Doha, the capital of Qatar, isn’t the kind of place you usually pop into without a task at hand. You might come on assignment for your company, or you could be transiting on Qatar Airways, or you might drop in because Qatar is a country and you’re on a mission to visit all of them.…
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Greetings from the road! I’m in Johannesburg and preparing to board a Qatar Airways flight to Doha. From there it’s Paris, Doha (again), London, New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas … in just over a week. What can I say—2014 is going to be a kick-ass year. Once the calendar rolled over to January 1,…
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Reentering the world of long-distance travel after a month’s absence, there’s a moment that comes when I realize what it’s all about. It’s hard to predict the precise arrival of the moment, but I never miss it. Sometimes the moment arrives in the taxi ride to the airport, but that’s usually too early. There’s still…
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“When I wake up in the morning, I feel like any other insecure 24-year-old girl. Then I say, ‘Bitch, you get up and walk the walk today.’” ―Lady Gaga One time I failed at something I’d worked at for a long time. I felt terrible and spent a week moping around, complaining about it. My…
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Happy 2014 to all! If you haven’t set goals or a theme for the year yet, it’s not too late. Habits do not create themselves. If you get off track in a habit you’ve committed to, you have to make adjustments to ensure you course correct. Over here I’m getting back to my writing routine,…
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A while back I was emailing with Julien, and one of his questions reminded me of a story I like to tell… “A lot of people probably relate to the idea of leaving behind their responsibilities and heading out to a new life, but they’re not in the situation where they just say “screw it”…
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Last month in Hong Kong, I went to the New Territories, a part of the city I'd never visited before. It was only half an hour from bustling Kowloon, but it felt like a totally different region.
On the eve of my departure, before I'd fly to Tokyo and then to Los Angeles, I was feeling anxious. I went for an hour-long run, my longest in a while. I set out just as the sun was setting and ran along the water, looking at the Kowloon skyline across the narrow harbor. Read More
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Hi, everyone—the 2013 Annual Review continues! All posts will be open for comments from readers. In this post: looking forward to next year. But first! On Monday I published a roundup (not sent by email) of the first batch of posts from readers who are also doing Annual Reviews. We’ll update this one with many…
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Hi, everyone—the 2013 Annual Review continues! All posts will be open for comments from readers. In this post: links from several of our readers who are also undertaking their own reviews. Over at World Domination HQ I’ve come down with post-review bronchitis (yikes!), but not to fear—I’ll be back on Thursday with one final post…
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Hi, everyone—the 2013 Annual Review continues! All posts will be open for comments from readers. In this post: a few thoughts on the world of work. *** On general struggles. As mentioned in the first post on looking back, I had a few general disappointments that overshadowed much of the year. I know I’m my…
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For the first time since publishing AONC in 2008, this year's travel roundup is quite different. Every other year, I've been to at least fifteen new countries (and many other countries I'd visited before). This time, my list is greatly abridged.
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Hi, everyone—the 2013 Annual Review continues! All posts will be open for comments from readers. In this post: looking back at the highs and lows of the year. *** As explained in this year’s introduction and invitation, when the review begins I first look back at what happened over the past twelve months, making two…
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Hi, everyone—the 2013 Annual Review is here! All posts will be open for comments from readers, and I’ll share a roundup of reader reviews at the end of the process. In this post: how it works: an overview and explanation. “Most people who talk about goals just say, ‘you should have goals.’ They don’t tell…
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Back from Australia and in Portland for the U.S. holiday, I faced a tough choice today: pecan pie or bread pudding. I chose the bread pudding … but then I experienced an onset of buyer’s remorse as I thought about the pie. Was I right? Was I wrong? Honestly, I wasn’t sure. They both had…
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For the first time in nearly two years (!) we’re releasing a new Unconventional Guide. It comes out next week.
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