The Great Traveler

Philadelphia has long been known as one of the great restaurant capitals of the United States. It often boasts of having similar quality chefs to New York City at far more reasonable prices. While I certainly have been to quite a few nice restaurants in Philadelphia, I had yet to be blown away, until this weekend. [Read more →]

After an exhuasting day of working and moving everything I own up to Philadelphia, I got 3 hours of sleep, before I woke up for my flight to Medellin, Colombia. I had made the decision to go to Colombia about 3 days ago, and had I not been so determined, I wonder if I would have chickened out. After all - this was Colombia - a country that is mythical in the American psyche for being the home of the cocaine trade and being one of the most dangerous countries of all. After all, I had never even met anyone who had ever traveled there. [Read more →]

We arrived in Chicicastenango early afternoon on Thursday. The largest outdoor market in Central America had become quite a tourist destination and some claim the experience was thus watered down from its natural heritage. This may be true, but [Read more →]

Having been to Costa Rica and seen Arenal, I came in to Volcano Pacaya thinking it would be much of the same thing. Sitting in a pool, watching volcanic ash being spewed off the top of a large mountain while being a comfortable distance away, perhaps in the range of 1-2 miles. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine what I was about to see at Volcano Pacaya. [Read more →]

We arrived at 10pm at night. Guatemala City, the largest metropolis in Central America, has a reputation as a dangerous place to be. Not wanting to take chances on waiting for a cheap shuttle, we opted for a slightly more expensive taxi to the small, but gringo populated town of Antigua. We would find a decent place to sleep for the night and then explore the city more tomorrow.

The taxi ride was only $30 along roads that compared to those in the United States. Gas stations and fast food chains lined the streets in buildings that couldn’t be more than a few years old. I was floored at what I was seeing. Was this really a country that had just ended a 35 year civil war [Read more →]

Finally back at our hostel at 3:30 in the morning, I was done with Las Vegas. Sin City is a tremendous place to catch some shows, play some poker, get free drinks, check out the hotels, and look at some pretty women. However, it gets old after a few days as the entire Las Vegas universe is a big giant black hole that dollars bills gravitate towards in large numbers and the superficiality and excessiveness of the city is unparalleled anywhere that I’ve ever seen. It was time to go someplace else.
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While debates rage on about which hotel is the nicest in all of Las Vegas, my favorite is without a doubt the Venetian. The Italian style theme with the gandola, the painted blue skies and the overall beautiful atmosphere is my vote for #1. The Bellagio, which seems [Read more →]

My friend Monica had told me earlier in the day that getting a hotel in Las Vegas for New Year’s Eve would be tough. Her friends had called around and there was nothing available. Its alright, I thought, we would find something. While, USAhostels was [Read more →]

The day after seeing Lance Buron, we went to a ticket center called tix4tonight, where discounted tickets are sold to those shows that had remaining seats for the day. If you are in Vegas, and don’t have your heart set on a particular show [Read more →]

Driving from California to Vegas involves going through the Mojave desert area, a region with a completely different feel than the popular southern California cities. [Read more →]