Earlier this month, IMAGINE: A Vagabond Story, was published. Justin and I were asked to conduct a book review by the author. After receiving Grant Lingel‘s book in the mail (along with other promo materials) we were both excited to read his story. Justin and I rock, paper, scissored and I won the book review! [...] [...more]
Traveling allows more time to read. It’s a simple fact. Travel is a reason to love books. Whether it’s on an 8 hour flight or a few days at the beach. Traveling will even inspire a non-avid reader to flip through pages endlessly. Books are great travel companions. They are lightweight. If you get tired [...] [...more]
On April 6th, Natalie and I returned to Detroit Michigan to encourage my father in his fight against cancer. After 3 difficult weeks, dad lost his battle with cancer and died on April 21st. This is a difficult and heartbreaking time for my entire family. Natalie and I were very encouraged by the outpouring of [...] [...more]
During my time backpacking, the typical ways (I used to think) have altered. My ‘backpacker paradigm shift’ has been a complex and ongoing process. Where do I begin? Lets start with coffee. During my last 14 months living in the United States, before beginning a nomadic lifestyle as a backpacker, I worked at Starbucks. As [...] [...more]
Happy World Water Day!!! In case you did not know, International World Water Day is on March 22nd each year. This is a day to bring awareness on the importance of freshwater as well as sustainable management of freshwater resources. Currently, I am cruising on the Coral Sea towards the Great Barrier Reef. I am [...] [...more]
Wealth, in my experience, appears to breed a narrowing of perspective by its possessor. The more wealth an individual accumulates is often directly proportional to the decrease in their understanding of non wealthy lifestyles. Over the past 3 weeks I have worked for a service based hospitality/tourism lodge that caters to a wealthy clientele. (For [...] [...more]
One of the worst items a backpacker could bring, is a pair of denim jeans. They are heavy, bulky, they do not pack well into a backpack or dry quickly after hand washing in a sink. Therefore, I had to say farewell to my jeans. And not pack a single pair. We are backpacking and [...] [...more]
Those who live in poverty often lack the necessary means of making their voices heard. They lack both wealth and influence, which is a nice way of saying that they lack the financial means to gain political or popular support. They do not have powerful lobbyist or rock stars to further their cause and they [...] [...more]
Originally, I created this information as part of a static page, but I am trying to cut down on the amount of static pages associated with this site. Also, I think this information might be read more if it was published as a standard post. – Justin When I tell someone that Natalie and I [...] [...more]
A couple of weeks ago, a good friend of mine (Ben) sincerely asked me the following questions - What is your inspiration or reason for doing this? - What do you want to accomplish? - What will you do with your life when this is over? Although I have considered these questions in one form [...] [...more]
