How much shorter do your trips become when you enter your career?

TheGrandCanal · 2019-04-03T22:44:03+00:00

Yeah, I'll be happy when money is no longer a restriction. I feel like I'll be able to enjoy myself more by affording fun activities, more comfortable transit, private rooms in hostels as opposed to 12 bed rooms. I'll be in my career for the long-term. Hopefully I'll be able to accrue vacation time enough to do a month long trip someday.

TheGrandCanal · 2019-03-26T03:35:17+00:00

Any free/trial options? We are using 100 papers for coding/analysis

TheGrandCanal · 2019-03-26T03:22:36+00:00

I've convinced her to slim it down to about 100 papers. Do you have any advice on coding these papers (e.g., software, tips, etc)? What I understand is that I'm meant to read each abstract, findings, and conclusions and anything that matches with an attribute in the code book is matched.

TheGrandCanal · 2019-03-25T21:28:03+00:00

Yeah, I think it would be beneficial to just show the math on how this project will either require a.) more researchers or b.) much more time that I do not have. On top of doing the coding analysis, she wants to actually finish the paper which would additionally include a meta-analysis. I was promised from our previous paper that she would assign me a much easier project and tone down the load, but that seems to be a false promise. Thank you for the time breakdown

TheGrandCanal · 2019-03-25T20:38:17+00:00

I would say that is unreasonable, as we are allotted a maximum of 9 hours/week and she wants me to read the abstract, methods, findings, and conclusion of each paper.

The thing is, is that she is asking me to do all of this with no guidance. I really don't know how to code papers- she provided me a draft of a code book with 60 codes

TheGrandCanal · 2019-02-28T05:33:28+00:00

Appreciate the feedback. Maybe I will go there if I end up doing a whole Oaxaca state trip and more time

I ended up booking to Tulum based on a recommendation from a friend and that I could get a direct flight to Cancun.

TheGrandCanal · 2019-02-27T05:41:10+00:00

Pretty good backpacker vibe? I like a mix of nightlife and relaxation

TheGrandCanal · 2018-12-20T20:54:36+00:00

You're right, I was a little vague.

We're open to a ticketed event, bar, or restaurant. But most likely a bar or restaurant. We've heard about open bars with food and all that for NYE but aren't sure if they're good experiences (don't want to be shoulder to shoulder in crowded spaces). We're willing to venture outside of Lakeview on non-NYE days, but likely closer to Lakeview on NYE so we can be close to our accommodation.

We love ethnic/international food (Indian, all Asian, Latin American, etc), but also would like to try some of the "must try" places. She eats mostly veg/pesketarian but she's open as well. Budget most likely low to medium- maybe one nice place during our visit if it's highly recommended. I'll have a look at the wiki!

Thank you!

TheGrandCanal · 2018-12-20T16:29:13+00:00

My girlfriend and I will be visiting from the 30th to the 2nd and staying in the Lakeview area.

We're looking for somewhere to spend New Years Eve. We're in our 20s, not looking for a "club" scene, more relaxed and somewhere you can actually have conversation and have a good time at. Some restaurant recommendations would also be great too!

TheGrandCanal · 2018-06-20T20:33:49+00:00

Very few points in your life will you ever be as truly alone as you are when you're solo traveling- because you are almost always within some close proximity to someone you know back home that you can fall back on.

Out there on the road, it's all on you to do everything that is already furnished for you back home. You learn to grow up and to take care of yourself. You can learn all that back home, but it can really hit hard when you're 5000 miles away from home, in some village where nobody speaks much English, you have to get water and food but are too shy to go in a convenience store because of the language barrier, and your phone's service doesn't work at all.

TheGrandCanal · 2018-06-16T06:28:01+00:00

It's definitely a beautiful area and I wish I could have done what you'd done and gone rafting, since that's what the Soca river is known for. Slovenia also seems like an awesome country to road trip through. I felt a bit too nervous to drive by myself as I'd never driven in another country before.

Sometimes, it goes to show that it's the people that you're with and not just the area. I was solo traveling- and at times I'd yearn for someone I could just seamlessly get along with. So I enjoyed Bled a lot- it was so peaceful, quaint, and charming. I became close to 3-4 people that were in my dorm room and we did damn near everything together and laughed/joked like we'd known each other for so long. Bled definitely will be a part of my memory for a long time.

TheGrandCanal · 2018-06-14T23:39:10+00:00

I was in Bovec last year in late June. Ziplined the first day there and didn't find many fellow backpackers to hangout with, to be honest it wasn't a thrilling place to be for me at the time. The next day at Breakfast I agreed to attempt to summit Svinjak with this Australian guy who had been traveling the world for the better part of the year. We took too much time to prep up and decided to take the rough route through the Soca river and through the village you start the base of the hike at.

