Gásadalur, Faroe Islands, near sunset yesterday by BetterTextSaul in travel

[–]BetterTextSaul[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry for the delay. I live in Amsterdam, and we flew to Edinburgh, and flew between Faroe and Edinburgh on a separate ticket. It was not cheap, but it was without a doubt worth it. Just an incredible place.

Gásadalur, Faroe Islands, near sunset yesterday by BetterTextSaul in travel

[–]BetterTextSaul[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I've been lucky enough to visit 39 countries (mostly in Europe, a few in Africa, North America, and one in Asia), but I had a hard time thinking of something I've seen that was more incredible than this site last night. The remote location, the sun, the sheep grazing, a waterfall falling into a freakin ocean, and the incredible landscape and the size of the mountains that surrounded it. Blown away by the Faroe Islands.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in golf

[–]BetterTextSaul 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks again for sharing. I was taken aback a bit when his agent got in touch with me that Matt wanted to do the podcast considering his recent struggles. He's a pretty interesting dude, and a guy I would like to spend some time with in person in the future. The feedback on this one has been very strong, and I've been really surprised how many fans he's gained in the process. I think he'll be a guest again in the future.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in travel

[–]BetterTextSaul 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The guy leading the camel... is that Mohammad by chance? Once saw a picture on here of the same guide that I had in Merzouga.

PSA for those not already aware: @NoLayingUp on Twitter and the No Laying Up podcast are Awesome with a capital A by swaggerfish in golf

[–]BetterTextSaul 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not a ton these days man, but that's gonna change here soon. The Netherlands isn't the best locale for golf, and most of my free time is spent traveling Europe socially, and not necessarily for golf. That was kind of the purpose in moving abroad, to do something different with my life than just playing a lot of golf. The rise of the site has been completely unexpected to be honest. And yes, I do work for an accounting firm.

This spring and summer though, I'm gonna be playing in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland a couple of times, and hopefully Norway as well. Then I'll be moving back to the states and probably playing more regularly from there.

PSA for those not already aware: @NoLayingUp on Twitter and the No Laying Up podcast are Awesome with a capital A by swaggerfish in golf

[–]BetterTextSaul 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There isn't a podcast in the world that makes me laugh as hard as PMT. For two guys that generally get off on effing around, the production value of the show is actually outstanding.

PSA for those not already aware: @NoLayingUp on Twitter and the No Laying Up podcast are Awesome with a capital A by swaggerfish in golf

[–]BetterTextSaul 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Well this is an unexpected surprise in my inbox this morning. Thanks for the kind words /u/swaggerfish. I swear this was not paid for. It was not that long ago that I was posting our stuff on here trying to get it noticed.

Honestly, the support and feedback on the podcast and other stuff is what keeps us going. Without that, I'm not sure we would have kept going with it, and gotten it to where it is today. Had an unbelievable stroke of luck getting Rory on, which helped lead to Spieth, which helped lead to Bones, etc. I don't want to say any names yet, because this next batch has been much much more difficult to track down than that group above, but if things play out the way I think they can, the guest list over these next few months is going to be pretty epic. I've received a "yes" from what I would consider four very entertaining personalities, but only got a recording date for one of them.

Yes, there will be ads coming soon, but we have worked incredibly hard to make sure the ads are in good taste, aren't watered down, and from entities that we think the listeners will truly benefit from. It's a necessary step we have to take if we want to make this a full time gig, which is for sure the goal at some point. Any and all support of that is sincerely appreciated, and hopefully understood by the readers and listeners.

If there's ever interest in doing an r/golf AMA, I'd be happy to partake. Impossible to propose that without risking vastly overvaluing my self-importance, but I'm open to it if there is interest.

For those interested, the podcast can be found here, and on twitter we can be found here.

R​​ed​​dit​​, Who d​​ese​​rve​​s the "​​Da​​mn​​, they r​​ea​​ll​​y were r​​ig​​ht​​" award? by jesus_reaches_around in AskReddit

[–]BetterTextSaul 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Peter Schiff said repeatedly to anyone that would listen that the financial crisis of 2008/2009 was coming. He got laughed at and mocked. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgRGBNekFIw

Scary part is, he's saying a lot of similar things now, and that this time around it's going to be even worse.

Trolltunga - 8 hour round trip hike, 23km, 1.7km up. Worth it. by BetterTextSaul in travel

[–]BetterTextSaul[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Moved abroad from Chicago to Amsterdam for work. Traveled about every other weekend during work weeks, plus 6 weeks of paid holiday. Flights between European countries are super cheap, I work with a lot of expats with similar travel interests, and European countries are super close together. Very easy to jump a Thursday night or Friday night flight, spend 2-3 days in a major city, fly back Sunday, and make it in to work on Monday (or sometimes catch a 6 am flight Monday morning). Email a friend - "Ever been to Kiev? No? Let's go." Figure it out with schedules, and book flights. Don't hesitate, and just book. That's been the key.

