• Back in Air!

    I got my ticket back in 2012, in the San Francisco bay area, while I was on an internship. It was intense, a lot of fun, and probably the most effort I’ve ever put into achieving a single goal in my life, but I’m really happy that I was able...
  • Seville (Naboo?)

    When I go to big cities I am always a bit stressed, because there are always more things to do than I can fit into my schedule, and that makes traveling a bit unpleasant. It may seem like a good problem to have, but if I am stressed about having...
  • Polyamory

    You are walking on a 100-metre long trail, and there is a pebble every metre. When you encounter a pebble, you can choose to pick it up or leave it. If you pick it up, the game is over, and you get to keep the pebble. If you leave it,...
  • Solo Eurotrip, Budapest

    Armed with the gift of the last of a book of 10 transit tickets from Japanese guy #1 and some amazing kebab from the Vienna Westbahnhof, I boarded the bus to Budapest (not using the ticket… the ticket is for intra-city travel only). It wasn’t a very comfy ride, but...
  • Solo Eurotrip, Vienna Part 2

    Vienna is divided into 23 districts, and numbered 1-23 for easy reference (gotta love German simplicity). The first district, the Innere Stadt, is the Old Town, where all the historical things are. I believe it was the entirety of Vienna before the expansions in the 1800s to include the suburbs....
  • Solo Eurotrip, Vienna Part 1

    Backpacking is a bit like playing a fantasy role-playing game (Baldur’s Gate anyone?) – you go to a small town, find an inn, order a drink, talk to a few people, try to get a few hints on where to go next to advance the story, and be on your...
  • Solo Eurotrip, Prague Part 2

    There are two types of paddle boats – one where each boat has one propeller shared between the 2 paddlers, and one where each boat has two propellers, driven by the respective paddler. Cheating is only possible on the first type because on the second type, a lazy paddler will...
  • Solo Eurotrip, Prague Part 1

    For future reference, Barcelona Airport is very bad for sleeping, unless you have something soft, like a giraffe’s belly. One of the disadvantages of totally spontaneous travel is that you’ll often have to pay more for flights, because their prices change depending on availability. Or, if like me, you don’t...
  • Solo Eurotrip, Lisbon Part 2

    According to Moroccan girl #1, police in Morocco is so corrupt that there’s this one time her friend was stopped for drunk driving (drinking at all is illegal since her friend was Muslim, and Muslims aren’t allowed to drink in Morocco, so a Muslim drinking and driving is doubly illegal),...
  • Solo Eurotrip, Lisbon Part 1

    Awesome start of the trip – flight was delayed by 3 hours, because our plane had to come in from Rome, and they had a sick crew member forcing them to return to the airport after takeoff. Sounds like fun. While at the Luton Airport, I thought I would exchange...
  • Solo Eurotrip, Prelude

    About a week ago, I left London and embarked on a solo backpacking trip to continental Europe. It was originally out of necessity – as everyone who initially agreed to join me on the trip bailed out for one reason or another. I decided to go on a trip anyways...
  • Identity Theft by Email Spoofing

    I have been running my own email server for almost 10 years now, and it has been pretty problem-free until now, so I didn’t really think about it that much. I know it’s not an open relay, and that’s about it. If it’s not broken, why fix it right? Ha!...
  • Living (Slightly More) Rationally - Consistent Valuation of Time

    How much is your time worth? and are you valuing it consistently? It’s something I have been thinking about a lot after reading The Art of Thinking Clearly (awesome book by the way), since it’s one of the examples of irrationality the author pointed out, and we have to make...
  • Gliding "You Have to Look Up to See Clouds"

    Flying an airplane is like bulldozing our way through the sky. For the most part, we don’t really care what nature is doing, as long as it’s not trying to kill us. We have an engine that takes us places, and as long as nature stays out of the way,...
  • Mountain Flying

    GPS log of the route: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/view?mid=zq0KWADNCtHE.kc4KSzvCOOcI Most flight schools/rental places at flat land airports require renters to do a mountain checkout flight before they would let renters take their airplanes into the mountains. Maybe it’s part of their insurance requirements? The extensiveness of mountain checkouts vary, but usually consist of...
  • I Believe I Can Fly

    “Once you have tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return.” – Leonardo da Vinci This summer, at a place far far away from home, my biggest childhood dream just came true. It’s good...
  • FIRST SOLO!!! "Reid-Hillview Tower, Citabria 990WY, ready for takeoff"

    One more item crossed off the list of 100 things to do before I die. There are many milestones one can achieve in a life time. Some big, some small. Some just gives you a nice big smile, while some send you flying through air. Solo-ing an airplane is certainly...