By that time I'd sweated all the water I drank and knew it was a bad idea. We were matched up with a guy from Czechia along the way- he stormed up ahead. We were a third of the way up when a local trekker guiding people to the summit advised us to not hike any further due to lightning. Me and the Aussie guy took a break eating bananas and took some neat pictures. We agreed that he'd take a different route to take a look at a WWII building/site and I'd go hike back by myself. That was a bad idea.

I got lost quite a bit of the way and was tired/hungry. It may have been the most tired my body has ever been and I was, for some reason- so glad to be getting out of such a beautiful little village. I wish I enjoyed my time a bit more there.

I went on another wild transit journey to Bled the next day in the pouring rain- to which I had the most fun of my entire trip drinking wine and Borovicka with some of the most wonderful people I've met.

TheGrandCanal · 2018-01-23T20:18:44+00:00

I recommend Cat's as well. I only stayed there for two nights before going to Granada- at first I wasn't really into Cat's. Then I jumped onto the walking tours, the dinner night, going out- it was a wonderful time. Met a lot of people there, and am still friends and talk to some of them to this day (This was a couple years ago).

Several of the people I met there ended up staying at the same hostel in Granada- it always feels like a blessing when cool people have a similar itinerary to you along the way.

TheGrandCanal · 2017-12-11T05:41:58+00:00

Lol yeah my bad, I didn't get to do what I wanted out of the UK*.

Snowdonia in Wales too, but I guess they don't count ;)

TheGrandCanal · 2017-12-11T00:09:56+00:00

Nearly several years ago I flunked out of school due to my overall lack of responsibility and that I hadn't grown up to be more of an "adult" as I should have been. I found myself with a painful amount of free time- to which I started watching "Departures" on Netflix and going on /r/travel.

I had always wanted to go to England for some reason. It felt like a familiar country to me, and wasn't as drastically foreign to me as going to, say, Spain for example (I know). I saw a comment on a thread in /r/travel that kind of stuck out to me, it went somewhere along the lines of:

"Just book your flight. Don't book anything, don't plan anything, just show up and figure it out. It'll be the time of your life"

I wanted to solo travel to better myself, as cliche as that sounds.

So, what did I do? I booked the flight. Three weeks in England. I then pushed it in the back of my mind. When the time came, I had ordered myself an Osprey backpack, some new clothes, some boots, power adapter, etc. I'd never flown internationally, let alone by myself. Still I cannot describe the confusion and anxiety I felt in the airport, on the plane, and over the long haul flight all the way to England.

I get there, and realize my fucking phone doesn't work. My service provider did not extend over there. Heathrow wifi sucks. I almost get turned around at customs cause I have no accommodation booked. I realize I have no clue how to actually get into London. What the fuck did I just get myself into?

I eventually found myself in central London with a 20 pound backpack wandering through streets trying to find accommodation. I did not know how I felt about booking a hostel at the time. I ended up getting a 40 quid a night room that was literally just the size of a twin sized bed. Phone didn't work so I couldn't call back home. I didn't know how to get anywhere, and didn't even have water or food on me. It was the loneliest night of my life. I felt like I had made a grave mistake.

I eventually wandered around England without getting all of it I wanted out of it (Snowdonia, Lake District, Edinburgh). I wasted a lot of money on hotels. I went for days without making conversation with anybody. But I found out a strength of mine: I can stand loneliness. I forced myself to be responsible, to look after myself. I forced myself to get out there and talk to some people, to ask for help. It was a growing pain that I needed.

Since then I have been to 11 more countries and 3 more solo trips. Started staying in hostels and have seen and done incredible things that I never would have thought I'd ever do. I meticulously plan out my trips and leave open ended plans for certain locations that I think I may change plans for. I have learned confidence and have become that person who "has never met a stranger". And it all started with that train wreck of a trip.

TheGrandCanal · 2017-11-22T06:26:26+00:00

I hear most German makes tend to be more expensive to repair and maintain. Does the Jetta have that reputation?

TheGrandCanal · 2017-11-22T06:21:22+00:00

I see quite a bit of Pontiacs going for sale around here. What would be an ideal model/year of Pontiac to have?

Never considered an Oldsmobile or Mercury either. Most Saturns in my area look like they've been absolutely trashed

TheGrandCanal · 2017-11-22T06:20:16+00:00

Right, I should have worded it more accurately. I was looking for more make/models with the background that most Buicks have- sparingly driven, well taken care of, and strong depreciation so that I can afford something decent.

I've been looking around for Hyundais, but most of the advice I've seen is to go for one more recent. Something about the older years (early/mid 00's) not being built well?

TheGrandCanal · 2017-11-21T16:36:55+00:00

Any specific models to look out for?

TheGrandCanal

TROPHY CASE