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Life

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Glory Days

Rerouted-Stream I sat in the back of the room as the keynote speaker talked about his experience as a war veteran. It was a good story for the first five minutes, filled with close calls, bonding with peers, and learning about the outside world.

Then he kept going. He talked for 10, 15, nearly 20 minutes about the war before moving on to the subject he was supposed to speak about.

The war in question (Vietnam) took place more than 30 years ago. Yet to hear him talk, it was as if he had just returned from a tour in Iraq. He told the story as if it had all happened yesterday, and anyone listening could appreciate how the time in the war had made him into the person he was that day.

But it also made me wonder… what has he been doing for the past 30 years?

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Travel

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Homecomings

Rerouted-Stream

Despite hearing the question almost everywhere I go, I always shy away from picking a favorite country. Coming back to South Africa, however, I remember how much I love this one. I don’t have a single favorite country, but the Rainbow Nation is definitely one of the best.

Staying in Cape Town for three weeks back in 2005, I did all of the usual Capetonian activities. I climbed Table Mountain, I made the journey to Robbin Island, I headed out to Stellenbosch for wine tasting. All highly recommended, and if you’re making a life list of things to do before you die, spending a couple of weeks in the Republic of South Africa is probably as good as anything else you could put down.

Today I’m in Johannesburg, a city I’ve never really been to before. I’ve spent four months in East London, three weeks in Cape Town, three days in Pretoria, and countless transits through JNB airport – but until now I’d never been to Jo’burg, or Josie as It’s known here.

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Site Updates

Site Update: March 2009

This update comes to you live from Mahébourg, Mauritius. Where’s Mauritius? Well, it’s a small island in the Indian ocean, a few hours east of Southern Africa. No matter where you come from, it takes a long time to get here. I came in from London, and it took 12 hours of flying. Mauritius is…

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Work

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Live from Heathrow Terminal 5: Knowing Your Audience, and a Quick Survey

Rerouted-Stream

Greetings from the colossal series of structures known as Heathrow Airport, 45 minutes from central London on the underground. When the new Terminal 5 opened a while back, it was a huge mess. Thousands of travelers were stranded, the computers failed, and luggage had to be driven to Italy on a truck.

Many months later, Terminal 5 is quite nice. While I’m sure there’s a lesson somewhere in that, at the moment I’m just happy to be traveling again.

After avoiding the U.K. for at least two years due to the drop of the dollar, I’ve returned on a quick stopover between Washington, D.C. and Port Louis, Mauritius. I turned my 7 hours of transit into 31 by moving my onward flight back a day, and then used the extra day to stay with Naomi, Jamie, and Jack Dunford – otherwise known as ittybiz.

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Life

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Friends and Enemies

Rerouted-StreamI’m sitting in a bar in Washington, D.C., listening to another writer talk about the untimely demise of her blog. The blog in question started at almost the same time as The Art of Nonconformity. When I first read her writing last year, I knew she was going places. The posts were crisp, funny, and helpful at the same time.

In fact, when I read almost any of her writing, I thought it was better than most of mine. Then, after a few months of steady content, one day she stopped writing.

Naturally, I wondered, “Why? What happened?”

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Et Cetera

Happy Birthday to the Art of Non-Conformity

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I started posting here one year ago this week. 34 countries, 174 posts, and 2700 comments later, here we are.

I've learned a lot over the past year, but rather than go through it here I'll be sharing the details in a longer manifesto that I've been working on for a while. If all goes well, it should be ready for your consideration in another 30 days or so.

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Work

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Sitting Out the Global Recession?

Sitting-Out-Recession

I’m about to get on a plane and head out to Washington, D.C. by way of Seattle and Chicago. After a few days there, I’ll begin a longer journey to several countries in Southern Africa. Expect more about the trip later. For now, something else has come up – specifically, the small matter of the global economic recession.

Unless you live on another planet (you never know), I’m going to assume that you’ve noticed it too... and there are probably as many opinions about what’s happening as there are readers of this post. Today I want to look at one specific question:

"Is it possible to completely avoid the effect of a serious global recession?"

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Work

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Expanding the Pie

Rerouted-Stream

It’s time for a confession: lately I’ve been stuck in a mindset of scarcity. Instead of focusing on abundance, I’ve been thinking about petty things. Naturally, I don’t like this, but I’m not sure how to fix it.

One of my heroes is Dean Karnazes, the Ultramarathon Man who runs 200-mile relay races as a solo competitor, runs 24-hours straight on treadmills in Times Square, and generally just runs a lot. Like anything else like this, some people “get it” and some people don’t.

I recently listened to a podcast interview with Dean where he was asked about some recent criticism. Apparently some people are upset that other people think he is awesome. Instead of responding with “WTF?” – a response I would have found suitable -- Dean gave a very cordial and thoughtful answer:

I’m not trying to take more of the pie for myself. I’m trying to make the pie larger for everyone.

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Et Cetera

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New Home in Portland, Oregon

Rerouted-Stream

Hey everyone, welcome to the weekend edition of the Art of Nonconformity. It’s not really an official thing, at least not yet – it’s just for those of you who read by RSS or who happen to stop by the site on Saturdays. I figure I’ll use it for personal updates and random things that don’t fit in a Monday or Thursday post.

Today’s Big News Is that I No Longer Live in Seattle

Yes, it’s true. World Domination HQ is now located a few hours south of the original base in Seattle. Articles and other world-changing information is now published live from my new home of Portland, Oregon.

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Products

Travel Ninja Launch

Friends and readers, my first product in several months is now available. If you’re reading by RSS or email, come over and read all of the details here. The guide will help you become your own Travel Ninja – someone who travels wherever they want at any time. It’s all about Travel Hacking, creative international…

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Products

Travel Ninja Preview

On Thursday morning, I’ll release my first new product in several months. The goal of Travel Ninja is to help readers interested in serious international travel. It’s all about travel hacking, Round-the-World flying, low-cost lodging, and overall strategies to help you travel anywhere in the world. If you’d like to go to the next level,…

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Travel

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Notes from the People’s Republic of Bangladesh

Rerouted-Stream

In the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel in Dhaka, Bangladesh, I’m having lunch with a couple of West African gangsters. To be precise, I’m eating a cheese sandwich while they are chain-smoking and drinking espresso.

I started off sitting at another table, but then we said hello to each other and I moved over. Because I lived in their region for so long, I always enjoy talking with West Africans whenever I meet up with them while traveling. The encounter with the guys at the Sheraton in Bangladesh, however, is a bit unusual.

They are very friendly. We talk about Obama, about Bangladesh, and so on. I ask them how long they are staying in Dhaka, and they say “We’re not sure.” I ask if they are staying “here,” meaning the Sheraton, and they say, “We’re not staying here, but we keep a room here.”

Whenever they’re not traveling, one of them tells me, they live in Brazil or Columbia. They work throughout Latin America, Africa, and Asia, but never in the U.S. or Europe.

Hmmmm ...

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