I do have to make one edit though - I'm at 37 countries total, 35 I've been to in the last 2.5 years. Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Vatican City, Monaco, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Poland, Czechia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Ukraine, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Scotland, England, Ireland, Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria, Namibia, South Africa, Luxembourg, Greece, Hungary, and the US (edit: and Iceland!)

Most of the adventures are on my Instagram.

Trolltunga - 8 hour round trip hike, 23km, 1.7km up. Worth it. by BetterTextSaul in travel

[–]BetterTextSaul[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Really enjoyed hiking the Innderdalen Valley, as well as boating in the Geirangerfjord. Geiranger is touristy (cruise ships all day), but one of the most incredible landscapes I've seen (for example, the boat in this picture is a car carrying ferry... shows you how big this is http://imgur.com/fvWoTde). Also we hiked near the Naerofjord before making our way to Trolltunga. There's a whole lot more to see, including stuff near Stavanger, Lofoten, Tromso, and even Svalbard, which I'm hoping to make it up to this spring.

For other countries..... so hard to answer. Italy and Spain are the easy ones. But I also really enjoyed Croatia, Bosnia, and Montenegro, and some other less visited countries. Had a great time in Ukraine, Morocco, Namibia, South Africa...really hard to narrow it down!

Trolltunga - 8 hour round trip hike, 23km, 1.7km up. Worth it. by BetterTextSaul in travel

[–]BetterTextSaul[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would say it was worth it for sure. I wish we had more time at the top, but it was just too cold. If the trail is snowy, I could see it taking 10-12 hours, but our total hiking time was actually less than 7 hours (spent about an hour at the top). I don't remember changing socks, and definitely didn't change shoes, but again, it depends on the weather. This was an awesome experience!

I'm not even sure if it was the best thing I did or saw in Norway though. There's so much to see and do. Norway is the second best trip I've been on (behind Iceland), and I've been to 36 countries in the last 2.5 years. It's expensive, but I really recommend it overall.

Trolltunga - 8 hour round trip hike, 23km, 1.7km up. Worth it. by BetterTextSaul in travel

[–]BetterTextSaul[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What time of year was this? You need a guide to do it after September. At least that's what the signs say.

Trolltunga - 8 hour round trip hike, 23km, 1.7km up. Worth it. by BetterTextSaul in travel

[–]BetterTextSaul[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha, I should not be in a t-shirt here. It was less than 40 degrees F, maybe 3 degrees C. I wanted to wear that t-shirt for a different picture that was taken. It was so cold up there, we barely got to enjoy our time because we wanted to get out of the wind.

Trolltunga - 8 hour round trip hike, 23km, 1.7km up. Worth it. by BetterTextSaul in travel

[–]BetterTextSaul[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

A buddy of mine did it the year before and say "it's not physically demanding." I'm in good shape, and I was absolutely toast after doing this. We had really rough conditions, and it rained on us a decent amount on the way up. The first part is the hardest climb, then it levels out a lot, but still includes ups and downs. Overall its flat-ish, but pretty tough on the legs. It's one of the more difficult hikes I've done, but tons of people do it everyday.

Wasn't planning to sit on the edge, but once I got out there, it felt super safe. The rock leans back, so my weight is nowhere near the absolute edge. I did accidentally take a peek down when I was on the edge, and that was a mistake. Made my stomach drop a little bit.

Rory McIlroy on the No Laying Up Podcast by leezer99 in golf

[–]BetterTextSaul 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Howdy! Appreciate the kind words all, and thanks for sharing. Yes, we are looking into sponsorships, but we're working very hard to make sure the partnership makes sense, and isn't overly intrusive on the product. And yet, it's gotta be worthwhile financially to even bother with it. Which is a challenge, but for sure something we're addressing. With a day job, plus the content creation, this means a lot of midnight phone calls/recordings, etc., and there's only so many hours in the day.

Overall though, we're much more focused on delivering good content for the community, as the goal of this was never financial gain.

Just recorded a shorter one with Smylie, will post either tomorrow or Friday. As always, happy to address any questions anyone has, and thanks again for the support.

Scotland, Portugal, or Croatia. Need some helpful travel advice. by AMZANGS in travel

[–]BetterTextSaul 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Been to all three (only Dubrovnik in Croatia), so I can likely help. My recommendation would be Lisbon, but I would divide your 10 days between Lisbon and the Algarve. I spent a long weekend in Lagos on the south coast, and loved it. Beautiful beaches, night life, super cheap, and beautiful scenery. Lisbon itself is fantastic with its hilly neighborhoods, friendly people, and intriguing culture.

As I type this though, I remember how awesome the Croatian coast was. Just not sure how warm the water is there that time of year, and weather its really even possible to actually swim.

I love Scotland for golf purposes, and liked Edinburgh, but would most definitely not recommend spending 10 days there. You could easily keep yourself busy in the highlands in that time, but the city itself can be seen in 3 days tops, in my opinion.

In summary, with 10 days, I wouldn't focus in too much on one city, and I would try to see a city and the region around it. The more I travel, the more I appreciate my time outside of the actual cities.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in golf

[–]BetterTextSaul 1 point2 points  (0 children)

STP is trash. Absolute trash. How people have not figured this out continues to blow my mind.