello. Questions, comments and ideas are always welcome!
Regards,
Derek (my middle name is Earl)
*If you received this email from someone else and want to sign up to A Life of Travel, simply click the button below:
|
Travel Insurance - Be sure to check out Safety Wing, my personal favorite for incredibly affordable travel insurance. Cruise ship jobs - While cruise lines are not hiring right now, they will be hiring thousands of new crew members once they start up again. My popular e-Guide How to Work on a Cruise Ship will help you get a rewarding job on board a cruise ship once the time is right. |
|
|
